Virus deaths top 600,000 as cases rise in India, SAfrica

July 19, 2020

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Countries from the U.S. to South Africa to India were struggling to hold down rising rates of the coronavirus, as global deaths from COVID-19 surged past 600,000 in a sign of how far off the world remains from a return to normalcy.

While the U.S. leads global infections, South Africa now ranks as the fifth worst-hit country in the pandemic with 350,879 cases — roughly half of all those confirmed on the African continent. Its struggles are a sign of trouble to come for nations with even fewer health care resources.

India on Sunday reported a 24-hour record surge of 38,902 new cases, taking the country's total to 1,077,618. Elsewhere in Asia, China confirmed 13 new cases in the northwestern city of Urumqi while South Korea reported less than 40 additional cases for a second straight day.

The Urumqi outbreak is the latest to pop up since China largely contained the domestic spread of the virus in March. At least 30 people have been infected and authorities are conducting universal testing in communities where cases were discovered, later to be expanded to other parts of the city and major businesses.

South Korean authorities are also struggling to suppress an uptick in local infections, with 34 additional cases, 21 of them domestic and 13 from overseas, raising the country’s total to 13,745 with 295 deaths.

Both countries are mandating testing and enforcing two-week quarantines on all overseas arrivals. After a one-day respite, COVID-19 cases in the Australian state of Victoria rose again, prompting a move to make masks mandatory in metropolitan Melbourne and the nearby shire of Mitchell. Health officials on Sunday recorded 363 new cases in the past 24 hours. Two men and a woman in their 90s died, taking the national death toll from COVID-19 to 122.

The World Health Organization on Saturday again reported a single-day record of new infections with 259,848. South Africa now trails the U.S., Brazil, India — all far more populous countries — in the number of infections, surpassing Peru, after health authorities announced 13,285 new cases.

South Africa’s new coronavirus epicenter, Gauteng province, hosts the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria and one-quarter of the country’s population of 57 million, with many poor people living in crowded conditions in the middle of a frosty Southern Hemisphere winter.

“The simple fact is that many South Africans are sitting ducks because they cannot comply with World Health Organization protocols on improved hygiene and social distancing,” the foundation of former South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, warned in a statement.

Global COVID-19 deaths have hit 601,549, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The United States tops the list with 140,119 deaths, followed by 78,772 in Brazil and 45,358 in the United Kingdom and 38,888 in Mexico, where a surge in cases have frustrated plans to reopen the economy.

The number of confirmed infections worldwide has passed 14.2 million, out of which 3.7 million are in the United States. There are over 2 million in Brazil and more than 1 million in India. Experts believe the true numbers around the world are higher because of testing shortages and data collection issues in some nations.

Infections are soaring in U.S. states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, fueled by the haphazard lifting of lockdowns and the resistance of some Americans to wearing masks. Teams of military medics have been deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deal with a deluge of patients who are flooding emergency rooms in parts of the U.S. Some patients are being moved into hallways to make room for most seriously ill and nurses are working extra shifts to keep up with the surge.

Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care units are full, officials say. Patients are waiting “hours and hours” to get admitted, said Dr. Alison Haddock of the Baylor College of Medicine in the state of Texas, which reported a new daily record for virus deaths Friday and more than 10,000 confirmed cases for the fourth consecutive day. More than 80 infants have tested positive for the virus in the state.

“I’ve never seen anything like this COVID surge,” said Haddock, who has worked in emergency rooms since 2007. “We’re doing our best, but we’re not an ICU.” The surge of infections means that millions of American children are unlikely to return to classrooms full time in the fall.

Police in Barcelona are limiting access to some of the city’s beaches because sunbathers are ignoring regulations amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. Authorities in Amsterdam are urging people not to visit the city’s famous red light district and have closed off some of the historic district’s narrow streets because they are too busy.

Local governments in India continued to reimpose focused lockdowns in several parts of the country following a surge in cases. And in Iran, the president made the startling announcement that as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Hassan Rouhani cited a new Health Ministry study that has not been made public. Iran has the Middle East’s worst outbreak with more than 270,000 confirmed cases.

In Bangladesh, confirmed cases surpassed 200,000 but experts say the number is much higher as the country lacks adequate labs for testing. Most people in rural areas have stopped wearing masks and are thronging shopping centers ahead of the Islamic festival Eid al-Adha this month.

Scientists, meanwhile, poured cold water on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hope that the country may return to normal by Christmas, saying that, without a vaccine, normal life was a long way off.

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

U.S., South Africa report new record coronavirus rises

July 02, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — The United States and South Africa have both reported record new daily coronavirus infections, with U.S. figures surpassing 50,000 cases a day for the first time, underlining the challenges still ahead as nations press to reopen their virus-devastated economies.

The U.S. recorded 50,700 new cases, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, as many states struggled to contain the spread of the pandemic, blamed in part on Americans not wearing masks or following social distancing rules.

Surging numbers in California prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend that he was closing bars, theaters and indoor restaurant dining over most of the state, a region that includes about 30 million people and Los Angeles County.

“The bottom line is the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning,” Newsom said. Confirmed cases in California have increased nearly 50% over the past two weeks, and COVID-19 hospitalizations have gone up 43%. Newsom said California had nearly 5,900 new cases and 110 more deaths in just 24 hours.

Infections have been surging in many other states as well, including Florida, Arizona and Texas. Florida recorded more than 6,500 new cases and counties in South Florida were closing beaches to fend off large July Fourth crowds that could further spread the virus.

“Too many people were crowding into restaurants late at night, turning these establishments into breeding grounds for this deadly virus,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said. Despite the fact that the U.S. has the highest number of infections and deaths in the world by far, President Donald Trump seemed confident the coronavirus would soon subside.

“I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus,” he told Fox Business. “I think that, at some point, that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.” The U.S. has now reported nearly 2.7 million cases and more than 128,000 dead. Globally there have been 10.7 million coronavirus cases and more than 516,000 dead, according to Johns Hopkins' count. The true toll of the pandemic is believed to be significantly higher, in part because of limited testing and mild cases that have been missed.

In South Africa on Thursday, authorities reported 8,124 new cases, a new daily record. The country has the most cases in Africa with more than 159,000, as it loosens what had been one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.

Johannesburg is a new hot spot with hundreds of health workers infected and Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, has more than 45,000 confirmed cases. The African continent has more than 405,000 confirmed cases overall.

India, the world's second-most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, surpassed 600,000 infections on Thursday after over 19,000 new cases were reported. India has reported nearly 100,000 new cases in the past four days alone.

Despite the surging numbers, the western beach of state of Goa, a popular backpacking destination, allowed 250 hotels to reopen Thursday after being closed for more than three months. Tourists will either have to carry COVID-19 negative certificates or get tested on arrival.

Many industries and businesses have reopened across the country, and Indians have cautiously returned to the streets. Schools, colleges and movie theaters are still closed. On the medical front, the World Health Organization says smoking is linked to a higher risk of severe illness and death from the coronavirus in hospitalized patients, although it was unable to specify exactly how much greater those risks might be.

