International

A sex tape by home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba was one of the trending searches on the world’s biggest porn-site PornHub on Monday morning.

It represented five of the top-10 searches among the porn site’s estimated 80 million users.

“Malusi gigaba sextape” was the second-most searched term, followed by “melusi gigaba” in fourth place, “malusi gibaba sex tape” sixth, “gibaba sextape” eight and “melisa gigaba” tenth.

The sex tape surfaced in October when Gigaba tweeted that he had learnt “with regret” that the video was circulating among political figures.

“This video has been at the centre of a number of blackmail and extortion attempts, dating back to the period immediately following my appointment as Minister of Finance, on 31 March 2017,” Gigaba tweeted on Sunday, October 28.

He apologised for the pain and embarrassment the “likely wider distribution” of the video might cause.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga previously told News24 that the video is unlikely to impact his career.

“In most cases these things never result in people losing jobs. In South Africa, we are used to these things and they don’t really have an impact on politicians’ careers,” Mathekga said.

There are almost 1,500 South African videos listed on PornHub.

Business Insider

AFP

TANZANIAN tycoon Mohammed Dewji, 43, who was kidnapped earlier this month, said on Saturday he had been released and had returned home safely.

“I thank Allah that I have returned home safe and sound,” Dewji told a press conference in Dar es Salaam where he was abducted on October 11 as he entered a hotel gym.

Clearly strained and appearing exhausted, he thanked the “Tanzanian authorities, including the police, who worked for my return”.

Watch the video below posted on YouTube by 2nacheki

“I thank all my fellow Tanzanians and everyone around the world for their prayers,” he added.

Tanzanian police said on Friday they had identified the driver of a vehicle used in the kidnapping and were making progress in their investigation.

The family had offered a reward of half a million dollars for information that would help police find him.

Mohammed Dewji earlier tweeted that he had been released and his father Gullam Dewji confirmed his son’s release in comments to the Tanzanian daily Mwanachi.

His uncle, Azim Dewji told Mwanachi in a video that “his abductors abandoned him and he was able to phone his father”, adding that his nephew was in good health.

The footage also showed a tired-looking Mohammed Dewji, in a T-shirt and jogging trousers, thanking the police.

Abductors spoke ‘African language’

Tanzania national police chief Simon Sirro told the press conference that Dewji had already provided some information about the kidnapping.

“Mohammed Dewji told us that the kidnappers wanted money but were very afraid, even though they were armed. He asked them several times how much they wanted but they gave no figure,” Sirro said.

He also gave his captors contacts for his parents but they feared that they would be caught if they approached them, Sirro said, adding that they had finally decided to give up.

“We now know their network, we know which country the plans were made,” he said, without giving details.

Dar es Salaam police chief Lazaro Mambosasa meanwhile told journalists that Mohammed Dewji had indicated to him that his abductors spoke a southern African language, confirming suspicions that the kidnappers were foreigners.

They had eventually released him at the same hotel complex where he had been abducted. From there, he had made his way to his home, where police interviewed him.

Mohammed Dewji heads the MeTL Group which operates in about 10 countries with interests in agriculture to insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry.

He was born in Tanzania and studied at Georgetown University in the United States. He also served as a member of parliament from 2005 to 2015.

In 2013, he became the first Tanzanian to grace the cover of Forbes magazine and was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year in 2015.

Mohammed Dewji is also the main shareholder in Tanzania’s Simba FC football club.

According to Forbes he is 17th on the list of Africa’s billionaires, and worth $1.5 billion.

He is married with three children. In 2016 he signed a pledge to donate at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes, according to Forbes.

Police in California are investigating whether a high school student made cookies that contained human remains and gave them to classmates to eat.

According to local CBS Sacramento, several students unknowingly scarfed down cookies that police suspect may contain the ashes of one the student’s grandparents.

The edibles were believed to be sugar cookies and at least nine students were given a sample of the supposedly noxious sweet.

“This is a weird one,” Davis Police Lt. Paul Doroshov told CBS. “I have not heard of anyone getting sick or anybody being harmed as far as physically, physiologically by this.”

Though the only evidence at this point is that of student testimony, CBS reported, the Davis Joint Union School District, however, issued a statement about the ongoing investigation.

“This case has been particularly challenging and we have responded appropriately and in the most respectful and dignified way possible,” reads the statement.

