Will President Cyril Ramaphosa act on allegations?
The President is scheduled to address the nation on KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's revelations.
Mkhwanzi's allegations that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and the Judiciary are in cahoots with criminal syndicates shook the nation.
But will the president act decisively?
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The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
Minister launches R5m youth fund in Mopani
LIMPOPO – Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane delivered a powerful address at the 2025 Ministerial Youth Day celebration held at Mopani TVET College's Sir Val Duncan Campus on Friday, June 27. The event was hosted in partnership with Mopani District Municipality (MDM), the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Letaba TVET College, and other stakeholders. In her speech, Nkabane reflected on the legacy of the 1976 Soweto uprising, marking the 49th anniversary of the historic moment when young South Africans rose against an oppressive regime. She paid tribute to the youth who lost their lives during the uprising and emphasised that the mission they began must now be carried forward through education, innovation, and opportunity. 'This is no longer a day of protest, but a day of progress. We commemorate Youth Month with skills, innovation, and opportunity,' said Nkabane. The minister highlighted one of the country's pressing challenges, expressing concern about the rising number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), describing it as a national emergency requiring immediate action. Moreover, in a major announcement, she launched a R5 million Youth Enterprise Fund, which is a partnership between NYDA and the MDM. The fund will support young entrepreneurs in starting and growing businesses in the district to foster economic growth, job creation, and youth empowerment. This is more than an investment in the economy. It is an investment in youth agency, dignity, and innovation,' she said. Nkabane also praised the Limpopo province and MEC Ernest Rachoene for signing a memorandum of understanding with all seven TVET colleges in the province. This partnership will promote work-integrated learning, giving students hands-on training and improving their readiness for employment and entrepreneurship. In her address to the youth, the minister offered words of encouragement and reassurance: 'You are not forgotten. You are the most powerful resource this country has. Your energy, creativity, and resilience are unmatched.' She urged young people to believe in themselves and encouraged society to support them in realising their full potential. She also called for a united front against the challenges plaguing the youth, including unemployment, gender-based violence, bullying, and substance abuse in schools. The minister concluded by thanking Mopani and Letaba TVET colleges for their leadership in hosting the event and called for collective action going forward. 'Let us walk forward, not just in memory, but in mission. Together we must rise, together we must build, and together we must empower the future generation,' said Nkabane. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
2 hours ago
- IOL News
Civil Society must have a voice in the National Dialogue
President Cyril Ramaphosa, supported by Deputy President Paul Mashatile and Cabinet Ministers convened the first inaugural meeting with members of the National Dialogue Eminent Persons Group at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday. Image: The Presidency Siphamandla Zondi PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has finally confirmed the start of the national dialogue in South Africa in mid-August. He has explained that it will be a people-centred dialogue and in an open letter the former President Thabo Mbeki has called it a citizen-led exercise. Both are noble ways of thinking about it but several realities will have to be tackled to realise these ideals. This opinion piece is inspired by initial discussions within the Devoted Citizen NGO preparing for this opportunity. Academics like myself who are committed to research through community engagement are duty-bound to assist drive active citizenship based on evidence. First, it is important to note that the need for South Africans to engage about the current state of the country and what must be done to fix it, has long been talked about. Civil society activists have decried the state of our country, the manner in which its economy functions, in particular the fact that it breeds more poverty than shared prosperity, the fact that its public infrastructure is in disarray, and social services including education and health are also falling apart. Activists have said none of these crises are natural in any way but they result from leadership and governance failures. They know that therefore these problems can be reversed when collective will is used to say no further. We cannot allow our country to be run down, our cities to become infested with preventable problems and our villages and townships to become unliveable. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Activists have long pointed out that we need change in leadership, both in persons and in form. So, there must not just be new leaders but there must be new leaders with a renewed sense of purpose, leaders with a new attitude to their task, leaders with greater desire to leave a lasting social legacy. We need a new type of leading, one that includes all, one that organises the best of talent and skills we have to tackle mammoth problems. Activists have said we have to rethink how we see ourselves. We cannot allow what we see around us to become the way of life. We must reject the idea that when Africans take over, things fall into pieces, they say. These agents of change believe we have to believe that we can build a country of our dreams. But we know exactly what dreams we have for this country. It is clear that such a dream must be repeated to leave behind a country far greater, far more excellent, far more functional, and far more prosperous than the one we inherit. Activists have long said maybe we need a CODESA Two but one that is sharply focused on real outcomes. Some of those are to end the era of deadwood running at public institutions. It must end the error of corruption. It must completely reject incompetence in any public office. It must reject nepotism that robs this country of the benefit of the best skills it already has. It must reject narrow party political agendas and embarrass an inclusive forward-looking agenda. Parties have to transcend their narrow focus on what is in the interest of their party, their ideology or their constituencies only, and focus on what South Africa needs. A citizen-led national dialogue should not be political party driven. We should therefore be concerned about the DA-ANC contests at the moment as they signal a fight for the control of the national conversation. Together they constitute only about 60% of the voting public which in itself is not a whole public. Political parties must be encouraged to focus on parliament where they are mandated to pursue positive change. They have not been that successful in doing it. They must let the dialogue take place on the basis of open persuasions and inputs from all who wish too. Organisations like Citizens Coalition, Devoted Citizen NGO, Abahlali BaseMjondolo, etc must be encouraged to drive the process of garnering views that may be silenced by the nature of process and limited time available or even lack of information. Faith-based NGOs such Devoted Citizen, Economic Justice Network, AFRODAD, People Matter Foundation, and so forth have a duty to serve, a responsibility to contribute to building a better country. Since they are driven by hope, they ought to translate that hope into reality working with others to build the country we want. Civil society is a diverse body of people, divided by ideas and ideology, by constituencies and styles of engagement, attitude and passions. But it is the beauty of that diversity joined by a shared commitment to place the country's destiny in the hands of citizens that make them the ideal participants in the national dialogue. Civil society formations must in their individual and collective forms prepare ways of garnering views to represent at the National Dialogue. Professor Zondi is a Volunteer Convenor at Devoted Citizen NGO.
