President Cyril Ramaphosa will be cutting short his overseas trip to return home to South Africa to deal with the Eskom crisis which has plunged SA into Loadshedding (pre-planned power cuts) Stage 6. In a media briefing this morning, Eskom admitted that the powerlessness could get even worse, with unplanned blackouts that would take South […]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa met with US President Joe Biden in the White House in Washington DC on Friday (September 16), with both leaders set to discuss global stability and climate change during talks. Biden, who has led an international coalition to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the near-seven month war in Ukraine, […]

US president Joe Biden’s invitation to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet at the White House, and the latter’s acceptance, are positive signs of renewed cooperation. But they do not suggest a return to the 1990s era of heady optimism between the two countries. By John J Stremlau, University of the Witwatersrand. These two […]

DA Leader John Steenhuisen delivered the following keynote address at the RMB Morgan Stanley Investor Conference in Cape Town today. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, For those of you who have travelled here from out of town, welcome to beautiful Cape Town, where spring is apparently still deciding whether it has arrived or not. This […]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a “warm friendship” with South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela, who once joked about her weight on a visit to Buckingham Palace – an unheard of liberty attesting to the strong bond between the freedom fighter and the monarch, Mandela’s private secretary Zelda la Grange said. By Wendell Roelf. […]

The DA has today submitted a petition signed by 32 000 South Africans opposing the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa’s giant flag project which they say is “wasteful”. “The announcement of the R22 million project was followed by an immediate nation-wide uproar. And rightly so,” says Tsepo Mhlongo – DA Shadow Minister […]

South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is taking a top reporter to court. The verdict could affect journalists’ rights. By Anton Harber, University of the Witwatersrand South African journalism organisations this week rallied around well-known journalist Karyn Maughan when former president Jacob Zuma initiated a private prosecution against her. Zuma faces 16 counts of corruption for taking a […]

The ANC Parliamentary Caucus has issued the following statement on the “matter of an outstanding follow-up and supplementary questions to the President arising from Question time on 30 August 2022”. The ANC Caucus says it is not surprised by the “factually misleading statements” made on social media platforms by the leader of the United Democratic […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s outright refusal to answer a question around the Phala Phala debacle posed to him in today’s sitting of the National Assembly, is indistinguishable from the horror South Africans witnessed in the Zuma era where both the Presidency and the Speaker broke parliament to shield a sitting president from accountability… writes JOHN STEENHUISEN, […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev died on Tuesday, aged 91. He will be buried besides his beloved wife Raisa who died in 1999. Lauded in the West as the man who helped bring down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War without bloodshed, Mikhail Gorbachev was widely despised at home as […]

The Department of Employment and Labour has called on domestic workers, who continue to be paid below the national minimum wage (NMW), to report such violations to the department. The department’s Deputy Director: Advocacy and Stakeholder Relations, Caroline Kwetepane, said three years since the introduction of the NMW, some employers are still exploiting and violating […]

Whoever paid for the assassination of public servant Babita Deokaran must be brought to court, Deokaran’s family said at her memorial on Tuesday night. A memorial service and candlelight vigil were held in Johannesburg for slain public servant and whistleblower Babita Deokaran. Members of her family called for the people who ordered the hit on […]

The DA has announced changes to its National Whippery and Shadow Cabinet, which will be implemented with immediate effect. In a statement on Thursday morning, DA Leader John Steenhuisen announced the following: Siviwe Gwarube is the Democratic Alliance’s new Chief Whip in the National Assembly. Natasha Mazzone will now represent the DA in the Joint […]

KwaZulu-Natal Premier-elect, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has been sworn in as KwaZulu-Natal’s first female Premier during a special sitting of the Legislature held on Wednesday. Dube-Ncube, who was the MEC responsible for Finance portfolio, replaces Sihle Zikalala, who resigned last week as provincial Premier. Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, Dube-Ncube assured that the office of the Premier […]

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has deployed specialised units to the West Rand to flush out illegal miners said to be terrorising communities in the area. Welcoming the development, the Police Ministry on Sunday expressed confidence in police’s capabilities to deal with the matter. It has been a long time coming. Current affairs show […]

Last year, the US’s Biden administration announced plans to increase two-way trade and investment between the US and Africa. The starting point was a revamp of the Trump-era “Prosper Africa initiative”. As American secretary of state Antony Blinken visits three African nations – South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda – Kefa Otiso and […]

“Police Minister Bheki Cele saying on national television that ‘a 19-year-old woman was lucky to be raped by one man while others were raped by 10 men’ should be the absolute last straw. Bheki Cele must go!” says DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Women, Nazley Sharif MP. The Police Minister, during an interview on eNCA, […]

Leaders of several political parties in South Africa signed a historic agreement today – Thurs 28 July 2022 – to form a new coalition government in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape. The agreement was signed by leaders of the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, African Christian Democratic Party, African Independent Congress, […]

Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara yesterday concluded his South African trip with a visit to Robben Island Museum (RIM), seeking to draw inspiration from South Africa’s rainbow nation and the country’s long walk to freedom. He was welcomed by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa and newly elected RIM Council Chairperson, Professor Saths […]

Thabo Mbeki has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to deliver on his promises to South Africa, and says the ANC (African National Congress) has no plan. The former President of SA did not hold back whilst speaking last night at the Memorial Service of ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte who passed away earlier […]

Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s second post-apartheid president, celebrated his 80th birthday on 18 June 2022. Following Mandela’s era of multiracial and multicultural rainbowism, Mbeki had to squarely address the challenges of acute inequality and the numerous grievances of the black majority caused by colonialism and apartheid. This was tough work […]

South Africa’s annual consumer price inflation (CPI) reached 7.4% in June 2022, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) says. This is a 0.9% increase from the 6.5% recorded in May 2022. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke on Wednesday said this was the highest rate since May 2009 when the rate was 8.0%. “The consumer price index increased by […]

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment has released proposed regulations for onshore oil and gas exploration and production, including the use of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)… which has raised concern for South Africans who have fought against fracking. “The scale and magnitude of drilling and fracking operations have proven to be beyond the grasp of […]

In what has been described as a turning point in a community grappling with violent crime, high-levels of Gender Based Violence (GBV) alcohol and drug abuse, residents of Khayelitsha are forging stronger ties with law enforcement to keep their community safe. In a crime Imbizo with Police Minister Bheki Cele, community policing structures in the […]

The ANC Parliamentary Caucus says it has learnt with a “sense of deep shock and sadness” of the death of its Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Jessie Duarte, early this morning, Sunday 17 July 2022, following an 8-month illness. Duarte had been diagnosed with cancer in November last year (2021). According to the ANC, she was hospitalised […]