The Nation Newspaper

Tag: South African

  • Ramaphosa thanks PM May for returning sunken WWI ship’s bell

    President Cyril Ramaphosa of South africa oon Tuesday thanked thanked British Prime Minister Theresa May for handing over the bell of a World War I ship on which over 600 black South African troops perished when it sunk in 1917.

    “We were extremely honoured to have been presented with the ship’s bell of the SS Mendi,” Ramaphosa said at the close of May’s visit to the former British colony.

    The gesture “honours the memory and the sacrifices of all those who perished so far away from their homes and loved ones,” he added.

    May’s trade trip to South Africa – which will be followed by stops in Kenya and Nigeria – comes as Britain seeks to shore up trade partners ahead of their exit next year from the European Union.

    “Both our countries have identified key sectors for investment to boost economic growth and development,” Ramaphosa said after meeting with May.

    “We also confirmed our wish that the negotiations on the UK’s exit from the European Union are concluded in a manner that restores stability to economic and financial markets,” he said.

    Earlier, May kicked off her first Africa trip in Cape Town, saying she saw huge potential for investment in the continent.

    May’s trip comes as she seeks to shore up trade partners ahead of Britain’s exit next year from the European Union, with British businesses sounding the alarm about the potential negative impact.

    She announced plans for about 5 billion dollars in investment for Africa and said job creation should be at the “very heart” of the British-African partnership.

    Britain was South Africa’s sixth largest trading partner in 2017.

    She spoke about the need to continue British aid to Africa, saying “I want to be clear, foreign aid works,” and offered assurances on Britain’s engagement with the wide world even as it prepares to break away from Europe.

    “We will remain a global champion for aid spending, humanitarian relief and international development,” she said in an address.

    On the plane to South Africa, May tried to calm fears of what would happen if Britain leaves the European Union without a negotiated Brexit deal, saying it “wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

    Britain published 24 documents last week on preparations for a no-deal Brexit, which analysts warn could have dire consequences for the economy.

    Read Also: Buhari, Ramaphosa to discuss security of Nigerians in South Africa

    At the press conference, May also voiced support for South Africa’s controversial land reform plans.

    Her U.S. counterpart Donald Trump last week angered the South African government after tweeting concerns about their intention to expropriate land without compensation in order to address historical inequality.

    “The UK has for some time now supported land reform … land reform that is legal, transparent,” she said, adding that she welcomed assurances already given by South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa that there would be “no smash and grab.”

    May’s comments will come as a relief to many in the country who were worried the land policy could scare off investment.

    The prime minister, however, stressed the need for strong legal frameworks and anti-corruption mechanisms in African countries in order for investors to be secure.

    “Corruption and dirty money,” she said, “both have the potential to push development off course.”

    More widely, the prime minister promised that Britain would support a permanent position for Africa on the United Nations Security Council.

    Britain will also be opening more embassies on the continent, including in Chad and Niger, May said, countries that have a closer connection to France because of their colonial history, but which are threatened by terror groups.

    “We will invest more in countries like Mali, Chad and Niger that are waging a battle against terrorism in the Sahel,” she said referring to the fight against islamist groups like Boko Haram.

    May will now meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa and, weather permitting, go to Robben Island – where South Africa’s first democratic leader Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for years by the apartheid regime.

    She then heads to Nigeria, where she’ll meet President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday as well as speak to victims of modern slavery.

    On the third leg of the trip, in Kenya, she will meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and see British soldiers training troops who will ultimately be sent to fight Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

  • South African policemen to face trial for killing Nigerian

    South African policemen suspected of killing a 25-year-old Nigerian, Ibrahim Olalekan-Badmus, in 2017, are to stand trial for the offence, the Nigerian Mission in Johannesburg said, yesterday.

    Nigeria’s Consul General in South Africa, Godwin Adama, disclosed on a telephone call from Johannesburg, that, the South African authority has confirmed that investigation into the murder case was almost concluded.

