US President-elect Donald Trump is set to ignite new trade wars with some other countries, including China. His announcement on social media on 25 November 2024 that he would impose additional tariffs on goods from China, Canada, and Mexico came as no surprise.  The Republican Party leader, elected in November last year following his victory in the US presidential election, declared he would impose an additional 10 or 25 percent tariff on imports from these countries, pushing the global economy…

South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Solly Mapaila has defended the party’s decision to dump the ANC and contest elections independently, saying they sought to protect the revolution rather than act as observers when the Democratic Alliance (DA) has more influence in government than the communist party. He says the SACP wants to “tackle capital directly”, improve the lives of South Africans and strengthen the ANC-led alliance rather than weaken it, as critics claim. Mapaila spoke at the Avalon…

From January 5 to 11, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit the four African countries of Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Chad and Nigeria. The visit by Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is aimed at deepening practical cooperation in various fields, and promoting the sustained and in-depth development of China-Africa relations, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday. Wang’s visit continues the tradition of a Chinese…

Former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Deputy President Floyd Shivambu claims he’s the party’s sole founder, and that current leader Julius Malema and others joined later. He says he conceptualised the EFF, gave it a name and party colours, and decided where its Johannesburg headquarters would be. Shivambu, who left the EFF in August 2023 amid a public fallout with Malema, was speaking at a Christmas gathering hosted by his new party, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MKP), at his home village of…

The political intrigue around the future of Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deepened on Thursday when he suddenly removed the Member of Parliament (MP) label from his X (Twitter) bio. This has raised speculation that the former EFF national spokesperson and Central Command Team (CCT) member may be planning a future outside the Red Berets after 11 years as a member. Ndlozi, whose verified X account has 1.8 million followers, did not discuss his decision to…

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has finally acted and fired the allegedly “underperforming” Mayor of Amajuba District Municipality, which is anchored in Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Prince Ndabuko Zulu was shown the door on Thursday, 18 December 2024 after he met with the party’s national executive committee (NEC). The prince took over the position in December 2022 after the IFP fired the former mayor, Vuselwa Bam, who later defected and joined Team Sugar South Africa. “The IFP NEC today met…

The provincial secretary of the EFF in KwaZulu-Natal has suspended his longtime personal assistant for allegedly attending the MK Party’s 1st anniversary rally in Durban on Sunday. Nkululeko Ngubane was in Nasrec attending the EFF’s National People’s Assembly, an elective conference, in Johannesburg when Siphamandla Ngcobo allegedly joined the celebrations of President Jacob Zuma’s party at the Moses Mabhida stadium. In a December 18 suspension letter sent to Ngcobo and seen by African Times, Ngubane accused his personal assistant of…

The Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party is contesting another litmus test by-election in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday torn apart by two provincial factions. This is after yesterday the Electoral Court upheld the registration of Sthabiso Nkabinde as the party’s candidate for ward 2 by-election in Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) in the province’s Midlands where the party performed well during the May 29 provincial and national elections. The troubles started when two posters of candidates emerged and were circulated to the public for support. One…

The leader of the MK Party, former President Jacob Zuma, has narrated how colonialists used coup d’etat and rebels to claw back African countries that got independence and could not be controlled. Zuma says the colonialists funded rebels to stage a coup d’etat and install governments that listened to them and implemented their agenda.  South Africa’s former president spoke in Durban on Monday night during a gala dinner hosted by the MK Party to celebrate its first anniversary. Since 1960,…

The sole but critical councillor of the ABC (Abantu Batho Congress) in the Endumeni (Dundee) local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has scored a temporary victory against his expulsion from the party and as a councillor. The Pietermaritzburg High Court today ruled that Mbulelo Phakathi cannot be expelled from the party and as a councillor in eNdumeni until the matter has been fully heard. Phakathi’s seat in Endumeni is crucial to the ANC, which still harbours ambitions of overthrowing the IFP through…