Kenya: Demonstrators And Police Clash In Anti-Government Protests

Demonstrators and Police Clash in Kenya During Anti-Government Protests Kenya Thousands of people took to the streets of Kenya on Monday to protest against the government and call for President William Ruto’s resignation, triggering a heavy crackdown where police closed roads, erected metal spikes on the streets, and fired teargas to disperse demonstrators, Africanews reported. Local media reported that at least 11 people died and several others were injured as protesters, some blowing whistles, marched in the city despite the police deployment, Al Jazeera wrote. Police said 52 officers were wounded and more than 560 people were detained. Some schools, businesses, and roads around the capital, Nairobi, were closed Monday as a precaution for possible clashes, with a large police presence close to government buildings, the BBC noted. In other Kenyan cities, police responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators, who had lit fires on the streets. The protests this year were part of annual demonstrations every July 7 to commemorate the anniversary of a 1990 uprising known as the “Saba Saba” (Kiswahili for 7/7) protests that returned the country to a multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-President Daniel arap Moi. Even so, they were also part of ongoing mass protests against the administration of Kenyan President William Ruto, who took power in 2022, that began a year ago over corruption, police brutality, and the unexplained disappearance of numerous opposition members. At least 80 people have been killed in protests since June 2024, while dozens have been detained. Last month, dozens of people died and thousands of businesses were vandalized in demonstrations. The protesters say that authorities are hiring armed vandals to discredit their movement’s image, while the government called the demonstrations an “attempted coup.” On Sunday, a press conference calling for an end to “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings” by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission was interrupted by men, some armed with sticks, storming the building. The recent death of blogger Albert Ojwang while in police custody has escalated the protests and the fury of protesters. Prosecutors have charged six people in relation to his murder, including three police officers.

South Africa: To Move Forward, Look Back

To Move Forward, Look Back, Some South Africans Say South Africa In the township of Masiphumelele near Cape Town in South Africa, 65,000 residents, crammed into a quarter-of-a-square-mile slum, walk on beer crates to avoid the mud on their streets. A stone’s throw away, on the other side of a wall, sits a gated community complete with manicured lawns and swimming pools. Security cameras and guards in the latter prevent the two from mixing. “People were separate before,” Jeremy Mathers, a retired naval engineer who lives in the gated community, told the Times of London. “Thirty years later, they still are.” Masiphumelele, the newspaper added, represents the seething inequality and tensions that remain in South Africa since the country’s racist, segregationist Apartheid regime ended in the early 1990s. In a bid to address this frustration, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently launched a “national dialogue” to discuss sluggish economic growth and the corruption that many South Africans feel is the reason why their country’s many resources aren’t leading to widespread prosperity, equality, and inclusiveness, explained the Institute for Security Studies. “South Africans want action, and are well aware of the pressing issues Ramaphosa listed, such as poor social services, high unemployment, widespread crime, corruption, food inflation, and economic stagnation,” it wrote. “What they do not see is a plan to carry the country forward.” As part of moving forward, some South Africans want the president to put greater effort into reconciling the past. As part of that effort, Ramaphosa, under pressure, recently established a commission to examine whether previous governments under his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), prevented investigators and prosecutors from exposing and prosecuting crimes committed during the Apartheid era, reported News24. This new commission is separate from the much-praised Truth and Reconciliation Commission that South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, formed in 1996 to expose Apartheid-era atrocities. However, few perpetrators of murders, massacres, and other Apartheid-related crimes faced justice after this older commission completed its work, Radio France Internationale wrote. These efforts to reconcile with the past and deal with the issues of the present are already hitting roadblocks. John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance, a member of the ruling coalition alongside the ANC, as well as the Inkatha Freedom Party, recently pulled out of the national dialogue. “Nothing will change in South Africa for the better if we keep the same people around the cabinet table who have involved themselves in corruption,” said Steenhuisen, according to Al Jazeera. Analysts say South Africa has a lot of work to do to clean up the country and reconcile with the past. Some are turning to the courts to force the government to make an extra effort. In January, 25 victims’ families and survivors of Apartheid-era political crimes sued Ramaphosa and his government for what they say is its failure to properly investigate those offences and deliver justice. The group is seeking about $9 million in damages, according to the case filed at the High Court in the capital, Pretoria. The lead applicant in the case, Lukhanyo Calata, is the son of Fort Calata, one of the “Cradock Four” – a group of anti-Apartheid activists murdered in 1985. Despite multiple inquiries, no one has been held accountable for these killings. Most of those alleged perpetrators are now deceased. The families’ legal action highlights the enduring scars of apartheid and the unfulfilled need for justice, wrote Ghana’s Vaultz News. “As Calata and others push for accountability, their fight underscores a broader struggle to confront South Africa’s painful history and its lingering impacts on society.” Even though the plaintiffs have already managed to force the president to create the commission looking into these unprosecuted crimes, it isn’t enough, said Calata: “The prolonged delay in achieving justice has effectively ensured that our families are denied justice forever.”  That means many families are stuck in limbo for the moment, say analysts. Oscar van Heerden, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, told the Associated Press that the families of the Cradock Four and those of other victims of Apartheid-era crimes have not healed. “…those were cases that were supposed to be formally charged, prosecuted, and justice should have prevailed,” van Heerden said. “None of that happened.”

Equatorial Guinea Sues France Over Paris Mansion

Equatorial Guinea Sues France Over Paris Mansion Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea filed a complaint against France at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the weekend, the latest round of litigation between the two nations over a luxury Paris mansion seized by French authorities because of corruption, France 24 reported. The West African nation asked the United Nations’ top court to intervene after French police allegedly entered the property and changed the locks last month. It asked the court not to sell the building and demanded “immediate, complete and unhindered access” to it. The years-long dispute centers on the mansion located on the upscale Avenue Foch near the Arc de Triomphe in the French capital. Estimated to be worth more than $118 million, the property features a private cinema, a hammam steam bath, and gold-plated fixtures. In 2021, French authorities confiscated the property after the country’s top appeals court convicted Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue – also known as Teodorin – under a law targeting fortunes fraudulently amassed by foreign leaders. The court handed Teodorin – son of long-standing President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – a three-year suspended sentence and more than $35 million in fines. If it accepts the case, it would be the second time the ICJ would decide on a suit centering on the mansion: In 2016, Equatorial Guinea brought a case before the court, claiming that the building has served as the country’s embassy. It also accused France of violating the Vienna Convention, which safeguards diplomats from interference by host countries. But France countered that the mansion served no diplomatic purpose and that Teodorin was using it as his private residence. The world court sided with France in the case, saying the African nation only tried to designate it as a diplomatic venue after an investigation began into the vice president. While the ICJ’s rulings are binding, the court has no enforcement mechanism and remains occupied with a growing caseload, including cases on Gaza and climate change.

DRC and Rwanda Sign Peace Deal to End Decades-Long Conflict

DRC and Rwanda Sign Peace Deal To End Decades-Long Conflict Democratic Republic of the Congo / Rwanda Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed a US-brokered peace agreement over the weekend in a bid to end decades of violence in the eastern Congo, a deal widely seen as opening the region’s mineral wealth to American investment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Signed Friday in Washington, the deal commits both countries to “immediately and unconditionally cease any state support to nonstate armed groups” and to pursue the “disengagement, disarmament, and integration” of those forces. The two neighbors also pledged to respect territorial integrity and halt cross-border aggression. US President Donald Trump hailed the accord – mediated by the US and Qatar – as the end of years of conflict in the restive region and the beginning of “a new chapter of hope and opportunity.” Rwanda is expected to withdraw troops deployed in eastern Congo, where more than 4,000 Rwandan soldiers had backed the M23 rebel group with advanced weaponry, having invaded the region in January, according to United Nations investigators. The decades-long conflict dates back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than a million people – mainly ethnic Tutsis – were killed by ethnic Hutus. The Rwandan government and M23 fighters say they are protecting Tutsis in eastern Congo from Hutu-linked militias made up of former Rwandan army members who fled across the border after the genocide. Rwanda has denied backing the M23 rebels and accuses the DRC of supporting the Hutu-affiliated groups. The Congolese government has rejected the allegations. In 2025 alone, the outbreak of violence since January has killed more than 7,000 people and displaced about half a million more. Friday’s deal follows a series of battlefield losses by the Congolese army in the resource-rich eastern provinces, prompting Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi to turn to the US for help in return for mining opportunities. Analysts said the deal aligns with US aims to counter Chinese dominance in global supply chains for minerals, such as coltan and other resources vital to the global tech industry. The accord also coincided with separate US negotiations with Rwanda over taking in non-citizen migrants expelled from the US. Meanwhile, reaction to the peace deal has been mixed, with observers noting that its durability remains questionable because many local leaders and affected groups were not part of the negotiations, the BBC added. Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila dismissed it as “nothing more than a trade agreement” and criticized the absence of M23 representatives. Share this story

