President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 19:00 tonight on the government’s response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), as the discovery of an 11th woman’s body in Ekurhuleni has intensified public concern and demands for urgent action. The timing of the President’s address could not be more significant. The number of women whose bodies have been discovered in Ekurhuleni since July has now risen to 11, with the latest discovery reported in Springs. The cases have sparked fear…

A journey of solidarity that still links two nations LOBATSE, Botswana — The story of Mozambique’s liberation is inseparable from the solidarity extended by neighbouring countries across Southern Africa, and few places embody that history as vividly as Botswana. As Mozambique and Botswana seek to deepen their economic and commercial ties, President Daniel Chapo has used a visit to the Samora Machel Museum in Lobatse to recall the historic bonds forged during the liberation struggle — and to underline their…

Police and soldiers have arrested 121 suspected illegal miners and recovered five firearms during a major Operation Prosper/Karabo crackdown in Mphahla village, within the Fochville policing precinct on the West Rand. The operation, conducted in the early hours of Tuesday, involved various units of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Department of Home Affairs immigration officers and Sibanye-Stillwater’s tactical security team. The operation began at about…

The bail hearing of suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya has been postponed to Thursday, October 1, after the State asked for additional time to respond to evidence presented by a defence witness. Sibiya, 59, appeared in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for his second appearance since his arrest last week on five charges, including rape, human trafficking, promoting the sexual grooming of a child and two counts of sexual grooming of a child. He remains in…

Nigeria’s Presidency has turned to South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa in its increasingly forceful defence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s prolonged stay outside the country and his absence from the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, says there is no cause for alarm over the President’s whereabouts, insisting that Tinubu is “hale and hearty” and has been carrying out official duties while on a working vacation in Europe. But in defending…

Suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya is expected to return to the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for a formal bail application after the State indicated it would oppose his release in a case involving allegations of rape, human trafficking and the sexual grooming of a child. The 59-year-old senior police officer was arrested on 21 September and made his first appearance in the same court the following day. He faces five charges, including rape, trafficking in persons,…

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday convene a virtual meeting of the African Union High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan, known as the C5, as regional leaders assess progress towards peace and the country’s planned elections in December. Ramaphosa, who chairs the C5, will bring together representatives of the five-member committee and member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to take stock of developments since the C5 Plus Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 15 February.…

The Gauteng e-Panic Button has become the centre of a growing dispute over cybersecurity, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) calling for an investigation into a reported data breach while the provincial Department of e-Government insists that no residents’ personal information was compromised. The DA says it will report the matter to the Information Regulator of South Africa and wants an investigation into whether the incident breached the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), how the exposure occurred and how the…

The multimillion-rand fraud case involving suspended Polokwane attorney Charlotte Tibana and her husband, Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) officer Peter “Gagash” Nonyane, has drawn comparisons with one of South Africa’s most notorious financial scandals involving former Mamelodi Sundowns boss Zola Mahobe and his lover, Tebello “Snowy” Moshoeshoe. The parallel lies not in the legal details of the cases, but in a recurring feature of high-value financial crime investigations: money allegedly flowing into luxury vehicles, businesses and an extravagant lifestyle. Mahobe’s…

The support pouring in for the family of late Munghana Lonene FM presenter Tiveka Foster “Mafosi-Try by Force” Chauke has reached R49,100 in about 24 hours, and the fundraising is still growing. More than 30 businessmen, professionals, social figures and community members have dug into their pockets to help honour the popular broadcaster, who died in a car accident last week. The campaign has brought together people from different walks of life, with a minimum contribution of R500 per person,…