While President Cyril Ramaphosa was in the process of delivering his budget speech at the National Assembly in Cape Town, a panga-wielding man was protesting naked at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.   The unnamed man was filmed violently hacking at the feet of Nelson Mandela’s statue at the official seat of the South African government atop Meintjieskop on Government Avenue. A passerby alerted the media to the incident, which police have not denied but refused to provide further details…

THE proclamation of August 23 as the date for the harmonised election paves the way for what is panning out to be the most tension-laden polls in Zimbabwe in recent years. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the incumbent, announced the dates for thepresidential, parliamentary and council elections, ending weeks of speculation. The announcement likely will raise the mercury, with the atmosphere already charged amid recurrent inter and intra-party fights, the receding democratic space and an ill-prepared electoral body whose impartiality is questionable.…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has owned up to the poor governance, weak management and poor maintenance of infrastructure by his government for disease outbreaks, including the latest eruption of cholera. As of Monday, when his weekly letter was made available, the death tollhad risen to 24. Hammanskraal, north of the Gauteng province is theepicentre of the waterborne disease. Dozens more people have beenhospitalised following the outbreak. “We have responsibility – and are determined – to remedy thoseshortcomings in a sustainable way…

BOLA Ahmed Tinubu has been sworn in as the presidentof Nigeria. He is the fifth president since the advent of democracy in 1999 inAfrica’s largest nation by population and its biggest economy. “I, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, do solemnly swear that I will not allow mypersonal interests to influence my official conduct or decisions……sohelp me, God,” Tinubu said as he was sworn in. Kashim Shettima (56) took oath as the Vice President at the event heldin Eagle Square, the capital Abuja,…

Professor Puleng LenKabula, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa (Unisa), reminds me of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Lenkabula and Rousseff, for different reasons, epitomise the pain of being an outsider and the consequences of not being a candidate for the establishment in any race. The establishment is the dominant social group, the élite, who control a polity, an organisation, or an institution.  Brazil’s first female president, Rousseff, is a former guerilla fighter and member of the Workers…

A South African energy expert has warned that the full powers signed over to the Minister of Electricity in the Presidency, Dr Kgosientso Ramokgopa, will come at a high price for the end users of electrical energy. The warning comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa just concluded the signing of a proclamation that transfers “certain powers and functions” to Ramokgopa in line with the Electricity Regulation Act. In the past few months, Ramokgopa had become a laughing stock because he was…

Former President Jacob Zuma has been briefed about the programme of action of the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (ARETA), which includes plans to create unity amongst left-wing political parties and “save our nation”. Zuma met the senior leadership of ARETA at his home in Nkandla, northern Kwazulu-Natal yesterday, where he was presented with the organisation’s 10-point plan ahead of next year’s general elections, according to party president Carl “Mpangazitha” Niehaus.  The seven-hour meeting between Zuma and members of the ARETA…

The Limpopo African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) appears to have been pacified with job offers by the mother body to shelve its widely-publicised planned demonstration against Premier Stan Mathabatha. Two weeks ago, the league’s provincial chairperson Tonny Rachoene and provincial secretary Oliver Mabunda told the media that they wanted to mobilise young people to march to Mathabatha’s office in demand of jobs and the resignation of “lazy mayors and MECs”. They also called on Mathabatha to reshuffle his cabinet…

The African National Congress (ANC) in Mpumalanga’s Ehlanzeni region has refuted claims that its regional leader, Jackie Macie, is of Mozambican origin and has no matric certificate. This was in response to an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) statement mocking Macie’s swearing-in at the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature this week. Provincial EFF leader Collen Sedibe said Macie, a former Council Speaker at the Nkomazi Local Municipality, was not fit to become a lawmaker as he had not completed Grade 12. “The EFF…

THE internal strife plaguing the country’s main parties, including the opposition simultaneously united and divided by a court showdown over the allegedly rigged general elections, adds a new dimension to the edgy political atmosphere in Nigeria. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and most recently, the Labour Party (LP), are all beset by infighting over different issues, some which reflect thedecades-long saga of ethnicism hijacking of politics in Africa’s biggest country by population.…