In Kenya's Largest Slum, Residents Hope For A Crypto Lift

Bitcoin Dreams: In Kenya’s Largest Slum, Residents Hope For a Crypto Lift Kenya In Africa’s largest slum, Kibera, Dotea Anyim, like dozens of her fellow residents, has a small produce stand. But unlike most others, she accepts bitcoin, which about 10 percent of her customers use now. “I like it because it is cheap and fast and doesn’t have any transaction costs,” she told the Associated Press. “When people pay using bitcoin, I save that money and use cash to restock vegetables.” Around the world, people, businesses – and even entire countries – are adopting cryptocurrencies as a tool to combat poverty and grow revenue in spite of their risks, namely volatility and the lack of regulation. “Bitcoin presents new opportunities for those in emerging economies, providing the freedom to transact without any gatekeepers,” wrote the European Conservative. “Through bitcoin, anyone can now enter the wider global economy and marketplace, and have the chance to be lifted out of poverty.”  Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency, was created in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis as a decentralized digital asset that could serve as an alternative method of payment, storing value as well as earning it. Since then, it has taken off. It has helped those in war zones access their funds and the poor around the world get access to financial services they are often shut out from. It’s helped families get remittances from relatives abroad more easily and cheaply, and given the poor a chance to accrue savings and invest. It was also adopted as legal tender in some countries, such as El Salvador and the Central African Republic, before both of those countries halted the move. Others, such as Bhutan, are ramping up their use of the currency. Here in Kibera – a part of the capital of Nairobi with a population ranging from 250,000 to 1 million, no one is certain – a few hundred merchants and shoppers so far are using bitcoin as part of a pilot program to extend financial services to some of the country’s poorest and most under-banked people. Kibera residents earn a dollar a day on average. In Kenya overall, about 55 percent have access to financial institutions such as banks, a far higher percentage than in many other countries on the continent, such as Senegal, with only about 20 percent, according to the World Bank. But far more people have access to a cell phone. As a result, supporters of bitcoin say that it is accessible to those “unbanked” who are often prevented from accessing banks because they lack the proper documents or the money to obtain accounts. The pilot program, started by AfriBit Africa, a Kenyan fintech company, in 2022, began with garbage collectors, who were paid in crypto and taught financial literacy and “Bitcoin 101.” The practice since then has slowly started to spread to other businesses that serve the slum. “Bitcoin solves issues of financial sovereignty and financial inclusion,” Ronnie Mdawida, director of the AfriBit project, told Forbes. “Some of the merchants in the community do not have any form of documentation and would not be able to participate in the traditional business ecosystem or build their lives without bitcoin, which offers them an alternative.” For years, the unbanked used M-PESA, the most used mobile money program in Kenya. However, advocates say one advantage of bitcoin over M-PESA is that the latter’s transaction costs are higher. If consumers and merchants use the AfriBit Africa platform, transactions are free. Another issue is crime: Carrying cash is risky in Kibera, residents say. One major risk of using the currency is the exposure to bitcoin’s volatility – some of Kenya’s poorest bitcoin users hold up to 80 percent of their net worth in the cryptocurrency, money they can’t afford to lose. Also, there are barriers to access: Users need smartphones, consistent Internet, and digital literacy – all of which remain scarce in informal settlements like Kibera. Meanwhile, there is regulatory uncertainty: Kenya’s government is planning to introduce a digital asset tax and restrictions on crypto giveaways which could harm users here. “Bitcoin isn’t a silver bullet,” one Kenya fintech strategist told BitKE, a Kenyan magazine covering crypto. “If we can’t prove sustained usage or economic impact, this becomes a charity stunt – not financial inclusion.”  Share this story

A New Cape Town Luxury Hotel

Cape Town’s R1 billion high-end hotel scheduled to open in March Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront is set to unveil a new R1 billion luxury hotel in March next year. Here’s what you need to know… By Sundeeka Mungroo 27-06-25 11:02 in Featured The V&A Waterfront The V&A Waterfront will be home to the new luxury Quay 7 hotel. Image: canva Cape Town’s new R1 billion ultra-luxury hotel, featuring 142 rooms and six serviced apartments, will open its doors in March next year. According to Moneyweb, the hotel, located in the popular V&A Waterfront—may operate as an Edition Hotel, part of Marriott International’s elite “super luxury” or 6/7-star designer lifestyle brand. Developers have reportedly invested around R1 billion in the project. Quay 7 gets a new luxury hotel Growthpoint Properties and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), co-owners of the ‘Quay 7 hotel,’ are developing it as a “contemporary luxury lifestyle hotel” with a distinct Scandinavian design. Although Growthpoint has kept most details under wraps, the company recently confirmed that construction on the Quay 7 hotel is moving forward, with the opening planned for March 2026. Table Bay Hotel also gets a R1 billion revamp And it seems the luxury Quay 7 hotel isn’t the only billion-rand offering for the V&A Waterfront. The iconic Table Bay Hotel is undergoing a landmark R1 billion refurbishment—the most significant transformation in its nearly 30-year history. The V&A Waterfront, which now owns the hotel, closed it earlier this year to begin the renovations, with Sun International overseeing its management. The project aims to modernise the hotel’s facilities while preserving the timeless elegance that has established it as one of Cape Town’s top luxury destinations. Tags: Cape Town DMumani featured Important South Africa Post navigation Next Article Previous Article U.S. Privacy Trump renews attack on SA, calling it a ‘dangerous mess’ - SA People Discover Homeless Americans watch as Afrikaner ‘refugees’ arrive seeking a ‘better life’ - SA People Discover Insider | Travel Deals Flight Attendant Reveals How To Fly Business Class For The Price Of Economy Read More Skip #Goosebumps: Well Known Farmer's Message After Brutal Attack in South Africa - SA People Discover 'It's tough!': Afrikaner farmer shares his experience working in the US - SA People Discover Flight Attendant Reveals How To Fly Business Class For The Price Of Economy Americans, You'll Want To Check This Out ASAP! Insider | Travel Deals | Sponsored Women over 40 seeking love - interested in chatting? Love, Safety, and Respect: Your Perfect Match is Just a Click Away! DateMyAge | Sponsored Supreme Court Victory to Unlock $150 Trillion Bonanza for Investors? Paradigm Press | Sponsored Amazon Is Losing Money as California Shoppers Are Canceling Prime for This Clever Hack This simple trick can save tons of money on Amazon, but most Prime members are ignoring it. Online Shopping Tools | Sponsored Seniors Can Now Fly Business Class For the Price Of Economy Americans, you'll want to check this out ASAP Insider | Travel Deals | Sponsored Improve cash flow & seize opportunities. Finance with Biz2Credit. Manage expenses and fund growth. Biz2Credit offers financing solutions to optimize your business's cash flow. Biz2Credit | Sponsored Women 40+ in search of love - ready to chat? Love, Safety, and Respect: Your Perfect Match is Just a Click Away! DateMyAge | Sponsored Trump renews attack on SA, calling it a ‘dangerous mess’ - SA People SA People Homeless Americans watch as Afrikaner ‘refugees’ arrive seeking a ‘better life’ - SA People SA People Latest Posts water interruption 10-hour water outage to affect these Johannesburg areas 30-06-25 10:22 Where is Nandipha Magudumana's husband? What happened to Nandipha Magudumana’s husband? 30-06-25 08:40 potholes Can residents legally fix potholes? Here’s what the law says 30-06-25 08:28 refugees US gives priority refugee status to 1 000 Afrikaners 29-06-25 10:32 Eskom Eskom set to carry out 12-hour power outage in Gauteng next week 28-06-25 11:21 Eastern Cape Government officially declares Eastern Cape a national disaster zone 27-06-25 15:05

A Beautiful Cape Town Suburb

This SA suburb has the best views – And nobody’s talking about it As far as SA suburbs go, this Cape Town gem manages to outshine the hype – quietly. No crowds. No clutter. Just pure, elemental landscape. Author picture By Sundeeka Mungroo 27-06-25 15:05 in Lifestyle scarborough sa suburbs Scarborough beach. Image: canva South Africa has no shortage of scenic neighbourhoods, but one coastal gem continues to fly under the radar: Scarborough. ADVERTISEMENT Hidden away on the Atlantic side of the Cape Peninsula, just beyond the curve of Kommetjie and bordering the edge of the Cape Point Nature Reserve, Scarborough is where mountain meets ocean in a way that feels untouched, raw, and entirely cinematic. And yet, almost nobody’s talking about it! Scarborough: A hidden paradise Scarborough isn’t just quiet. It’s secluded. With no major commercial strips or traffic-heavy streets, it feels more like a nature reserve than a suburb. A handful of eco-conscious homes hug the hillside, many with panoramic views stretching from the deep blues of the Atlantic to the jagged peaks of the surrounding mountains. Unlike hotspots like Camps Bay or Hout Bay, this SA suburb isn’t built for show. There are no velvet ropes, no designer boutiques. It’s where surfers, artists, writers, and those chasing off-grid peace end up – often permanently. ADVERTISEMENT The views speak for themselves Views over the Atlantic Ocean from Scarborough. Image: wikimedia commons On a clear day, the views from Scarborough are borderline surreal. The sun dips into the ocean with a fiery fade that lights up the entire coastline. Mist curls off the mountains in the early morning like something from a dream. From just about any spot in this SA suburb, you’re surrounded by sweeping natural drama – waves crashing into boulders, cliffs carved by wind, and sky that seems to go on forever. For photographers and nature lovers, it’s a goldmine. For locals, it’s a quiet privilege they’re in no rush to advertise. Nature first, always Cape Point section near Scarborough. Image: canva Scarborough is officially part of the Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Park, which means conservation isn’t just a value here – it’s the law. No fast food joints. No high-rises. Just eco-homes, indigenous gardens, and wildlife that still roam freely. Think baboons, porcupines, even the occasional caracal. You’ll also find one of the most unspoiled beaches in the Western Cape. It’s wild, often windy, and completely free of umbrellas or vendors. Perfect for long walks, cold swims, or simply sitting in awe. The locals like it low-key Ask anyone who lives in Scarborough why they’re there, and you’ll probably get a knowing smile followed by a vague answer. They don’t want it to change. They know they’re sitting on something special, and part of its magic lies in how under-the-radar it still is. No, it’s not for everyone. There’s no mall, no nightlife, and very limited cell signal in some spots. But for those looking to escape the noise without losing the ocean, Scarborough is close to perfect! Where’s your dream location to live in? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website’s newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news. Follow The South African on Facebook for the latest breaking news, polls - a

El Dorado In The Sahara-Western Shara Blooms!

