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NATIONAL Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is studying a legal opinion on the appointment of Professor Richard Calland as a member of the panel that will consider whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer on the Phala Phala farmgate scandal.

The appointment of Calland, who is a public law professor and political commentator, sparked an outcry from some parties, which accused him of being biased towards Ramaphosa.

In considering the EFF and DA objections, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had subjected the matter to legal scrutiny.

“I requested to be given legal advice as to how to handle such a matter. By the time all these matters did arise, I had appointed Professor Calland and I had even written to inform him about it,” she said. |

CONCERNED by the wave of blackouts, the agricultural federation Agri SA has written to Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter requesting an urgent “engagement” on the outlook for load shedding in the coming weeks.

Executive director of Agri SA Christo van der Rheede said that as the country entered the summer-crop planting season, the energy crisis could have implications for food security into the next year, unless farmers could put measures in place to mitigate against the effects of load shedding.

He said a reliable power supply was “especially critical” for the sector’s irrigation and water treatment. |