Authorities say they are working to confirm two students cooked up the gross plan, and are trying to determine what criminal charges could be laid.

“This is so unconventional, it would take more research,” Doroshov said.

globalnews.ca

The family of Tanzania’s only billionaire Mohammed Dewji, who was kidnapped last week in Dar es Salaam, on Monday announced a reward of nearly half a million dollars for information on his whereabouts.

Gunmen snatched Dewji, 43, listed by Forbes as Africa’s youngest billionaire, as he entered a hotel gym in Tanzania’s economic capital last Thursday morning.

“The family is offering a reward of a billion shillings ($437,000/376,000 euros) to any person who has information leading to the whereabouts of our son,” family spokesman Azim Dewji told a press conference.

Interior Minister Kangi Lugola said Saturday that security forces were “working day and night” to find Dewji, with 20 people arrested so far.

Officials have implicated foreigners in the abduction, saying he was taken by “whites”.

Dewji is chief executive of the MeTL Group, which operates in a dozen countries and has interests in agriculture, insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry.

According to Forbes, he is worth $1.5 billion (1.29 billion euros) and ranks 17th on the list of African billionaires.

He was a member of parliament from 2005 to 2015, and in 2013 he became the first Tanzanian to feature on the cover of Forbes magazine. Two years later, he was named Forbes’ Africa Person of the Year.

Dewji is also the main shareholder in Tanzania’s Simba FC football club.

AFP

Twenty-six people drowned when two boats overturned in a swollen river in northwestern Mali, officials and local residents said.

“Two canoes carrying 48 people capsized on Saturday at Arnassey in Bourem Inaly district, in the Timbuktu region,” Transport Minister Soumana Mory Coulibaly said in a statement released overnight Sunday.

“This sad accident caused the death of 26 people. Twenty-two bodies have been recovered.”

A local resident, Martala Salley, told AFP that the passengers were farmers who had decided to go to their fields by boat as the river had risen from seasonal rain, which made water transport possible.

“The two boats capsized before they reached their destination,” said Yoro Maiga, a local councillor in the neighbouring district of Dire, explaining that winds had whipped up powerful currents.

“We were able to save some people – they weren’t weighed down by heavy objects or luggage,” Maiga said.

Transport accidents in Mali, a poor landlocked state in the Sahel, are common. Poor safety standards or equipment are typically cited as the main cause.

Last month, 20 people died when the truck carrying them plunged into a river in the centre of the country.

AFP

LONDON – Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting a baby in the spring of 2019, they announced on Monday as they began a Pacific tour.

“The Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019,” their Kensington Palace residence said in a statement.

“Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public,” it said.

Harry and Meghan, a former US actress, wed in a fairytale setting at Windsor Castle on May 19.

The two royals touched down in Sydney on Monday, kicking off a bumper Pacific tour that is their first major outing abroad as a couple.

Their official visit, lasting more than a fortnight, will take in multiple stops in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand — all members of the Commonwealth of predominantly former British colonies.

Meghan, 37, made her name in acting as savvy para-legal Rachel Zane in the US television legal drama “Suits”.

In her first solo charity project since the wedding, she launched a cookbook in September in support of families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London.

The duchess wrote the foreword to the recipe collection entitled “Together: Our Community Cookbook”, produced by women who suffered from the fatal blaze.

The June 2017 fire in a 24-storey residential block killed 71 people and left many more living in temporary accommodation.

Meghan’s every smile, step and wave has been scrutinised by royalty watchers curious to see how the mixed-race American actress will perform in her new role.

She is adored by the public and shadowed at every appearance by the press.
British media last month commented on her closing her own car door at her first solo engagement — the opening of an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

The gesture was interpreted as a sign that Meghan remained a down-to-earth woman without pretences, despite being married to the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II.

Channel24.co.za

Zimbabwe’s ruling party has dismissed the European Union Observation mission (EUEOM) report on the July 30 elections, describing it as a an ‘MDC-Alliance script’, reports the state run Herald.

EUEOM released its final report and recommendations to the country on Wednesday, with a view of positively contributing to Zimbabwe’s electoral management process.

“These recommendations are offered to help address a number of the shortfalls outlined in this report, including problems with the legal framework, the role of the electoral commission, and various abuses of human rights and political rights of the opposition,’‘ said the EUEOM chief observer, Elmar Brok.

