SOUTH AFRICANS AND OTHERS TAKE STOCK AMID VIOLENCE
6 SEPTEMBER 2019 (SOURCE: VOA) – South Africa has begun assessing the toll of the week’s anti-immigrant violence, which, according to authorities, has claimed 10 lives, injured scores more, incited fear, hobbled business activity, and strained relations with other African countries. In a televised address Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa denounced the attacks that began Sunday,…
SOUTH AFRICA’S LAND REFORM REPORT: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCERNS
By Donnelly McCleland (with contribution from Hannes Bosman) 25 years into South Africa’s democracy, land reform in the country seems to be on the brink of commencement. The final report of a Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform was released and offers answers about crucial aspects of a land reform issue that has its roots…
ARMY DEPLOYED IN GANG-HIT CAPE TOWN NEIGHBOURHOODS
By Cherolyn Amery On Thursday afternoon [18 July], residents of gang-hit Cape Town neighbourhoods cheered and applauded from the pavement and leant out of the windows of their homes to record videos on their mobile phones as armoured military vehicles drove by in a long convoy. [The week before], Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that…
ANC WINS SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTION BUT WITH SMALLER MAJORITY
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) won South Africa’s parliamentary elections with 57.5 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said, announcing the official results. The win assured a sixth straight term in power for the ANC. But the result was the worst-ever electoral showing for the party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of…
13 DEAD IN KZN CHURCH COLLAPSE AS HEAVY STORMS LASH THE PROVINCE
19 APRIL 2019 (SOURCE: THE SOWETAN) – Thirteen people died and 16 were injured when a church roof collapsed in northern KwaZulu-Natal as heavy storms lashed the province on Thursday night. According to Jonty Ndlazi, a senior manager at the KZN disaster management centre, a Pentecostal church building collapsed during a “Passover session”. The building is in…
ANC WAR HOAX
There is currently a video doing the rounds on social media containing unsubstantiated reports that the ANC (African National Congress) is preparing for war (https://youtu.be/bSWXcqEeHv4). The YouTube Channel, Loving Life, with its spokesperson, Scott Balson, warns the South African public to stock up with supplies as the nation is potentially facing a “STATE OF EMERGENCY”. …
TITO MBOWENI APPOINTED NEW FINANCE MINISTER
By Donnelly McCleland Nhlanhla Nene’s resignation has been accepted, [South African] president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday [9 October] and announced the appointment of Tito Mboweni as the new finance minister. In a statement late on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Ramaphosa said: “Minister Nene this morning submitted a letter of resignation to me in which he…
STRUGGLE LEADER WINNIE MANDELA DIES AGE 81
03 APRIL 2018 – South African anti-apartheid campaigner and former first lady Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died aged 81. She and her former husband Nelson Mandela, who were both jailed, were a symbol of the country’s anti-apartheid struggle for three decades. However, in later years her reputation became tainted legally and politically. Crowds of mourners and political…