El Dorado in the Sahara: Western Sahara Booms As Tensions Grow Western Sahara The road from the northern border of Western Sahara to the southern city of Dakhla feels like a road to nowhere: It’s hundreds of miles of sand and sea, with a very occasional truck, sleepy town or military checkpoint interrupting the emptiness. And just a few years ago, Dakhla, a small city on the Atlantic of about 100,000 people, was a quiet outpost, with little infrastructure and few jobs. These days, however, it’s become a boomtown, a new “El Dorado,” luring those in search of the proverbial gold. Here, a new causeway is being built a mile into the ocean, part of a $1.2 billion port project that aims to connect this once remote corner of Africa with other parts of the continent, South America, and Europe. Officials and investors hope to export phosphate, gas, and fish – and other minerals such as oil from other African countries as well as green hydrogen and ammonia from local wind and solar farms – far beyond its shores. Already, tourists are beginning to pour in on new flight routes to stay in newly constructed hotels. A new airport is slated to open to accommodate the new boom in tourism. Aside from sunseekers and windsurfers, Moroccan officials say they are welcoming a steady stream of private investors and foreign officials these days, according to Bloomberg. Investment, currently at $10 billion, is expected to quadruple in 15 years. “The Western Sahara has gone from a disputed territory that was radioactive to foreign investors to an increasingly normal region that’s receiving a growing flow of capital,” Riccardo Fabiani of the International Crisis Group told the financial newswire. It’s obvious to see the political changes, too, in this disputed territory that is mostly under Moroccan control, that some call “Africa’s last colony,” analysts say. Recently, the United Kingdom threw its support behind Morocco’s proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara, a plan which would allow Morocco to retain control over defense, foreign policy and its currency, the Moroccan dirham, marking a shift in its position on one of Africa’s longest-running territorial disputes, the Guardian noted. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the plan was “the most credible, viable and pragmatic” way to resolve one of Africa’s longest-running and “most frustrating” regional conflicts and also counter Russian expansion in the Sahel region, mitigate irregular immigration to Europe, and take advantage of the economic opportunities. The shift in policy in the West on Moroccan claims of the territory was led by the United States in 2020, which analysts say set off the investment boom. Spain changed its stance in 2022 and France, two years later. Still, the new energy, excitement, and investment in the region belies the turmoil that is promising to heat up again, wrote Foreign Affairs. Morocco, which says the Western Sahara is historically part of its country, a claim the International Court of Justice disputes, has controlled the territory since 1975, when the Spanish withdrew their colonial claims. From that time, it fought the pro-independence group, the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, in a conflict that killed thousands until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 1991. That left three-quarters of the territory under Moroccan control. The rest, controlled by the Polisario Front, hosted refugee camps for displaced Sahrawis, as the local population is called. Still, Moroccan claims were not recognized by most of the world, while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic proclaimed by the Polisario Front was recognized by more than 40 countries. Meanwhile, the UN lists the region as a non-self-governing territory and has tried to hold a referendum on independence for more than 30 years but never has due to issues over who would be eligible to vote. That’s in part because of Morocco’s resettlement policies: For decades, it has lured Moroccans with incentives to resettle in the region. Still, analysts say the recognition by the US, France, and now the UK has left Algeria – where 170,000 Sahrawis live in refugee camps – simmering and the Polisario ready to escalate its fight because it says it has no choice. So far, the Polisario has declared the ceasefire dead and has taken its fight to international courts, arguing that Morocco does not have the right to profit from resources belonging to the Sahrawi people while the conflict remains unresolved. Rulings in its favor could hinder the boom. For example, in October 2024, European courts annulled two European Union-Morocco trade agreements covering fishing and agriculture, ruling that the deals lacked the required “consent of the people of Western Sahara,” according to New Arab magazine. Still, the Sahrawis from Western Sahara are not unanimous about the future of their territory. Some, like Kamal Fadel, a lawyer from Western Sahara based in Australia, say that most reject the Moroccan plan and want a referendum to decide. “The autonomy proposal is not a step toward peace, it is a sophisticated attempt to entrench occupation and delay justice, rooted in imperial logic, not international law,” he wrote in Modern Diplomacy. “It ignores the clear legal, moral, and political rights of the Sahrawi people to choose their own future.” Still, Sarah Zaaimi of the Atlantic Council, who is Sahrawi also, recounted conversations with dozens of people in the Moroccan-held portion of the territory for a field study and found that most expressed extreme fatigue from five decades of conflict and a desire for normality and prosperity. They hope, she said, that the Moroccan plan would bring that change and tackle the region’s issues – corruption and the trafficking of drugs, people, and stolen humanitarian aid. “Now, the time is up,” she wrote. “The Sahrawi communities can no longer afford another 50 years of political stalemate.

An Enchanting South African Mountain Village That Feels Straight Out Of A Film

The enchanting South African mountain village that feels straight out of a film South Africa hides some places that feel untouched, like secrets waiting to be discovered. Take a look… By Sundeeka Mungroo 26-06-25 17:36 in Featured Hogsback The eco-shrine in Hogsback. Image: wikimedia commons Nestled in the Amathole Mountains of the Eastern Cape, the mountain village of Hogsback feels like it came straight out of a fantasy film. Misty forests, waterfalls, winding trails, and whimsical cottages fill the landscape, and you can book a thatched-roof hideaway for as little as R900 a night. If you’ve ever dreamed of living in a real-life fairytale, now’s your chance. A mountain village of myths, magic, and mountains Many believe Hogsback inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, and once you arrive, you’ll see why. Ancient indigenous forests and towering yellowwood trees surround the mountain village, and there’s even a road named Hobbiton-on-Hogsback. But Hogsback offers more than just scenic beauty. Artists, writers, and free spirits have settled here for decades, filling the village with creative energy and giving it a relaxed, bohemian charm. Where to stay Hogsback in South Africa offers plenty of charming places to stay, from whimsical cabins to forest lodges. But the most magical choice is a classic thatched cottage with a fireplace and garden views, starting at R900 per night. You’ll discover these hidden gems nestled in the forest, surrounded by ferns and moss-covered stone walls. Some popular picks include Away with the Fairies, The Edge Mountain Retreat, and smaller farm-style stays on Airbnb and LekkeSlaap. What to do This mountain village was made for slow travel. Lace up your boots and explore trails like the Madonna and Child Waterfall, Big Tree, as well as the epic 39 Steps. Don’t miss the Labyrinth at The Edge – one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, perched on a sheer cliff. There’s a thriving art scene in this mountain village too. Browse the handmade pottery, stop by fairy-themed cafés, or visit the local eco-shops for herbal teas, handmade soaps, and organic honey. And if you’re into wild swimming in the summer, there are even natural rock pools waiting! Getting there You can reach Hogsback in about 2.5 hours from East London or 3 hours from Grahamstown, driving along winding mountain roads that lead into the cloud forests. The journey offers stunning views—especially when mist or even snow (yes, snow in South Africa) blankets the landscape. You won’t need a 4×4 to visit this mountain village, but check the weather in winter and drive with care. Tags: DMumani featured Hogsback Important South Africa

6 Western Cape Getaways To Enjoy

6 Western Cape getaways to enjoy — even on a rainy weekend Rain in the Western Cape isn’t a setback—it encourages you to slow down, take it all in, and appreciate the parts of the province most people overlook in a hurry. By Sundeeka Mungroo 24-06-25 13:42 in Featured Western Cape Franschhoek, Western Cape. Image: wikimedia commons Rain in the Western Cape doesn’t mean your plans are ruined—it simply calls for a smarter approach. This isn’t the kind of place that slows down when the sun hides. The province offers plenty of indoor treasures, dramatic scenery, and cosy hideaways to transform a rainy weekend into a memorable getaway. Here are the top spots to explore when the weather turns gloomy but you still want a weekend to remember. 1. Franschhoek, Western Cape: Wine, fireplaces, and no regrets Rain? Good. That’s your cue to head to Franschhoek. This town was built for bad weather. Cosy wine farms like Haute Cabrière, La Motte, and Le Lude welcome guests with tastings in stone-walled cellars warmed by crackling fires. If you’re not into wine, head to the Franschhoek Motor Museum, where you can admire vintage cars under shelter while misty mountain views frame the scene. Pro move: Book a fireside table at Le Coin Français or Protégé and settle in for a long, slow lunch. 2. Cape Town’s inner layers: Culture under cover Rain transforms Cape Town into a whole new city—and it’s one worth exploring. Begin your day at Zeitz MOCAA, where contemporary African art fills a striking architectural space. Then slip into Truth Coffee, where bold brews meet bold steampunk style. If you’re feeling energetic, head to Clay Café in the City to paint your own ceramics while the rain taps outside. Or lose yourself at the Two Oceans Aquarium—it’s more mesmerising than you might expect. End the day at the Labia Theatre with a glass of wine and a film. Cape Town’s grit and creativity shine brightest when its streets glisten. 3. Cederberg, Western Cape: Stormy isolation and ancient rock art If you crave silence when it rains, head north to the Cederberg. While the crowds vanish with the sunshine, the wild landscape remains untouched. Book a stone cottage at Kagga Kamma or Cederberg Ridge, and spend your days hiking to San rock art shelters or gazing over stormy valleys with a glass of red wine in hand. You’ll feel completely alone in the best possible way. 4. Riebeek Valley: Small town, big comfort Riebeek-Kasteel offers the perfect setting for a slow-paced weekend. You’ll find wine, of course, but also olive oil tastings, art galleries, and a bakery that will make you rethink store-bought bread for good. Book a room at The Royal Hotel for colonial charm and top-notch gin cocktails, or choose a self-catering spot and cook up a cosy fireside meal using fresh ingredients from the town square. When it rains in Riebeek-Kasteel, no one rushes, and that’s exactly the charm. 5. Montagu: Soak, sip, and stay put Montagu’s hot springs are non-negotiable when the temperature drops. Book into Avalon Springs or a self-catering stay nearby, and alternate between soaking in steaming water and sipping wine under shelter. In town, The Rambling Rose serves comfort food that’s anything but basic. The Montagu Museum tells the story of a town that’s been around since ox wagons ruled the roads. It’s peaceful, slow, and proud of it. 6. The Elgin Valley, Western Cape: Cider, forest, and fog Just an hour from Cape Town, Elgin transforms into an even more magical place when it rains. Mist drifts over the orchards while you settle into a cabin or eco-pod, feeling like you’ve slipped away to another world. Everson’s Cider does tastings in a rustic barn, while Peregrine Farm Stall covers the baked goods side of your soul. Go for a forest walk in Cape Nature’s Hottentots Holland Reserve – just don’t forget your rain jacket. Tags: DMumani featured Important South Africa western cape

