Heidi Giokos

Award Winning Reporter & Anchor | Nat Nakasa Award Nominee || IMF Fellow ||Sanlam Financial Journalism Award Winner
🇬🇷🇿🇦

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

THREAD ON WHAT HAPPENED:
I was almost raped and murdered on 14th of Feb. House was broken into. I woke up to him walking towards my bed. He tied me up. When he was done in my room & left I managed to untie my hands & then heard him coming back upstairs. He forced me outside.

[EWN Reporter @ewnreporter]

[DEVELOPING] The family of 17-year-old St Stithians Girls' College pupil Cameron Waldeck-Cooks says preliminary findings by an independent forensic pathologist indicate she died from strangulation and suffocation. They have appealed for privacy and urged against speculation.

[Mail & Guardian @mailandguardian]

The women holding power to account: As South Africa celebrates Women’s Day, the influential and capable female legal eagles at the Madlanga commission offer a reminder of how far the legal profession has evolved since the women of 1956 challenged exclusion and injustice.

https://t.co/KnJnuESMhz

[Yusuf Abramjee @Abramjee]

School Clerk Jailed for Defrauding School:

A 37-year-old former school administration clerk, Ofentse Molemane, has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, with four years suspended for five years, after pleading guilty to 170 counts of fraud.

Molemane, who worked at the school between 2019 and 2020, fraudulently transferred school funds into his personal bank account, paid himself unauthorised amounts, and created fake invoices to conceal the theft.

The court found that he abused a position of trust, used the stolen money to fund his personal lifestyle and business, and showed no genuine remorse.

He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The NPA welcomed the sentence, saying it demonstrates a firm commitment to holding accountable those who steal public funds and undermine public trust.

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

I thank you all for the love and support you’ve shown me during this time!
♥️🙏🏽

[@luphumlongcayisa @luphumlongcayis]

It is unfortunate that there is so much dysfunction in our country, so much disappointment with government, and so much hurt and anger, that it sometimes robs us, as South Africans, black South Africans in particular, of the opportunity to take a step back and recognise just how beautiful we are as a people.

I look at the outpouring of love for @HeidiGiokos . Love coming from across class, race and political divides, with so much of it coming from ordinary black South Africans. People who may disagree on almost everything else, yet somehow know when another human being needs to be held in love.

There is something deeply beautiful about us.

For all the anger we carry, all the hardship we endure and all the reasons we have been given to become hardened, we remain capable of extraordinary tenderness. We still show up. We still comfort. We still embrace. We still make another person��s pain our own.

Our country has many things that are broken. But we, its people, are not without beauty.

We are beautiful people. May the dysfunction of our country never make us forget that. Heidi, you are loved. We look forward to your next move.

[@luphumlongcayisa @luphumlongcayis]

It is unfortunate that there is so much dysfunction in our country, so much disappointment with government, and so much hurt and anger, that it sometimes robs us, as South Africans, black South Africans in particular, of the opportunity to take a step back and recognise just how beautiful we are as a people.

I look at the outpouring of love for @HeidiGiokos . Love coming from across class, race and political divides, with so much of it coming from ordinary black South Africans. People who may disagree on almost everything else, yet somehow know when another human being needs to be held in love.

There is something deeply beautiful about us.

For all the anger we carry, all the hardship we endure and all the reasons we have been given to become hardened, we remain capable of extraordinary tenderness. We still show up. We still comfort. We still embrace. We still make another person’s pain our own.

Our country has many things that are broken. But we, its people, are not without beauty.

We are beautiful people. May the dysfunction of our country never make us forget that. Heidi, you are loved. We look forward to your next move.

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

@ThebeIkalafeng Thank you my dear friend. I love you ♥️

[Thebe Ikalafeng @ThebeIkalafeng]

You're one of the most principled, thorough and patriotic journalists I've know forever. This is not the end, but just a pause to a bigger opportunity, which sometimes comes clothed as a setback. I wish you the very best on your next summit. You're an amazing human being, friend and professional. I love you.

