We are barely two weeks into 2022, but so much has happened in the past 10 days that it feels much longer.
The year started with the country bidding farewell to anti-apartheid campaigner and Anglican archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu. His funeral was held at St George’s Cathedral on New Year’s Day.
It was a sombre goodbye to a man who was heroic in his anti-apartheid stance and his role as SA’s moral compass.
The next day the country awoke to news that parliament was on fire.
Firefighters spent January 2 trying to extinguish the blaze. They thought they had succeeded the next day, but that afternoon the roof of the national assembly flared up again.
Firefighters finally put out the fire in the early hours of January 4, but remained on site to ensure there were no flare-ups. They spent more than 70 hours battling the blaze.
The firefighters withdrew from the parliamentary precinct on January 5, handing over the scene to the Hawks.
Parliament said the fire destroyed the national assembly and sections of the Old Assembly Chamber.
Police arrested and charged Zandile Christmas Mafe, 49, in connection with the blaze. On January 4 he appeared in the Cape Town magistrate’s court on charges of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, two counts of arson, possession of an explosive device and destruction of essential infrastructure.
Mafe will be back in court on Tuesday, when he is expected to apply for bail.
The Sunday Times reported this week that the parliamentary building was no insured, “meaning a repair and reconstruction bill that could reach R1bn will be footed by taxpayers”.
Then on Wednesday, police in Johannesburg had to fire a warning shot to stop a man breaking windows at the Constitutional Court.
Justice minister Ronald Lamola said any person who attacked the court or other democratic institutions was “attacking democracy and what it represents”.
The suspect, Paul Makauta, 36, appeared in the Hillbrow magistrate’s court on Friday. His case was postponed until March 25 for further investigation. Makauta abandoned bail.
Also in the first week of the new year violent storms hit parts of SA, particularly KwaZulu-Natal. They killed at least four people, including a three-year-old, damaged power lines, uprooted trees and affected more than 1,600 households.
The worst-hit areas were uMgungundlovu and iLembe, where 400 and 300 households were affected respectively. Part of the R74, which connects KwaDukuza and Greytown, collapsed.
“Following the severe thunderstorms that brought hail and heavy rains on Tuesday, the number of households affected is expected to increase,” the provincial cooperative governance and traditional affairs department said.
But the biggest news of the week was the release of part one of the state capture commission's report to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After close to four years of work, the inquiry chair, acting chief justice Raymond Zondo, handed it over on Tuesday.
It provided a detailed account of how SAA, the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the SA Revenue Service (Sars) were captured with apparent criminal intent.
The commission placed SAA’s demise squarely at the door of its former chairperson, Dudu Myeni, and her ally, Yakhe Kwinana, who chaired SAA Technical (SAAT) during Myeni’s tenure.
The inquiry found the duo ruled with iron fists, crushing anyone who stood in their way and the business interests they represented.
The report was also scathing of former president Jacob Zuma and his role in state capture, particularly regarding moving people around in GCIS structures to ensure the bidding of the controversial Gupta family was carried out.
You can read the full report here.
In another incident, investigators were called to the justice department’s regional office in Cape Town on Friday, where a wooden door was allegedly set on fire.
The thick door, which leads to a fire escape on the eight-storey Queen Victoria Street building, was partially burnt.
Investigators were seen taking swabs from two plastic bottles at the base of the door.
The office overlooks parliament, a few dozen metres away on the other side of the Company Gardens, but there was no immediate indication that the two blazes were linked.
An arson case was opened, but no arrests have been made.
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