Governance and democracy

22 November 2018 

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce changes to the National Executive at the Union Buildings, Pretoria, at 15:00 on Thursday.

In a statement issued on Thursday morning the Presidency said "these changes have been occasioned by the passing away in September 2018 of the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, and the more recent resignation of the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Gigaba".

Gigaba resignation 

18 november 2018

With the Emfuleni municipality under provincial administration, and a team from National Treasury intervening, it was hoped that the troubled municipality would be turned around. But concerns have been raised about the turnaround plan, and a new survey shows that residents of the municipality are increasingly unhappy.

Emfuleni was placed under administration in June 2018. According to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, this was largely because of problems with financial administration and service delivery.

18 November 2018

Since October 2016, 24 municipalities have been placed under administration, with 13 of these being placed under administration since June.

This is according to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), which provided an update of municipalities placed under administration to News24 last week.

14 November 2018

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that all the state broadcaster needed was a R3-billion government guarantee to avoid looming collapse in March.

The board briefed Scopa on Wednesday morning, following a meeting on Tuesday where board member and veteran journalist and editor Mathatha Tsedu told the portfolio committee on finance that the SABC’s ability to pay full salaries would be in doubt as early as February next year.

30 October  2018

The Constitutional Court has confirmed that a section of South Africa’s land tenure legislation is unconstitutional based on its perpetuation of apartheid-era prescriptions which discriminate against women.

On Tuesday, the country’s highest court confirmed an order made by the Pretoria high court last year which found section 2(1) of the 1991 Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act constitutionally invalid on the basis that the rights it sought to entrench were discriminatory.

24 October 2018

China’s growing engagement with African countries got a publicity boost on 3-4 September with the latest Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The triennial event brought leaders and officials from 53 African countries and the African Union (AU) to Beijing for meetings that culminated in a resolution to continue strengthening ties and a renewed pledge of billions of dollars in Chinese loans, grants and investments. 

11 October 2018

A showdown is looming in Zimbabwe on Thursday as labour unions have vowed to go ahead with planned protests against the country’s continued economic crisis. This is despite a police ban on account of fears of a fresh cholera outbreak.

Zimbabwe’s largest trade union, the Zimbabwe Congress Trade Union (ZCTU) called for national protests on Thursday as the country’s economic crisis worsened, AFP reported.

The ZCTU said the strike was triggered by sharp price hikes, a new tax on electronic transactions and daily shortages ranging from fuel to drugs.

10 October 2018

French lawmakers on Wednesday adopted two bills to prevent the spread of false information during election campaigns following allegations of Russian meddling in the 2017 presidential vote.

The “fake news” bills enable a candidate or political party to seek a court injunction preventing the publication of “false information” during the three months leading up to a national election.