In a scientific brief published this week, the U.N. health agency reviewed 34 published studies on the association between smoking and COVID-19, including the probability of infection, hospitalization, severity of disease and death.

WHO noted that smokers represent up to 18% of hospitalized coronavirus patients and that there appeared to be a significant link between whether or not patients smoked and the severity of disease they suffered, the type of hospital interventions required and patients’ risk of dying.

In Japan, the capital of Tokyo confirmed 107 new cases of coronavirus, nearly triple that of June 24, just before the number began to spike. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said many cases were linked to nightclubs and bars, and urged their workers to proactively be tested and take further safety measures.

“We need to use caution against the spread of the infections,” Koike said. South Korea confirmed 54 more COVID-19 cases as the coronavirus continued to spread beyond the capital region and reach cities like Gwangju, which has shut schools and tightened social restrictions after dozens fell sick this week.

Despite the spike in many U.S. states, several eastern states have seen their new infections slow down significantly, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey, which was going ahead Thursday with allowing its famous Atlantic City casinos to reopen.

Strict social distancing and other measures will be in place. Gamblers will not be allowed to smoke, drink or eat anything inside the casinos. They will have to wear masks in public areas of the casino and have their temperatures checked upon entering.

Coyle reported from Los Angeles.

In fight against virus, South Africa expects a long wait

May 24, 2020

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — With her winning smile and outgoing nature, Fino Dlamini was a natural to succeed in South Africa’s booming tourism industry. Her bicycle tours of Soweto took visitors to historic sites, including the homes of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and to restaurants where they could meet South Africans. The tourists and locals would quickly connect over shared interests in sports or TV shows, forming instant bonds that were "magic,” she said.

Business was good in January and February, and projections for the rest of 2020 were excellent. Then the coronavirus brought everything to an abrupt halt. Dlamini was confined to her small home under a strict lockdown, with few options for earning money.

Millions of other South Africans share in the same misfortune. The country with the continent’s most developed economy also has its highest number of confirmed infections — more than 22,000, representing 20% of Africa's total. And because the disease may not hit its peak for four more months, leaders expect to spend an especially long time balancing the risks to public health with the economic activity essential to the national welfare.

“The risk of a massive increase in infections is now greater than ever,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told the nation Sunday night even as he announced a further loosening of the lockdown starting June 1 to allow some 8 million more people to return to work.

While South Africa has not seen the explosion of virus infections that emerged in Europe, cases “have now started to rise sharply,” Ramaphosa warned, with one-third of cases recorded in the past week alone.

Health experts have suggested that a contributing factor in the lower number in cases is the country's youthful population, with just 3% of people above the age of 60. Africa's small elderly population may help explain why the disease is spreading relatively slowly across the continent.

South Africa is still in the early stages of the pandemic, leading health experts to predict the peak could come as late as August or September. A surge of cases in Cape Town suggests that city might reach its maximum near the end of June. The forecasts portend a lengthy wait to resume normal activity.

Other African countries appear to be on a similar trajectory. Forty-three of the continent's 54 nations have imposed containment measures, including lockdowns, bans on public gatherings, school closures and curfews.

The lockdown that began March 27 in South Africa is increasing tensions in Soweto, said Dlamini, who closed her tourism business. “People are destitute and feeling desperate,” Dlamini said. “It’s heartbreaking and scary. I tell friends that we must get through this hard time, that a vaccine will be found and we can get back to business. ... But right now, it’s hard.”

With 25 bicycles, a vehicle and a trailer sitting idle, Dlamini decided to move into something entirely new. She is now selling meat products from her car to Soweto residents. “Ribs, pork trotters, beef bones — these are all popular,” she said. “People are calling me for repeat orders, so business is looking good.”

Five weeks into the lockdown, South Africa began a gradual easing on May 1, allowing selected mines, factories and businesses to reopen with up to 30% of employees. Restaurants can serve takeaway meals, and people are permitted to walk outside for exercise from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

But the economy, already in recession, keeps plummeting. The unemployment rate was at a staggering 29% even before the virus hit, and the jobless rate could rise to 50%, according to the Chamber of Commerce. Lines of hungry South Africans stretch for miles at sites where the government or charities distribute food.

“Our people need to eat. They need to earn a living,” Ramaphosa said when launching a $26 billion recovery package, the largest in Africa. It includes increased payments to 16 million people already on welfare and monthly payments to the newly unemployed.

The economic downturn is expected to shrink Africa’s economies by more than 5%, according to the NKC African Economics research firm. Most punishing are the effects on the millions of Africans who rely upon daily trading to earn money to eat.

Ghana, in West Africa, was the first country to lift its restrictions, on April 20, in response to economic pressures. Ten days later, the country registered a spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19. South Africa is still a long way from full economic activity, and further easing will be determined by the spread of the disease and hospitalizations.

The country is “taking a science-based approach," said Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, who leads the national coronavirus council. Cape Town and the surrounding Western Cape province are at the center of the outbreak, with 65% of the country's total cases. South Africa has screened more than 8 million of its population of 57 million and is now testing more than 20,000 people per day. Tens of thousands of community health workers with experience in tracking contacts of tuberculosis patients are now doing the same for positive cases of COVID-19.

In preparation for more infections, South Africa has built field hospitals with an estimated 20,000 beds and has created areas where people living in crowded conditions can be quarantined if they test positive. However, the country is short of intensive care beds.

Amid the medical challenges, the imploding economy puts pressure on Ramaphosa to reopen more of the country. Other African economies face the same problem as they endure two simultaneous blows: the virus outbreak and a slump in demand for key exports to Europe and Asia.

With the majority of Africans eking out their living on a day-to-day basis, any restrictive measures are quickly felt and “risk civil disobedience if protracted,” said Benedict Craven, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s country risk manager for Africa.

In the effort to balance health and economic needs, “there is no way of successfully attending to the one issue without disregarding the other,” said Pieter du Preez, senior economist at NKC African Economics. He warned of an “economic quagmire,” including increased unemployment, widespread hunger and a humanitarian crisis.

South Africa is rated as one of the world's most unequal countries, and the president has said in his evening addresses to the nation that his response to the pandemic aims to build a more equitable country.

Dlamini, the tour operator now selling meat, said she is inspired by Ramaphosa's approach, which includes government deliveries of water to areas that did not have it and discussions about the possible installation of toilets in schools that offered only pit latrines.

“We are showing that we can doing something here in South Africa, that we can build a more equal society,” Dlamini said. "We must work for that!”

Bram Janssen in Johannesburg contributed.

South African cops storm Cape Town church to expel migrants

April 02, 2020

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African police wearing riot gear forced their way into a church in central Cape Town on Thursday to remove hundreds of foreign migrants who had been sheltering there for months.

The operation at the Central Methodist Church was aimed at ending a long standoff between the group of foreign nationals and city authorities. The migrants refused to leave the church and had previously demanded that South Africa relocate them to other countries, including the United States and Canada, because they had been victims of xenophobic threats in South Africa last year.

Local media reported that police officers broke down the front and rear doors of the church in the historic Greenmarket Square to remove the migrants. The migrants were led onto buses and driven away, reportedly to a temporary camp outside the city.

