AfriForum was victorious in the Northern Gauteng High Court on Monday against alleged illegal land invaders and the South African Police Service (SAPS). The victory follows an urgent application to force the SAPS to remove land invaders who had apparently illegally occupied land in the De Wildt area in the North West. AfriForum said in […]

Legal challenges to a brutal clampdown on dissent by Zimbabwe’s government were set in motion on Monday, as fears that the country is veering back towards authoritarian rule drove some leaders of the main opposition party into hiding. The fragile state of Zimbabwe’s economy was also in focus as President Emmerson Mnangagwa headed home early […]

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has extended her condolences and those of the department to the family and friends of Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo. Kumalo, 71, was a former Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations. He reportedly died peacefully in his sleep at home on Sunday. Sisulu said Kumalo has left […]

Public hearings into allegations of impropriety at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) get underway in Tshwane this morning. Announced in October 2018 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry is investigating allegations of impropriety following reports of poor governance and precarious investment processes. The PIC is the only investment management company in South […]

South Africa turned down a request from its southern African neighbour Zimbabwe for a $1.2 billion loan in December, a spokesman for the finance ministry said on Monday. “South Africa doesn’t have that kind of money,” National Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane said. Zimbabwean officials were not immediately available for comment. Zimbabwe was hit by anti-government […]

Congo’s political standoff deepened on Sunday after the top court backed the contested presidential election victory of Felix Tshisekedi, then his main rival rejected the ruling, called for protests and declared himself leader. As Tshisekedi’s supporters celebrated the ruling in the streets of Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, runner-up Martin Fayulu said the decision had […]

BAMAKO – Ten U.N. peacekeepers were killed and several were wounded while repelling an attack by armed assailants near a village in northern Mali on Sunday, the West African nation’s U.N. mission said. The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear. U.N. peacekeeping and French forces are stationed in northern Mali to combat well-armed […]

HARARE – A crackdown last week on protests in Zimbabwe is a foretaste of how the government will respond to future unrest, the president’s spokesperson said, fuelling concerns that the country is reverting to authoritarian rule. Police claim three people died during protests over fuel price hikes in Harare’s capital and second city Bulawayo that […]

South African grain and red meat farmers are bracing for hard times after dry weather conditions and an outbreak of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease suspended meat exports, officials said on Friday. Maize prices have climbed amid concerns that dry conditions in the main part of South Africa’s maize belt have delayed crop […]

PRETORIA – Saudi Arabia plans to build an oil refinery and a petrochemicals plant in South Africa as part of $10 billion of investments in the country, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Friday. In comments following a meeting with South Africa’s energy minister Jeff Radebe in Pretoria, Al-Falih said Saudi oil would be […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to the anti-apartheid activist and journalist Hugh Lewin, describing him as a valiant soldier who fought fearlessly for human rights and justice. The acclaimed author, who was 79-years-old, passed away at his home on Wednesday. Lewin worked as a journalist at the Natal Witness, Drum Magazine and the Golden […]

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s office has dismissed Angelo Agrizzi’s claim that the Minister was among the directors of Dyambu Holdings – the company that gave birth to Bosasa. “This is incorrect and false,” said spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya. Agrizzi, who is the former Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Bosasa, made the claim at […]

NAIROBI – Dual South African and British citizen, Luke Potter, was among the 14 people killed by Somali militants in a raid on a posh hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday. He died, along with an American who had survived the 9/11 attacks and two best friends from Kenya who worked to help Somalia. Since […]

The teacher who was suspended last week – after a photo she took of a Grade R class (with white and black learners sitting at different tables) went viral – spoke to the press today, reading out a prepared statement. Watch video below. Choking back tears, she said: I am Elana Barkhuizen, I am a […]

HARARE – Soldiers patrolled Zimbabwe city streets on Tuesday and confrontations with angry civilians threatened to boil over, as the government offered public workers more money a day after protests over a disintegrating economy turned deadly. Monday’s unrest, in which several people died, followed sharp hikes in fuel prices decreed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The […]

Brand South Africa says it has noted the areas of concern expressed in the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report, which indicates that South Africa’s real GDP growth will expand by 1.3% in 2019. “While the South African GDP outlook has seen a downward revision, this happens in a global context where the World Bank […]

As South Africa heads for the polls in a few months time in its sixth democratic election, political party electioneering has begun in earnest. President Cyril Ramaphosa kick started the governing African National Congress’s (ANC’s) election campaign in his January 8th Statement celebrating 107 years since the birth of the liberation movement. This campaign continued […]

DURBAN, South Africa – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to create more jobs, boost economic growth and address racial inequalities at a rally on Saturday to launch the ruling party’s parliamentary election campaign. The vote, expected in May, will be a test of whether Ramaphosa has been able to reverse a decline in support […]

Coming Up on Carte Blanche this week on Sunday 13 Jan in South Africa, and available to stream from Tues 15 Jan for South Africans abroad. (14-day Free Trial). Eskom Lights Out Amid debts of R480-billion, coal supply constraints, hundreds of corruption charges and management instability, Eskom is now chopping jobs to save money. The power utility limps […]

JOHANNESBURG – State-run South African airline SA Express, which has seen several executives suspended over corruption allegations, hopes to break even by the end of the financial year, its spokesman said in a radio interview on Friday. He was speaking ahead of the relaunch of the airline’s flights from Cape Town to Bloemfontein, after its […]

AfriForum’s drone has helped the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the arrest of three suspects in Bloemfontein. AfriForum said in a press statement on Thursday that the Bloemfontein Crime Intelligence had contacted them on 8 January 2019 to request the use of the organisation’s drone. The drone was needed for aerial surveillance of a house, in […]

South Africa’s opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) claims that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has stolen their election slogan “One South Africa For All”. In a statement Wednesday evening, DA Spokesperson Solly Malatsi said: “The DA notes the fact that the ANC has stolen our election slogan: “One South Africa for All’ which we […]

South Africans across the country have been outraged by a photo that’s gone viral showing black learners in a Grade R classroom at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke, in the North West, sitting at a separate table to the white learners. One mother told TimesLive that the teacher had sent the photo on a WhatsApp group and “all […]

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation, Beauty Dlulane, has described as “unfortunate” the comments attributed to Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi regarding quotas in sports. In an interview with a news agency in Japan, during his visit to the country to promote an electronics company, Kolisi said of Nelson Mandela: “I don’t […]

DAKAR – Egypt will host the 2019 African Nations Cup finals, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed after a meeting of their executive committee in Dakar on Tuesday. They will stage the expanded 24-team event in June-July after initial hosts Cameroon were stripped of the tournament last month over concerns at the slow pace […]