Polls predict ANC likely to lose parliamentary majority, due to high unemployment and wealth inequality
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the country’s multicoloured flag.
Any sense of celebration on the momentous anniversary was however set against a growing discontent with the current government.
Continue reading...Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula resigned amid accusations she solicited bribes when she was defence minister
South Africa’s former parliament speaker has been charged with corruption and money laundering, in the latest scandal to hit the governing African National Congress (ANC) party before elections in May.
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who resigned from her post as speaker on Wednesday, appeared before a court in Pretoria after she handed herself in to police and was formally detained.
Continue reading...Only survivor after vehicle falls 50 metres and catches fire is eight-year-old who was taken to hospital with serious injuries
An eight-year-old child was the sole survivor after a bus carrying 46 people fell 50 metres from a bridge in South Africa into a ravine and caught fire.
The child, who has not been named, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, the transport ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
Continue reading...Dublin joins South Africa’s case in the international court of justice, arguing that stopping delivery of essentials may constitute ‘genocidal intent’
Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel.
The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula denies allegations she took bribes over three years while defence minister
South African prosecutors said on Monday they intended to charge the parliamentary speaker with corruption, alleging she took $135,000 (£107,000) and a wig in bribes over a three-year period while she was defence minister.
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the speaker of the National Assembly, has not been arrested or charged. The prosecutors spoke at a court hearing over her claims that authorities hadn’t properly informed her of allegations or followed correct procedure.
Continue reading...Attack on juvenile is thought to be first known time a lone orca has hunted down a great white
It is a smash and grab that has stunned scientists: in less than two minutes, a killer whale attacked and consumed a great white shark before swimming off with the victim’s liver in its mouth.
Experts say the event off the coast of Mossel Bay in South Africa offers new insights into the predatory behaviour of orcas.
Continue reading...Animal welfare groups say smell from the build-up of faeces and ammonia on the ship are indicative of the conditions animals endure
Authorities in Cape Town have launched an investigation after a foul stench swept over the South African city.
Officials inspected sewage facilities for leaks and an environmental health team was activated before the source of the smell was discovered: a ship docked in the harbour carrying 19,000 live cattle from Brazil to Iraq.
Continue reading...Johannesburg-based Amplats says one in five jobs will be lost in South Africa amid plunge in profits
The platinum arm of Anglo American is to cut 3,700 jobs in South Africa as the British mining company attempts to improve performance in the troubled division.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Monday it aimed to cut jobs after a sharp drop in platinum metal prices, which had led to a collapse in profits last year.
Continue reading...First prime minister after independence from South Africa went on to become third president in 2014 and won re-election in 2019
Namibia’s president, Hage Geingob, died early on Sunday in a hospital in the capital, Windhoek, the presidential office said in a statement. He was 82.
First elected president in 2014, Geingob was Namibia’s longest serving prime minister and third president. Namibia is to hold presidential and national assembly elections towards the end of the year.
Continue reading...Dean Carelse, a South African, was convicted in Queensland and left the country after being refused a visa before getting a job at Butlin’s in England
A convicted pedophile who was deported from Australia was working as a lifeguard at a holiday camp in the UK until his background was uncovered by reporters.
Dean Carelse, 43, was convicted in 2022 of more than 20 offences including indecent treatment of a child under 16, possessing child exploitation material and grooming a child under 16.
Continue reading...Senior ministers including Yoav Gallant condemn ruling while Palestinians dismayed it did not go further
Israeli officials have accused the international court of justice of antisemitic bias and expressed dismay that a South African case alleging that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide was not thrown out altogether, after the court issued an emergency interim ruling.
The ruling on Friday said Israel must take “all measures in its power” to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip but stopped short of calling for a full ceasefire. It ordered six so-called provisional measures to be implemented to protect Palestinians, including orders for Israel to prevent death and destruction and enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to the strip’s trapped population.