South Africa is in the midst of a 21-day lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic and people are only allowed to leave their homes to buy food, medical supplies and other essential items, or to perform essential work.

The migrants will have to remain at the temporary camp for at least the remaining two weeks of the lockdown. South African authorities have said they will verify the identities of the migrants and properly process those seeking asylum.

Police undertook a similar operation last month to remove migrants who had been camping in the square outside the church.

South Africa's ruling ANC set to celebrate election victory

May 11, 2019

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa's ruling African National Congress on Saturday was preparing to celebrate its win in national elections, with the formal announcement of final results coming later in the day.

With all votes counted, the ANC had 57.5%, the electoral commission said . While a win was never in doubt, it was the worst-ever showing at the polls for the party of the late Nelson Mandela which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid 25 years ago. The party won 62% of the vote in 2014.

Voter turnout was another low at 65%, reflecting the frustrations of many South Africans after corruption scandals around the ANC that led former president Jacob Zuma to resign last year under party pressure. Turnout was 74% in 2014.

Current President Cyril Ramaphosa, a Mandela protege, has vowed to clean up the rot and apologized to South Africans. But his new five-year term is threatened by Zuma allies within the ANC's leadership, who could pressure the party to oust him from power.

Observers have said South Africa's economy, the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa, would be further weakened if Ramaphosa is removed by his own party. He narrowly won the party leadership in late 2017, weeks before Zuma was pushed out.

Ramaphosa's image as a leader willing to rid the government of graft helped the ANC's showing in this election, political analyst Karima Brown said. "It's a departure from a president who faced continuous allegations of corruption," she said.

But ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, seen as leading the party faction opposed to Ramaphosa, has said the victory could not be attributed to the president alone. Widespread disillusionment over the ANC and long-standing issues of high unemployment and poor delivery of basic services had been expected to give top opposition parties a boost in Wednesday's election.

Top opposition party the liberal Democratic Alliance slipped in its share of votes, however, winning 20.7%, down from 22.2% in 2014. The populist Economic Freedom Fighters in just their second showing in parliamentary and presidential elections did gain ground, winning 10.7% of the vote, up from 6.3% five years ago.

The EFF won support notably among younger voters with its outspoken demands for a bigger share of South Africa's wealth from the country's white minority. It struck a chord in a country where unemployment is 27% and many in the black majority struggle to get by. The party also had promised to expropriate white-owned land without compensation and nationalize mines and banks.

The ANC barely retained control of the country's economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, with just over 50% of the vote. ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said the party was now focused on constituting a credible government. "The task now is to roll up our sleeves and to sort these problems out," she said.

In South Africa, the president and parliament are not elected directly. The number of votes won by each party determines how many representatives are sent to the national 400-seat legislature. The president of the country is the leader of the party that gets the most votes.

"I knew that the ANC would win the elections so my vote for them did not go waste," said Karabo Kgole, a gas station attendant in Pretoria.

South Africa votes with corruption, jobs as big issues

May 08, 2019

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans voted Wednesday in presidential and parliamentary elections, with signs of a relatively low turnout and voters saying they were disillusioned by widespread corruption and unemployment.

Despite the demise of apartheid 25 years ago, South Africa remains divided by economic inequality . The African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela that has been in power since 1994, is likely to win a majority but it will face a difficult challenge to match the 62% of the vote it got five years ago.

The party has been tarnished by corruption scandals and a national unemployment rate of 27%. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who leads the ANC, has campaigned on promises to clean up his party, an acknowledgment of the problems that forced out his predecessor last year.

"Corruption got into the way," Ramaphosa said after voting, saying graft has prevented his party from serving the people. Selina Molapo, a 38-year-old resident of Tembisa township in eastern Johannesburg, agreed with him, complaining the ANC has not delivered on its promise of jobs.

"In 2014, we voted for the ANC but our situation has not changed," Molapo said. "I am voting for a different party." Firebrand opposition leader Julius Malema voted in his home area of Polokwane in northern Limpopo province and said he expects a good turnout for his party, the populist, leftist Economic Freedom Fighters .

"If the people want to continue unemployed, if the people want to continue landless, then they can continue voting for the same party," Malema said, referring to the ruling ANC. "But if you need change, the EFF is the way to go!"

Young voters make up about 20% of the electorate and largely support Malema, who broke from the ANC six years ago. However, registration of voters under 30 was relatively low. Mmusi Maimane, leader of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, was one of the first voters at the Dobsonville polling station in Soweto, Johannesburg's largest black township.

"Soweto represents to me the home of the struggle against apartheid and it is where we are now struggling against corruption and for a new government," Maimane said. Black support for his party is limited because it is generally perceived to be run by whites.

The ANC has vowed to embark on a program of seizing white-owned land without compensation, for which it needs a 67% majority to change South Africa's constitution. In the most likely scenario, the ANC will need to form a coalition government with another party to get the votes needed. That is likely to be the EFF, which supports land seizures.

If the ANC's share of the vote slips below 60%, Ramaphosa could be vulnerable and his party could oust him and choose a new leader. More than 40 smaller parties also are vying for power in the balloting.

Neither the president nor the parliament is elected directly. Voters cast ballots for a national party and the number of votes won by each party determines how many representatives are sent to the legislature. The president is the leader of the party that gets the most votes.

At the polling station in the overwhelmingly white, upscale Parkhurst suburb of Johannesburg, a lanky young man hustling as one of the city's "car guards" — the ubiquitous youths who offer to keep an eye on a vehicle while the driver is away — paused to say he had given up on the ANC and was voting for the Democratic Alliance instead.

"They ate a lot of millions," 26-year-old Anthony Molele said of the ANC's many corruption scandals. At a lonely-looking table for the populist EFF, party agents and domestic workers Marie Lekgothoane and Sophie Tsoai watched the arrival of mostly white voters.

Lekgothoane described how she and her 13-year-old daughter must wake up at 5 a.m. daily to commute more than an hour by minibus to Parkhurst, where she works and once lived before being asked to move out.

"We struggle a lot," Lekgothoane said, adding that she has put her faith in the EFF and its promise of change. "I like this party with all of my heart," she said. "I like the way they talk." When South Africa held its first all-race elections in 1994 after the end of the harsh apartheid system of racial discrimination, voters waited in long, snaking lines. Few such scenes were evident Wednesday, except in the poor Diepsloot township north of Johannesburg.

Voter apathy could be trouble for the ANC. Winston Rammoko, 41, did not vote because he said he did not believe it would be significant. "We all know that the ANC is going to win the elections so I do not think mine will make any difference," said Rammoko, who sells tires in the eastern suburb of Kempton Park. "They have won since 1994 and it will happen again."

Tracy van Tonder, 20, is one of the younger South Africans who did not register to vote. "By the time I got interested in voting, the deadline to vote had already passed," she said while accompanying her older sister. Van Tonder is one of the nearly 6 million eligible voters under 30 who did not register.

Some 26 million people of South Africa's population of 57 million are eligible to vote, and the day is a national holiday to encourage turnout. Most of the 22,900 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 9 p.m. (0500 to 1900 GMT).