    “Badmus, a native of Lagos, was murdered by the South African Police, on Oct. 10, 2017, at Vanderbidjkpark, South Africa.

    “Police officers implicated in the murder will be charged to the high court any moment from now,” he said.

    The security operatives allegedly stormed the home of Badmus, an undergraduate at Vaal University of Technology in Vanderbijlpark, claiming that he was trafficking drugs.

    However, when the police searched his home, they did not find any drug.

    They allegedly asked the deceased for money, but due to their inability to extort him, they handcuffed him and used excessive pepper spray on him.

    He subsequently passed out and died due to suffocation.

    Adama said the case was classified as high profile, because of the tension generated by the development, as some Nigerians who had confrontation with the police almost took laws into their hands.

    The Consul General reportedly rushed to the scene where he pacified aggrieved Nigerians and the police.

    “I led a delegation from the mission to visit the scene on receipt of the information. When we arrived at the scene, the place was tensed up because Nigerians there were not happy.

    “We immediately met with the Station Commander in the area with some selected Nigerians. The police assured us that a thorough investigation would be carried out and that the culprit would be brought to book,” said Adama.

    He said the South African authority arrested the police officers that perpetrated the crime and commenced investigation.

    Adama said that the mission had followed up the case and it was clear that investigating authorities had done a very thorough job as promised, and the suspects would be charged to court any moment from now.

    The President of Nigerian Union in South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, blamed the incessant killings of Nigerians in South Africa on lack of prosecution of offenders by the authorities.

    “Lack of prosecution of these criminal activities has actually emboldened a lot of people to feel that they can kill Nigerians without any consequence,” he said.

    South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, had during his visit on July 11, said that the killing of any national in the country, was an act of criminality and not specifically targeted at Nigerians.

    The killing of Nigerians in South Africa has been on the increase in recent times. The latest was the murder of Martin Ebuzoeme by an unknown assailant in Yeoville, Johannesburg on July 12.

    Earlier, Ozumba Tochukwu-Lawrence was killed by an unknown gunman, at 10 Koppe, Middleburg, Mpumalanga on July 6.

    Another Nigerian, ThankGod Okoro, was also shot dead in Hamburg, Florida West Rand, Johannesburg, on April 9 by the South African Police Flying Squad.

    Clement Nwaogu a father of two, was also burnt to death by unidentified assailants in April.

  • Barcelona announce South Africa friendly

    FC Barcelona will play a friendly match against South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns in Johannesburg on Wednesday, the club said on Thursday.

    The match will be part of celebrations to mark 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela.

    It will be played at the FNB Stadium, formerly known as the Soccer City Stadium, where Spain won the 2010 World Cup.

    The 2010 squad featured Barca players like Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and captain Andres Iniesta, who struck the only goal in their 1-0 win over the Netherlands.

    “FC Barcelona has always professed its admiration for Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.

    “He had after 27 years in prison went on to become the first democratically-elected president of post-apartheid South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

    Read Also: Barcelona president fuels Griezmann speculation

    “Mandela represented the struggle for freedom and equality in the country, and played a huge role in unifying the racially-divided society.

    “It is precisely this kind of spirit with which FC Barcelona has always been identified,” a statement on the club’s website said.

    Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, but it appears the match has been brought forward because of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

    The competition holds from June 14 to July 15.

    The friendly is now sandwiched between Barca’s penultimate Liga game away to Levante on May 13 and their final game at home to Real Sociedad on May 20.

    Ernesto Valverde’s side clinched a 25th Liga title, the King’s Cup on and are bidding to become the first team since 1933 to complete a Spanish top-flight season without losing a game.

    NAN

     

  • South African mob burnt Nigerian alive

    THE Nigerian community in South Africa yesterday announced the killing of Clement Nwaogu, who was burnt alive by a mob in the latest xenophobia attack in the country.

    Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Union in South Africa Mr. Habib Miller confirmed the killing from Pretoria yesterday in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said the victim, a native of Njikoka in Anambra State and an upholsterer in South Africa, was attacked and killed by a mob in Rustenburg, North West Province.

