SA makes history in forensic and legal linguistics
Forensic and legal linguistics is the study of language and its role in legal systems, and it's a relatively new field in Africa.
But since 2017, the country has emerged as a key contributor, thanks largely to the groundbreaking work of Dr Docrat, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of the Western Cape.
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Daily Maverick
24 minutes ago
- Daily Maverick
After the Bell: Manipulating the rand — really?
There are times in life when you are so desperate to find someone else to blame for your situation that you just lash out. And you grab any chance to blame someone else. I sometimes wonder if that feeling, that horrible desperation, the feeling that our currency is so weak, is behind the very strange story about claims that a group of 28 banks, both South African and foreign, manipulated the rand. The backstory is long and complicated, but essentially, the Competition Commission says it has evidence that traders working for the banks were part of a single conspiracy. There is talk of 'rand-pairs' and secret chats on Bloomberg terminals – even phone conversations and secret agreements. Considering that the phrase 'rand-pair' is second only to watching golf in making my eyes feel somewhat weighted, it's easy to understand how this thing has such political power. It's because, like the chap on par-who-gives-a-monkey's, almost all of us have no cooking clue what is going on. And the moment I hear phrases like 'manipulation' or 'hedge' or 'rand-currency-pair', I immediately get the feeling you get when someone is trying to sell you car insurance. You just know you're being screwed. But in fact, as former Daily Maverick journalist Ray Mahlaka once clearly explained, the currency market is just too big for it to have any impact on you. Around $50-billion (about R882-billion) is traded every day. And while some of the banks involved are big, none are big enough to have played that particular game. Now obviously, some people did play games with the currency. Absa was the first to announce that it had discovered two of its traders were doing this. It told the regulators and suspended them. Standard Chartered and CitiBank have also admitted that some of their people were guilty. They've paid a fine and moved on with their lives. But some of the other banks are fighting on. As Business Live reported this morning, the Constitutional Court is finally expected to put all of this to bed one way or another in a four-day hearing next week. One hopes the coffee machine at Constitution Hill can do double-time. Four days of a hearing about currency pairs is more than we mere mortals could possibly stand. Two things have really struck me about this case. The first is that I remember speaking to the Competition Commission about it in 2017. The recording is sadly lost now, but I remember so clearly how adamant they were that first, all the named banks were involved, and second, how they would wrap up this case in a couple of months. It's 2025 now, and it's still going. The other is the language used by the banks in their defence. Take Sim Tshabalala, the CEO of Standard Bank. I think it was the first time I'd seen a CEO of one of our big banks writing an op-ed in our media, back in 2023. It was on this topic. Remember how dangerous it is for a CEO, who was not on the Bloomberg terminal or the Reuters chat or the phone conversation, to say anything dogmatic about what happened. But this is what he said in News 24 two years ago: 'We're not playing for time or looking for a deal. When we say that we are innocent of currency manipulation, we mean it. We will not settle. Where we found that our people have engaged in wrongful conduct, we will act swiftly and will work with the relevant authorities. Where we find no evidence of wrongdoing, we will protect and defend our people – our most valuable assets.' This is a person putting their entire reputation on the line. He must believe it. Firmly, utterly, unshakeably. I have a horrible feeling in my belly that the Competition Commission might feel a little silly after all of this – that the Constitutional Court, after selecting a good nine-iron, might include a few choice words about the commission's conduct in its final ruling. But that won't be the end of it. I think the damage is done. Parties such as the EFF and MK, and perhaps even the SACP, who have every incentive to attack the system, banks and institutions, will just go on attacking them. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear that phrase 'monopoly capital' again. They might even turn, again, on our judges. It's quite strange in one way. Julius Malema has mouthed off time and time again about 'currency manipulation'. It almost makes you wonder what he might know about making a profit off the manipulation of a bank. In the meantime, bankers who are innocent will probably feel pretty frustrated, too. And not just with their putting. I think they'll feel they've been dragged into something that they have nothing to do with. I'll tell you this for free, though. Like any golf tournament I've ever watched, I can't wait for the whole saga to end. DM
eNCA
2 hours ago
- eNCA
Police fire rubber bullets at Germiston residents in housing stand-off
EKURHULENI - Police fired rubber bullets at residents who tried to block the eviction of scores of houses in Germiston on Tuesday by throwing stones and torching a municipal building, officials said. After police gained access to the housing complex in Ekurhuleni, a squad of men moved in and hauled furniture and personal belongings out of the homes. Shocked residents accused the government of failing them amid South Africa's housing crisis, saying they believed the homes were part of a scheme to provide houses for black South Africans disadvantaged by the previous racist apartheid system. Two people were arrested for setting alight the nearby offices of the municipal home affairs department, police said, adding they were acting on a June court order to evict people from the complex, which was reportedly home to 450 families. "Unfortunately, the people got wind of the eviction and closed the road. Innocent people and the police were thrown with stones and we had to retaliate to ensure that we dispersed them," Major General Fred Kekana, the deputy provincial police commissioner, told AFP. "Somebody allegedly threw a petrol bomb at the Department of Home Affairs. Two arrests have been made so far," he said. Some residents insisted they had not been issued an eviction order and had been paying rent for years. "Our government is failing us. They are chasing us yet we have titles for these houses," 37-year-old resident Akhona Mbadi, a mother of four children, told AFP. After taking power following the end of white minority rule in 1994, the African National Congress-led government adopted a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to provide subsidised housing and other services to black South Africans disadvantaged by apartheid. By 2017 nearly 14 percent of South African households lived in RDP or government-subsidised homes, according to government figures. However, homelessness has risen dramatically from 13,000 in 1996 to more than 55,700 in 2022, according to government statistics.
IOL News
6 hours ago
- IOL News
New club, same drama: MaMkhize taken to court over Mbabane Highlanders ownership
New drama Former Mbabane Highlanders FC boss Bheki Simelane has challenged Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize's ownership of the club. Photo: BackpagePix The ownership of Eswatini's Mbabane Highlanders AM FC has been thrown into dispute, with new owner Shauwn Mkhize facing a High Court challenge from former club boss Bheki Simelane. Simelane has initiated legal action in the High Court of Eswatini, claiming he was unlawfully removed from his position and remains the club's rightful owner, contradicting a claim from South African businessman Alfred Kgomongwe that ownership had been transferred to Mkhize. On Tuesday, former Mbabane Highlanders Managing Director Mandla Shongwe confirmed the matter was now before the court. 'The club was unlawfully taken away from us. The club still belongs to us,' Shongwe said, as per KickOff.