Preliminary results will be announced from the electoral commission in the capital, Pretoria. Final results are not expected for 48 hours.

Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed.

Nigeria's leader in South Africa after attacks on foreigners

October 03, 2019

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s president on Thursday said “early warning mechanisms” will be put in place to avoid the kind of deadly attacks on foreigners that angered many African countries and led to an extraordinary airlift of Nigerians, while Nigeria’s visiting leader again condemned such violence as “unacceptable.”

What originally was planned as a business meeting between Africa’s two largest economies turned into talks by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on how to calm the unrest that has erupted regularly in South Africa in recent years.

South Africa has been making efforts to mend ties with Nigeria and others after its government faced criticism for not explicitly speaking out against xenophobia at first but instead framing the violence as crime. Ramaphosa on Thursday again stressed the need for immigrants to obey local laws but called the xenophobia “regrettable.”

More than 12 people were killed and more than 700 arrested after bands of South Africans in Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, launched attacks against foreign-owned shops and stalls, looting and burning the small businesses and attacking some shopkeepers.

Nigeria's foreign minister called the attacks "sickening" and the government recalled its high commissioner to South Africa. South Africa temporarily closed its diplomatic missions in Nigeria, citing concerns over staff safety. In Nigeria’s megacity Lagos, operations of South African telecommunications giant MTN were targeted in retaliatory attacks.

South Africa's president now says his government is "totally committed" against attacks on foreign nationals. He acknowledges frustration about the country’s high unemployment and sluggish economy but has told countrymen not to take it out on foreigners.

It was not immediately clear how the “early warning mechanisms” to avoid further unrest would work between South Africa and Nigeria. Buhari said police and intelligence forces in both countries should be alert to avoid further violence.

The periodic attacks against Nigerians and citizens of other African nations include accusations by South Africans that foreigners are peddling illegal drugs or taking jobs. The attacks on Nigerians led some in Nigeria to call for the closure of South African companies doing business in the West African powerhouse _ a move that would create instant pain for a bilateral relationship that saw more than $3.3 billion in trade in 2018.

“Relations between our two countries are very strong and we want to welcome more businesses from Nigeria to come here," Ramaphosa said. He noted that Africa’s population should double to 2.5 billion people by 2050, calling the continent “the next great growth market.”

The violence against foreigners in South Africa is in sharp contrast to the hospitality that other African nations showed to black South Africans during their long fight against the harsh system of white minority rule known as apartheid, which ended in 1994.

“We will not forget how Nigeria spearheaded the call for political and economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa following the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960, which left many unarmed demonstrators dead,” Ramaphosa said Thursday evening. “Without Nigerian support, our freedom would have come at a much greater cost.”

South Africa leader in national speech looks toward election

February 07, 2019

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation address said Thursday the country had begun to recover from "a period of uncertainty and a loss of confidence and trust" under his scandal-ridden successor.

His speech to parliament comes three months before national elections that are seen by many as a referendum on his ruling African National Congress party. Ramaphosa, who came to power a year ago after former President Jacob Zuma was ousted by the ANC, has promised to revive South Africa's flagging economy and tackle deep-seated corruption.

He said that in 2019 his government would focus on five key tasks: speeding up inclusive growth, improving the education system, improving the lives of poor South Africans, stepping up the fight against corruption and strengthening the state.

This year, the 25th year since the end of white minority rule, South Africa should reflect on "whether we have built a society in which all South Africans, equally and without exception, enjoy their inalienable rights to life, liberty and dignity," he told lawmakers.

After he took office, South Africans experienced a rare wave of optimism, sometimes referred to as "Ramaphoria," following an era of bruising national politics but many have once again grown weary of the nation's rampant unemployment, crime and corruption.

The party has faced pressure over land reform as one way to right deep inequities that still exist a quarter-century after the end of apartheid. Ramaphosa in his speech said his government supported the constitutional review process now underway to "unambiguously set out provisions for expropriation of land without compensation" in order to quicken the pace of reform.

He said the state has already identified state-owned land that will be released to create housing in urban and semi-urban areas. The disillusionment among many South Africans with the ANC may be a crucial factor in the elections in May.

"We need to recognize that things are getting progressively worse for us, and we have to acknowledge that the reason they're getting worse is the ANC," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, said in his "alternate" State of the Nation address.

The left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters, a small but influential opposition party that has disrupted the speech in past years, threatened to interrupt the address again unless Ramaphosa addressed a political donation he received from a company embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Africa and the Arab world are key to a clean-coal alliance

Tuesday
20/11/2018

JOHANNESBURG - Sharing technology on clean coal, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marek Magierowski says, “lies at the heart of our relations with India.”

He made the comment on a recent visit to New Delhi. Like many in Africa and Asia, both Poland and India get most of their electrical power from fossil fuel.

Egypt is building a clean-coal plant run with expertise from China. Iran and the United Arab Emirates are doing likewise and Japan and the United States have considered pooling research.

Australia and South Africa are leaders in carbon capture and a cleaner burn and Colombia, which has one of the world’s largest coal mines, is helping Latin America along the same path.

So why isn’t there a clean-coal alliance?

“We need a global sharing of research and the climate change summit in Poland next month could be where it happens,” said Samson Bada, a Nigerian engineer at Witwatersrand University (Wits) in Johannesburg.

Bada said the cost of electricity has become a political issue around the globe “and a lack of power comes up at every election right across the developing world.” Economies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East “will not stop using fossil fuel, no matter what activists in New York or London may say so the task is to make it cleaner,” Bada said.

Rosemary Falcon, a recently retired professor in charge of clean-coal research at Wits, said an “alliance is crucial and it would need to cover oil, gas and coal because all these put off smoke if you don’t use them properly and there’s an overlap in the chemistry.

“How can anyone suggest a poor country without the technology should be left to pollute the air with coal or gas when we know how to burn it cleanly? Obviously, this is something we must share with everyone.”

Falcon said the 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties — COP24 — scheduled for December 3-14 in Katowice, Poland, could be the place to build “even an informal union where we can share the science.”

Falcon said coal was the cheapest and most reliable source of energy. “Sun and wind only work some of the time and there has to be a baseload, topped up with renewables,” she said.

However, she added, any association must include all continents. “People forget that Tanzania has 4 billion tonnes of coal or Colombia with its huge open-cut mines. Africa, Asia and Latin America must all be part of the mix.”

Despite its huge oil reserves, she said the Arab world relied on a mix for electricity including gas and coal. “Even so, it’s a voice that’s often left out,” Falcon said.

“I’m passionate about the environment,” said Jacob Masiala, like Bada, one of Falcon’s former students at Wits, “but those who want to see an end to fossil fuel need to spend more time on the ground in Africa.”

Masiala said he believes in climate change but laments that “it’s become an obsession for the pampered and well-off.” The priorities for poorer countries are different, he said.

“When you have no job and live in a shack without electricity and your family is always hungry, you don’t talk about climate change. You worry about the next meal, not the next 50 years,” Masiala said.

The idea of an alliance is not new. Indian Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, for instance, has been hinting at it for years. “We must share technology for clean coal because this will be the mainstay in India’s fuel mix,” he said at a meeting in Japan in 2015.

