So far the tenure of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, his deputy Fikile Mbalula and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele, has been characterised by rhetorical bombast and ham-fisted populism. With deadly results. Their “shoot-to-kill” comments have led to the murder of at least two innocents. This week they dusted off apartheid-era legislation to subpoena e.tv’s news editor ...
Not often is an intelligent man reduced to such incoherence as was ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe this week when he claimed there was nothing wrong with the ANC benefiting from multibillion-rand contracts in Eskom’s new-build programme. He was defending the indefensible and he knew it, since it is a point long conceded by his ...
South Africans might be hoping that the three-day cabinet lekgotla which wrapped up yesterday gives rise to a fresh commitment to addressing the many challenges facing the country. These range from what is now an obvious crisis in education to the failure of service delivery, with quite a lot in between. President Jacob Zuma’s well-intentioned ...
The ANC wants ordinary South Africans to help select ruling-party candidates for national, provincial and municipal legislatures, and says its own MPs must ask their cabinet colleagues tough questions. These drastic proposals were contained in a paper presented by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the ANC national executive committee lekgotla – an expanded meeting – ...
ANC Youth League President Julius Malema says he has made peace with tripartite alliance members following his heckling by SACP officials in Polokwane last December. Malema was addressing students at the Free State University. Malema says differences in opinion do not mean there is a crisis in the alliance. He says there should be robust ...
Do not be afraid to confront issues of race, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema told Free State students on Friday. “It is a most sensitive issue; while you speak against it you are declared a racist. If you are not strong, you will retreat,” he said in Bloemfontein. Mr Malema was speaking at the ...
Mosiuoa Lekota’s supporters in the Cope Youth Movement say they will defy Monday’s deadline for comments on a controversial discussion document. The “Cope in 2010: The Youth Perspective” document, written by the youth movement’s national secretary, Malusi Booi, was leaked last week. The document calls for Cope’s Central Committee to disband. It also proposes that ...
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) says it has not begun any discussion around leadership succession in the ANC (African National Congress), denying reports it was working on a plan to stem the ascendance of the left in the party. In a statement released at the weekend by the ANCYL, the youth league said it would ...
A media briefing following the ANC’s lekgotla will take place on Monday morning in Johannesburg, a spokesperson said. The four-day conference to discuss the government’s programme for the year ahead would conclude on Sunday, a day earlier than expected, Ishmael Mnisi said. The lekgotla is held annually to develop a programme from the January 8 ...
African diplomats descended on Burkina Faso on Saturday to ensure a deal is sealed calling for Guinea’s injured leader to step down and for his country to hold democratic elections within six months. Arriving in Ouagadougou, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf hailed the accord and said that she felt compelled to travel there because instability in ...
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met Sunday in Cairo with Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union commission, who is currently visiting Egypt. The spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Hossam Zaki told reporters on Sunday that Aboul Gheit discussed with Ping all matters relating to the next African Union summit in Addis Ababa ...
With the December 25th incident, when a young Nigeria wanted to blow up a US airliner, carrying 300 passengers to Detroit, almost any measure can be consider necessary to discourage a similar evil act. In one of their reactions, the United States and some European countries have, in a new safety measure, tightened up security ...
‘All whistleblowers will be protected. Let us be bold for one day. You will fear no one, instead they will fear you.” This was the assurance of Richard Baloyi, the Minister of Public Service and Administration, in Pretoria. He was reacting to questions on the safety of whistleblowers, especially within Government Departments. “We are ready ...
Deputy Correctional Services Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize has splashed out on a Porsche Cayenne that cost nearly R760 000, while her boss, Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has splurged on a Lexus LS 460 that cost about R970 000. The combined cost to the department-which overspent its budget by R500 million in the last financial year – was ...
Helen Zille, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, gives President Jacob Zuma nine out ten for charm, but only one out of ten for his defence of the constitution. So his overall rating in the eyes of the DA is three out of ten. It’s that time of the year when arbitrary judgments are made ...