The ZANU-PF legal secretary, Paul Mangwana said the party is happy to have met the standards of the observer missions from the African Union and the regional SADC bloc.

“It is their opinion and it remains so. We are measured by Sadc and AU standards and we met those standards. The AU and Sadc said so. We cannot be measured by standards we know nothing about,” he said.

The final EUEOM report reiterated issues raised in its preliminary report three days after the July 30 election.

While the observers noted the peaceful campaign process, and increased freedoms of expression, assembly and civic participation, it nevertheless had recommendations in the key areas of;

EUEOM proposed timely relay of information by ZEC to enhance confidence in the process. The delay by ZEC to release provisional results of the presidential election was one of the factors that could have led to the deadly opposition protests in the aftermath of voting.

EUEOM also recommended that ZEC develops its results management process to enhance verifiability and traceability.

“The EUEOM suggests in order to enhance confidence in the process, to strengthen the independence of ZEC,’‘ explained the Chief Observer.

“State-owned media must be more impartial in its coverage, legal measures should be introduced to mitigate abuse of incumbency and of state resources and campaign finance regulations should be introduced to enhance accountability” said Elmar Brok.

“To improve the legal framework for the elections, legislation should be brought into line with the 2013 Constitution; and appropriate time limits for the determination of pre-election disputes need to be established”, added Brok.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, whose candidate Nelson Chamisa, lost the presidential election, filed an election petition with the Constitutional Court challenging president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s victory.

To make the electoral process more inclusive, areas of under-registration of voters need to be addressed; and Multi-Party Liaison Committees need to be used more effectively”, concluded the Chief Observer.

The opposition’s Chamisa in a tweet, described the EUEOM’s report as accurate.

Africa News

Death-row inmate Celestine Egbunuche has been dubbed Nigeria’s “oldest prisoner” amid a campaign calling for his release.

He is 100 years old and has spent 18 years in jail after being found guilty of organising a murder.

Small and slightly hunched over, he looks wistfully into space as he sits on a tightly packed bench inside a stuffy prison visitor’s room.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, he lifts his head slowly – his way of acknowledging our presence.

But otherwise he remains quiet during our visit – in stark contrast to the rest of the room that is filled with loud chatter at Enugu Maximum Security Prison in south-east Nigeria.

His son Paul Egbunuche, 41, sits protectively close to him – and does the talking. He is in jail on the same murder charge.

They were both accused of hiring people to kidnap and kill a man over an alleged land dispute in Imo state.

Paul maintains their innocence. They were detained in June 2000 and eventually convicted and sentenced to death in 2014.

It has not been possible to contact the family of the man who was killed – even the Nigeria prison service has been unable to find them.

‘Confused and childlike’

As prison officials look on, he tells me that his father isn’t really able to talk much any more and is no longer aware of his surroundings.

“When you ask him something, he says something else. The doctor told me that it is his age, he has become like a little pikin [child].

“There are some times when he will ask me: ‘These people here [inmates], what are they doing here?'”

Paul says he rarely leaves his father’s side now; he has been his primary carer since his health began to deteriorate in prison.

These health problems include diabetes and failing eyesight – and Paul uses what he can to manage them.

“The only thing I’m using to manage him is food, unripe plantain, and they [officials] give him some drugs.”

Father and son share a cell with other death-row prisoners, who are separated from the general population.

“When I wake up in the morning, I will boil water and bath him,” Paul says. “I’ll change his clothes then prepare food for him. If they open up [the cell] I’ll take him out so the sun will touch him.

“I’m always close to him, discussing with him and playing with him.”

Paul says the other inmates sometimes help him care for his father and that many of them want his father to be released.

It was after his father’s 100th birthday on 4 August that events were set in motion that may lead to his release.

A photo of Paul and a frail looking Egbunuche went viral in August after a local paper did a story about him turning 100 in jail. It sparked a debate about the length of time Nigerians spend on death row and the place of capital punishment altogether.

The latest figures from the Nigerian Prisons Service show that more than 2,000 people are on death row in Nigeria, many of whom spend years waiting to be executed.

The death sentence is not commonly carried out in Nigeria. Between 2007 and 2017, there were seven executions – the last one taking place in 2016, Amnesty International reports.

Poverty and punishment

However, the death penalty is still meted out by judges for offences like treason, kidnapping and armed robbery.

