Category Archives: South Africa

Trump says US will boycott G20 summit in South Africa, citing treatment of white farmers

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Administration has long accused South Africa of allowing white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked

Donald Trump said Friday that no US government officials would be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.

The US president had already announced he would not attend the annual summit for heads of state from the globe’s leading and emerging economies. JD Vance had been scheduled to attend in Trump’s place, but a person familiar with Vance’s plans who was granted anonymity to talk about his schedule said Vance would no longer travel there for the summit.

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World must deny Israel ‘tools of genocide’, says growing alliance of activist states

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New York meeting of Hague Group warns of shared responsibility to prevent genocide and proposes steps to isolate Israel

The international community has a legal and moral duty to deny Israel “the tools of genocide”, the Malaysian foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, said at a meeting in New York of the Hague Group, the growing alliance of countries dedicated to coordinating practical economic and legal steps to isolate Israel over the war in Gaza.

The group, co-chaired by South Africa and Columbia, has become a central exchange for practical steps to try to pressure Israel, including stepping up collective action at ports and airports to prevent the transfer of weapons and goods to Israel, including dual-use heavy machinery.

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Lesotho villagers complain of damage from water project backed by African Development Bank

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About 1,600 people file complaint to AfDB demanding transparency over forced relocations and compensation

Eighteen rural communities in Lesotho have filed a complaint with the African Development Bank (AfDB) over its funding of a multibillion-pound water project whose construction process they claim has ruined fields, polluted water sources and damaged homes.

About 1,600 people living in the villages in Mokhotlong district in north-east Lesotho are demanding transparency over planned forced relocations and compensation they say they have not been consulted on.

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Six shot dead in two days as Cape Town reels from gang violence

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Minister admits there is ‘no proper plan’ to tackle violent crime in divided city that pulls in 2.4 million visitors

Six people have been shot dead in two days in a crime-plagued area of Cape Town, adding to the death toll in a city already reeling from the scourge of gang-related violence.

At 11.30pm on Monday, two women, aged 19 and 25, were killed and a 24-year-old woman injured in a shooting in Wallacedene, an informal settlement on Cape Town’s north-eastern edge, South African police said. About 10 minutes later, two other women in their 20s were killed by gunshots to the head in a bedroom in the same area, with police saying the deaths may be linked.

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Junk food leads to more children being obese than underweight for first time

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Cheap ultra-processed food behind rise in overweight children, with one in 10 now obese globally, says Unicef

More children around the world are obese than underweight for the first time, according to a UN report that warns ultra-processed junk food is overwhelming childhood diets.

There are 188 million teenagers and school-age children with obesity – one in 10 – Unicef said, affecting health and development and bringing a risk of life-threatening diseases.

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South African minister investigated for historical racial slurs on social media

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Gayton McKenzie given deadline to apologise, undergo sensitivity training and delete posts

South Africa’s sport, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, is under investigation by the country’s human rights commission for historical social media posts containing a highly offensive racial slur, reigniting a debate about racism, identity and the lingering effects of colonialism and apartheid.

McKenzie, an anti-immigrant populist from the Coloured community with a history of stirring up controversies, was given a Wednesday evening deadline by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to issue an approved apology, undergo sensitivity training, donate to an agreed charity and delete the X posts, which were still online at the time of publication.

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Zambian president’s feud with late rival continues over funeral plans

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Family of Edgar Lungu trying to prevent repatriation of his body for state funeral presided over by his successor

A furious row is raging over whether the Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema, will preside over the funeral of his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, as the former president’s family wage a legal battle in South Africa to try to prevent his body from being repatriated.

The legal fight marks the latest twist in a feud between the two men that goes back at least a decade and has now outlasted the former president, who died in South Africa in June aged 68 while being treated for an undisclosed illness.

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US hunter reportedly killed by buffalo during expedition in South Africa

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Asher Watkins, 52, of Texas died while tracking 1.3-ton Cape buffalo on a hunting trip in the country’s Limpopo province

An American game hunter was killed by a buffalo he was stalking during a hunting expedition in South Africa over the weekend, according to multiple reports.

Asher Watkins, 52, of Texas, died on 3 August while tracking a 1.3-ton Cape buffalo in South Africa’s Limpopo province, according to a statement from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris (CV Safaris), the company that organized the hunting trip.

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‘It’s a madhouse’: US state department workers reeling after Trump’s firings

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About 3,000 workers have left the agency through firings and buyouts in a move Democrats and staff call ‘unlawful’

Workers at the US state department say firings, resignation buyouts, a proposed budget cut of 48%, and reorganization under the Trump administration has left staff with low morale and will likely have long-term impacts.

Foreign programs and services aimed towards LGBTQ+ communities, maternal and reproductive health, and minority groups have been removed or cut in place of far-right ideological policies being pursued by a 26-year-old senior adviser and Trump appointee at the agency.

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Caster Semenya calls for athletes’ rights to be put first as court rules in her favour

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ECHR rules South African runner did not have fair trial on need to lower testosterone levels to compete in women’s sport

The South African runner Caster Semenya has called for athletes’ rights to be better protected after Europe’s top human rights court ruled that she had not been given a fair trial when she contested a policy that required her to lower her testosterone levels in order to compete in women’s sport.

The decision, handed down on Thursday by the European court of human rights, was the latest twist in the two-time Olympic gold medallist’s extraordinary legal battle.