    Miller said the victim was murdered in cold blood over his accent and habit, which the mobsters supposedly found offensive.

    “The mob descended on him like a common criminal with all sorts of dangerous weapons in the presence of South African police officers.

    “Witnesses say the victim beckoned for help from the police to intervene and help him, but they turned a blind eye.

    “When Nwaogu could no longer persevere, he ran for safety; the mob chased and caught him, poured petrol on him and set him ablaze,” he said.

    Miller said the mob then left Nwaogu when they thought he had died.

    The spokesman said after the mob left, some passersby called emergency personnel, who later took the victim’s charred body to the hospital.

    “The witnesses feeling that the victim was still alive called for help; unfortunately, Nwaogu could not survive the ordeal and died at Job Shimankane Hospital in Rustenburg,” he said.

    Miller also said 14 Nigerians, who protested the killing of a fellow citizen in that country’s North West Province in February are still in detention.

    He said the police officers murdered the Nigerian in cold blood on December 17 after failing to extort money from the victim.

    Miller added that the police officers had since been released on bail while those who protested the killing were still languishing in detention.

    “Our legal team is doing everything possible to facilitate the release of the protesters.

    “We are worried that nothing has been done by the Nigerian government to stop the killings.

    “We once again call on the Nigerian mission in South Africa to do the needful urgently because things are getting out of hand.

    “The union with its legal desk will follow up the matter with the appropriate institutions until justice prevails,” he added.

    Nwaogu was married to a South African and was blessed with two children; aged three and five years.

    The killing of Nwaogu followed extra-judicial killing of another Nigerian, ThankGod Okoro, 30, by the South African Police Flying Squad.

    Okoro, a native of Ogbaku in Awgwu Local Government Area, Enugu State, was shot dead at Hamburg, Florida West Rand, Johannesburg on April 9.

    Records show that no fewer than 118 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa since February, 2016.

     

    Fed Govt condemns killing

    THE Presidency yesterday described the killing of Clement Nwaogu, another Nigerian in Rustenburg, South Africa as unfortunate.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement in Abuja, condemned the latest xenophobia attack in South Africa.

    She called on South African authorities to find lasting solution to the incessant killing of Nigerians in the country.

    She urged Nigerians living abroad to obey the laws of countries where they lived, and avoid crime and criminality to avoid unwarranted attacks and killings.

    The Presidential aide said Rustenburg, where the incident happened, was a particularly hostile and a volatile community.

    She noted that 14 Nigerians who protested the killing of a fellow citizen in that country North West Province some months ago were still in detention.

    She said though a bailable offence, the judge had been threatened not to release them.

    “Just a few days ago, on April 17, the case came up in court. There was so much tension that even the Nigerian lawyers representing the Nigerians had to be escorted to court by Diplomatic police.

    “The community has vowed to deal with anyone who plays a positive role in getting the accused Nigerians return to Rustenberg,” she said.

    She added that the Nigerian Mission in Pretoria and the Consulate in Johannesburg had done everything possible, in the recent past, to get justice for Nigerians in South Africa.

     

  • South African President Ramaphosa travels economy class

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has stunned South Africans as he was spotted travelling to Durban in economy class.

    It was on a Safair flight from Pretoria on Friday morning. He was on his way to attend the Covenant Fellowship Church International in eSikhaleni, Kwazulu Natal north coast.

    Ramaphosa’s co-passengers snapped photos with the president which were shared on Twitter, according to News24.

    While some commended the South African leader  for cutting costs, some  others were cynical, dismissing the gesture as a PR stunt.

    Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko told News24 that the president will at all times use the mode of transport which is most practical, convenient and cost effective for his duties.

    Ramaphosa who is 65 years old is South Africa’s  fifth  President. He succeeded Jacob Zuma  on 15 February 2018. Zuma resigned after the African National Congress recalled him.

    Here are some of the tweets spurred by his action as reported by News 24.

