Category Archives: South Africa

Jacob Zuma refuses to testify before major corruption inquiry

Posted on by

Former South African president claims he was treated unfairly during cross-examination

The former South African president Jacob Zuma has refused to testify before a major corruption inquiry, claiming he was being questioned unfairly.

Zuma was scheduled to give evidence throughout the week. But when the court reconvened on Friday morning after a 48-hour adjournment at his request, the 77-year-old’s politician’s lawyer, Muzi Sikhakhane, said he would take no further part in proceedings.

Continue reading...

Zuma tells South Africa corruption inquiry he is victim of foreign plot

Posted on by

Former president faces allegations he presided over vast corruption network

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has told a judicial inquiry into corruption allegations that he is the victim of a plot by foreign intelligence agencies to seek his downfall.

Speaking on the first day of five days of testimony, Zuma denied he had presided over an immense system of corruption and patronage that drained billions from the country’s exchequer.

Continue reading...

Jacob Zuma relishes his day in court as Cyril Ramaphosa faces ‘very dark hour’

Posted on by
As South Africa’s former president appears before a corruption inquiry, there are fears he could stir up trouble for his successor

Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s former president, will make an unprecedented appearance before a judicial inquiry for a five-day grilling this week over corruption allegations relating to his years in power.

Zuma has been accused of presiding over an immense system of corruption and patronage that drained billions from the exchequer and damaged the reputation of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) beyond repair.

Continue reading...

Man set to be first ‘Afronaut’ killed in bike crash

Posted on by

Mandla Maseko, a DJ who won the chance to be the first black African in space, has died in a motorbike accident

A South African man who won the chance to be the first black African in space has died in a motorbike crash before turning his dream into reality.

Mandla Maseko, a part-time DJ and candidate officer with the South African air force, was nicknamed “Afronaut” after landing a coveted seat to fly 103km (64 miles) into space in 2013 in a competition organised by a US-based space academy.

Continue reading...

How apartheid killed Johannesburg’s cycling culture

Posted on by

Racial segregation meant cycling lost status in South Africa earlier and more intensely than in the rest of the western world

“The writer counted, in the space of only four minutes, 93 native cyclists riding past the Astra theatre,” wrote a journalist for the Star newspaper in July 1940. Standing almost 80 years later on the same corner of Louis Botha Avenue at the same time and day of the week – 6.30pm on a Monday – it is hard to imagine. The theatre is long gone and not a single cyclist is to be seen on the car-choked thoroughfare.

What happened to Johannesburg’s once vibrant commuter cycling culture? The dominance of the automobile marginalised the bicycle in many cities around the world through the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s but that process was accelerated in South Africa by apartheid. When policies of spatial segregation forcibly moved black people to faraway townships at the periphery of the city, the distance between work and home increased dramatically and cycling collapsed as an everyday practice.

Continue reading...

Contraceptive injections do not increase risk of contracting HIV, study finds

Posted on by

Research also finds scale of crisis among African women higher than expected

A landmark study has ended 30 years of anxiety that hormonal contraceptive injections may increase women’s chances of infection from HIV.

But the study found a dramatically higher rate of HIV infection among women in southern Africa than was expected, which one leading campaigning organisation said signified a public health crisis”.

Continue reading...

Lights out: the price hikes leaving millions of South Africans in the dark | Kimon de Greef

Posted on by

Electricity costs have tripled in the past decade under a utility company plagued by debt and corruption claims, wiping out decades of progress

Electricity, when it arrived in Nosisi Rasmeni’s life, seemed to promise a better future.

Like most black South Africans who grew up during apartheid, she was raised with gas stoves, candles and paraffin heaters. Her family’s shack was poorly lit and smelled of fumes. “Electricity was only for whites,” says Rasmeni, 37.

Continue reading...

Leopard kills toddler in South Africa’s Kruger park

Posted on by

Big cat that attacked two-year-old was hunted down and shot dead to avoid risk of a repeat

A leopard has killed a two-year-old boy inside a fenced-off staff compound at South Africa’s Kruger national park, officials said.

“The toddler was only 30 months old,” the park said in a statement on Thursday. “The boy was certified dead by doctors at the Shongwe hospital after being rushed there by family members.”

Continue reading...

Cyril Ramaphosa is cautious, but he must waste no time reforming South Africa

Posted on by

Voters are looking for the newly inaugurated president to take on networks of graft now they have given him a new mandate

In his long career as an activist, businessman and politician, Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, has overcome many challenges. But few have been as daunting as those he will face when he sits down in his office in Pretoria on Sunday morning.

The first is to consolidate his own position. Despite his electoral win this month, and Saturday’s spectacular inauguration, the 66-year-old is politically weaker than he looks. The African National Congress is deeply divided. Many opposed Ramaphosa’s successful bid for power at an ANC conference in December 2017. Some believe he is too “pro-business” to take radical measures to redistribute wealth in one of the most unequal countries in the world and too close to South Africa’s business community.

Continue reading...

Cyril Ramaphosa sworn in as South Africa’s president – video

Posted on by


Cyril Ramaphosa told South Africans on Saturday that 'a new era' had dawned as he was sworn in for a five-year term as president. More than 30,000 people gathered to witness the ceremony, which included a flypast and military parade. Ramaphosa's inauguration followed victory for his ruling African National Congress party in this month's election

Continue reading...