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema stormed out of the SA Communist Party’s special congress after he was booed by delegates. He was later followed by ANC National Executive Committee Member Tony Yengeni, who also left the University of Limpopo hall in a huff. Delegates at the congress in Polokwane booed Mr Malema and ANC ...
Democratic Alliance leader and Western Province Premier Helen Zille on Friday accused the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) of shielding incompetent teachers at the expense of quality education. Ms Zille wrote in her weekly newsletter that the DA would push ahead with plans to make all teachers in the Western Cape sign performance contracts, ...
The world’s heads of state gathering in Denmark for the climate change summit next week probably have little more than the effects of changing weather patterns on the mind. But when Danish Queen Margrethe II has her gala dinner on Thursday night, she and her closest dinner guests will have much to talk about. Purely ...
Namibia’s longtime ruling party may see its grip on this desert nation weakened in elections that began Friday, with a challenge from a new breakaway party hoping to attract voters dissatisfied with corruption and leadership scandals. President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is seeking a second five-year term, was among the first to vote when polls opened in ...
President Jacob Zuma uttered the words, but South Africans have long known the truth. “We are not yet winning this battle. If we are to stop the progress of this disease through our society, we will need to pursue extraordinary measures,” he told MPs at the end of October. Everyone knew the importance of ...
The Nigerian President is still in Saudi Arabian hospital with everything between hope and despair spawning tension in the Nigerian media. The fear of many is that a bigger batter is behind the corner. “Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered that the succession struggle is being fuelled, because some of those who followed the president to Saudi Arabia ...
President Jacob Zuma stunned opposition parties and legal commentators when he named the Justice Department’s former Director-General Menzi Simelane as National Director of Public Prosecutions. This means that Mr Simelane will now succeed Adv Vusi Pikoli – the man he helped push out – as the Head of the National Prosecuting Authority. Opposition parties on ...
There is no need for the African National Congress to be protected from the South African Communist Party, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday. “We must [educate] the younger generation that there is no revolutionary task of protecting the ANC from Communists,” Mr Mantashe said at a memorial service for anti-apartheid activist Chris Dlamini ...
A conference to look at the future of Sudan against the backdrop of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) instituted in 2005 started on Wednesday in the South African capital of Pretoria. According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the International Sudan Studies Conference has been organised and coordinated by the Centre of African ...
The SA Zionist Federation rejects with utter contempt the statement by the South African Government which condemns Israel’s “settlement activities” in East Jerusalem and “Israel’s campaign to evict and displace the original Palestinian residents from the City”, and which calls on the Israeli Government to “cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced removals ...
Zimbabwe’s partners in the coalition Government, the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF, were due to meet in Harare ON Monday for make-or-break negotiations. Regional leaders have given the leaders until 5 December to resolve the crisis. President Jacob Zuma is expected to visit Zimbabwe on 6 December to assess whether they have resolved the ...
A letter from Nelson Mandela to Denis Sassou Nguesso has stalled any possible legal action over the Congolese president’s controversial book, while Minister for Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale’s alleged upcoming visit to Congo-Brazzaville this coming Friday is expected to put an end to the weeks-old diplomatic spat. The Sunday Independent understands Madiba wrote to Sassou ...
Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), visited Accra, October 31 – November 2, 2009. Ms. Sayeh met with President Atta Mills and his senior economic team to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing Ghana. She also exchanged views with representatives of civil society on recent changes in ...
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission headed by Atish Ghosh visited Mauritius during October 19-31, 2009 to conduct Article IV consultation with the authorities. The mission’s work focused on the impact of the global financial crisis on the Mauritian economy and the associated policy response. The mission met with Prime Minister Dr. The Honorable Navinchandra ...
This morning the president of the republic of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, meets with the speakers of all the associations who promoted the antiracist campaign in Italy. Among them the G2 – seconde generazioni network of daughters and sons of immigrants parents in Italy. The representatives of all organisations will give to Napolitano all the 80 thousand ...
