One of the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party’s founding members has resigned from the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, saying he no longer has confidence in former President Jacob Zuma and the ANC’s splinter party. Induna Phumlani Mfeka surrendered his seat yesterday, February 17, but said nothing about his party membership. Mfeka was a long time Zuma loyalist and was among the first group of senior ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal who dumped the governing party after Zuma officially endorsed the MK Party on 16…

The Pietermaritzburg High Court has given five National Freedom Party (NFP) councillors a fresh lifeline after it extended the temporal court order or (rule nisi) barring their removal from Abaqulusi Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The matter was heard on Friday last week and later adjourned indefinitely.  The five councillors – including Khanyisile Jiyane, Sizwe Hadebe, and SIbusiso Nkosi – took the matter to court to challenge their firing by NFP President, Ivan Barnes.  They argued that their expulsion from…

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has vehemently opposed alleged plans to hike value-added tax (VAT) from 15 percent to 16 Percent when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables the 2024/2025 budget on Wednesday. The communist party says the fact that the mooted move was reported by some media houses appears to form part of a wider propaganda campaign driven by a certain circle within the National Treasury.  “This circle is pushing to increase VAT further after it was hiked from…

Europe faces its greatest threat from within rather than from foreign powers, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said, expressing concern about what he called the continent’s abandonment of its core values. Vance told the Munich Security Conference on Friday that while Washington is preoccupied with the question of achieving a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, Europe has bigger problems. ”The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any…

African leaders will gather again in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for the 2025 African Union (AU) Summit on 17-18 February. This time it’s different, though. The meeting is taking place amid a different geopolitical context, and challenging socio-economic and security conditions on the continent.  Africa remains the poorest continent globally, with extreme poverty rates exceeding 30 percent in 23 of the world’s 28 poorest countries. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a US private non-profit research organisation,…

Former President Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, has finally apologised directly to uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP) Secretary General Floyd Shivambu in a fresh public apology.  This comes after she issued a half hearted apology earlier this week in which she grudgingly apologised for insulting and questioning Shivambu’s leadership qualities during her overnight social media meltdown on February 10.  After labelling the former EFF Deputy President the “worst thing” to have ever happened to the MKP, and telling him and…

The United States has long positioned itself as a global champion of human rights, democracy and economic opportunity. However, its policies and decisions concerning South Africa, particularly regarding its white minority, have often been fraught with contradictions, suspicions and unintended consequences.  From the apartheid era through the post-1994 democratic transition, Washington’s involvement in South Africa has frequently exacerbated racial tensions and economic disparities. The recent surge in H-2A visas issued to South African farm workers, who are predominantly white, and…

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…

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,…

Facing expulsion from the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has finally apologized for berating and insulting Floyd Shivambu on X (Twitter) in an overnight meltdown. Zuma-Sambudla was immediately called to order by her father, former President Jacob Zuma, and ordered to immediately apologize to Shivambu, the Secretary-General of the party or face expulsion.  In a major climb down, she obliged and apologized, even though she did not name Shivambu, the target of her insults and disparaging remarks. Neither did…