South African farmer accused of killing two women and feeding them to pigs

Farm owner and two employees allegedly shot dead Locadia Ndlovu and Maria Makgatho after they trespassed

A South African farmer and two of his employees have been accused of killing two women and feeding their bodies to his pigs.

The killings of Maria Makgatho and Locadia Ndlovu, also named in local media as Kudzai Ndlovu, allegedly took place when the two women trespassed on a farm in the northern province of Limpopo in August. They were scavenging for expired dairy products, which local media reported had been left there to feed the pigs.

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Daughter of South Africa’s ex-president Zuma to be Eswatini king’s 16th wife

Engagement of Nomcebo Zuma, 21, to King Mswati, 56, confirmed at annual Umhlanga reed dance

A daughter of the former South African president Jacob Zuma and the king of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, have become engaged during a traditional ceremony in which Nomcebo Zuma was among hundreds of women and girls dancing for the monarch.

Zuma, 21, appeared on Monday night at the annual reed dance as the liphovela – the royal fiancee or concubine – and will become King Mswati III’s 16th wife.

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South African beauty queen crowned Miss Nigeria after nationality row

Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, had been competing in South African competition, but withdrew after a xenophobic backlash

A former Miss South Africa contestant hounded over a nationality row was crowned Miss Universe Nigeria on Saturday, bringing to an end a difficult few weeks for the contender.

Born to a Nigerian father in South Africa, 23-year-old Chidimma Adetshina withdrew from the country’s competition “for the safety and wellbeing of my family” after a backlash that exposed anti-foreigner sentiment in South Africa.

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Minister seeks legal settlement in case of South Africa’s imperilled penguins

Dion George says avoiding extinction of African penguin is his objective, and settling case aimed at stopping fishing around major colonies will help

South Africa’s new environment minister has said he wants to stop African penguins from going extinct by taking measures including settling a case brought by two environmental charities to stop fishing around the birds’ major colonies.

BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCOB) said they want an extension of no-fishing zones around six beaches and islands where the penguins breed, after failing to reach an agreement with fishing industry groups demanded by the previous minister.

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Rapidly urbanising Africa to have six cities with populations above 10m by 2035

Youthful, growing cities expected to create wealth and opportunities but stretch public and utility services

Six African cities will have more than 10 million people by 2035, with the continent’s booming young population making it the world’s fastest urbanising region, according to a report.

Angola’s capital, Luanda, and Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, will join the metropolises of Cairo, Kinshasa, Lagos and Greater Johannesburg with populations of more than 10 million, the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report on African cities.

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Miss South Africa contestant withdraws after mother is accused of identity theft

National government is investigating Chidimma Adetshina, who had faced a public furore over her citizenship

A South African beauty pageant contestant has withdrawn from the competition after the government accused her mother of fraud and identity theft, following questions over the contestant’s citizenship.

Chidimma Adetshina, 23, said she had made the “difficult decision” to protect herself and her family before the Miss South Africa final on Saturday, and a day after the home affairs ministry said her mother may have stolen a South African woman’s identity.

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Miss South Africa contest in turmoil as finalist’s mother accused of fraud

South African government joins row over Chidimma Adetshina’s heritage with suggestion mother may have committed identity theft

South Africa’s national beauty pageant has been thrown into turmoil, after the government accused the mother of a contestant who suffered a torrent of online abuse over her Nigerian heritage of fraud and identity theft.

Chidimma Adetshina, 23, has been the subject of vicious, xenophobic attacks on social media since she was announced as a finalist in Miss South Africa in July, with many, including cabinet ministers, questioning her credentials.

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Miss South Africa contestant faces backlash over Nigerian father

Chidimma Adetshina subjected to online abuse and questions about whether she is South African amid anti-African immigrant sentiment

A South African beauty pageant contestant with a Nigerian father has been subjected to relentless online abuse and interrogations of her right to compete for the Miss South Africa title, as a persistent strain of xenophobia against immigrants from other African countries has resurfaced.

Since Chidimma Adetshina, a 23-year-old law student who was born in Soweto and lives in Cape Town, was announced on 1 July as one of the contestants in the running to represent South Africa at the Miss Universe pageant, there has been constant questioning of whether she is a South African citizen.

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South Africa’s ANC expels ex-president Zuma for leading rival party in election

Jacob Zuma backed MK party, which African National Congress said cost it its parliamentary majority

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has been expelled by the African National Congress after he backed a rival political party that helped cost the ANC its parliamentary majority in recent national elections.

“Former president Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership,” the party said in a statement on Monday.

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‘She is one of our heroines’: reviled, now revered, Winnie Mandela wins over young South Africa

The legacy of the activist, ANC politician and wife of Nelson Mandela has growing appeal, despite her refusal to apologise for crimes

As votes from South Africa’s elections were being counted last month, a senior African National Congress politician, Nomvula Mokonyane, held court wearing a yellow long-sleeved top with the face of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela emblazoned on the back.