Cyril Ramaphosa hails ‘new era’ as he begins South African presidency

Posted on by

New leader says country’s challenges can be solved as he is sworn in for five-year term

Cyril Ramaphosa told South Africans on Saturday that “a new era” had dawned as he was sworn in for a five-year term as president, but said the troubled country was at a defining moment in its history.

“It is time for us to make the future we yearn for … it is through our actions now that we will determine our destiny,” Ramaphosa said, after taking the oath of office in front of 30,000 people in the administrative capital, Pretoria.

Continue reading...

Argh, me back: Arnold Schwarzenegger OK after South Africa flying kick

Posted on by
  • Film star struck at Arnold Classic Africa bodybuilding event
  • Former California governor reassures fans after incident

Arnold Schwarzenegger was struck by a flying kick at a sports event in South Africa on Saturday, though the actor and former California governor later reassured fans there was no need to worry.

Schwarzenegger, 71, was kicked from behind while chatting with fans at the Arnold Classic Africa, an event showcasing bodybuilding and other sports, in Johannesburg.

Continue reading...

Love Corbyn, hate Brexit? Labour’s EU elections dilemma – podcast

Posted on by

Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour’s European elections manifesto with a renewed promise to back a second Brexit referendum in certain circumstances – but to also respect the result of the first. Yet for ardently pro-Corbyn Europhiles such as Momentum’s Laura Parker, it has been a tough balancing act to support. Also today: Jason Burke on the South African election and the ANC

Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour’s European elections campaign with a renewed commitment to hold a second referendum on Brexit if a “sensible” deal cannot be agreed and there is not a general election. The pledge maintains the party’s precarious balancing act between promising to respect the initial vote and calling for a fresh one.

One of Labour’s MEP candidates is Laura Parker, who joins Anushka Asthana in the studio. Formerly a private secretary in Corbyn’s office, she is now national coordinator for the Labour pressure group Momentum and is campaigning for another public vote. Like many leftwingers who backed Corbyn from the beginning, she is desperate for Labour to commit to stopping Brexit.

Continue reading...

South Africa election: early results point to reduced ANC majority

Posted on by

Party expected to retain power with 56% of vote, its lowest share in democratic era

Early results in South Africa’s general election suggest the ruling African National Congress party (ANC) is heading for a historic low but with enough votes to retain power.

With about half the votes counted, the ANC was on 56%, enough for a majority but a sign President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to slow the accelerating decline in the party’s popularity 25 years after the country’s first free elections ushered in a new democratic era.

Continue reading...

ANC corruption is a major cause of South Africa’s failure – and the polls will show it | William Gumede

Posted on by
The post-apartheid consensus has collapsed. The ANC must renew itself, or become a spent force

When South Africans go to the polls today, it could be the last time the governing ANC wins an overall majority, unless the party renews itself and starts delivering on its promises to increasingly disgruntled supporters. The ANC is likely to win the national elections but its majority will take a hit and it may struggle to win, or have to share power in some of the provinces. After 25 years in power, the party’s popularity is lower than the personal popularity enjoyed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. If Ramaphosa was not also the head of the ANC, it is very likely that it would be heading for defeat this week. Large numbers of ANC supporters have entirely given up hope, both on the party of liberation being able to deliver a better life for them and on South Africa’s post-apartheid democratic institutions.

Even if the ANC wins today’s election, it will be unable to deliver a better life for those who voted for it

Continue reading...

Caster Semenya ruling ‘tramples on dignity’ of athletes, South Africa says

Posted on by

Olympian receives strong backing from South African government and fellow athletes

South Africans have expressed widespread support for the double Olympic champion Caster Semenya, who will run her last 800m on Friday before the imposition of controversial new rules limiting testosterone in female athletes.

Tokozile Xasa, the sports minister, said on Thursday that the South African government was disappointed with the ruling by the court of arbitration for sport that women with unusually high testosterone levels, such as Semenya, would have to take medication to significantly reduce their testosterone before they were permitted to compete internationally at distances between 400m and a mile.

Continue reading...

‘They don’t get it’: South Africa’s scarred ANC faces voter anger

Posted on by

Divided party faces ‘deep moral crisis’ despite anticipated victory in election in May

Major Mgxaji, a retired union official in the poor township of Khayelitsha near Cape Town, was repeatedly jailed and tortured by apartheid authorities for his political activism with the ANC in the 1970s and 80s.

“It is not the same party as back then,” the 67-year-old said in an interview in Khayelitsha, where rolling power cuts in recent months have been widely blamed on corruption at the national electricity provider. “The ANC people have developed the struggle of the belly instead of the struggle to better the lives of our people. That is very dangerous.”

Continue reading...

Suspects in murder of ex-Rwandan spy chief ‘directly linked to Kigali’ – inquest

Posted on by

Lawyer for Patrick Karegeya’s family says South African police failures point to abuse of process


The family of the murdered former Rwandan intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya celebrated on Thursday after a South African magistrate said the identities of four suspects were known and police said they were “directly linked” to Rwanda’s government.

At the end of a 20-minute inquest in Johannesburg, the magistrate Mashiane Mathopa said there was a prima facie case to answer and he was sending the matter to South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Karegeya was found strangled in a Johannesburg hotel room in January 2014.

Continue reading...