JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s central bank will keep interest rates on hold at its Nov. 22 meeting, according to a Reuters poll, but the number of economists forecasting a rise suggests it is a very close call. In a poll taken in the past week, 16 of 26 economists said the South African Reserve Bank […]

JOHANNESBURG – U.S. President Donald Trump intends to nominate South African expat and luxury handbag designer Lana Marks as the new ambassador to South Africa, the White House said, almost two years after the last ambassador left under Barack Obama. Marks, who was born in East London and attended Clarendon High School, now has American […]

CAPE TOWN – A South African parliamentary team has recommended a constitutional amendment to make it possible for the state to expropriate land without compensation in the public interest. The Constitutional Review Committee said amending section 25 would make it explicitly clear that such expropriation could be carried out to accelerate land reform. “South Africans […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has held discussions with the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, in Strasbourg, France; and thanked Europe for its role in South Africa’s development. The two leaders discussed strengthening cooperation between Africa and Europe, increased youth employment and the opportunities – and challenges – of immigration into Europe. President Ramaphosa said: “We […]

Following photos being shared wildly on social media in the past week or so, showing chaos at the Johannesburg International Mail Centre, the South African Post Office (SAPO) told SAPeople yesterday that the photos were old (they were in fact from 2015!) and that “the picture looks very different currently”. We asked the Post Office […]

According to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, land reform in SA will not violate constitution. Addressing the European Parliament on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said the country will enact land reforms in adherence to the country’s constitution and with respect for the human rights of all its people. “This problem of land will be resolved through adherence […]

South Africa’s fisheries authority is in a state of crisis, paralysed by a factional war between its two most senior officials and hollowed out by a culture of corruption. This has left the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) unable to perform many of its most basic tasks, including allocating fishing rights and enforcing […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has (finally) resigned, the Presidency said on Tuesday. His resignation following calls from opposition parties to stand down in recent weeks over a High Court ruling which found he lied under oath. Gigaba, who was finance minister between March 2017 and February 2018, has denied any […]

DAR ES SALAAM – Tanzania released two staff members of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday, a day after they were detained and their passports seized, the South African Foreign Ministry said. Tanzanian Immigration Department spokesman Ali Mtanda said Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo were arrested for violating the terms of […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Public Protector, said on Thursday that it was investigating Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, a close ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa, for allegedly abusing his powers during his time as finance minister. The watchdog said it was looking into allegations that Gordhan wrongly approved an early retirement package […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will hold parliamentary elections sometime between May 7 and August 5 next year, the Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson announced on Wednesday… increasing the likelihood that the vote will be in May, which is President Cyril Ramaphosa’s preference. A voter registration weekend will be held in January. The commission briefed the media […]

Next year, South Africans will go to the polls in the National Elections to have their say in the country’s future. Most South Africans abroad still care passionately about their country and their loved ones back home, and while they may have many different reasons for being overseas, they still deserve to be able to […]

JUBA  – Retired South African Colonel William Endley was released from prison in South Sudan on Friday, with his face showing the pure joy – and relief – to have escaped the death sentence he was given earlier this year. Endley was one of two associates of rebel leader Riek Machar whom South Sudan freed […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired the suspended head of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Tom Moyane, the Business Day newspaper reported on Thursday, citing president spokeswoman Khusela Diko. Judge Robert Nugent, who is heading an inquiry into Moyane, had recommended the suspended tax chief should be removed from office for […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africans overwhelmingly support changing the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation, parliament said on Thursday, announcing the findings of a draft report that followed public hearings on the issue. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress has made the acceleration of land redistribution a key issue ahead of 2019 […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba should be disciplined for lying under oath about the wealthy Oppenheimer family’s attempt to open a private airport immigration facility, the country’s official anti-corruption watchdog – the Public Protector – said on Wednesday. This is the latest setback for Gigaba, who said on Sunday that he […]

Investigations by Werksmans Attorneys on mismanagement at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) for the 2014/15 financial year have raised more red flags about security at the beleaguered state-owned entity. The leaked reports substantiate previous investigations by the Public Protector, Auditor General and National Treasury. They reveal that hundreds of millions of rands […]

CAPE TOWN – South African former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk was discharged from a three-night hospital stay after recovering from a lung ailment, his foundation said on Monday. De Klerk, 82, was hospitalised over the weekend for treatment of pneumothorax, “an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between […]

It is common cause that the performance of South Africa’s government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), has been worse than abysmal. Under former President Jacob Zuma, ANC functionaries pillaged numerous institutions of state. They enabled state owned institutions to be looted, mismanaged the provision of basic services and presided over an alarming downward […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Sunday that efforts to clean up corruption in state-owned companies (SOCs) faced “dangerous” resistance which threatened the country’s sovereignty… and hinted that the Gupta family is behind this resistance. Gordhan, a former finance minister, has been tasked by President Cyril Ramaphosa with cleaning up […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s former finance minister Malusi Gigaba said on Sunday a private video was leaked after his phone was hacked, and he had faced blackmail threats over it when he headed the Treasury. Gigaba, now Home Affairs minister (again), was thrust into the finance post in March last year after former President Jacob […]

JOHANNESBURG – Former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk has been hospitalised for a lung condition, but is recovering and is expected to be discharged next week, his foundation said on Saturday. De Klerk, 82, South Africa’s most recent white president, became Nobel laureate jointly with his successor, Nelson Mandela, […]

Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma has three main pieces of advice for South Africa: improve the education system, invest in entrepreneurs and ensure clean governance. Speaking at the inaugural South Africa Investment Conference business dinner on Friday night, Ma said for any country to develop it has to pay attention to those three elements. Ma […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa used an investment summit on Friday to reassure investors that his government was committed to protecting property rights as it pursues plans to accelerate the pace of land redistribution. “We are committed as government to pursuing a comprehensive approach to land and agrarian reform which ensures transformation, […]

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s parliament has approved senior diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president, proceedings on state television showed, cementing another shift in the country’s political system from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Sahle-Work is at present U.N. under-secretary-general and special representative of the secretary general to the African Union. She replaces […]