    Is this supposed to show us that Ramaphosa is a man of the people? Mxm

    https://twitter.com/Unathi_Kwaza/status/979599699744305152

  • S. Africa court finds finance minister violated constitution

    S. Africa court finds finance minister violated constitution

    A South African court held that Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba violated the constitution in statements he made about his decision to revoke his approval of a company’s bid to open a private airport immigration facility.

    The judgment is the latest legal blow to a senior South African government official and came with new President Cyril Ramaphosa considering a cabinet reshuffle after replacing scandal-plagued predecessor Jacob Zuma on Feb. 14.

    Handed down in December, the judgment only came to public light on Tuesday.

    Gigaba, whose job security under Ramaphosa is unclear, said he would challenge the decision.

    The judgment was issued after an application by Fireblade Aviation, a company owned by the wealthy Oppenheimer family, seeking to compel Gigaba to stick to his decision while home affairs minister to allow the firm to operate an immigration service for wealthy VIPs at Johannesburg’s main airport.

    Read Also:  Court jails man 60 years for child defilement

    The court ruling reversed Gigaba’s decision to revoke his approval, saying that the minister had lied in having “denied ever having approved the application”.

    “By telling a deliberate untruth on facts central to the decision of this case, the minister has committed a breach of the constitution so serious that I would characterise it as a violation,” the ruling read.

    Speaking to the media in Cape Town ahead of his budget speech to parliament, Gigaba said: “My lawyers are studying the judgment and we will respond to it in due time.

    “It’s important to highlight that the decision of the court is being challenged.”

    The Democratic Alliance, the official opposition party, said that based on the judgment, it had filed a complaint against Gigaba with the Public Protector, South Africa’s constitutionally-mandated anti-graft watchdog.

    NAN

     

  • Zimbabwe offers to pay for Tsvangirai funeral expenses

    Zimbabwe offers to pay for Tsvangirai funeral expenses

    Zimbabwe is ready to help foot the bill for the funeral arrangements of Morgan Tsvangirai in a tribute to the opposition leader who died after a long battle with cancer, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

    Tsvangirai’s death on Wednesday in a South African hospital cast his Movement for Democratic Change party into unknown territory less than three months after the army ousted Zimbabwe’s veteran ruler Robert Mugabe.

    Arguably Zimbabwe’s most popular politician, Tsvangirai’s career was ultimately defined by his tussles, bother literal and figurative, with 93-year-old Mugabe, who resigned after a de facto coup in December.

    Read Also:  Zimbabwean Breakingopposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is dead

    “The Zimbabwean Embassy in Pretoria has been instructed to help in any way appropriate in the circumstances, including assuming the costs that are attendant to the proper handling of the body of the late (Tsvangirai),” said George Charamba, who is also the presidential spokesman.

    Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has made no public statement yet on the former trade union leader’s death but postponed a trip to Bulawayo in the south of Zimbabwe due to other “pressing commitments”, the state-owned Herald newspaper said.

    Elections are due within the next six months in Zimbabwe and Tsvangirai’s illness and now death leaves his party in disarray, to the advantage of the ruling ZANU-PF party, now led by Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former deputy.

    NAN

  • Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on mediation mission – Presidency

    Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on mediation mission – Presidency

    South African President Jacob Zuma will no longer travel to Zimbabwe on a mediation mission as previously planned, the Presidency announced on Wednesday.

    Zuma had planned to visit Zimbabwe to mediate a peaceful solution to the Zimbabwean political crisis on Wednesday.

    He cancelled the plan following the resignation on Tuesday of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

    Mugabe’s resignation was announced by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda during a joint sitting of Senate and National Assembly that was debating his impeachment motion.

    Under a decision made on Tuesday by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ Troika Plus SADC Chairperson Summit in Angola, Zuma, in his capacity as the SADC Chairperson, and Angolan President Joao Lourenco, also Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, should travel to Zimbabwe to assess the situation on behalf of SADC on Wednesday.

    In light with the latest development in Zimbabwe, the visit has now been postponed until further notice, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said in a statement.