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

@luphumlongcayis Thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown me. To everyone who has shown me so much support. I thank you ALL! ♥️♥️♥️

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

Thank you! ♥️🙏🏽

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

Thank you! ♥️🙏🏽

[Yusuf Abramjee @Abramjee]

Khan & Johnson

From “just friends”
to “dear gorgeous”…the Madlanga Commission’s WhatsApp evidence seems to have taken an unexpected romantic turn 😃😃

[EWN Reporter @ewnreporter]

Tsakane Matlala chatting to the lawyer for accused number five before the arrival of other accused at the trial of Matlala and four others @MakiLeshoro

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

👀

[Mail & Guardian @mailandguardian]

EXCLUSIVE: Speak only when authorised, MK party warns Mzwanele Manyi to desist from engaging with the media

https://t.co/hy4LXsOmA9

[Business Day @BDliveSA]

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to move swiftly to appoint a new chair for the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) after a string of resignations left the state asset manager's board without a quorum and legally unable to take binding decisions.

[Heidi Giokos @HeidiGiokos]

JSC advises Ramaphosa to suspend EC Judge President Selby Mbenenge https://t.co/yWbMwx89ba

[Kaya News @KayaNews]

JUST IN: The City of Ekurhuleni has confirmed that Metro Police Chief Isaac Mapiyeye has been cleared of all disciplinary charges and has returned to work.

City spokesperson Phakamile Mbengashe says the disciplinary process has been concluded - and Mapiyeye resumed his duties as Chief of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department today.

#KayaNews #EMPD SM

[Clement Manyathela @TheRealClementM]

Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubai tells me on #TheCMShow Andrea Johnson won’t get a golden handshake but she will keep her pension. “We can’t withhold that, I can’t withhold any payment of what she has worked for. There is no legal basis. I would be violating laws of the country” she say.
She also says with Johnson’s departure, not all IDAC cases will be reviewed.

[Daily Maverick @dailymaverick]

Pay back the money — Brian Molefe’s multimillion-rand pension battle returns to ConCourt https://t.co/2y5gM9NwFO

[Yusuf Abramjee @Abramjee]

The Rise and Fall of Adv Andrea Johnson:

President Cyril Ramaphosa has accepted the immediate resignation of Advocate Andrea Johnson as head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), bringing a dramatic end to her tenure at the helm of one of South Africa’s key anti-corruption bodies.

Johnson’s resignation follows a bruising three days before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, where she faced sustained and often intense questioning over IDAC’s handling of several high-profile investigations, particularly those involving SAPS Crime Intelligence.

During her testimony, she made a number of concessions, contradicted aspects of earlier evidence, and withdrew certain allegations.

One of the most significant moments came when Johnson was forced to apologise and retract her claim that Brigadier Dineo Mokwele had been a “token appointment” who lacked the necessary qualifications.

Evidence presented before the commission showed that Mokwele held multiple relevant qualifications, including a degree in industrial engineering and mechatronics.

Her appearance before the commission also renewed scrutiny over other aspects of her leadership.

Public interest groups and political parties accused Johnson of failing to recuse herself from a recruitment process involving her husband, a SAPS Crime Intelligence brigadier, raising concerns about a possible conflict of interest.

Critics also said that IDAC had used criminal prosecutions to deal with what should have been internal police labour disputes, while it was claimed she had misled Parliament during an appearance at the Ad Hoc Committee.

At one stage during her testimony at the commission, Johnson invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination when questioned about other intelligence-related matters.

In her resignation letter to the National Director of Public Prosecutions and the Presidency, Johnson requested an immediate release from office, saying the past five months had been marked by unprecedented attacks on her integrity, character and professional ability.

Her career spanned more than 26 years within the National Prosecuting Authority.

She previously served as Acting Special Director of the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, led organised crime prosecutions, and formed part of the prosecution teams in several landmark cases, including the Oscar Pistorius murder trial and the corruption trial of former National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Johnson was appointed by President Ramaphosa in February 2022 to lead IDAC, with the mandate of strengthening South Africa’s fight against corruption and state capture.

Her resignation marks a significant development for both the NPA and the country’s anti-corruption efforts, as questions remain over the future direction and leadership of the specialised unit.

Johnson is expected to return to the commission today.

She still needs to account on various issues.

@pule_jones