Politics a Risk to South African Recovery

Continued political instability that hurt investor confidence and saw South Africa’s economy expand at the slowest rate since 2009 last year could threaten a recovery in 2017, economists said. Gross domestic product expanded 0.3 percent last year, the statistics office said in a report released on Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria.

South Africa anti-immigrant protests erupt in capital

Police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon Friday as the latest wave of anti-immigrant protests broke out in South Africa’s capital, while President Jacob Zuma condemned anti-foreigner violence and appealed for calm. “We don’t have hate! We don’t have hate!” one foreign man shouted in video posted by local broadcaster eNCA.

South Africa anti-immigrant protests erupt in capital

Police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon Friday as the latest wave of anti-immigrant protests broke out in South Africa’s capital, while President Jacob Zuma condemned anti-foreigner violence and appealed for calm. “We don’t have hate! We don’t have hate!” one foreign man shouted in video posted by local broadcaster eNCA.

At least 94 psychiatric patients died of negligence in South Africa last year

At least 94 psychiatric patients died of negligence in South Africa last year after they were moved from a licensed home to unregistered facilities, the health ombudsman said on Wednesday, sparking public outrage. About 1,300 psychiatric patients were moved from a unit of the Life Healthcare Group to charities during last year in a cost-cutting bid by the health department in Gauteng province, the commercial hub where Johannesburg and Pretoria are located.

South Africa Scrambles as $10.3 Billion in Welfare Threatened

South Africa’s government, set to miss a deadline to appoint a new distributor of welfare grants worth about $10.3 billion a year to more than 17 million people, asked aspirant bidders to an information session as the end of a contract with Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. looms. The South African Social Security Agency, which oversees the monthly payment system, took the first step toward appointing a new distributor at the session in Pretoria on Jan. 13. It’s likely to take several more months to choose a winner, which will then have to put the necessary payment systems in place.

.com | EXCLUSIVE: DRC nationals in SA vow to ‘remove envoy from Pretoria office’

Democratic Republic of Congo nationals living in South Africa are threatening to take things into their own hands and remove their ambassador in Pretoria from office should President Joseph Kabila not step down on Monday. Ilunga Mpanga Kazadi, a Gauteng-based Congolese community leader, told News24 “we will go to the ambassador on Tuesday and ask him to hand over his credentials, and then he must go”.