    Read Also:  Jacob Zuma of South Africa 

  • Nigerian technician killed in South Africa

    Nigerian technician killed in South Africa

    A Nigerian, Jelili Omoyele, 35-year-old cellular phone technician, was allegedly shot dead in Johannesburg on Saturday, the Nigeria Union, South Africa, has said.

    Its President, Mr Adetola Olubajo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Johannesburg that Omoyele, a.k.a Ja Rule and native of Ibadan, Oyo State, was killed at a parking lot at Doornfontein,  Gauteng Province.

    He said a fact-finding team to the scene led by him and National Welfare Officer, Mr Trust Owoyele, met an eyewitness, Mr Sipususo Mkalipi, a South African taxi driver, who confirmed the killing.

    “The deceased and the son of the caretaker of a parking lot had an argument over an unpaid R300 (N11,400) rent.

    “The witness said that the deceased decided to leave his car in the parking lot till Monday because he had no money to pay, but the caretaker’s son shot him on his way out of the building.

    “ Omoyele gave up the ghost a few minutes later,” he said.

    Olubajo said Mkalipi was the driver, who brought the victim to the parking lot.

    According to him, a murder docket has been opened at Jeppe police state near Johannesburg while the case has been forwarded to the union’s legal adviser, Mr Omoreige Ogboro, for a  follow-up.

    The Nigeria Union President also said the incident had been reported to the Nigerian Mission in South Africa.

    “We implore the mission to give necessary support to the union in order to ensure that justice is served.

    “Omoyele is survived by a pregnant wife also in South Africa and his parents in Nigeria,” he said. (NAN)

  • South African business sees more downgrades

    South African business leaders are preparing for more credit-rating reductions as mismanagement hobbles state companies and after bad decisions by President Jacob Zuma, according to the head of one of the country’s biggest corporate lobby groups.

    “We are expecting further ratings-agency downgrades because all the things that they said we shouldn’t do, the president has gone on to do,” Bonang Mohale, chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa and a former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s South African unit, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Johannesburg.

    Fitch Ratings Ltd. and S&P Global Ratings cut South Africa’s foreign-currency debt to junk in April citing concerns about policy direction, political infighting and poor governance at state companies after Zuma fired investor-favourite Pravin Gordhan as finance minister. Another downgrade to non-investment grade in the assessments for local-currency debt would exclude the nation from global indexes and lead to billions of dollars in capital outflows.

    Moody’s Investors Service is the only major company to assess both South Africa’s foreign-currency and rand-denominated debt at investment grade.

    BLSA, a group of about 80 of the country’s largest companies, will be more vocal on social issues and in combating corruption, and seeking ways to transform and grow the economy, particularly after the African National Congress elects a new leader in December, Mohale said.

     “We accept as business that we have been quieter,” Mohale said. “We are going to talk to government, talk to the minister of finance and talk to the president to his face and saying something publicly,” he said.

    Zuma’s eight years as national president have been characterised by scandals, policy missteps and controversial appointments that have led to deep divisions within the ruling party. He is due to step down as leader of the ANC in December, with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former head of the African Union Commission and Zuma’s ex-wife, the main contenders for the party post. His term as president of the country ends in 2019.

    His successor will inherit an economy that slid into recession in the first quarter and a network of officials implicated in allegedly looting taxpayer funds, while business confidence is close to the lowest level in three decades.

    The ANC has been bleeding support, raising the prospect it won’t secure a majority in the next election. It lost control of South Africa’s economic hub, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria, in a local government ballot last year, leading to opposition parties cooperating to run four of the country’s six largest cities. The ANC’s overall support slid to 54.5 percent in that poll from 62 percent in a national vote two years earlier, the worst electoral performance since it came to power to end apartheid in 1994.

    “Any right-thinking South African knows beyond any shadow of doubt that the actions of this ANC-led government” have lost the party the 2019 elections, Mohale said. “Coalition politics is a reality today, now it is going to move to national.”