The Weekend View

The United States THIS WEEK announced the termination of its membership of the Just Energy Transition Partnership - JETP - climate finance agreement with several developing countries, South Africa being one.  On Thursday, the Just Transition Project Management Unit in the Presidency issued a statement confirming the decision which also affects Indonesia and Vietnam. The US pullout means that...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the establishment of the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group to revitalise and rejuvenate Johannesburg and return it to its glory days. This came out during his meeting with the executive committee of the Johannesburg City Council at the Council Chamber in Braamfontein YESTERDAY. The meeting involved Members of the Mayoral Committees and their Executive...

Community activist and a whistle blower in the Timothy Omotoso rape and trafficking case, Pamela Mabini, was shot dead in the driveway of her home in KwaZakhele in Gqeberha YESTERDAY morning. She was a regular attendee at the trial of the trial of Omotoso. Mabini played a pivotal role in supporting the witnesses in the Omotoso case. PamEla was also shot at by unknown gunmen in May 2018 after recie...

U.S. President Donald Trump YESTERDAY launched his latest salvo against South Africa, in a social media post directly offering South African farmers and their families safe refuge in the USA and an expedited pathway to citizenship. Trump posted to Truth Social that South Africa was being terrible to long time farmers in the country. He again erroneously stated that their land and farms were being...

In its 2024 report, the South African Fraud Prevention Service revealed that identity theft skyrocketed by 400% in South Africa between April 2023 and April 2024.  SAFPS adds that out of the 8521 formal cases opened at the Ombudsman for Banking Services in 2023, 43.47% were categorised as fraud. This is part of a rising trend in scams where fraudsters use false identities or intercept the sec...

Standard Chartered's Women in Tech accelerator program offers women entrepreneurs a unique platform to unleash their potential, overcome barriers, and accelerate their business ventures. The programme  is part of the bank's commitment to fostering gender equality and driving innovation in the rapidly evolving technological landscape, aimed at empowering and supporting women entrepreneurs in t...

While many countries have made strides on gender equality and women's empowerment, discrimination remains deeply embedded in some societies, imposing chronic constraints on the rights and hopes of women and girls. As the world commemorates International Women's Day TODAY, women and girls continue facing unprecedented growing threats, from higher levels of discrimination to weaker legal protections...

The Health Department is urging the public not to panic as three new Mpox cases have been detected. The cases have been confirmed in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. One of the patients  recently travelled to the Ugandan capital Kampala. This increases the total cumulative number of positive cases from 25 to 28 cases, including three deaths since the outbreak in May last year. For an update on the health...

The Institute for Security Studies says anti-corruption measures targeting traffic police, not just SAPS, are vital to improve safety in SA's major cities and that traffic cop corruption tarnishes all policing in South Africa. The ISS report further adds that soliciting bribes is deeply embedded in traffic policing in South Africa. Six of the nine national surveys conducted since 2003 that asked a...

Wildlife organisations, Ban Animal Trading - BAT  and the EMS Foundation are bracing for a fight to stop the sale of lion bones. This after the two organisations became aware that the South African Predator Association - SAPA - has instituted High Court action against the government in an effort to compel the Environment department to establish an annual quota for the sale of lion bones and d...

The Indigenous Cinema Alliance  - ICA - recently announced its 2025 fellowship line-up with the addition of new members to its expanding global network that now includes a South African. Khoikhoi Cultural and Language Revivalist, Toroga Denver, has been added to the line-up of the international group that promotes indigenous film and television. Denver joins other indigenous film makers from...

Many South Africans have gone off the grid because of the country's challenge with electricity supply. This week Eskom implemented stage 6 , after a number of unit failures at the Camden, Majuba and Medupi power stations. The three days of loadshedding was more than enough to remind South Africa that the country is not out of the woods yet. Amid load shedding, South Africans have become victims of...

Government says there will be no extension for spaza shops owners to register their businesses. YESTERDAY MARKED the final day for spaza shop operators and other food-handling outlets to register their businesses with local municipalities. Many are frustrated and uncertain about their business future ..  For reaction we are joined on the line by National Informal Traders Alliance of South Afr...

The late Namibian founding president Sam Nujoma, who died 3 weeks ago aged 95, will be laid to rest in a state funeral TODAY, which has been declared a national holiday.  Nujoma, a guerilla who headed the South West Africa People's Organisation - SWAPO - which led the liberation struggle, was the country's first president after it won independence from South Africa in 1990. He will be laid to...

A meeting between US president Donald Trump and his Ukrainian Counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky has ended in an unprecedented diplomatic spat, in full view of the world's media…and Trump declaring that Zelensky is not ready for peace with Russia. Trump took to his social media platform Truth, after the meeting, to accuse Zelensky of disrespecting the oval office after an exchange of words whic...

The United Nations Security Council has entered the Eastern DRC fray. The Council has unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the M23 rebel group to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from all controlled areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The text - supported by all 15 members of the Council -also called on the Rwanda Defence Forces to cease support to the M23 and to immediatel...

Recent news of the recovery of R670-million by the liquidators of VBS Mutual Bank brought relief that verified creditors will be reimbursed monies deposited to the institution before it collapsed in 2018. The good news has however turned sour for individual depositors who have now learnt that they have been put at the back of the queue and may have wait a lot longer to recover their money. Many ha...

Eskom has THIS MORNING escalated loadshedding to Stage six  until further notice.  Yesterday afternoon, the power utility announced the implementation of stage three loadshedding after 3 weeks without rolling blackouts. We reached out to the power utility but spokesperson Daphne Mokoena said she will only speak to the media after today's press briefing. But to get a sense of the current...

More families of the SANDF soldiers killed in the DRC bury their loved ones THIS WEEKEND. Rifleman Derrick Maluleke was the first of the 14 South African soldiers killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be buried last weekend. The remaining 13 burials are happening this weekend with the final one set down for the 1st of  March. Bongiwe Zwane spoke to SABC reporters Katlego Nyoni i...

The Film and Publication Board has raised concerns over a video clip posted on various social media platforms showing a group of men being assaulted at Zanzou Club in Pretoria. The men were being forced to perform explicit sexual acts.  According to the FPB this violates or shows disrespect for the right to human dignity. Now the FPB is warning that it is a criminal offence to distribute in p...

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign will TODAY hold a mass rally at Sea Point in Cape Town to, among other things, denounce the plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. Under the plan, which has since been rejected by many countries, US president Donald Trump envisages that Gaza will be remodeled, under US ownership and control, as an international resort. Today's rally is also s...

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Ronald Lamola has hailed the G20 Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting as historic.  He briefed the media following the gathering of international envoys from the world's influential economies, who've been discussing several global issues.  This comes as the world is battling with multiple challenges, from geopolitical tensions to climate cha...

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy THIS WEEK said Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate reached by Russia and the US without Kyiv's involvement. He called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war. The Ukrainian leader made the comments, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and announced the start of negotiatio...

Congenital heart defects are the number one birth defects in the world and affect 1 in every 100 babies. The defects, which affect the structure and function of the heart, also present here in South Africa, where there is a serious lack of facilities dealing with children born with this illness.  Grateful Hearts, a non-profit organisation, is aiming to raise awareness about this silent killer...

The decision by the US government to temporarily freeze funding to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) alongside all other foreign aid for at least 90 days has had immediate effects on people living with HIV  according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).   The independent medical humanitarian organisation says although the US has since clarified that certain treatment p...