Cape Town Celebrates Zohran Mamdani Victory

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ICC Investigating Wagner Group Over War Crimes In West Africa

ICC Investigating Wagner Group over War Crimes in West Africa West Africa The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been requested to investigate the Russian mercenary Wagner Group over alleged war crimes carried out in West Africa, with legal scholars arguing that sharing graphic images of atrocities they have allegedly committed on social media is a violation of international law, Euronews reported. The request, from legal scholars at the University of California Berkeley, said that Wagner’s presence in the region – in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and the Central African Republic (CAR) – has led to the commission of multiple war crimes: The acts of violence themselves, such as beheadings, dismemberments, and possibly even cannibalism, as well as the sharing of videos and images of them on social media platforms like Telegram and X, according to Africanews. The videos were removed from X for violating the platform’s rules and posted on Telegram behind a paywall. Telegram told the Associated Press the content was “removed whenever discovered” for breaching the platform’s guidelines. The reports center on atrocities committed in Mali and Burkina Faso specifically. The militaries of the two countries distanced themselves from the violent content, saying it exemplified “rare” atrocities. Analysts from UC Berkeley also urged the ICC to investigate the governments of Mali and Russia over alleged abuses in northern and central Mali between December 2021 and July 2024. With the US and France retreating militarily from the region, Russia has filled the void, sending mercenaries who were part of the Wagner Group to fight alongside military governments against jihadist militias in countries including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The Wagner Group became Africa Corps after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a coup against Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and was killed in a plane crash in 2023. The mercenaries have long been accused of human rights violations. Earlier this year, protests broke out in the CAR because of their acts of violence against civilians. Share this story

Rwanda Arrests Opposition Leader In Crackdown On Dissent

Rwanda Arrests Opposition Leader in Crackdown on Dissent Rwanda Rwandan authorities arrested a prominent opposition leader on suspicion of forming an armed rebel group and planning activities intended to incite public unrest, a move that her legal team and observers say underscores the country’s continued crackdown on dissent under President Paul Kagame, the Financial Times reported over the weekend. Late last week, Rwandan officials confirmed they detained opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who is being held at a police station in the capital, Kigali. Her arrest follows her appearance in court on Thursday as a witness in a case involving nine defendants accused of plotting to remove the government through non-violent means. Prosecutors say Ingabire communicated with the group, provided financial support, and organized training on unconstitutional regime change. The defendants stand accused of participating in an online training session hosted by a European non-governmental organization in 2021. Her lawyers rejected the claims as baseless, calling the arrest “unlawful and arbitrary” and part of an ongoing campaign of political intimidation, according to Radio France Internationale. Ingabire, a Hutu politician and founder of the DALFA-Umurinzi party, returned to Rwanda from exile in 2010 to contest the presidential election but was barred from running and later imprisoned for 15 years on charges of terrorism and denying the 1994 genocide. In 2017, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that her rights had been violated over her 2010 imprisonment. While the government ignored the ruling, Kagame pardoned her in 2018. Even so, she has remained a vocal critic of Kagame, who took control of the African nation after the 1994 genocide and has been in office as president since 2000. Though he has been praised for the country’s economic development since the genocide, the long-running leader has come under criticism for his continuous stifling of dissent. Numerous members of the opposition have been imprisoned, while others have died under mysterious circumstances. Analysts suggested that the recent arrests highlight concerns about domestic stability within Kagame’s regime, particularly amid rumors about the president’s health and rising international pressure over Rwanda’s role in regional instability, such as its aid to rebels invading the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last week, Rwanda and the DRC agreed on a draft deal to end decades of conflict in talks mediated by the United States and Qatar. Share this story

South Africa Has One Of the Least Competition-Friendly Economies

Shaun Jacobs • 18 June 2025 South Africa has one of the least competition-friendly economies in the world, with onerous regulations making it one of the most challenging countries in which to do business. This lack of competition results in low business dynamism and minimal job creation, despite a much-improved electricity supply and structural reforms gaining momentum. The lack of competition within South Africa’s economy has long been identified as a handbrake on economic growth. In its “Driving Inclusive Growth in South Africa” report, the World Bank stated that easing regulations could significantly boost the local economy. The bank stated that South Africa is now in a far better position than it was before the 2024 national elections, when the country was plagued by intense load shedding and heightened uncertainty. Load-shedding has been significantly reduced, and substantial progress has been made in other areas, such as logistics and telecommunications. Most importantly, the elections at the end of May 2024 created a new political context that offers the country a significant opportunity to drive growth through reforms. “The new political context emerging from the May 2024 elections provides a unique opportunity for South Africa,” the World Bank said. “The alignment of economic and political incentives, in the sense that improving the economy is essential for gaining political power, offers a platform to launch a decisive transformation process.” The World Bank said that such alignment was the key driver of successful economic transformations in China in the 1980s, Vietnam in the 1990s, and Poland in the 2010s. Despite this optimism, South Africa remains one of the most challenging places in the world to do business, ranking last in a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year. The IMF’s study ranked South Africa last among 49 other countries and said that if the country could just achieve an ease of doing business equal to the average, its economic growth would double. The graph below, courtesy of Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data, shows how South Africa ranks in terms of product market regulation – a proxy for the ease of doing business. Boosting competition in South Africa To drive structural changes in South Africa, it is vital that there be short-term results that demonstrate the benefits of reform. The World Bank stated that short-term results are crucial to achieving a successful economic transformation. These short-term wins create the momentum necessary to drive structural changes. One easy way to drive short-term results is to strengthen and broaden market competition in South Africa by easing the regulatory burden on businesses. “Today, many of South Africa’s markets lack dynamism. Firm entry and exit are a third of the average of a typical middle-income country,” the lender said. This means that very few new businesses, whether small or large, are being created that can employ South Africans and contribute to the country’s economic activity. The World Bank stated that it is one of the major reasons behind South Africa’s high unemployment rate and the difficulty individuals face in finding stable and productive jobs in the country. An easy way to address this is to improve market competition, which has the potential to dynamise an economy, boost efficiency, and promote innovation. The global institution stated that South Africa could rebalance its economic model by making it easier for investors and young workers to enter the market. One way to achieve this is to reduce the protection of incumbents, including state-owned enterprises, which often operate as monopolies and are highly inefficient. This creates a status quo that negatively impacts the success of small firms, which lack the capacity or financial means to navigate the complex system of rules and regulations. This, in turn, significantly hinders the ability of low-skill workers to find jobs. Even if they do find employment, they face a heavy income tax burden. The World Bank pointed to the example of South Africa introducing competition to the telecommunications market in the early 2000s. This opening of the sector to private competition resulted in South Africa becoming one of the middle-income countries with the highest rates of digital penetration and exports. In parallel, the private sector also benefited. MTN, a South African multinational mobile telecommunications provider, is now operating in 22 countries worldwide. The same approach has been applied in aviation transport, with the emergence of several regional private companies, and more recently, in power generation, where competition has led to an unprecedented increase in renewable energy. The World Bank said there are no obvious reasons why such an approach, coupled with smart regulations, cannot be applied to other sectors. Warm regards Cliff photo CLIFF HALL indlovu@axxess.co.za 0827810544

Multiple Crises Create Mass Displacement In Cameroon

When the Walls Close In: Multiple Crises Create Mass Displacement in Cameroon Cameroon In April, a Cameroonian national living in the US state of Maryland was indicted by federal prosecutors who said he had been “conspiring to provide material support to armed separatist fighters… in Cameroon…” Eric Tataw, 38, had allegedly ordered the “murder, kidnapping, maiming of civilians” as well as raised funds for armed groups in Cameroon, the indictment said. Since 2016, the violent conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, the North West and the South West, has killed at least 6,000 people. Here, separatist armed groups have committed serious human rights abuses such as mutilation and torture, according to Human Rights Watch. But so have Cameroonian government forces, carrying out mass killings, the torture of civilians, and the widespread burning of homes. Perpetrators have faced little accountability, the organization added. Caught in the middle are the more than 334,000 people forced from their homes, which, along with other civilians fleeing conflict elsewhere, make Cameroon host to one of the world’s worst and most neglected refugee crises, according to a new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council. The country hosts 1.5 million people forced from their homes by violence. The problem is that the country has been hit by multiple crises simultaneously – terrorists and criminal gangs in the north, a civil war in neighboring Central African Republic, and the almost-decade-long fight between separatists in the English-speaking regions and the government of the French-speaking majority. Anglophone Cameroonians make up around 20 percent of the country’s 28 million people. The crisis in the English-speaking regions, which were governed by the United Kingdom after World War I until independence in 1960, with France governing the rest, broke out after teachers and lawyers in them began protesting the imposition of French within the Anglophone education and judicial system in 2016. The situation escalated after the government cracked down on the protesters, with a separatist movement emerging that wanted to secede from Cameroon into a new state called Ambazonia. “The fight for homeland is existential and non-negotiable,” Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, the former “president” of the breakaway state that is still fighting his revolution from jail after seven years in prison, told the Guardian. “We have an obligation – dead or alive – to bequeath to our children a nation that they can call theirs, something we have been deprived of for too long.” More recently, the conflict in the Lake Chad region, which also includes Cameroon’s far north Logone-et-Chari district, has been heating up as Islamist militants intensify their cross-border operations and criminal networks continue to operate freely. Much of the violence is due to the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram which split into two factions: The Islamic State West Africa Province, has tried to push “a kind of heart-and-mind-winning strategy,” trying to set up state-like structures in occupied areas and “sometimes trying to deliver social services, but most of the time preying on communities in terms of extortion and illegal tax collection,” Remadji Hoinathy of the Institute for Security Studies told Deutsche Welle. The second faction is People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad (JAS), which employs indiscriminate violence against the military, local authorities, and civilians – locals are often forced to pay taxes or collaborate with the groups. In March 2025 alone, there were more than 10 surprise attacks on military barracks in which the perpetrators stole military equipment, weapons, and cars. As a result of the violence, hundreds of thousands have fled the area. Adding to that are the 430,000 refugees who have fled conflicts in the central African region, the majority from the Central African Republic. Constance Banda, who with her husband and six children fled the violence in the English-speaking regions, now lives in a makeshift refugee camp in the capital of Yaoundé. “It’s very hard for us here,” she told Radio France International. “My children sometimes go for days without food. All I pray for is for the fighting to end so that we can return a rebuild our lives.” Share this story

Cape Town Streets Turned Into A Cyclist's Paradise!