US Secretary for Energy Rick Perry spoke about it on a visit to Cape Town in 2017, saying the supply of electricity across the developing world was not just a social issue but “a matter of national security for the United States.”

Perry said that without power, poor countries were unable to industrialize, leading to “poverty and a lack of jobs that drives young people to join militia.”

It was a factor, he said, in the war on terror.

So why no treaty? Could it happen in Poland, home to one of the world’s most ambitious clean-coal programs?

The first step is money. Even an NGO would need a secretariat with an office and a media team to get the word out. Fees from members could meet the cost but someone must kick it off.

At the United States Energy Association, a grouping of public and private energy-related organisations, executive director Barry Worthington said it was also a matter of politics. “Energy is tricky,” he said.

“We’ve seen how oil has been used as a weapon in wars across the Middle East but gas is just as vital during the winter in countries like Finland or Ukraine. For now, they rely on a Russian pipeline and this is a huge factor in their relations with Moscow,” Worthington said.

Taiwan has the world’s largest clean-coal plant, he said, “so how do you put them at the same table as China?”

One could say the same about Turkey and Saudi Arabia or the United States and North Korea.

He said this made it vital to set up an alliance that was politically neutral.

“Emissions blowing south from Pakistan don’t stop when they reach the border with India. “Ideally, there must be space for everyone at the table,” Worthington said.

He said the Paris Accord on climate change might serve as a template. “Some in the room are on less than good terms but they work to a common goal,” he said. “Why can’t we do the same thing with clean coal?”

COP24 is contentious because Poland has angered the European Union by building coal-powered generators and is planning more.

Developing countries, however, may be sympathetic to the Polish view.

Zimbabwe has among the largest coal deposits in Africa. Tanzania has a new plant on the border with Mozambique and Kenya is building its first near Lamu on the coast. South Africa is a leading exporter and gets more than 90% of its own power from coal.

Africa is often dismissed as a bit player but, for a clean-coal alliance, it could lead the way. Asia is of the same mind. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines are growing their use of coal.

Energy ministers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations met in October in Singapore and their communique included a plan to share clean-coal technology, noting that fossil fuel will remain in play until at least 2040.

Real growth is expected in the Middle East. Egypt, Oman, Iran, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates all have clean-coal plants on the drawing board or under way.

The World Bank refuses to fund anything using oil, gas or coal but hundreds of projects across the globe have been funded by China, India or the private sector.

World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim admits he’s getting pushback. Leaders in Africa, he said, complained that the World Bank would not let them “have baseload power because we can’t use a single drop of fossil fuel for our own energy needs.”

“I can tell you, when I hear that, it’s compelling to me,” he said.

However, he and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde ruled out any change though the United States, the largest donor to the World Bank and IMF, has made clear it wants an end to the ban.

Masiala said any policy that ignored Africa was doomed. “We hold nearly one-quarter of the seats at the United Nations but millions of our people are still without electricity,” he said. “Yet there are those who seem to view themselves as our overlords.”

Bada agreed, saying: “That’s why we need an alliance of countries using fossil fuel. It would put us all on a more even footing, from big players like the United States and China, across to Africa and Latin America and, of course, the Arab world.”

Falcon says she has no doubt it will happen. “The idea of an alliance may have started with India and the United States but smaller countries are now pushing it,” she said, “and I think we could see Poland take the lead at the COP meeting in December.

“I guess there will be protesters in Katowice telling us there’s no such thing as clean coal but anyone with a brain has moved on. The focus now is on working together so coal can be part of the plan on climate change.”

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: https://middle-east-online.com/en/africa-and-arab-world-are-key-clean-coal-alliance.

South Africa rejects Saudi, UAE pressure to boycott Qatar

July 21, 2018

South Africa has rejected Saudi and UAE pressure to severe relations with Qatar, Al-Khaleej Online reported Pretoria’s envoy to Doha saying.

During a celebration to remember South African freedom icon Nelson Mandela in Doha on Wednesday, Faizel Moosa said that his country rejected such pressure “because it was against the values that Mandela fought for – not to interfere in the others’ internal affairs.”

“Qatari-South African relations are developing continuously,” Moosa said at the event. Commercial exchange between the two countries rose to 70 per cent after the siege imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June last year, and there would be more mutual investments, he added.

A new station is being built in South Africa to allow for the delivery of Qatar gas, and businessmen from the small Gulf state are investing in South Africa.

He went on to hail Qatar’s role in Africa which has increased following the Emir of Qatar’s recent tour of the region.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180721-south-africa-rejects-saudi-uae-pressure-to-boycott-qatar/.

South African police kill man after fatal mosque attack

June 14, 2018

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A man fatally stabbed two people on Thursday and wounded several others at a mosque near Cape Town before police shot and killed the attacker, authorities said. The assailant, believed to be in his thirties, charged police who had tried to persuade him to surrender after the attack in Malmesbury in Western Cape province, police said.

"He ignored the calls and tried to attack police. He was shot and killed in the process," said a statement from police, who did not immediately comment on a possible motive for the attack. A man said his father had been sleeping in the Malmesbury mosque when he was killed just ahead of the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Suad Bassa, son of Ismail Bassa, said in an interview with the News24 outlet that the attacker also injured his brother when they confronted him. "It's sad, but Allah has taken him away in the place that he loved the most," Suad Bassa said.

News24 video footage showed the body of the attacker lying in an open area cordoned off by police tape. On May 10, assailants killed one person and injured two others in a similar attack on a mosque in the eastern town of Verulam, near Durban. No arrests have been made.

South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council said it was "shocked to its core" by the attack in Malmesbury and that its president and his deputies were heading to the mosque. "We do not have any further details as yet but we urge the community not to jump to any conclusions until clarity can be given," the council said.

The Democratic Alliance, an opposition party that runs Western Cape province, condemned the attack and said South Africans have the right to religious freedom. "An attack on people while they worship is a direct attack on the constitution and the freedoms we enjoy in this country," the party said.

Ex-South Africa leader's corruption case adjourns until June

April 06, 2018

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — Former South African president Jacob Zuma sat in the dock of a packed courtroom on Friday to face corruption charges in a long-running case that fueled the public anger that finally forced him from power.

Zuma, 75, appeared relaxed during the brief hearing during which the case was adjourned until June 8. He later emerged from the courthouse in the coastal city of Durban to address a large crowd of supporters, many sporting regalia of the ruling African National Congress party.

The charges are politically motivated, Zuma said. The ruling party leadership had instructed Zuma to resign in February after a leadership crisis that destabilized the ANC, which was already weakened by other scandals during Zuma's presidency.

At the hearing, Judge Themba Sishi said Zuma was free "on warning." Zuma supporters gathered near the courthouse to declare that the former leader is not guilty of fraud, racketeering and money laundering. Durban is in Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

"Hands off Zuma," they chanted. The corruption charges were recently reinstated after being thrown out nearly a decade ago and relate to an arms deal in the 1990s, when Zuma was deputy president. Zuma, who resigned Feb. 14, says he has not done anything wrong.

