A multi-stakeholder group consisting of unions, political parties and other civil society movements has threatened to “go to court on Friday” if President Cyril Ramaphosa declares a national State of Disaster in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, 9 February. UPDATE Thurs 9 Feb, 20h30: President Ramaphosa has announced that loadshedding has […]

The African National Congress (ANC) Parliamentary Caucus has announced which members will be sworn in as Members of Parliament (MPs). The party also thanked those who are vacating their positions. OUTGOING MPS THANKED BY PARTY The ANC thanked four MPs who tendered their resignations last week, including Tshilidzi Munyai, Mervyn Dirks, Masefako Clarah Dikgale and […]

A confidential internal poll showed that the ANC’s support dropped to below 40% last week, according to a newspaper report. The country’s leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said the results show that “massive change” is happening in South Africa. INTERNAL POLL SHOWS DROP IN ANC SUPPORT City Press reported that its sister publication, the […]

The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has welcomed about 6,000 crime prevention wardens in an effort to augment crime-fighting efforts made by SAPS and Metropolitan Police Departments. The 6000 recruits – who are all young – will undergo at least three months of training before being deployed to 361 wards in the province including townships, informal […]

In a ground-breaking judgment handed down yesterday by the Johannesburg High Court, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has won its long-running battle to expose the complete records of the ANC’s national cadre deployment committee’s role in the corruption, capture and collapse of South Africa’s public sector. South Africans will now for the very first time be able […]

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has invited South Africans to make inputs on what they would like to see reflected in the upcoming National Budget Speech. In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance said Godongwana would deliver the National Budget Speech on 22 February 2023. “As usual, the budget allocation always aims to strike […]

South Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point that towards the end of 2022 the country’s electricity utility, Eskom, had only half of its power generation capacity operational. This has forced Eskom to escalate its rotational power cuts. By mid-January 2023, users were typically without electricity […]

After narrowly escaping a harrowing mob attack on Wednesday near Hoedspruit in Limpopo province, well-known wildlife filmmaker John Varty has taken to social media to share his experience and concerns for the governance – or lack thereof – of South Africa. Varty says: “I fear for myself, I fear for my family, I fear for South […]

The repurchase rate (repo rate) in South Africa reached 7.25% after the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) agreed to a 25 basis points hike. The increase means that the repo rate will now be 7.25% per year from 27 January 2023, with prime now at 10.75%. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago made the […]

Invest Africa CEO Rob Hersov had the crowds chanting ‘Voetsek ANC, Voetsek Luthuli House’ today (Wed 25 Jan), as South Africans joined DA Leader John Steenhuisen in the Power to the People March to the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg. Steenhuisen said it was inspiring to see so many people who “still have the spirit for […]

About 60 people marched from Church Square across Pretoria to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and the Union Buildings on Friday. They were demanding an end to load-shedding and objecting to the recent electricity tariff hikes authorised by the regulator. Not In My Name (NIMN) in partnership with Mamelodi Nellmapius Eersterust Shareholders […]

Today, hundreds of Capetonians are expected to join the DA in the Western Cape in taking to the streets of Cape Town to tell the ANC: “Enough loadshedding! Enough cadre deployment! Enough price hikes! Enough corruption!” The DA says: “We will march to the ANC’s provincial head office in the Western Cape to voice our […]

As media outlets around the world report on South Africa “openly siding with Russia” as the countries prepare for a maritime exercise together with China, SA’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor accused critics of having double-standards. Appearing to ignore Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, Dr Pandor said “all countries conduct military exercises with friends worldwide”. She […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved to assure South Africans that government is using every means and resource at its disposal to get more capacity onto Eskom’s grid “as a matter of extreme urgency” with the Energy Action Plan at the core. The President was addressing the nation through his weekly newsletter after South Africans have […]

The DA is today fighting in court in Pretoria to have “cadre deployment corruption” declared unconstitutional and unlawful. DA Leader, John Steenhuisen and DA Shadow Minister of Public Service, Dr Leon Schreiber, are at the North Gauteng High Court where the DA is arguing that the abolishment of cadre deployment is a fundamental prerequisite if […]

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has welcomed a High Court Gauteng North judgment confirming that Atul Gupta is a fugitive from justice and therefore does not qualify for a South African passport, as the Department had contended. The Court issued the judgment on Friday. On 25 September 2018, having fled South Africa in the […]

Here’s what’s coming up on Carte Blanche this week. You can watch the show today, Sunday 22 January in South Africa on DStv Now OR stream it overseas in most countries on Showmax from Tuesday 24 January if you’re abroad. The Piano Prodigy The piano is one of the most difficult musical instruments to play, […]

The South African government says it has acknowledged the frustration of South Africans, due to a combination of factors, which have led to sporadic protests that occurred on Monday in Parys, Kroonstad, Randfontein and Phoenix. It also called for calm as a series of protests were reported in parts of the country on Monday. In […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his travel plans to Davos, Switzerland, in order to deal with the current load-shedding crisis in South Africa. Although South Africans have been to this rodeo before – when the president cut short his UK trip and cancelled the New York leg to return home last year to address the […]

Here’s what’s coming up on Carte Blanche this week. You can watch the show today, Sunday 15 January in South Africa on DStv Now OR stream it overseas in most countries on Showmax from Tuesday 17 January if you’re abroad. The Art of Neglect It was a flagrant heist: a man walks into a prestigious […]

The decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to increase electricity tariffs by 18.65%, despite consumers spending over 120 days in darkness in 2022, with indefinite stage 6 loadshedding already in 2023, is official sanctioned daylight robbery against consumers… writes Ghaleb Cachalia MP – DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises. It is […]

JUST IN: Nersa has approved 18.65% Eskom tariff increase. (See video below.) I have written to President Ramaphosa to request an urgent meeting about Eskom and the growing power crisis, which now has South Africa on stage 6 until further notice… writes DA Leader, John Steenhuisen. I want to hear from him first-hand why his government […]

The DA notes the expressed intention of the governing party to move Eskom away from Public Enterprises to the Ministry of Energy… writes Ghaleb Cachalia MP – DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises The DA is implacably against this move and will fight it, tooth and nail, with all the levers at our disposal. We share […]

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy is expected to visit the South African Antarctic Programme’s Research Station, known as SANAE IV, in Queen Maud Land. In a statement, the department explained that South Africa has had a presence in the Antarctic since 1960 and has contributed to scientific knowledge in the area and […]

South Africa has issued a statement strongly condemning the events that took place in Brazil on Sunday. Rioters stormed the Congress and Supreme Court buildings in the capital city, Brasilia. According to media reports about 1,500 people have been held over Sunday’s riots. They came a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was […]