Morning Brief: Spooks directed Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s failed attempt to amend the constitution

Good morning, here’s what you need to know today.

Suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was directed by the SSA to try to rewrite the constitution of the country, the state of disaster in KZN has been extended for a further month, and the heatwave sweeping across Northern Europe is having economic impacts.

State Security Agency directed Mkhwebane’s attempt to rewrite SA Constitution – whistle-blower – Daily Maverick

Ex-Public Protector senior investigator Tebogo Kekana and whistle blower said under oath during the impeachment proceedings against suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane that the State Security Agency had worked together with Mkhwebane to make constitutional amendments.

In May 2017, Mkhwebane emailed Kekana and said she was waiting for the SSA’s input on the apartheid-era Absa Bankorp bailout report where a constitutional amendment on changing the Reserve Bank’s mandate was subsequently included.

“If it was part of the record, there would have been a media outcry. So it wasn’t included,” Kekana told MPs. He said he had made copies of all the investigation files and handed them over to the then senior legal manager. Read more here.

The state of disaster on KZN’s April floods was just extended – Business Insider

The national state of disaster was extended by a further month to deal with the aftermath of the flooding that ravaged KwaZulu-Natal in April.

Co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma did not indicate why she had extended the state of disaster but like during the covid-19 pandemic, she can extend it a month at a time.

The flooding was initially declared a provincial disaster but after concerns, that there would be widespread corruption concerning relief funding, the national government stepped in and declared a state of disaster.

The national state of disaster allows the government to free up precious resources and redirect them to where they are needed. Read more here.

Heatwave and fires worsen Europe’s economic turbulence – Business Day

An extreme heatwave sweeping across Europe is causing more than just personal discomfort as the economic toll brought on by mother nature begins to bite.

Those that braved the London Underground on Monday endured temperatures deemed too hot to safely transport cattle while the extreme weather has caused the water level of the Rhine river, Germany’s most important river, to drop further, which risks the delivery of coal and oil to power stations and industrial plants in the country. Read more here.