He was replaced as president by his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who has promised a robust campaign against corruption and also seeks to rebuild a ruling party whose moral stature has diminished since it took power at the end of white minority rule in 1994.

S Africa to give state burial to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

April 02, 2018

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist in her own right whose reputation was sullied by scandal, has died. She was 81. Madikizela-Mandela will be honored by a state funeral on April 14, preceded by an official memorial service on April 11, said President Cyril Ramaphosa after visiting her home in Johannesburg's Soweto township Monday evening.

Ramaphosa described Madikizela-Mandela in a televised tribute as a "champion of justice and equality" and a "voice for the voiceless." The woman many South Africans have described as the "Mother of the Nation" and a champion of the black majority, died "surrounded by her family and loved ones," according to a statement released by Madikizela-Mandela's family.

Madikizela-Mandela was the second of Mandela's three wives, married to him from 1958 to 1996. Mandela, who died in 2013, was imprisoned throughout most of their marriage, and Madikizela-Mandela's own activism against white minority rule led to her being jailed for months and placed under house arrest for years.

"She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one of its most recognizable faces," the family said.

However, Madikizela-Mandela's political activism was marred by her conviction in 1991 for kidnapping and assault, for which she was fined. She faced these allegations again during the 1997 hearings before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that investigated apartheid-era crimes.

As a parliamentarian after South Africa's first all-race elections, she was convicted of fraud. Still, Madikizela-Mandela remained a venerated figure in the ruling African National Congress, which has led South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.

She continued to tell the party "exactly what is wrong and what is right at any time," said senior ANC leader Gwede Mantashe. The ANC, which was the main movement against apartheid, had lost popularity in recent years in part because of scandals linked to former President Jacob Zuma, who resigned in February.

Nobel laureate and former archbishop Desmond Tutu, a periodic critic of the ruling party, noted her passing by describing Madikizela-Mandela as "a defining symbol" of the fight against apartheid. "She refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings and banishment," Tutu said. "Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Madikizela-Mandela "a leading figure at the forefront of the fight against apartheid in South Africa," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Guterres said "she was a strong and fearless voice in the struggle for equal rights and will be remembered as a symbol of resistance," Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Madikizela-Mandela had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year, according to her family. She had back surgery a year ago. After hearing of her death, some people gathered Monday evening outside Madikizela-Mandela's home in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to sing tributes. She had attended Easter services in Soweto over the long weekend.

The family said it will release details of her memorial and funeral services when they are finalized. Madikizela-Mandela's story was told in biographies and novels as well the Hollywood movie "Winnie," starring Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson.

The young Winnie grew up in what is now Eastern Cape province and came to Johannesburg as the city's first black female social worker. Her research into the high infant mortality rate in a black township, which she linked to poverty caused by racism, first sparked her interest in politics.

In 1957, she met Nelson Mandela, an up-and-coming lawyer and anti-apartheid activist 18 years her senior, and they married a year later. The first five turbulent years of their marriage saw Mandela going underground to build the armed struggle against apartheid, and finally to prison in 1963, while his wife gave birth to two daughters.

Madikizela-Mandela always was aware of the danger of being in the shadow of her husband's all-encompassing personality. Even before they were separated by Nelson Mandela's long stay in prison, she had become politicized, being jailed for two weeks while pregnant for participating in a women's protest of apartheid restrictions on blacks.

The apartheid police later harassed her, sometimes dragging her from bed at night without giving her a chance to make arrangements for her daughters. In 1977, she was banished to a remote town, Brandfort, where neighbors were forbidden to speak to her. She was banned from meeting with more than one person at a time.

The woman who returned to Johannesburg in 1985 was much harder, more ruthless and bellicose, branded by the cruelty of apartheid and determined vengeance. In her book "100 Years of Struggle: Mandela's ANC," Heidi Holland suggested that Madikizela-Mandela was "perhaps driven half-mad by security police harassment." In an infamous 1986 speech she threatened "no more peaceful protests."

Instead, she endorsed the "necklacing" method of killing suspected informers and police with fuel-doused tires put around the neck and set alight. "Together hand-in-hand, with our boxes of matches and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country," she said.

Madikizela-Mandela complained bitterly on a North American tour after she was forced to testify to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 that the commission never asked her about the treatment she suffered over 18 months in solitary confinement.

The Mandela marriage that survived decades of prison bars dissolved with a formal separation in 1992, two years after Nelson Mandela was released. "Their personal relationship broke down," said George Bizos, a human rights lawyer who represented Nelson Mandela at the 1960s Rivonia trial that led to his long imprisonment.

"Nelson Mandela called two other senior members of the ANC after his release and he actually said, 'I love her, we have differences, I don't want to discuss them, please respect her,'" Bizos said. "And he shed tears to say that we have decided to separate. He loved her to the end."

The couple divorced in 1996, two years after Mandela became president in South Africa's first all-race elections, with Mandela accusing his wife of infidelity. As the mother of two of Mandela's children, Madikizela-Mandela and her ex-husband appeared to rebuild a friendship in his final years.

After Mandela's death, however, she became involved in disputes over his inheritance.

AP writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations in New York.

South Africa's ruling party finally turns against Zuma

February 14, 2018

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's ruling party on Tuesday disowned President Jacob Zuma after sticking with him through years of scandals, ordering him to resign in an attempt to resolve a leadership crisis that has disrupted government business in one of Africa's biggest economies.

The announcement by the African National Congress did not immediately end the protracted turmoil in a party that was the main movement against white minority rule and has led South Africa since apartheid ended in 1994. If the politically isolated president defies the party's order, the matter could go to parliament for a motion of no confidence that would further embarrass the party once led by Nelson Mandela.

Ace Magashule, the ANC's secretary-general, said he expected Zuma to reply to the directive on Wednesday. Another senior party official suggested that Zuma would be unwise to flout the edict of the party, which is eager to recover from internal disarray ahead of 2019 elections.

"A disciplined cadre of the ANC, you are given a chance to resign on your own, but if you lack discipline you will resist," party chairman Gwede Mantashe said at a provincial rally, according to South African media.

"Once you resist, we are going to let you be thrown out through the vote of no confidence because you disrespect the organization and you disobey it, therefore we are going to let you be devoured by the vultures," Mantashe said.

Business leaders welcomed the ANC's decision to recall Zuma, saying the country needs to focus on economic growth and address social problems such as unemployment. ANC leaders must act "swiftly, but constitutionally" to remove Zuma so the "work of recovering our future, which was imperiled by his ruinous regime — characterized by incompetence, corruption, state capture and low economic growth — can begin in earnest," said Bonang Mohale, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, a group that promotes development.

"State capture" is a term used in South Africa to describe the alleged looting of state enterprises by associates of Zuma, who denies any wrongdoing. A judicial commission is about to start a probe of those allegations. Separately, Zuma could face corruption charges tied to an arms deal two decades ago.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said Tuesday that it had been informed by the chief prosecutor that his team will provide its recommendation on Feb. 23 about whether to prosecute Zuma on the old charges. The charges had been thrown out but the opposition fought successfully to get them reinstated.