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A South African Reported on Cape Town

Sjanel Lucas Cape Town is gorgeous, that alone is reason enough to move here but it is also the only city in South Africa that has good governance instead of crippling corruption. It’s located in the only province with good governance instead of crippling corruption. It’s the only city where you walk around safely in the city center carrying an expensive camera. Yes, there’s crime here, but compared to other SA cities it’s negligible and mostly confined to gang violence in their locality that rarely spreads outside of their territories. You avoid those and you’ll be just fine. Also, my 22 year old just bought a house here. She graduated last year and has been working for 6 months. Not some crazy paying job. Just a regular job along with her boyfriend who works a regular job and graduated a year before her. Gen Z, both of them.

Burundi Chooses The Status Quo

As Elections Approach and Regional Tensions Rise, Burundi Chooses the Status Quo Burundi Burundi officially kicked off its 2025 election campaign season in early May at Ingoma Stadium in Gitega, the capital. Thousands of candidates dressed in their party colors paraded in a ceremony attended by politicians and political hopefuls. Attendees described it as a milestone for the country. “This is a first in Burundi’s democratic history,” Jean De Dieu Mutabazi, president of the Rally for Democracy and Economic and Social Development (RADEBU) party, told Africanews, adding he was optimistic about the election remaining peaceful. “It’s a very symbolic event, showing progress in our democratic culture and reducing political animosity between rivals.” If only that were so, say analysts. Despite a transition in 2020 from brutal autocrat Pierre Nkurunziza to President Évariste Ndayishimiye, who when he took office said he wanted to promote reform and civil liberties, five years later, the country has reverted back to a state of repression and brutality. For example, in spite of the ceremony celebrating the candidates running in federal and local elections on June 5, the leading opposition party, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL), has been suspended, and independent candidates have mostly been excluded from the election. “Recent events suggest that the political and security outlook in Burundi still mostly resembles the dim period of 2015-2016,” wrote Teresa Nogueira Pinto, an Africa analyst, in GIS, referring to the repression and political violence under Nkurunziza. “Despite some changes…, the (ruling) National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) has further consolidated its power…(by) … resorting to repression, including violent measures, against its opposition.” One example of that, analysts say, is how the president has legitimized the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling party. The group has become a paramilitary force acting on behalf of the party and has been accused of torturing and assassinating opposition figures and others found disloyal to the government. Recently, it was granted official status by the legislature as the Reserve and Development Support Force and charged with defending the country and promoting patriotism. The president has also severely restricted civil liberties and political freedoms, say human rights organizations. For example, the government has excluded former CNL leader Agathon Rwasa, who came second in the 2020 presidential race, from the current election. It did so by implementing a new electoral code that makes it difficult for independent candidates to run, a measure designed specifically to block Rwasa’s candidacy, wrote Nigeria’s News Central. Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders recently warned of escalating violence against journalists sanctioned by the government, while members of opposition parties complain they face harassment, intimidation, and violence. As a result, analysts say, the elections will bring little change to a country facing deep problems that are becoming more destabilizing, analysts said. Burundi’s already fragile economy still hasn’t recovered from the disruptions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. High inflation and shortages of necessities including fuel have hit hard in a country where the majority of the population lives below the poverty line. Now it is being further destabilized by the war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) next door: More than 100,000 refugees have crossed the border into Burundi since February, the Associated Press reported. United Nations officials say the situation is dire. Meanwhile, the war has escalated tensions with Rwanda, which is supporting the M23 rebels in the DRC with troops. As a result, Rwandan and M23 fighters are sparring with soldiers from Burundi, which supports the Congolese government. Burundi’s soldiers are also fighting the Burundian anti-government group, the Resistance for a State of Law in Burundi (RED-Tabara), based in the DRC. Burundi has long accused Rwanda of supporting the RED-Tabara, which has escalated its attacks in Burundi over the past year. In March, Ndayishimiye accused Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame, of planning to attack Burundi. Meanwhile, locals near the Burundian borders with the DRC and Rwanda say the halt of cross-border trade because of these tensions has hit the local economy hard, causing a loss of income and shortages of fuel and other commodities. They add that it has become impossible to acknowledge friends and family in the neighboring countries without being targeted by the government. Now, they are sure war is approaching. “Since the (war broke out in the DRC), we are afraid,” one resident of Buganda near the border with the eastern DRC, told Afrique XXI. “When the war breaks out, we will be the first victims.” Share this story

South Africa Proposes 10- Year Purchase Deal For US LNG

South Africa Proposes 10-Year Purchase Deal For U.S. LNG By Alex Kimani, 4 hours ago South Africa has proposed to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States over a 10-year period as the country looks to secure a trade deal with the Trump administration, a ministerial statement by the South African government has revealed. South Africa plans to import 75 to 100 million cubic metres of LNG per year from the U.S., the world’s top LNG exporter. According to Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency, the deal would “unlock approximately $900 million to $1.2 billion in trade per annum and $9 billion – $12 billion for 10 years based on applicable price.” According to Ntshavheni, U.S. LNG will not replace South Africa’s current supplies but rather complement them. Ntshavheni, South Africa’s cabinet spokesperson, said her country would also explore areas of cooperation with the U.S. in various technologies, including fracking, to help unlock the country’s gas sector. South Africa's Karoo region holds significant gas reserves, however, the country has a moratorium on shale gas exploration over environmental grounds. The proposed trade package also includes a quota of 40,000 vehicles per year to be exported duty-free from South Africa; duty-free supplies of automotive components sourced from South Africa; 385 million kilograms of duty-free steel per year and 132 million kg of duty-free aluminium per year. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is credited with proposing the LNG deal during his visit to the White House a week ago, when U.S. President Donald Trump blamed him for “genocide” against white farmers and controversial government policies, such as black economic empowerment and land reforms. Ramaphosa had hoped to use the meeting to mend fences with the Trump administration after Trump cancelled aid to South Africa, accusing the government of committing “egregious actions.” South Africa-born billionaire and a Trump super-ally, Elon Musk, has condemned the South African leadership for supporting “openly racist policies.”Musk is considered to be a big reason behind the animosity towards South Africa by the Trump administration, where white South Africans disproportionately control most of the country’s land and wealth despite constituting just 7% of the population. Back in March, Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, declared South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata and expelled him from the country. The administration has criticised South Africa’sgenocide court case against Israel. South Africa currently imports most of its gas from Mozambique via pipeline, with Mozambique’s $20 billion natural gas and LNG project facing repeated delays. The project was halted in 2021 due to violence in the Cabo Delgado region, specifically an attack by Islamic State-linked militants. TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) is currently seeking approval from the Mozambican government to lift a force majeure declaration on the project, and hopes to start production by 2029. Total is the project’s main operator with a 26.5% stake, followed by Japan’s Mitsui & Co with 20%, while Mozambique's state-owned ENH owns a 15% stake. Despite the violence, the project is viewed as crucial for the region's economy and Mozambique's economy, with the Southern African country projected to earn US$23 billion from the Coral Norte project over three decades. The LNG plant will liquefy 13.12 million metric tons of natural gas per year (tpy). Whereas 18 African countries produce some natural gas, Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria account for nearly 90% of all gas produced on the continent. Nigeria has the continent’s largest gas reserves at 206.5 trillion cubic feet. The oil and gas sector in Africa’s most populous country is responsible for 95% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings and 20% of GDP. Source: LNG Industry Currently, Africa has several big LNG projects in progress or awaiting FID (Final Investment Decision). These include Rovuma LNG, Coral North FLNG, Mozambique LNG, and Tanzania LNG. These four projects will be instrumental in ramping up the continent’s LNG export capacity over the next decade. The Coral South FLNG is a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility located offshore Mozambique, specifically in the southern part of Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin. It is designed to process 450 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Coral reservoir, liquefying 3.4 million metric tons annually for export. The facility is the first FLNG deployed in deep waters on the African continent. Meanwhile, Rovuma LNG is a 12-train project with a total capacity of 18 million tpy; Mozambique LNG has a total export capacity of 43 million tpy while Tanzania LNG will provide 10 million tpy worth of capacity. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Saudi Arabia to Review Spending Priorities After Oil Price Slide EIA Shows US Crude, Product Inventories Fell Upstream Spending and Production Holds Steady in Canada 61

Senegal Indicts Fifth Minister In Ongoing Corruption Crackdown

Senegal Indicts Fifth Minister in Ongoing Corruption Crackdown Senegal Senegal’s anti-corruption special court on Monday indicted former Minister of Community Development Amadou Mansour Faye on charges of embezzling more than $4.6 million of Covid-19-related public funds, Africanews reported. Faye, who is the brother-in-law of former president Macky Sall, is the fifth official from the previous administration to be charged by the High Court of Justice, a special organ responsible for trying former government officials for crimes committed while in office. According to Faye’s lawyer, the court denied the minister bail and ordered his detention. This case is part of a broader crackdown on corruption by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected last year on promises to promote transparency and accountability. Last week, the anti-corruption court charged two other former ministers from Sall’s administration for embezzlement and misappropriation related to Covid-19 funds, and two others for taking bribes and “complicity in embezzlement.” These cases highlight the new government’s focus on fighting corruption at the highest levels of governance. According to a government spokesman, Senegal intended to summon Sall to court after officials found irregularities in the treasury’s bookkeeping made during his presidency. The former president dismissed the accusations as politically motivated.