Across the room at the national vote counting centre, far left Economic Freedom Fighters official Poppy Mailola wore a black T-shirt with an image of Winnie plastered across repetitions of her name.

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Doctor behind trial of HIV prevention drug recounts breakthrough moment

Prof Linda-Gail Bekker receives ovation at Aids summit after presenting trial results of ‘miracle’ drug lenacapavir

When the doctor behind the trial of a new HIV prevention drug heard the results, she could not contain her emotions. “I literally burst into tears,” said Prof Linda-Gail Bekker.

“I’m 62, I’ve lived through this epidemic … I had family members who died of HIV, as did many, many Africans – many people around the world,” she said.

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Support for democracy in Africa falls amid military coups and corruption

Africans still have stronger preference for democratic governance than many other parts of the world

Support for democracy is falling in Africa amid a string of military coups and dissatisfaction with corruption and mismanagement, according to a report by Afrobarometer. However, Africans still have a stronger preference for democratic governance than many parts of the world.

Two-thirds of people in 30 African countries prefer democracy, surveys conducted in 2021 or 2023 found, down seven percentage points from a decade earlier.

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Spanish tourist trampled to death by elephants in South Africa

Officials say 43-year-old man left his vehicle to take pictures of a breeding herd at Pilanesberg national park

A Spanish tourist has been trampled to death by elephants in a South African national park after apparently trying to take pictures of a breeding herd that included three calves.

The 43-year-old man was killed on Sunday morning at Pilanesberg national park about 130 miles (210km) north-west of Johannesburg.

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Londoner continues epic trans-Africa run after release from South Sudan jail

Deo Kato detained by security services for three weeks after being arrested near Juba on run from South Africa to UK

A Ugandan-born Londoner on a 9,000-mile run from South Africa to London has been released from jail in South Sudan, his partner has told the Guardian.

Deo Kato had already run more than the length of Africa – the equivalent of more than 200 marathons – when he was arrested near Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on 2 June. His partner and project manager, Alice Light, had no idea where he was, only discovering he was in prison on 17 June.

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South Africa’s Democratic Alliance suspends MP for racist comments

Renaldo Gouws suspended days after white-led party joined coalition government with ANC

A South African MP has been suspended by the Democratic Alliance (DA) for racist comments, less than a week after the white-led party formed a coalition government with the African National Congress.

A clip of Renaldo Gouws saying “Kill all the kaffirs” – a racial slur for black people – and then repeating the phrase using a swear word and the N-word, has gone viral online.

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South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa warns of ‘toxic cleavages’ at inauguration

President is sworn in for second term as head of coalition government after losing parliamentary majority

South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa warned of the dangers of “toxic cleavages” in one of the world’s most unequal countries, after he was inaugurated for a second term as president – this time at the head of a coalition government with his African National Congress party’s biggest rival.

The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in 29 May elections, for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994 after apartheid, as millions of voters defected to breakaway parties amid chronic unemployment and the declining quality of public services.

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Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected as South Africa’s president

Leader gets second term after winning vote just hours after ANC and Democratic Alliance agreed coalition deal

South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has been reelected by lawmakers for a second term, hours after his African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance (DA) agreed to form a coalition, setting aside their rivalry in a historic governance pact.

Ramaphosa won the late Friday vote against Julius Malema, leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, winning 283 votes to Malema’s 44.

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South Africa’s ANC strikes coalition deal with free-market DA

Country’s second-largest party agrees to support re-election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president

South Africa’s African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance have agreed to form a coalition in which the former liberation movement and the pro-business party will set aside their rivalry in an historic governance pact.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s centrist preferences ultimately won out over more leftwing factions of the ANC that wanted to strike a deal with breakaway parties that back nationalisation and seizing land from white farmers. The deal was struck amid criticisms that the DA favours the interests of South Africa’s white minority, something it denies.

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Cyril Ramaphosa open to forming South African unity government with rivals

ANC leader and president accepts he will need help of opposition parties to tackle serious problems facing country

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that his African National Congress (ANC) would seek to form a government of national unity with a broad group of opposition parties.

“The purpose of the government of national unity must be, first and foremost, to tackle the pressing issues that South Africans want to be addressed,” Ramaphosa said late on Thursday after a marathon ANC meeting.

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ANC leaders propose government of national unity after losing majority in South Africa

Party says it has reached out to opposition leaders after election result as it looks to form coalition

An influential committee in the African National Congress (ANC) has recommended the party form a government of national unity, as the group tries to build a coalition after losing its parliamentary majority in South Africa for the first time since it swept to power at the end of apartheid.

The second largest party, the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA), has ruled out working with the fourth-largest, Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). However, some analysts said that the lure of power may end up bringing most of the largest parties together.

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