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Mourners left waiting as court orders halt to former Zambian president’s funeral

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Halt to burial in Johannesburg is latest chapter in feud Edgar Lungu had with his successor Hakainde Hichilema

The funeral of the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu has been stopped while mourners waited in a cathedral in Johannesburg, as an extraordinary feud Lungu had with his successor continues to play out after his death.

A high court judge in Pretoria ordered a halt to Lungu’s burial at the Cathedral of Christ the King in central Johannesburg on Wednesday morning after a last-minute request by Zambia’s attorney general.

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South African woman’s murder prompts anger at country’s high level of femicide

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Olorato Mongale, allegedly killed by man she went on date with, is latest victim of violence against women

A wave of anger and frustration has gripped South Africa after the murder of 30-year-old Olorato Mongale, allegedly by a man she went on a date with. It is the latest in a series of high-profile cases of violence against women and children in the country.

Friends of Mongale, a former journalist who had been studying for a master’s degree in ICT policy, raised the alarm when she stopped checking in with them while on a date in Johannesburg on 25 May. Her body was found that day.

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Weather tracker: Storms make way for summer heat in Europe

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Florence in Italy could hit 39C as hot weather sweeps continent, while parts of South Africa brace for snow

The severe thunderstorms that have been lashing parts of Europe over recent days are expected to give way to high temperatures this week. Several regions could climb to 10C (50F) above seasonal norms, with Italy braced for the full force of the heat. Florence in Tuscany is forecast to soar to a sweltering 39C on Thursday and across the weekend.

Germany, France and Belgium will also face hot weather from Wednesday, with widespread highs at least 9C above the June average. Many other parts of Europe are forecast to experience temperatures 5-7C above normal. This is the result of a high-pressure system creating a heat dome over the region, whereby sinking air compresses and warms as it descends, trapping heat near the surface.

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Dehorning rhinos reduces poaching by 80%, study finds

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Cutting off the animals’ horns more effective than traditional protection methods such as rangers and costs less, say experts

Cutting the horns off rhinos causes a large reduction in poaching, according to a new study, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti-poaching techniques used to protect the African mammals.

Poaching for horn is a significant threat to the world’s five rhino species. The substance, which is similar to human fingernails, is commonly used for traditional medicine in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Dealers in the hidden market will pay tens of thousands of dollars for the horns, which are falsely believed to be effective at treating fevers, pain and a low sex drive in traditional medicine.

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High-rise, high expectations: is Casablanca’s finance hub a model for African development?

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Morocco’s commercial centre has brought investment to the continent – but critics say it masks domestic inequality

For centuries, Casablanca was a significant trading hub for merchants from across the breadth of the Atlantic coast, given its geographical position between Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

These days, Morocco’s economic capital is merging those historical roots with a strong modern commercial identity. One such manifestation is the Casablanca Finance City (CFC) district, whose high-rise buildings stand as a symbol of the city’s dream of being a main gateway for international investment into Africa.

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Inquest into notorious apartheid-era killings opens in South Africa

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‘We want to correct the historic record’ – families of the Cradock Four, beaten and killed in 1985, seek justice 40 years on

An inquest has opened into one of the most notorious killings of South Africa’s apartheid era, with a former general denying he ordered the deaths of four men who became known as the Cradock Four.

Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto were stopped at a roadblock on 27 June 1985 by security officers and beaten, strangled with telephone wire, stabbed and shot to death.

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Presley Chweneyagae, star of Oscar-winning drama Tsotsi, dies aged 40

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South African actor gained international recognition for his role in the drama which won best foreign language film

Presley Chweneyagae, the South African actor who gained international recognition for his leading role in the 2005 film Tsotsi, which won South Africa’s first ever Oscar for best foreign language film, has died. He was 40 years old.

His talent agency MLA on Tuesday confirmed Chweneyagae’s death and said South Africa had lost one of its “most gifted and beloved actors”.

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South Africa’s Ramaphosa expected to take golf stars to Trump meeting

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Ernie Els and Retief Goosen reportedly part of delegation as president seeks to reset ties after white ‘genocide’ claims

The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is expected to take the golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen with him to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, as the government attempts to reset relations with the US amid Trump’s accusations that it is fomenting a white “genocide”.

Ramaphosa’s appeal to Trump’s love of golf, with the potential inclusion of Els and Goosen reported by South African local media, is part of his efforts to avoid a public dressing down of the kind Trump gave to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in February.

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Rubio clashes with Democrats over decision to admit white South Africans

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Tim Kaine condemns secretary of state for admitting Afrikaners while cancelling refugee schemes for others

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has defended the Trump administration’s controversial decision to admit 59 Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees after Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator from Virginia, claimed they were getting preferential treatment because they were white.

Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s former running mate, challenged Rubio to justify prioritising the Afrikaners while cancelling long-standing refugee programmes for other groups that have been more documented as victims of conflict or persecution.

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Elon Musk’s AI firm blames unauthorised change for chatbot’s rant about ‘white genocide’

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xAI’s Grok bot repeatedly referred to widely discredited claim about South Africa that has been touted by Donald Trump

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has blamed an “unauthorised modification” for a glitch in its Grok chatbot that resulted in the tool ranting about “white genocide” in South Africa.

In a post on Musk’s X platform, xAI said new measures would be brought in to ensure its employees cannot modify the bot’s behaviour without extra oversight.

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