Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya appeared for the second time this week at the Randburg Magistrates Court. He’s facing five-charges, including rape, human trafficking, promoting sexual grooming, and the sexual grooming of a child. Several affidavits have been read out in court, revealing some graphic details around the allegations. Plus, As South Africa gears up for the upcoming local government elections in November, a digital battle could threaten the core of the country’s electoral democracy. Fabricated posts, deceptive scams and institutional attacks, are flooding social media platforms, leaving voters to filter fact from fiction. How serious a threat is it to the integrity of South Africa’s democratic processes? We ask the hard questions.

South Africa is less than 2-months away from a highly contested local government election. Thousands of candidates are meant to contest council seats countrywide. However, over 2 000 of them from 45 political parties are already out of the race. The Independent Electoral Commission says they missed the crucial submission deadline, of the 28th of August. Is the IEC working within legal constraints, or insisting on a kind of exclusion, that will deny voters their democratic rights? Plus, Tshwane Metro Police Department officer, Peter “Gagash” Nonyane, and his wife, estate attorney, Charlotte Tibana are accused of defrauding deceased estates accounts. They are facing 43 charges of fraud, theft, and money laundering. They deny the allegations. But how do affected families reclaim their stolen inheritance? We ask the hard questions

Arguments are underway in the Western Cape High Court, where President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken under review the Section 89 Parliamentary report, into the Phala Phala robbery at his farm in 2020. The central question this case will answer, is whether this report truly met the requirements, to become the foundational basis for the president to undergo an impeachment process. For more news, visit sabcnews.com and #SABCNews on all Social Media platforms.

The Bill of Rights ensured women were recognised as equal citizens, guaranteed the right to human dignity, and protected against all forms of violence. Yet, tens of thousands of women are assaulted, raped and killed every year. We ask the hard questions.

This Thursday on Case In Point: To what extent has GBV undermined women’s democratic gains, 30 years after the adoption of the constitution?

Media houses were preparing for the first broadcast of the former National Assembly speaker, and Defence Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s corruption trial but it’s been postponed to the end of August, while her lawyers await the court transcripts. Mapisa-Nqakula is being tried for corruption and money-laundering, linked to alleged bribes from businesswoman, Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndlovu. She’s pleaded not guilty. Media houses say they’ve secured an important victory for the public’s right to know. Although the media was barred from airing the first part of the trial, SABC and eNCA secured permission to broadcast the rest of the trial. Plus National Coloured Congress suspended MP, Fadiel Adams, has been testifying at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry after a false start last week. He’s at the centre of a controversial chain of events that saw a police minister go on special leave, senior Crime Intelligence officials and a police commissioner facing trial, and the Head of IDAC resigning. Adams says he received sensitive crime intelligence documents, and wanted state institutions to investigate the serious allegations contained in them. We ask the hard questions.

Chilling allegations have surfaced at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry as Independent Police Investigative Directorate deputy, Len John, took the stand. He testified that the Kwazulu-Natal SAPS Task Team allegedly targeted suspects in raids carried out under the guise of law, instead of properly investigating them. John suggested that despite 77 cases involving 140-deaths, not a single police officer was held to account. Plus, In and amongst all the calls this Women’s Month for the eradication of Gender-Based Violence Femicide, an additional call is being made for obstetric violence to be centred. This type of GBV involves the abuse of women receiving care for their reproductive health, including fertility, pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal care. We ask the hard questions.

AfriForum and the Institute of Race Relations have spent the week in court, arguing against particular parts of the Expropriation Act. The Democratic Alliance and Vaderland-stigting have brought a separate case opposing the law. It provides for land reform, opening the way for expropriation without compensation. The president, the Public Works Minister, the Parliamentary Speaker, the National Council of Provinces Chair, the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Land Reform Minister are respondents in the case. Plus Hollywood-style arrests have been slated in the past but with the advent of the Madlanga Commission, they appear to have been revived. Are any laws being broken in the course of these arrests, and are the suspects being discriminated against? We ask the hard questions.