Continue reading...Judges in The Hague to decide on whether to order Israel to end its military campaign against Hamas
The international court of justice in The Hague is set to give a preliminary ruling on Friday in South Africa’s case alleging genocide by Israel in Gaza, as the world watches to see whether the judges will order a ceasefire.
At a two-day hearing this month, South Africa asked the court to issue provisional measures requiring Israel to immediately end its military campaign in Gaza, which began after the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Continue reading...Suspect had told inquiry into Johannesburg apartment fire that he started blaze last year to burn a body
A man who confessed to starting a deadly fire at an apartment building in one of South Africa’s worst disasters has been charged with 76 counts of murder and 86 counts of attempted murder.
The suspect was also charged with arson and was ordered to be kept in police custody until a bail hearing next month. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison. South Africa has no death penalty.
Continue reading...South Africa’s foreign minister will fly to The Hague for the ruling in a possible sign of Pretoria’s confidence in its case
South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, is flying to The Hague to be present on Friday when the international court of justice (ICJ) delivers its highly anticipated verdict on South Africa’s request for an interim ruling in its genocide case against Israel.
The ruling, if granted, would probably take the form of an order to Israel to announce a ceasefire in Gaza and allow more UN humanitarian aid into the country.
Continue reading...Police arrest 29-year-old after he tells tower block fire inquiry he was trying to dispose of body of man he had strangled
Police in South Africa have arrested a man who claimed responsibility for starting a fire that killed 76 people last year, after he said he ignited the blaze while trying to dispose of the body of a man he had strangled.
The shocking and unexpected confession came when the man was testifying at an inquiry into the causes of the fire in August at an apartment building in downtown Johannesburg, which was one of South Africa’s worst disasters.
Continue reading...Israeli legal team calls South African accusation of genocidal acts in Gaza ‘a partial and deeply flawed picture’
Israel has accused South Africa of presenting a “profoundly distorted” view of hostilities, “barely distinguishable” from that of Hamas, as it presented its defence at the international court of justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide.
A day after South Africa argued that it had committed genocidal acts in Gaza with intent from “the highest levels of state”, Israel said on Friday that was a “partial and deeply flawed picture”.
Continue reading...International Court of Justice will hear complaint brought by South Africa, which is asking for urgent ‘provisional measures’
A legal hearing into the war in Gaza opens in The Hague on Thursday as the international court of justice (ICJ) hears arguments alleging that Israel is committing genocide in the territory.
South Africa, which has brought the case, is asking the UN court to act urgently “to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the genocide convention, which continues to be violated with impunity”.
Continue reading...Experts say submission to international court of justice on Myanmar six weeks ago makes stance ‘wholly disingenuous’
The UK is facing accusations of double standards after formally submitting detailed legal arguments to the international court of justice in The Hague six weeks ago to support claims that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya ethnic group through its mass mistreatment of children and systematically depriving people of their homes and food.
The UK made its 21-page “declaration of intervention” jointly with five other countries, but it is not supporting South Africa as it prepares to try to convince the ICJ on Thursday that Israel is at risk of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
Continue reading...Former South African Paralympic and Olympic athlete released after serving nine years for murder of model in 2013
Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June, has said the family “are the ones serving a life sentence” after Oscar Pistorius was released from prison on parole.
Pistorius left prison on Friday in the South African capital, Pretoria, after serving nine years for murdering Steenkamp, who was his girlfriend, in a crime that shocked the world.
Continue reading...Israel’s decision to defend itself at the international court of justice will make it harder for it to brush aside any adverse finding
South Africa’s request for an interim measure by the international court of justice to prevent Israel from committing acts of potential genocide – primarily by calling for a halt to combat operations – has suddenly taken on an urgency and relevance that seemed implausible a fortnight ago.
Crack legal teams are being assembled, countries are issuing statements in support of South Africa, and Israel has said it will defend itself in court, reversing a decades-old policy of boycotting the UN’s top court and its 15 elected judges.
Continue reading...