Cyril Ramaphosa is the new ANC president!!

Ramaphosa gets 2440 votes, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma gets 2261.

JOHANNESBURG – Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has described both the leaking of her private letter to President Jacob Zuma and the publishing of it as "not in the public interest" and said it would lead to "a climate of distrust".

Madonsela held a briefing on Thursday afternoon to clarify her position following days of public conflict between the ANC and her office.

Madonsela says she wants to explain how her office deals with investigations, and to clarify her office's understanding of the country's constitutional democracy. On Wednesday the ANC accused the Public Protector of failing to do her job correctly. General Secretary Gwede Mantashe accused Madonsela of abusing her office after a letter Madonsela wrote to Zuma was published in Sunday newspapers.

We are not walking through the forest without a trail – the path of constitutional democracy has been traipsed for 20 years.

She had written to Zuma last week asking when and if he intended to pay back some of the money spent on security upgrades at his Nkandla residence in KwaZulu-Natal.

This was after her office found that Zuma should pay back some of the excessive spending on his property. He had dodged this by telling Parliament that police Minister Nathi Nhleko should decide if he should pay back any money.

Madonselsa said on Thursday that the current conflict and problems were not insurmountable.

She said her letter had been leaked by a senior politician and that the publishing of it had been "improper".

"In my respectful view it not only compounds the problem but highlights issues of mistrust.

"We are far from Paul Kruger’s label of scrutiny as the devil’s principle. But we are not walking through the forest without a trail – the path of constitutional democracy has been traipsed for 20 years," Madonsela said.

She added that her engagements with Zuma over the past five years had been good.

"His office has assisted mine. And there never was drama. There has never been any drama or lack of assistance on any investigation," she said.

The current drama, she said, was over a personal letter. The leaking and reaction of which amounted to interference with her office.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, stating that the current noise was "not coming from Government as an institution".

"My process has always been sobre and evidence-based," she said, asking that stakeholders respect boundaries.

Madiba's final journey to Qunu

ANC members have gathered at waterloof Air Force Base in Pretoria to bid fare to former president Nelson Mandela.  The remains of Nelson Mandela will be flown back to Qunu in the Eastern Cape where he will be rest on Sunday.  Mandela will be buried in Qunu in a funeral that will be attended by several heads of state, such as Presidents from Malawi, Tanzania, Lesotho's King Letsie III and UK's Prince Charles of Wales. 

Nelson Mandela's friend arrested in New York

A close friend of South Africa’s first black President and 

ant- apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, Tokyo Sexwale was arrested in New York  at John F. Kennedy International Airport while on a business trip after his name was found on a list of people banned from entering the United States,

Sexwale was also a prisoner at Robin Island together with Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era. During that era, some anti-apartheid activists were banned from visiting the United States when they were regarded as terrorists.

Apartheid however ended in 1994 and although the ban was lifted, not all the names have been removed from the list.

After 1994, Sexwale soon became a leading member of the ANC and apart from politics he is a successful businessman who owns his own firm The Mvelaphanda Group.