Government in South Africa

  • Zimbabwe Election Commission keen to avoid Kenyan situation

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2017/09/10 Zimbabwe’s election commission says it is keen to avoid a repeat scenario of what happened in Kenya where the presidential polls were nullified last week. Speaking through its chairperson Justice Rita Makarau, the election body said it will conduct next year’s elections in accordance with the country’s electoral laws.
  • Jacob Zuma under new pressure to quit over alleged links to tycoons

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2017/07/02 Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s embattled president, faces renewed pressure to step down this weekend next a series of media reports detailed links between elected officials and a family of tycoons accused of holding undue sway over his government. Additional than 100,000 documents and emails leaked to reporters in recent weeks appear to detail improper dealings in lucrative government contracts made with the Gupta family - secretive and immensely wealthy businessmen of Indian origin who have lived in South Africa for decades. Authorities have launched an investigation into several allies of Zuma who have been linked to corruption at three national-owned companies. One of the allegations involves suspected kickbacks worth $411m (£316m). The Gupta family and Zuma have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
  • Zuma, economy in focus as South Africa holds local elections

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2016/08/03
  • South African parliament to debate Zuma impeachment motion

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2016/04/04 South Africa's parliament will debate on Tuesday a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said, next a top court ruled the president had violated the constitution. South Africa's constitutional court ruled on Thursday that Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring orders from the public protector that he repay some of the $16 million in national funds spent to renovate his private residence at Nkandla. Since Thursday's ruling, opposition party leaders, ordinary South Africans and even an anti-apartheid activist jailed alongside Nelson Mandela have called on Zuma to step down.
  • South Africa is now facing a constitutional crisis are incorrect,

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2015/07/18 Johannesburgx — The South African government's failure to comply with a court order barring Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country has not thrown South Africa into a constitutional crisis, a government official said on Thursday. Allegations that South Africa is presently facing a constitutional crisis are incorrect, South African Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffery told Xinhua. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on al-Bashir for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity. South Africa, as a signatory to the Roman Statue that created the ICC, was legally bound to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC at the same time as he attended the African Union (AU) summit in Johannesburg in June.
  • Lesotho: Zuma Pushes Lesotho Coalition to Open Parly

    LESOTHO, 2014/09/11 Lesotho coalition leaders have been given two days to acknowledge on a date to open Parliament by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, SABC News reported on Wednesday. Next conference with coalition leaders on Tuesday, Zuma told the broadcaster talks went well. He said leaders had reached a point where they would presently "have to do further consultations" on their own over the next few days. "There would be further consultations part parties," he said, next which an announcement would be made.
  • President Jacob Zuma took the oath of office and was sworn in to serve his second term.

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2014/05/27 President Jacob Zuma on Saturday took the oath of office and was sworn in to serve his second term. The ceremony began with inter-faith prayers, followed by a recital of the Preamble to the Constitution of South Africa. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng again swore in Zuma who pledged to uphold the constitution of the country. The SA Air Force executed a fly-completed and the SA Defence Force performed a 21-gun salute. In his address to the country, Zuma said he was greatly honoured to accept the mandate bestowed on him “to lead this great country for the next five years”.
  • The credibility of South Africa’s opposition leader Mamphela Ramphele

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2014/03/02 The credibility of South Africa’s opposition leader Mamphela Ramphele took a hammering on Monday as a transaction which made her the initial black leader of the country’s leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), collapsed. Dr Ramphele, a former anti-apartheid activist who founded the Black Consciousness movement with her late partner Steve Biko, merged Agang SA with the much larger DA last week next her newly-founded party failed to win much support or funding. Campaigners hoped the move would boost support for the formerly white-led DA, which is the country’s most established opposition but has has failed to broaden its appeal beyond the middle class constituencies of the Western Cape.
  • African governments review growing energy and food subsidies

    BOTSWANA, 2013/06/20 African government deficits, while low by historical standards, has been creeping up as aid and remittances dip, and counter-cyclical interventions rack up in response to the effects of the financial crisis. Combined with a rising food and fuel import bill, governments are presently looking for savings. Energy and food subsidies are increasingly being reviewed.
  • President Zuma Arrives in Brazzaville for a Meeting On the CAR

    CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC, 2013/05/11 His Excellency President Jacob Zuma has arrived in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, to take part in the prime conference of the International Contact Group that is expected to discuss the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). President Zuma is accompanied on the visit by a delegation that includes the Minister of National Security, Dr Siyabonga Cwele.