Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has passed away at the age of 80. The Kofi Annan Foundation released the following statement about Ghana’s world famous and much-loved humanitarian: It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Members of South Africa’s AMCU mining union are ready to strike for a year if necessary and would bring the platinum belt to a standstill if Impala Platinum carries out plans to cut up to 13,400 jobs, the union’s president said on Thursday. Joseph Mathunjwa, who led a five-month strike in 2014, […]

JOHANNESBURG – The leader of South Africa’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, has introduced a bill to nationalise the central bank, parliament said late on Thursday. The South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill would “make the state the sole holder of the shares in the bank” and “provide for the appointment of certain board […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the “frightening numbers” released yesterday, of the ratio of police to people in the Western Cape, further reinforces their call for the government to please deploy the army to assist the severely understaffed police stations, particularly in vulnerable areas where crime is spirally even more out of control. The Western […]

JOHANNESBURG – The chief executive of South Africa’s Transnet and two other senior officials have been told they will be suspended, the chairman of the state-owned logistics utility said on Wednesday, without giving a reason for the possible suspensions… although it follows allegations of corruption worth billions. Popo Molefe told talk radio station 702 that […]

JOHANNESBURG – A bill that would toughen anti-smoking legislation in South Africa has been submitted to parliament for review by lawmakers, a health ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, as a campaign against the proposed changes intensifies. The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill would restrict smoking in public places, introduce plain packaging, […]

JOHANNESBURG – The chairman of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, was quoted as saying the state should take without compensation land from those who own more than 12,000 hectares, comments that sent the rand weaker.   More than two decades after the end of apartheid, white people still own most of South […]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acted swiftly and appointed Dr Silas Ramaite as Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), following yesterday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court on the “invalid” appointment of Adv. Shaun Abrahams. ConCourt declared Abrahams’ appointment as invalid and “unconstitutional” following the suspicious removal of his predecessor, Mxolisi Nxasana, with a […]

Former policeman Mark Minnie, who co-authored the controversial expose on Magnus Malan, has been found dead on a friend’s smallholding just outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, according to local reports. Well known writer Marianne Thamm, who penned the foreword to the book, tweeted this morning: “Devastated by the news that Mark […]

South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled Monday morning that the appointment of National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Shaun Abrahams, was “constitutionally invalid”, upholding a decision by the lower court that the NDPP boss had been improperly appointed after former President Jacob Zuma removed his predecessor, Mxolisi Nxasana. Abrahams and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) […]

The South African Constitutional Court is expected to rule this morning on whether the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Shaun Abrahams, should vacate his position. Last year, the North Gauteng High Court declared that former President Jacob Zuma acted unconstitutionally in terminating former prosecutions boss Mxolisi Nxasana and replacing him with Abrahams. The application […]

South African independent business organisation, Sakeliga says it is studying a list leaked to AfriForum of 195 properties identified for expropriation without compensation. Sakeliga says it will in the meantime continue with its PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) application to obtain the list of 139 properties supposedly identified as “expropriation targets” by the […]

Afriforum has today published a list on its website of farms that are apparently identified by the South African government to be expropriated without compensation in the weeks to come. This follows the ruling ANC’s announcement earlier in the week that the party had identified 139 farms for this purpose. The list of farms was […]

Ever since South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week that the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has resolved to make an amendment to the constitution to explicitly allow for conditional expropriation of land without compensation, tensions have run high in the country. While Ramaphosa was very clear that the reforms will NOT […]

Hell hath no fury like a vested interest threatened… writes Magnus Heystek. It’s a common lament that when an investment scheme collapses the victims always try to find someone to blame. How often have we heard the mournful cry of thousands of investors, now badly out of pocket and in some cases penniless, that “someone should […]

The African National Congress (ANC) says it has learned with “shock” of the alleged, attempted assassination of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro. “The abhorrent attack reportedly happened as President Madura was delivering a keynote address on the 81st anniversary of the National Bolivarian Guard. “At least two explosions in aerial devices (drones) reportedly […]

Mmusi Maimane, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, has announced that the DA and Patricia de Lille have reached a mutual agreement which resolves the question of the leadership of the DA government in Cape Town. The agreement is that De Lille has agreed to officially resign as the mayor of Cape Town, effective 31 October […]

Summerwood Primary School, a well-resourced government school in Port Elizabeth’s Summerstrand suburb, failed to honour a netball match at John Masiza Primary in Walmer Township on 30 July, with coaches and parents citing safety concerns. In a leaked Whatsapp group conversation between parents and the school — which is in GroundUp’s possession — the grade […]

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwean riot police chased away journalists waiting for a news conference by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa on Friday, shouting “out, out,” a Reuters witness said. Chamisa has questioned the outcome of Monday’s presidential election, in which he lost out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa (75) from the ruling Zanu-PF party. According to Reuters, […]

The South African medical field continues to perform pioneering surgeries… with this week’s Carte Blanche highlighting a brain surgery technique that’s changing lives. This week’s episode also looks at how South Africans are facing a challenging year! The programme investigated the knock-on effects of the core increases in our tough economy… with buying power slashed […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has on Friday urged all Zimbabweans to accept the election of Emmerson Mnangagwa (75) as president, after polls – which began peacefully – turned to violence in the aftermath, and led to the tragic death of six people. The South African Presidency said in a statement: “President Ramaphosa has appealed […]

HARARE – Both leading contestants in Zimbabwe’s disputed presidential election indicated they had won on Thursday as a tense nation awaited official results three days after voting… however by Thursday evening current President Emmerson Mnangagwa was well ahead. International observers urged the electoral commission to release the tally as soon as possible to avoid further […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s struggling state-owned power firm Eskom offered investors up to $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Separately, Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said Eskom was planning a foreign bond sale and that the firm’s chief executive and treasury team were currently on a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s white farmers on Wednesday criticised the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) decision to endorse constitutional changes to allow the state to seize land without compensation, saying the move would be “catastrophic”. However, others have pointed out that President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear there will be “no Zimbabwe-style land seizures”, […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has handed over the oversight of South African Airways (SAA) to his close ally, Pravin Gordhan, which many will see as a step in the right direction for the national airline. Ramaphosa on Wednesday transferred the responsibility of SAA from the Finance Ministry to the Public Enterprises Ministry, which is led by […]