Tanzania: When Promises Wither Tanzania's Leaders Start Using An Old Playbook

When Promise Withers: Tanzania’s Leader Starts Using an Old Playbook Tanzania When Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office in 2021, the hope was that she would be a different kind of Tanzanian leader, one that would allow civil liberties, stop repression, and promote the development the country so desperately needs. In the first year, she go off to a good start, say observers, promoting the “Four Rs” of reconciliation, resilience, reforms, and rebuilding, becoming a marked contrast to her predecessor, dictator John Magufuli, who, when he died, catapulted his vice president, Hassan, into the country’s top post. The president, from the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has held power since 1977, released political prisoners, removed restrictions on media outlets, began working with the opposition, lifted a ban on opposition party rallies, and started a program of electoral reform. But that was then, before a crackdown on the opposition began last year and is intensifying in the runup to elections later this year. “The façade of progressive change that had been constructed under Samia is crumbling and could presage a return to authoritarian rule in Tanzania,” wrote World Politics Review. Recently, the government arrested the country’s main opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, for treason and other crimes, charges he denies as politically motivated, and come ahead of elections in October. The accusations are in relation to social media posts he made calling for Tanzanians to boycott the elections, citing the possibility of rigging. His party last year began a “No Reforms, No Election” campaign, which calls for reforms to the country’s electoral system, such as an independent election commission and an ability to challenge the results in court. Without these, the party says, the current system is weighted on the side of the ruling party. The treason charge carries the death penalty. As the BBC explained, Lissu, who was shot 17 times in an assassination attempt in 2017 and arrested multiple times over the years, “is the great survivor of Tanzanian politics – and one of its most persecuted politicians.” At the opening of his trial last week, Lissu, the chair of Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) appeared sanguine and said he was “hopeful,” telling his supporters that “all will be fine.” Still, the government has also banned his party from running candidates in the election after it refused to sign a code of conduct mandated by the Independent National Electoral Commission in order to participate in the elections. Party officials say they refused to sign because of the absence of election reforms, Africanews reported. Now, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, October’s election promises to be a repeat of local elections in November, where many CHADEMA candidates were disqualified, and the CCM ended up winning 99 percent of the local races. Meanwhile, the abductions and disappearances of CHADEMA members continue, say human rights groups. Dioniz Kipanya, a CHADEMA party official, disappeared in July after leaving his house, Amnesty International detailed, calling him and others who have disappeared the victims of a “campaign of repression.” Among these are two CHADEMA youth activists who were kidnapped in August by a group of men suspected to be police officers. And the body of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a senior CHADEMA member, was found in September after suspected security agents had abducted him from a bus while he was travelling home. According to a post-mortem his body had been soaked in acid and bore signs of a beating. Some say the wasted promise of Hassan’s presidency is due to hardliners in her party whose support she needs to remain in power and whose influence is very strong. “President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s ascent to power following Magufuli’s death provided an opportunity for the country of 67 million to exhale and (pivot) back toward Tanzania’s historically more moderate political culture,” wrote the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “In the process, the lines between the party and the state have become blurred. Like other liberation parties in Africa, some CCM members feel entitled to govern indefinitely and, emboldened by Magufuli’s tenure, are willing to resort to whatever tactics needed to maintain their absolute hegemony.”

South Africans Dispute Claims Of "white Genocide"

South Africans Dispute US Claims of ‘White Genocide’ South Africa South Africans on Thursday reacted with dismay to US President Donald Trump’s claims of a White genocide in South Africa, accusations that dominated a meeting between the American leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and led many to wonder if his trip overseas accomplished its purpose – to repair relations, Reuters reported. Ramaphosa had said before the trip that he hoped the conversation with Trump on Wednesday could be an opportunity to make a fresh start with the US, after relations between the two countries became strained since January. Since February, Trump has canceled aid to South Africa, offered asylum to White Afrikaners, and expelled the country’s ambassador. During the meeting, however, Trump repeatedly said that South Africa’s White minority farmers are being systematically killed and that their land is being seized, according to the BBC. Data collected by White farmers themselves, however, does not indicate a genocide. South Africa, meanwhile, has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black. Ramaphosa signed a new law this year that defines how land appropriations for “a public purpose” or “in the public interest” are to be compensated. It also allows for a limited number of cases where land expropriation would not be compensated.

Former Congolese Leader to DO Hard Labor for Corruption

Former Congolese Leader To Do Hard Labor For Corruption Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) constitutional court this week sentenced a former prime minister to 10 years of hard labor on embezzlement charges, in a high-profile case brought by the administration of President Félix Tshisekedi against his predecessor’s government, Reuters reported. On Tuesday, the court found former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo guilty of embezzling approximately $245 million in public funds, along with Deogratias Mutombo, former governor of the central bank, and South African businessman Christo Grobler. Mutombo and Grobler each received five-year sentences of hard labor. All three were tried in absentia and remain at large, according to the newswire. The charges stem from the misappropriation of funds meant for the Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park, a large-scale agricultural project launched under former President Joseph Kabila. The initiative aimed to reduce food insecurity and create jobs, but it collapsed in 2017. Three years later, Congolese authorities under Tshisekedi discovered that funds were stolen from the project and initiated a probe over the previous government’s conduct, the BBC wrote. Matata, who served as prime minister from 2012 to 2016, has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer condemned the verdict as politically motivated. Following the ruling, both Matata and Mutombo have been barred from holding public office for five years.

Miracle Derailed? Ivory Coast's Success Threatened by Election Gambit

Miracle, Derailed? Ivory Coast’s Success Threatened By Election Gambit Ivory Coast The small, West African country of Ivory Coast experienced an economic “miracle” from the 1950s until the 1980s. Now, it seems as if it is on the verge of a second one. Devastated by two civil wars, from 2002 to 2007 and from 2010 to 11, which combined killed thousands, it has since become West Africa’s economic success story with growth rates hovering around 7 percent in the past decade and one of the highest GDP per capita rates in the region. With much of sub-Saharan Africa grappling with coups, wars, jihadist insurgencies, and economic stagnation, Ivory Coast, a country of 32 million people known for cocoa exports – it is the world’s largest producer – is a rare exception on the continent, say analysts. Still, while the first “Ivorian miracle” was driven by cocoa, part of the country’s recent success is attributed to diversification, an ability to attract investment over the past decade, and the smart economic policy of the government of Alassane Ouattara, a former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund, who has been president since 2010, and the relative political stability that followed over the next decade. That, however, is now being threatened in the runup to elections later this year. Ouattara, 83, won his third term in 2020, despite a constitutional limit of two terms, in an election that was boycotted by the opposition and led to unrest. Now he has signaled that he may run again, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, in April, a court banned Tidjane Thiam, the presidential candidate for the leading opposition party, Democratic Party of Ivory Coast–African Democratic Rally (PDCI), from running in the election, saying he wasn’t an Ivorian citizen. Thiam became a French citizen in 1987 but gave it up in March. The decision is not open to appeal. “While we had the right to hope for inclusive, transparent, and peaceful elections, it is clear that the unjustified removal of the PDCI candidate is part of the logic of eliminating the leaders of the main opposition parties to ensure tailor-made elections and a certain victory,” he said, before stepping down as head of his party recently. Protests have already broken out, led by the opposition. Meanwhile, former President Laurent Gbagbo announced he would run in this fall’s elections, before the court also banned his candidacy along with those of former minister Charles Blé Goudé and former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.  The exclusion of Blé Goudé and Gbagbo has stoked uproar among their political supporters, Africanews wrote. In other countries, this situation might lead to a cycle of protests and crackdowns by the government before melting away, say analysts. But Ivory Coast has a history of politics turning bloody. For example, the first civil war broke out after the presidential election in 2000 when transitional military government leader Robert Guéï refused to step down after losing to Gbagbo. Then, in 2010, the country’s second civil war broke out after Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede the election to Ouattara. Now that cycle could continue and threaten the economic ‘miracle’ on the horizon. The Council on Foreign Relations said Ouattara is playing an old game, one where he pretends to hesitate to run again, but where his party pushes for his candidacy, leading to a situation in which the “father of the nation” reluctantly accepts to carry on for the good of the country. The think tank called it “a dangerous gambit.” “To say that President Ouattara’s shillyshallying is the last thing that Côte d’Ivoire needs is an understatement,” it wrote. “In the first place, the fact that previous electoral contests have been dogged by violence means that the country has little margin for error and can nary afford a potentially combustible situation … It is regrettable that Ouattara, (who was) the clear winner (of the 2010 elections but one who) Gbagbo was reluctant to hand over (power) to, has learned very little from the tragic episode.”

