DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille, in her latest desperate bid to remain relevant in South Africa’s political discourse, has once again thrown baseless and reckless allegations into the public domain—this time accusing South Africa of acting as a proxy for Iran. Without a shred of concrete evidence, she implies that the ANC’s stance at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israeli genocide is somehow dictated by foreign interests. Her irresponsible remarks are not only inflammatory but are designed…

Members of the ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) will spend the weekend in KwaZulu-Natal to brief party structures regarding the reconfiguration of the provincial executive committee (PEC). The NWC would also outline what the new structure that will take over from the PEC would do in the coming months and ahead of the 2026 local government elections, according to the party’s invitation letter seen by African Times.  The ANC at national level recently resolved to reconfigure the PECs in KwaZulu-Natal…

In an unprecedented move since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the South African government has cancelled Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2024/2025 budget speech due to policy disputes within President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity (GNU). The governing African National Congress (ANC) and its grand coalition main partner, the Democratic Alliance (DA), could not agree on the proposed 2% increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) from the current 15% to 17%.  The postponement, announced during a Parliamentary sitting in…

African National Congress (ANC) Limpopo spokesperson Jimmy Machaka has taken Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) Dr David “Che” Selane to task over his claims that party members were a bunch of academic fraudsters. Machaka says the former provincial ANC Youth League secretary’s (ANCYL) claims were not only damaging to the governing party’s reputation, but also “reckless, malicious, baseless”. This is the latest salvo in a longstanding political rivalry and bad blood between Machaka and Selane dating back to their stints…

South Africa enters the second transition against the backdrop of 30 years of democracy celebrations. We are reminded that the country’s freedom was not free and that people such as Dr Tlou Theophilus “Ranka” Cholo put their lives on the line against an oppressive regime. Rightfully, the freedom stalwart and former labour activist was honoured with the Isithwalandwe/Seaparankwe award, albeit in absentia during the recent African National Congress (ANC) 113th anniversary celebration in Khayelitsha, Western Cape. Dr Cholo’s honour was…

A newly elected KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League (ANCYL) provincial executive committee (PEC) member is in hot water after he made disparaging remarks about a female fellow comrade. In a voice note that went viral, Nhlosi Gwala (also known as Nhloso Zulu) is heard telling the woman she nothing but an HIV/Aids positive prostitute after a fallout over preferred ANCYL PEC candidates at a recent elective conference.  Both Gwala and the woman, who would not be named to protect her dignity,…

A prominent former leader of the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal has been found dead and his body dumped in a river in Donnybrook in the southern part of the politically volatile KwaZulu-Natal. Mduduzi Memela’s body was found with what appears to be a stab wound on the neck and his eyes were reportedly gouged out. Memela was the second secretary of the youth league in the region and took over from anti-corruption crusader, Thabiso Zulu. At the time of…

Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on ‘Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa’ (07/02/2025) is not a new development but a continuation of racist United States policies implanted on South Africa dating back decades. America is and has remained the godfather of oppression of Africans, Indigenous People and others within its borders, and these heinous policies were exported to South Africa to strengthen subjugation and ‘apartness’. Therefore, Trump’s EO is not an anomaly but a reflection of embedded…

A few days after President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe two dubious tenders awarded by the Kokstad Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, another whistleblower has made damning allegations of corruption against the same entity. The whistleblower alleges that the municipality bought a farm known as Waaifontein to build RDP houses for the needy, but the farm allegedly ended up housing cattle belonging to a top ANC leader in the province. African Times has decided to withhold…

The Mandeni Local Municipality ANC councillor who was shot dead on Tuesday night bitterly complained about how his party was protecting allegedly corrupt municipal officials shortly before he was killed. A few days later, two gunmen stormed Councillor Phendukani Mabhida’s house in the township of KwaSithebe and sprayed him with bullets.  The deceased was representing the ward 18 community. He voiced his frustration that the ANC was tolerating corruption in a letter to the Speaker of the council, Phindile Sishi,…