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The survivors of the Usindiso building fire and shack fires in Johannesburg marched to premier Panyaza Lesufi's office on Friday with a letter of demands.   More than 70 people died in the fire on August 31. The survivors were moved to a temporary shelter in Denver, close to the Johannesburg CBD. A commission of inquiry was established to investigate the fire's cause and the frequency of hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg CBD. The marchers' demands included better living conditions and an end to xenophobic attacks. 

Former ANC president Thabo Mbeki says he has not put aside his grievances with the ANC and the party will have to get the criminals out.
Campaigning for the party in Soweto on Thursday, Mbeki acknowledged problems within the ANC and said the party would attend to them. Mbeki told the media that the ANC must be transformed and has the potential to fix unemployment, poverty and crime.
He asked with residents in Soweto to vote for the party next month, saying he knows people have complaints about the party but promising those would be dealt with and the ANC would do the right thing.
Mbeki has been a critic of the party’s failure to renew itself, saying last year  that he could not campaign for “an ANC led by criminals” as he spoke at Unisa where he is chancellor. At the time, Mbeki said he couldn’t convince people to vote for the party because of its failure to renew itself. He has been outspoken about the party’s failures.
This was his first active participation in an election campaign since he was president. He said he will been seen more on the election campaign trail.

The South African Human Rights Commission has slammed the Eastern Cape health department, Eastern Cape Liquor Board and the South African Police Service in relation to the Enyobeni tavern tragedy. Twenty-one young people died during school end-of-year celebrations at the tavern.   Presenting the commission's report on the investigation into the tragedy on Thursday, commissioner Nomahlubi Berlinda Khwinana also blamed the Buffalo City municipality for failing to protect the victims. 

About 700 government officials have been found guilty of corruption in the past five years, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). National Director of Public Prosecutions advocate Shamila Batohi and NPA executive committee members held a media briefing on Wednesday. Batohi said in complex corruption cases guilty pleas are rare. 

EFF leader Julius Malema claims load-shedding will be implemented when vote counting starts and votes will be stolen.
When counting starts after the May 29 national and provincial elections, stage 6 load-shedding will be implemented, according to Malema. “They must find you ready, that’s why I’m telling you this, I’m preparing you. I know these crooks. These people can’t be trusted,” he said.
“There is a tendency of increased outages when we start counting after dark and those seem to be manufactured. They seem to be deliberate action to trip the grid for purposes and reasons unknown to us. So we are making contingency plans.”
It has been almost a month without load-shedding.
Despite criticising the Electoral Commission of South Africa for “stupid mistakes”, Malema on Friday expressed confidence in the commission.
Two days later, however, while addressing Reiger Park community members in Ekurhuleni, Malema said load-shedding would be back when votes are being counted.
In February he said: “The reality is no election is going to be rigged and if you feel defeated before even putting up a fight then give up. We have solid election structures including highly trained party agents.”

EFF leader Julius Malema says the language criminals understand is violence and police should fight fire with fire so offenders live in fear.
He said the rate of crimes such as murder, gender based violence and rape is staggering and criminals have declared war on law-abiding citizens. "Today law-abiding citizens are scared ... Criminals are in charge. It has to be the other way around" he said.
He is promising to fight crime by ensuring there are no fewer than one-hundred-thousand boots on the ground should the EFF win the May 29 national and provincial elections.