Alabama Native Issues 'Warning' To Afrikaner Refugees

Alabama local issues ‘warning’ to Afrikaner refugees An Alabama resident has given a ‘friendly warning’ to the group of Afrikaner ‘refugees’ set to settle in the state… By Megan van den Heever 19-05-25 06:58 in Featured Afrikaner refugees A clip of an Alabama resident 'warning' Afrikaner 'refugees' has gone viral. Images via X: @enna_original2 A black Alabama resident has gone viral after sharing a video warning Afrikaner “refugees” about relocating to the state. The clip surfaced shortly after 49 white South Africans arrived in the US through President Donald Trump’s resettlement programme. The group, which will largely settle in the Southern state, claims that they are being “persecuted” based on their race. ALABAMA RESIDENT ‘WARNS’ AFRIKANER ‘REFUGEES In a clip that was posted on X, two black female Alabama residents express their shock that Afrikaner “refugees” will now take up residence in their state. One of the women dramatically says, “Alabama? Lord help them. They better not talk to these people, they better not run into black people, or you’ll be missing. Pray for them.” In the comment section, other American citizens shared their views… @itsjustNiecy__: “Should they come and try that disrespectful stuff here. My they be met with the energy of the ancestors here” @broussard52: “They won’t like Alabama can tell you that right now” @0hhAudie: “Good, I will hire them on my farm!” Elsewhere, an opinion writer on Alabama news site Al.com wrote of their new Afrikaner neighbours: “Y’all shouldn’t be here. “Y’all shouldn’t have been able to skip the line. Y’all should not be here before the tens of thousands of people throughout the world who, just like you, were vetted and prepared to leave their homeland — who must leave out of true fear for their lives. But were denied, not expedited”. FLEEING WAR, FAMINE AND ‘WHITE GENOCIDE’ Meanwhile, NGO Inspiritus will assist the Afrikaner “refugees” as they settle down in Alabama. The organisation has helped displaced people who had fled countries with “violence, war and persecution”, and now “white genocide”. However, the resettlement programme was halted by US President Donald Trump earlier this year. “I feel like it’s disrespectful to the refugees that we are assisting and helping, who are running from violence and forced displacement, to be helping this population,” an employment specialist within the organisation told Al.com. Outright shunning of the Afrikaner refugees is the US’s Episcopal Church, who were initially tasked with resettling the minority community. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said: “It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years”. Tags: DMumani featured Important refugees South Africa Post navigation Next Article

Sasol Faces Do Or Die Moment

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An Afrikaner Refugee Defends His Status In The US

'I didn't come here for fun' - Afrikaner defends refugee status in US 13 hours ago Share Save Nomia Iqbal and Cai Pigliucci Reporting from Buffalo, New York 2:08 The BBC's Nomia Iqbal asks Charl Kleinhaus about his refugee status in the US and about being called a "coward" Last week, 46-year-old Charl Kleinhaus was living on his family farm in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. With its scenic beauty, wildlife and deep canyons, it's known as "the place where the sun rises". His new home - for now - is a budget hotel near an American highway. He and dozens of other white South Africans were moved to the US under President Donald Trump's controversial policy to protect them from the discrimination he alleges they are facing - an accusation that South Africa rejects. Mr Kleinhaus defends the US president, telling the BBC he left his homeland after receiving death threats in WhatsApp messages. "I had to leave a five-bedroom house, which I will lose now," Mr Kleinhaus tells the BBC, adding that he also left behind his car, his dogs and even his mother. "I didn't come here for fun," he adds. The contrast in homes couldn't be more stark. But for Mr Kleinhaus, his situation in Buffalo, New York, is already a better one. "My children are safe," says Mr Kleinhaus, whose wife died in a road accident in 2006. The status of white South African farmers has long been a rallying cry on the right and far-right of American politics. Trump and his close ally, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk, have even argued that there has been a "genocide" of white farmers in South Africa - a claim that has been widely discredited. In February, Trump signed an executive order granting refugee status to Afrikaners, such as Mr Kleinhaus, who he said were being persecuted. Mr Kleinhaus is one of a group of 59 who arrived on Tuesday at Dulles airport, near Washington DC, after Trump's administration fast-tracked their applications. He admits he was surprised at how quickly he got to the US, and that he is grateful to Trump. "I felt finally somebody in this world is seeing what's going on," he says. As he and his family arrived with others at the airport they were greeted with red, white and blue balloons. He describes the pomp and ceremony as "overwhelming".

Mauritania's Former President Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

Mauritania’s Former President Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison Mauritania Mauritania’s former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Wednesday saw his sentence tripled to 15 years and was fined $3 million after he appealed a corruption conviction, in what analysts say is one of the few cases where an African leader has been held accountable for robbing the state, Africanews reported. Aziz, a former military general who helped lead two coups before serving as president from 2009 to 2019, was found guilty and sentenced in 2023 for money laundering and self-enrichment. Investigators say he accumulated over $70 million in assets while in power, according to the Associated Press. The court on Wednesday also cleared six senior officials who had served in Aziz’s administration but upheld a previous two-year prison sentence for his son-in-law on charges of influence peddling. According to the verdict, the “Errahma” (Mercy) Foundation, led by Aziz’s son, is ordered to be dissolved, and his assets will be seized by the government. Aziz’s legal team called the charges politically motivated, accusing current President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani of a power play. Aziz and Ghazouani were allies until Ghazouani became president in 2019 in what was the country’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France in 1960. Tensions escalated when Aziz tried to take over a major political party after leaving office. In 2020, a parliamentary commission initiated a corruption investigation targeting Aziz and other officials. Share this story

Kenya Is Taking On Meta In A Big Way!

Meta Action Against Meta: Kenya Hosts Lawsuits Against Big Tech With Global Implications Kenya In April, the European Union fined Meta and Apple almost $800 million collectively for antitrust violations, and added requirements that they change their business practices. These were only the latest European actions against American “Big Tech” companies for privacy violations, intellectual property infringements, anti-competitive practices, and other actions that the bloc deemed violated its rules over the past decade. The EU has long been at the forefront of governments and regulators worldwide attempting to change how Meta, Google, Apple, and others do business. However, it’s three cases in Africa that promise to have even broader consequences for US tech firms, analysts say. “(These cases) could serve as a model for similar plaintiffs from the global majority to seek some modicum of accountability from one of the most consequential companies of the last two decades,” wrote Compiler, a non-profit that covers digital policy.  One case centers on the death of an Ethiopian chemistry professor, Meareg Amare Abrha, who was the subject of Facebook posts that included his name, photo, and workplace, along with false allegations against him: He was accused of being involved in violence against other ethnic groups as a sectarian civil war raged in Ethiopia in the fall of 2021. His son, Abrham Meareg, panicked after seeing the posts, worried that the combination of the accusations and the ethnicity of his father, a member of the Tigrayan minority, would cause him to be attacked. “I knew it was a death sentence for my father the moment I saw it,” Abrham Meareg told NPR. He repeatedly requested the platform take down the posts. But the company “left these posts up until it was far too late,” he told the BBC. His father was murdered by armed men on motorcycles just weeks later. Some of the posts were removed after his father’s death. Others remained on the site for as long as a year later. The lawsuit against Meta, filed by Abrham Meareg and two other parties, is asking for $2 billion for a victim’s restitution fund, changes to Facebook’s algorithm, and an apology. The case, filed in Kenya because that’s where the content moderators for Ethiopia were based, alleges that Facebook’s algorithms amplified hate speech that spread hate and violence during the Ethiopian civil war and also led to real-world consequences – such as the murder of Meareg Amare Abrha. Initially, Meta disputed that it could be held liable in legal action in Kenya since its headquarters are in the United States – an argument it had sometimes used successfully in Europe, until the bloc required the physical presence of American tech companies operating within it. Meanwhile, liability claims for content posted on tech platforms are rarely successful in the US or anywhere else. Still, in April, Kenya’s High Court ruled it had jurisdiction to hear the cases. “(The) ruling is a positive step towards holding big tech companies accountable for contributing to human rights abuses,” said Mandi Mudarikwa, who is in charge of strategic litigation at Amnesty International, which is among the human rights organizations supporting the case. “It paves the way for justice and serves notice to big tech platforms that the era of impunity is over.”  When the case was initially filed, a Meta official told the BBC that hate speech and incitement to violence were against the platform’s rules, saying, “Our safety-and-integrity work in Ethiopia is guided by feedback from local civil society organizations and international institutions.” Meta says that it will appeal the ruling on jurisdiction in Kenya’s Supreme Court. Meanwhile, all three Kenya cases center on the tens of thousands of moderators the firm uses overseas to monitor and remove illegal content. In Kenya, like elsewhere, Meta had hired a third-party contractor, Sama, to perform content moderation in local languages. This is cheaper than incorporating overseas and hiring employees, which subjects the firm to local laws. Firms like Meta had also believed it allowed them to evade liability because it had offloaded the work, analysts said. In the second of the three cases, a class-action suit, 184 former content moderators say that the contractors hired by Meta, and also Meta itself, were guilty of unlawful termination and forced labor, according to their attorney, Mercy Mutemi, who is also representing plaintiffs in the other cases. In the third, workers accuse Meta and the subcontractors of mental harm, alleging they were forced to watch graphic images without access to mental health professionals and were terminated after they tried to unionize to obtain care. Meta has said it has no liability because it had no direct relationship with the workers, a claim that a judge in Kenya ruled against, calling Meta the workers’ “employer.” As the cases continue to be litigated, observers say they are also remarkable because they are the first in Africa or anywhere in the Global South to attempt to hold American big tech firms accountable for their practices. Moreover, how these cases are decided and what comes after could have global implications for Meta and other multinationals, especially tech companies, analysts say: That they can be held liable for content; that they can be sued anywhere; and that they can be held liable for work performed by subcontractors. “Kenya has become a key legal battlefield in the campaign to hold Meta accountable,” said Paul Barrett of New York University’s School of Law, writing in Tech Policy Press. “Meta continues to deny legal or moral liability in the innovative Kenyan case. But together with two other lawsuits pending against Meta in Nairobi, the Kenyan litigation provides an unusual opportunity to consider the obligations that powerful technology companies have to the populations that make their mighty profits possible.” Others point out that beyond the courts, Kenyans and other Africans have additional leverage with multinationals. Africa is the youngest continent demographically – 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa is under the age of 30 – which makes it an important market for American tech companies in the future, analysts say. But these cases are advancing even as American tech companies like Meta are moving toward eliminating content moderation completely, reversing a decade-long trend. Meta, for example, in a January memo said it would eliminate its third-party fact-checking program in the United States this year to “restore free expression,” and instead follow a model used by X, which it called Community Notes. “Meta’s platforms are built to be places where people can express themselves freely,” wrote its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. “That can be messy. But that’s free expression.” “In recent years, we’ve developed increasingly complex systems to manage content across our platforms, partly in response to societal and political pressure to moderate content,” he added. “This approach has gone too far.” American tech titans have also been lobbying US President Donald Trump to fight governments overseas that are taking action against Big Tech, something he has signaled that he is willing to do. “We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” Zuckerberg said. The lure of jobs and economic growth can sometimes help multinationals avoid such legal cases. For example, Kenyan President William Ruto is trying to make Kenya into a continental tech hub to promote employment and economic growth. It therefore came as a blow when Meta moved its content-moderation operations from Kenya to Ghana after the lawsuits were filed. (However, Ghana’s content moderators recently filed suit against Meta for mental harm, too). Now Ruto has backed a new law to make it harder to sue American tech companies because he says the country needs jobs for its young people – currently, about 31 percent of Kenyan youth are unemployed or underemployed, according to the government. “(This bill would) make us more attractive for investment,” said Aaron Cheruiyot, the Kenyan Senate majority leader, on X. “(Tech is) a growing sector that currently employs thousands with the potential to explode and employ millions. Is it not in the best interest of the ever-growing number of unemployed youth to make do what needs to be done to open up more opportunities for them?” Essentially, Kenya’s government is facing an impossible choice, Mark Graham of the Oxford Internet Institute told the Economist: “Bad jobs or no jobs.”  Share this story

