APRNEWS - Sindisiwe Chikunga told a parliamentary committee that one of the masked attackers pointed a gun at her head during the ordeal early on Monday.

They stole some laptops, a phone and her bodyguards' weapons, she said. 

South Africa has long faced high crime levels, including car-hijackings, kidnappings and smash-and-grabs.

APRNEWS - The teaching aims to dispel stigma around marijuana, says Linda Siboto, the co-founder of the institution, which styles itself as Africa's first cannabis academy.

"It's important for us to professionalize this industry and basically showcase that we're not stoners with red eyes all the time talking about how great the weed is," he says.

The academy is hoping to ride a global re-think of cannabis regulations.

APRNEWS - In June, it emerged that an estimated $4 million was robbed at the farm back in 2020, raising questions about how the billionaire president acquired the cash and whether he declared it.

The panel, formed in September, sought to find any preliminary evidence of wrongdoing by the president.

While Ramaphosa has confirmed that a robbery occurred, he said the cash was from proceeds from the sales of game.

This Saturday, January 1, South Africa bids farewell to Desmond Tutu. The Archbishop's funeral takes place at St George's Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town. 

South Africa's president has condemned travel bans enacted against his country and its neighbours over the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

Cyril Ramaphosa said he was "deeply disappointed" by the action, which he described as unjustified, and called for the bans to be urgently lifted.

The UK, EU and US are among those who have imposed travel bans.

South Africa’s mines ministry will drive Black empowerment in the industry through amendments to existing legislation, it said on Tuesday, after electing not to appeal a September High Court ruling that its 2018 mining charter is not legally binding.

Heineken said on Monday it planned to buy South Africa’s Distell Group Holdings and Namibia Breweries Ltd to form a southern Africa drinks group worth 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion).

The purchase of Distell would mark a push into wine and spirits for the world’s second-largest brewer, with liqueur brand Amarula and wines including well-known labels such as Nederburg.

Former Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown rubbished many of the Fundudzi Forensic Services report findings that relate to her and her former secretary, and said that they were based on too many assumptions.
She said that, at a stage, she was even tempted to take the report on review.

South Africa’s unemployment rate jumped to a new record high of 32.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 30.8% in the third quarter, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Statistics South Africa put the number of unemployed at 7.2 million people in the fourth quarter, compared to 6.5 million in the previous three months.

South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma did not show up on Monday at an inquiry into corruption during his time in office, despite the country's top court ordering him to appear.

Zuma's lawyers confirmed in a letter to the inquiry that Zuma would not attend the inquiry this week, when he was due to give evidence.

"The summons issued for our client to appear on Feb 15-19 2021 is irregular," the letter said, justifying his no-show.