In another scandal, South Africa's top court ruled in 2016 that Zuma violated the constitution following an investigation of multi-million-dollar upgrades to his private home using state money. "We are determined to restore the integrity of the public institutions, create political stability and urgent economic recovery," said Magashule, once a staunch supporter of Zuma.

The ANC secretary-general spoke respectfully of Zuma, saying he had "not been found guilty by any court of law" and that the decision to recall him was not taken because he had done "anything wrong." Zuma had agreed to resign and wanted to stay in office for several more months, but the national executive committee decided at a 13-hour meeting that he had to leave at once, Magashule said.

The ANC said it wants Zuma to be replaced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected party leader in December and has vowed to fight corruption. Zuma, who took office in 2009 and is in his second five-year term, has not made any public appearances in recent days.

Government leaders hope the standoff can be resolved ahead of the unveiling of the national budget in parliament on Feb. 21, which would go some way toward reassuring investors that the country is getting back on track. Zuma did not give the state of the nation address last week because of the political crisis, and a regular Cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed.

A motion of no confidence sponsored by an opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, has been scheduled for Feb. 22 in parliament. Opposition parties want the vote moved up to this week and then want parliament to be dissolved so that early elections can be held.

Zuma has survived similar motions in the past, but ruling party members now see him as a political liability ahead of next year's elections and likely would vote against him on the orders of the party leadership.

South Africa ruling party's fight for its future kicks off

December 16, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The fight to replace South Africa's scandal-prone President Jacob Zuma began Saturday as thousands of delegates of the ruling African National Congress gathered to elect a new leader, with Zuma acknowledging "failures" that have threatened the party's future.

The reputation of Nelson Mandela's liberation movement has been battered during the tenure of Zuma, whose second term as party president is up. The new ANC leader is likely to become South Africa's next president in 2019 elections.

The two clear front-runners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former chair of the African Union Commission and Zuma's ex-wife. The selection is expected to be announced on Sunday.

Voters are frustrated with the ANC as Zuma's administration has been mired in scandal and corruption allegations. Africa's oldest liberation movement, which celebrated its 105th anniversary this year, led the fight against the system of white minority rule known as apartheid and has governed South Africa since the first democratic elections in 1994.

Observers say the party needs to restore its reputation or it could be forced into a governing coalition for the first time. Party divisions run so deep that analysts say either outcome, Ramaphosa or Dlamini-Zuma, could mean the end of the ANC's dominance as members of the losing faction could form a new party.

"We must attend to enormous challenges facing our movement," Zuma told the gathering, which opened with emotional appeals for unity. He pushed back against allegations of graft, asserting that "theft and corruption" in the private sector is just as bad as in government and that "being black and successful is being made synonymous to being corrupt."

But Zuma said "greed is posing a serious threat" to the party and pointed out warnings that the ANC could implode. "We need to find ways of protecting the ANC from corporate greed," he said. He rejected the party's "petty squabbles" that have distracted its work and said challenges to inclusion are "killing our movement." He also lashed out at the media, the judiciary and civil society, accusing them of fighting the ANC or interfering in party matters.

The president defended the party's worth despite the challenges, saying it continues to stand for millions of people on the fringes of society. "A heavy responsibility lies upon the shoulders of delegates here ... to renew our movement and to restore its timeless values," he said. "We must give people reason to have faith."

Zuma didn't endorse a successor, saying any of the seven candidates would make a "first-class president." He said he met with them and all agreed to abide by the party's selection. Zuma could carry on as head of state until 2019, when his term ends, or he could step down or be ousted before then by the new party leader ahead of the general elections. He said "I bear no grudge" against those who already have urged him to step aside.

Under Zuma, unemployment has risen to nearly 30 percent and economic growth has slumped, briefly dipping into recession this year. More than 55 percent of the country lives below the poverty line. Ramaphosa, who helped negotiate an end to apartheid and has become one of the wealthiest men in a democratic South Africa, has pledged to crack down on corruption and get the economy back on track. Dlamini-Zuma, a doctor and former government minister and an ally of the president, has promised to bring more black South Africans into the fold through "radical economic transformation."

The president told the gathering that land, for example, "must be distributed in an equitable manner while enhancing its productivity and ensuring food security." Some South Africans worry, however, that Dlamini-Zuma would be influenced by her ex-husband and perhaps shelter him from prosecution. Others were excited by the idea of her taking charge.

"Now I want a woman president," said Lerato Godi, a delegate from North West province. The growing frustration around Zuma led the party to suffer its worst-ever performance in municipal elections in 2016, with its vote share falling below 60 percent for the first time.

"Anyone who wins we are going to support and rally behind," said Sasekani Manzini, a spokeswoman for the ANC in Mpumalanga province. She said she supports Dlamini-Zuma but "we want to see a united ANC."

South Africa sees protests against murders of white farmers

October 30, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thousands of white farmers have snarled traffic on some major roads in South Africa in what they call the Black Monday protest against the high rate of murders of farmers. Convoys of hundreds of slow moving trucks and cars brought traffic to a crawl on highways leading from farming areas to Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg and white farmers and their supporters wore black in memory of farmers killed. The protests have been peaceful and the South African police have accompanied the demonstrators.

The protests are backed by AfriForum, a lobby group which promotes the rights of South Africa's white minority, especially the Afrikaner population descended from Dutch settlers. AfriForum claims that 70 white farmers have been murdered in 341 attacks on farms so far this year.

The rate of murders of white farmers is much higher than South Africa's general murder rate, said Ian Cameron, AfriForum's head of community safety, speaking at the Afrikaners' Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria where hundreds of protesters gathered.

"A farmer has 4.5 times more chance of being murdered in South Africa, than an average South African," said Cameron, according to the African News Agency. "That means a farmer is three times more likely to be murdered in South Africa than a police officer in this country. So farmers have by far the most dangerous job of all people in this country, at the moment. We cannot allow this to continue the way it is."

The protest has been criticized by the Black First Land First group which claimed in a series of tweets that white farmers are perpetrating violence against black people.

South African opposition protests Zuma, who celebrates 75th

April 12, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Tens of thousands of South Africans on Wednesday marked the 75th birthday of President Jacob Zuma with a protest against him, pushing for his resignation because of scandals and his dismissal of a widely respected finance minister. The president, meanwhile, danced at a party where well-wishers said they loved him.

The rally in the capital, Pretoria, which followed nationwide protests on Friday, comes amid sharp criticism of Zuma within the ruling African National Congress party, although the president still commands the support of powerful ANC factions. Zuma, who is in his second five-year term after becoming president in 2009, has become a flashpoint for concerns about government corruption and mismanagement in one of Africa's most powerful economies.

"Take a permanent holiday!" said one protest sign mockingly wishing a happy birthday to Zuma. Some demonstrators carried a mock coffin covered with a South African flag. Crowds gathered at a central square and marched peacefully to the Union Buildings, which house Zuma's offices. Police estimated the crowd size in Pretoria at 30,000. Protest organizers said the number was higher.

The protest united groups with sharply different ideologies. The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, includes many members of the white minority that still controls much of the economy 23 years after the end of apartheid. The smaller Economic Freedom Fighters party, led by former ruling party member Julius Malema, says it seeks the rapid transfer of land and industry to South Africa's poor black majority.