South Africa To Probe ANC's Role In Blocking Apartheid Era Cases

South Africa to Probe ANC’s Role in Blocking Apartheid-Era Cases South Africa Responding to complaints from survivors and relatives of victims, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa this week ordered an investigation into allegations that past governments led by his African National Congress (ANC) party intentionally blocked prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes, Al Jazeera reported. The president on Wednesday announced a judicial inquiry to address allegations of “improper influence in delaying or hindering” investigations made against ANC governments – which have led the country since the discriminatory system of apartheid ended in 1994. The decision comes after 25 survivors and relatives of victims of apartheid-era crimes filed a lawsuit against the government in January, accusing post-apartheid administrations of obstructing justice. The plaintiffs claimed that previous ANC administrations had failed to properly probe killings, disappearances, and other abuses committed in South Africa under white-minority rule. The families allege that since the late 1990s, ANC-led governments failed to act on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established in 1996 by then-President Nelson Mandela to expose apartheid-era atrocities and offer conditional amnesty to perpetrators who confessed. Among the most prominent unresolved cases is that of the Cradock Four, a group of four Black anti-apartheid activists who were abducted and murdered by security forces in 1985. Although the TRC denied amnesty to six security officers linked to the killings in 1999, none were ever prosecuted, and all have since died. Since the ANC came to power more than 30 years ago, party-led governments have received criticism for prioritizing national reconciliation instead of delivering justice to the victims. Victims’ families were skeptical that the new inquiry represents any real change, suggesting that it will only offer recommendations and will not compel legal action or resolve their claims for damages, the Guardian noted. The families are seeking around $8.8 million to fund further investigations, litigation, and education efforts.

Elon Musk ANd Trump Attack Alleged South African Racism Against Afrikaners

https://www.news24.com/news24/investigations/x-boer-unmasked-the-ex-farmer-spreading-racism-lies-to-millions-including-musk-trump-20250429?lid=1z6sr35a3swg#group-section-From-Twatterbaas-to-the-White-House-PUOTrx2Hf4

An Interesting New Mexican Restaurant in Cape Town

https://www.news24.com/life/food/restaurants/reviews/bite-club-cape-towns-newest-mexican-eatery-brings-the-fiesta-but-not-all-the-flavours-20250426

Black And White Farmers Are Still Suffering From The Zimbabwe Government Land Garb

https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/white-and-black-farmers-still-bear-the-scars-of-zimbabwes-land-grabs-20250423?lid=41yr1zqlxewj

An Afrikaaner Farmer Says It's Rough Being A Farmer In The US

‘It’s tough!’: Afrikaner farmer shares his experience working in the US An Afrikaner farmer working in the US has shared his experience in light of US President Donald Trump’s offer to… By Megan van den Heever 15-04-25 09:13 in Featured An Afrikaner farmer working in the US An Afrikaner farmer working in the US has shared his experience on TikTok. Images via TikTok: @h2a_groot_ockert Ockert du Plessis, an Afrikaner farmer residing and working in the United States, is using his social media platforms to share insights and challenges from his journey. He’s also offering advice to South Africans considering a move to the US for work opportunities. This comes in the wake of a recent Executive Order by US President Donald Trump, which grants refugee status to Afrikaners. Trump’s controversial comments accusing South Africa of “racial discrimination,” “genocide,” and “land confiscation” from white citizens have sparked significant attention. Afrikaner farmer in the US shares the challenges: ‘It’s not easy’ Ockert du Plessis has been sharing his experiences living abroad on his TikTok account. After being retrenched in South Africa, the qualified electrician moved to the US with his family in 2021. He explained that he spent four years without work before researching opportunities to move to America. Despite lacking any farming experience, Ockert and his family were able to secure a job with the help of another farmer. Through this role, he gained valuable experience and eventually found another job that further developed his skills. Responding to a follower, Ockert claimed that South Africans, particularly Afrikaners, hoping to work abroad should have some experience. While he admitted that it was “possible,” he added that farmers in America were looking for skilled workers. He said, “It gets tough… It’s who and what you know. It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” He added, Don’t let farming in America be your only option; there are other international job opportunities.” In another viral video from 2023, Ockert du Plessis claims that his move to the US was the best option for him as an Afrikaner. He said: “We all know about the state of South Africa. America is worth it. I take care of my family more than what I could; I save more than I could. We drive better cars; I can pay off my house quicker. “Will I do it for the rest of my life? No! But while God has given me this chance to work here, I will work here”. COUPLE BEGS TRUMP FOR HELP Meanwhile, an Afrikaner couple has requested US President Donald Trump to grant them refugee status as a matter of urgency. In a TikTok, Armand Cilliers and his wife Vilanie claimed that their environment was “unliveable due to racial discrimination” and “systematic injustice.” The couple claimed that they had been the victims of farm attacks, which were a “grim and frequent occurrence.” Vilaner said: “This is not living or merely existing. This is a targeted rat race in a maze to keep us hostage and trapped, with the only outcome being gathered and killed. It is not a question of if we die; it is a question of when”. Like many Afrikaners, the couple added that they hoped to be considered for President Trump’s refugee status programme. She added: “We long for the American dream we hear about. We want to be contributing citizens to a country that puts God and family first. Our family shares your vision.”

Economic Growth: South Africa Vs Poland

Economic growth in South Africa and Poland reveals a clear winner Daily Investor • 15 April 2025 https://dailyinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/South-Africa-Poland-1024x576.jpg Although both South Africa and Poland became democracies in the early nineties, their economic growth and GDP per capita had very different trajectories. South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994, after which the new government inherited a struggling economy. The economy’s annual average growth rate was 1.0% between 1985 and 1990, falling to 0.2% between 1990 and 1994. President Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki stabilised the country’s finances and achieved an average economic growth rate of 3.0% between 1994 and 2000. It created a solid foundation for future growth, which was achieved after Mbeki took over the presidency from Mandela. Under Mbeki, with Trevor Manuel as Finance Minister, the country achieved an average economic growth rate of 4.2%. Mbeki’s administration saw the country run consistent budget surpluses, reducing government debt and enhancing its credit rating. However, it changed rapidly after Jacob Zuma dethroned Mbeki as ANC President and Pravin Gordhan took over from Manuel as Finance Minister. South Africa’s strong GDP growth during the Mbeki era stopped, and the country’s debt rapidly increased. The trend accelerated under Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency, with many economists warning that South Africa is facing a fiscal cliff. In 2008/09, South Africa’s gross loan debt amounted to R627 billion, or 26% of gross domestic product (GDP). Net loan debt was R526 billion, or 21.8% of GDP. Over the next fifteen years, under Zuma and Ramaphosa, the government’s gross loan debt ballooned to R5.21 trillion, or 73.9% of GDP. Under Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s average real GDP growth rate was 2.6%, which increased to 4.2% under Thabo Mbeki. However, it plummeted to 1.7% under Jacob Zuma’s and declined further to 0.6% under Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency. https://dailyinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/5.jpg Poland’s economic growth Poland became a Soviet satellite state under the influence of Joseph Stalin at the end of the Second World War. The Polish Committee of National Liberation, a communist party, took governing control in Poland with Stalin’s backing. The Polish Workers Party took over in 1948 and built a communist state over the following decade. Industries were nationalised and land was expropriated and redistributed. Poland became a government-controlled economy. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Poland started facing significant spikes in food prices, which the government delegated in an attempt to reduce its government deficit. During this period, Poland borrowed significant amounts of money from the West, leaving Poland with significant debt. Resistance followed with the formation of the Solidarity trade union, which stood for workers’ rights and freedom of speech. They also stood against the communist government’s use of intimidation and force to control citizens into silence and limit their freedoms. The Polish government implemented martial law on its citizens to prevent the Solidarity movement from growing. By 1988, Poland faced mass strikes and unrest, and the government could not suppress the growing demand for change within Poland. This led to a partially free election in June 1989, where the Solidarity union won by a landslide victory. This led to the amendment of Poland’s constitution and the disbandment of the communist party. By 1993, the last Soviet troops left the country. Today, Poland is a democratic republic with Western values, including freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and a free press. It also implements the rule of law and the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. https://dailyinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1-4.jpg Poland versus South Africa Poland became a democracy at a similar time to South Africa’s, and by 1995, their GDP per capita was almost identical. However, where Poland moved from communism to a free-market economy and capitalism, South Africa became more socialist. Poland privatised state-owned enterprises, opened the economy to international trade, and joined the European Union. These changes helped Poland become one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe and rapidly increase its GDP per capita. Poland went from a struggling socialist economy into a thriving, modern, market-driven country. It is one of post-communist Europe’s biggest economic success stories. In comparison, South Africa went the other way and became deeply steeped in communist and socialist idealism. South Africa’s economic policies became business-unfriendly, and the state increased non-productive expenditure. Cadre deployment also caused widespread mismanagement and corruption, and state-owned enterprises collapsed. The result was that South Africa’s GDP per capita declined, compared to Poland’s, which significantly increased. https://dailyinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1-3.jpghttps://dailyinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/4-2.jpg Warm regards Cliff photo CLIFF HALL indlovu@axxess.co.za 0827810544