“You have people who have spent 30 years on death row, it’s common,” says Pamela Okoroigwe, a lawyer for the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP).

“Governors are reluctant to sign [death warrants] and they’re not willing to grant pardons – that’s why we have a high number of death-row inmates.”

Ms Okoroigwe says death row is a “punishment for the poor” and one that a growing number of Nigerians want abolished.

“Have you ever seen a rich man on death row?” she asks.

“How many people can afford to get a lawyer to represent them in court? A rich man who ended up in court can afford to get the best and he’ll be free.”

This sentiment is shared by Franklin Ezeona, president of the Global Society for Anti-Corruption (GSAC), the non-governmental organisation that brought Egbunuche’s case to the public and has been petitioning for his pardon.

“If the man was the father of a governor or a minister, I don’t think he would still be in prison,” Mr Ezeona says.

“Poverty in most of African countries hinders justice.”

He says it is unreasonable to keep people waiting for years on death row as “the trauma and the torture is too much”.

‘Everyone deserves a second chance’

Mr Ezeona says that he hopes that Egbunuche’s case will prompt the government to review other cases and shine a light on the justice system as a whole.

“It will be good for the correctional system. It will show that with good behaviour, the government can give you a second chance.”

“Everyone deserves a second chance.”

And Egbunuche may get a second chance as he has been recommended for a pardon by Imo state’s attorney general, Miletus Nlemedim.

It is now awaiting approval from Governor Rochas Okorocha.

Mr Nlemedim says numerous factors are taken into consideration when an inmate is recommended for pardon – age, time served and the approval of the prison staff.

The family of the victim has not been consulted about a possible release.

“What we do as a government is to try to remove ourselves from sentiment,” he says.

According to Mr Nlemedim, the state’s Ministry of Happiness offers the chance for reconciliation after a prisoner is released.

In this case Mr Ezeona says it may be unlikely to happen given the length of time that has passed and poor record-keeping.

Nonetheless, he is still confident Celestine Egbunuche will be pardoned.

“If we can’t pardon a centenarian, who can we pardon?” he says.

Paul too is confident that his father will be pardoned – and is hopeful that he too will get a reprieve so he can care for him.

“It’s good for him to be released. So he will die peacefully in his house rather than in prison,” he says.

www.msn.com

The father of a 14-year-old boy has been arrested after the teen was caught with his firearm at a Pretoria school.

The boy, who attends Burger Right Primary School, was caught with the gun by a teacher, who confiscated the firearm. The teacher alerted police and handed the gun over to them.

Police spokesperson Constable Tumisang Moloto said, when they arrived at the school, they had discovered that the firearm belonged to the boy’s 60-year-old father.

“At this stage, it’s unclear how the boy managed to get hold of the firearm. However, the father was arrested for negligence of firearm,” Moloto said.

Moloto said an investigation surrounding the incident would be embarked on by police in collaboration with the Department of Social Development.

The father will appear before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court soon, he said.

Moloto added that Tshwane West Cluster Commander Major General Tommy Mthombeni had since raised his concern with owners of licensed firearms, saying they should adhere to the Firearms Control Act Number 60 of 2000.

News24

NAIROBI – Africa’s youngest billionaire was kidnapped on Thursday by gunmen in Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam, officials said.

Mohammed Dewji (43), who heads the MeTL Group which operates in about 10 countries with interests in agriculture to insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry, was snatched as he entered the gym of a hotel in the city.

“Initial information indicates he was kidnapped by whites travelling in two vehicles,” regional governor Paul Makonda told journalists, adding that “this kind of incident is new here”.

Dar es Salaam police chief Lazaro Mambosasa also implicated foreigners in the crime, telling a press conference the assailants had “shot into the air” before bustling Dewji into their car.

He said police were hunting for suspects and had already made arrests.

Dewji was born in Tanzania and studied at Georgetown University in the United States. He also served as a member of parliament from 2005 to 2015.

In 2013 he became the first Tanzanian to grace the cover of Forbes magazine and was in 2015 named Forbes Africa Person of the Year.

Dewji is also the main shareholder in Tanzania’s Simba FC football club.

According to Forbes, he is 17th on the list of Africa’s billionaires and worth $1.5-billion.

Dewji is married with three children. In 2016 he signed a pledge to donate at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes, according to Forbes.

AFP