"All political parties have come together to send one message," Malema said. "Zuma must leave office, and the soonest he does that, the better, because this country must recover economically." Later Wednesday, Zuma attended a birthday party for him in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, sitting in a high-backed armchair on a stage before dancing. Supporters praised him, saying he would overcome political challenges and serve out his term until 2019.

Zuma last month fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who coincidentally turned 68 on Wednesday, in a Cabinet reshuffle. Some top ruling party leaders openly criticized the decision. Two agencies, Fitch and Standard & Poor's, responded by lowering South Africa's credit rating to below investment grade, raising concerns about a weakening currency and price increases in a country with high unemployment.

In a birthday message, the ruling party commended Zuma for his record as an anti-apartheid leader and tenure as president. Zuma spent 10 years in the same Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela was held, but his anti-apartheid record has been overshadowed by scandals, including the spending of millions of dollars in state funds on his private home. He paid back some money after the Constitutional Court ruled against him last year.

On Monday, Zuma said many white demonstrators calling for his resignation are racist. Opponents described the remark as an affront to legitimate protest. Key allies, including the South African Communist Party and the country's biggest labor group, have urged Zuma to resign. The divided ANC, however, is seeking to project an image of unity and says it will defeat an opposition bid to oust Zuma in a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

A small opposition party has opened a court challenge to try to have the vote conducted by secret ballot, which analysts believe could allow some ANC lawmakers to vote against Zuma with less fear of reprisal from ruling party loyalists. The vote, originally scheduled for April 18, has been delayed pending the outcome of the legal challenge.

South Africans hold nationwide protests against Zuma

April 07, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thousands of South Africans gathered in major cities on Friday to demonstrate against President Jacob Zuma, whose dismissal of the finance minister fueled concerns over government corruption and a struggling economy.

Protesters began marches in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and other big metropolitan areas to push for the resignation of the scandal-tainted Zuma, who for now retains the support of a ruling party facing an internal revolt against the president.

"Fire Zuma," read some placards. A march organized by the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's biggest opposition party, was expected to pass near the headquarters of the ruling African National Congress in downtown Johannesburg. ANC members in military uniforms who oppose the protest were posted outside.

The government appealed for calm and said it respects the right of South Africans to protest peacefully, a legacy of the struggle against white minority rule that ended in 1994 with the country's first all-race vote and the election of Nelson Mandela as president.

Pravin Gordhan, who was fired as finance minister in a late-night Cabinet reshuffle a week ago, was widely respected for his anti-corruption stance. The Standard & Poor's agency lowered South Africa's foreign currency credit rating after the dismissal, citing political instability and threats to economic growth.

Gordhan was seen as a counter to the alleged influence of the Gupta family, Indian immigrant businessmen who have been accused of trying to influence some of Zuma's Cabinet picks. The Guptas deny any wrongdoing, and Zuma has said there was nothing improper in the way he chose ministers.

Zuma and the ruling party have been weakened by other scandals around the president. Zuma was forced to reimburse some state money after the Constitutional Court ruled against him last year in a dispute over millions of dollars spent on his private home.

South Africa backs Polisario at talks

2017-01-06

PRETORIA - South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday held talks in Pretoria with the leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front independence movement, in a show of support for the territory's struggle against Morocco.

Brahim Ghali was making his first visit to South Africa -- a long-time ally of Western Sahara -- since he was elected in July.

Morocco insists the sparsely-populated desert region is an integral part of the kingdom, despite UN resolutions to hold a referendum on self-determination.

"It is unfathomable that Western Sahara... still remains colonized," Zuma said.

"We remain committed to continue to walk with the people of Western Sahara until you are free to live in your own land and able to determine your own future."

Morocco quit the African Union more than 30 years ago when Western Sahara -- known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) -- was accepted as a member.

But Morocco is now lobbying to return to the AU.

"The Sahrawi people are struggling to recover the total sovereignty of their state, of all their national territory," Ghali told reporters.

"We are unfortunately confronting military occupation from the neighboring state, the kingdom of Morocco."

Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, was annexed by Morocco in 1975.

An insurgency pushing for independence ended with a UN-brokered truce in 1991.

Morocco says it will not change its stance on Western Sahara despite its efforts to rejoin the AU.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=80709.

South African opposition to push for president's removal

November 03, 2016

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's biggest opposition party said Thursday that it is pushing for a parliamentary vote to remove President Jacob Zuma next week following the release of a state watchdog report indicating possible government corruption linked to Zuma and some associates.

The Democratic Alliance will even lobby members of the ruling African National Congress party who defeated a similar move in parliament against the president in April, said opposition leader Mmusi Maimane. The opposition has received "provisional confirmation" that the motion will be debated in the National Assembly on Nov. 10, he said.

The opposition party's effort is likely to encounter the same kind of resistance from the ruling party in a new vote as it did earlier in the year, even though more ANC members have spoken publicly against Zuma in recent months.

In April, the South African parliament rejected a motion to remove Zuma by a vote of 233 to 143; the motion required a two-thirds majority for approval. It followed an apology by Zuma after the Constitutional Court ruled that he failed to uphold the constitution in a scandal over millions of dollars in state spending on his private home.

On Thursday, the ruling party said it welcomed the report on corruption allegations linked to the president, but commented only in general terms about curbing graft. "This report provides a concrete basis for the ANC and society in general to discuss the allegations contained therein and deal with its outcomes," the party said in a statement. It said it supports a plan to introduce "lifestyle audits" for all party leaders.

Pressure on Zuma intensified Wednesday when a South African court ordered the release of the state watchdog report about the relationship that Zuma and some state officials had with the Guptas, a business family of Indian immigrants accused of meddling in the government for financial benefit. The report by the public protector's office found possible ethical violations centering on allegations that the Guptas were involved in the removal and appointment of Cabinet ministers and directors of state-owned firms.

The Gupta family wants to present its case and will cooperate with any judicial inquiry, said family lawyer Gert van der Merwe. "We will prepare for the allegations and that is what we concentrate on," eNCA, a South Africa media organization, quoted van der Merwe as saying.

The Guptas have previously denied wrongdoing and said they were being framed as scapegoats for South Africa's economic problems. The watchdog report recommended that a judicial commission investigate the allegations against the president and others. Zuma would be required to appoint the commission, though the chief justice of the Constitutional Court would select a judge to head the panel. Zuma's office said he was not given a chance to provide "meaningful input" in the investigation and is considering whether to challenge the report in court.

Zuma, meanwhile, traveled to neighboring Zimbabwe on Thursday to discuss trade with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. In prepared remarks there, Zuma did not mention the scandals that have sapped his popularity at home. He appeared jovial, joking with some of Mugabe's ministers.

Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980 despite public discontent and economic hardship, referred to Zuma's problems in welcoming remarks. "We are happy you are still in one piece in spite of what the papers are writing every day," the 92-year-old Mugabe said. "So we continue to say, well, long live our solidarity."

Associated Press writer Farai Mutsaka contributed from Harare, Zimbabwe.