IOL News
2 hours ago
- IOL News
The National Dialogue must not be derailed by political gaslighting
AN ANC supporter with an election manifesto poster a election campaign meeting in Promosa, Potchefstroom on January 30, 1994. The democratic breakthrough of 1994 was not just a political event. It delivered the keys of the Republic to those long locked outside the gates of history, says the writer. Image: AFP Zamikhaya Maseti The 15th of August 2025 has been etched into the political calendar as a historic moment, the National Dialogue. At its most aspirational, it is meant to be a nation-defining platform, a civic summit for collective introspection, healing, and democratic recommitment. But even before its formal commencement, this national project risks being engulfed by the shallow political theatrics and elite tantrums that have paralysed genuine nation-building for far too long. Chief among the culprits is the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is now using the recent dismissal of Deputy Minister Andrew Whitfield, a figure occupying neither Cabinet status nor National Executive prominence, as a spark to fuel political hysteria. Let it be clear: this is not statesmanship. It is a political gaslighting strategy, a sophisticated act of deflection designed to distract South Africans from the essential questions we ought to be confronting. This political fracas, if anything, is a sobering reminder. It compels us, the ordinary and long-suffering South Africans, the real stakeholders in the future of this nation, to seize the agenda of the National Dialogue. We dare not allow it to be captured by those who wish to reduce this opportunity into a partisan tug-of-war. It must speak with bold honesty to the crises that are tearing our country limb from limb. South Africa, make no mistake, stands on the precipice of an abyss. What we are facing is not merely policy failure; it is the slow, corrosive disintegration of the national soul. Crime is no longer a statistic; it is a mode of life. Corruption is no longer a scandal; it is an ecosystem. Social cohesion, once the backbone of our fragile reconciliation, is unravelling under the weight of poverty, lawlessness, and deepening racial resentment. The rainbow has dimmed to a monochrome of despair and distrust. We are not yet a failed State. But with each passing day, with each institution that crumbles and each promise betrayed, we edge closer to that dreaded status. What once made South Africa the miracle of the world has now been bludgeoned by mediocrity, political cannibalism, and the fossilisation of revolutionary ideals. The May 29, 2024, General Elections offered perhaps the clearest mirror to our political malaise. Voter apathy was not apolitical. It was a mass indictment, a statement of no confidence in a political system that feels increasingly like an exclusive game played above the heads of the governed. People's faith in democracy is no longer low; it is at the ankles, dragging itself in the dust of betrayal. Therefore, it is not negotiable: the very first item on the agenda of the National Dialogue must be governance. Not in the abstract, but the brutally honest question: How have we been governed since 1994? When did the wheels fall off? At which exact moment did the promise of liberation give way to elite accumulation, State capture, and rudderless bureaucracy? Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading The democratic breakthrough of 1994 was not just a political event; it was a civilizational rupture. It delivered the keys of the Republic to those long locked outside the gates of history. The masses, the historically despised Third Estate, took to the streets in euphoric celebration, believing that their day under the sun had finally arrived. And it did, briefly. But somewhere between Kliptown and the Union Buildings, between The People Shall Govern and parliamentary privilege, the democratic vehicle began to wobble. The tyres of accountability deflated. The engine of ethical leadership began to cough and stall. The Dialogue must, therefore, perform a thorough diagnostic inspection of this vehicle, note every point of mechanical failure, and commit to firm, unapologetic, and irreversible repairs. Among the most urgent repairs is the deconstruction of the neo-patrimonial political culture that has infected our post-1994 polity. This culture, rooted in patronage, personality cults, and informal networks of loyalty, has turned public office into private inheritance and governance into transactional loyalty schemes. It must be dislodged root and branch if democracy is to breathe again. But systemic repair is not merely the work of the elite. A return to grassroots democracy is indispensable. The people, the ones who queued in '94 with trembling hope, must be brought back to the centre of governance, not as passive spectators but as active architects. Civil society, social movements, religious bodies, worker organisations, youth formations, these are not side actors; they are the real Parliament of the People. We must then reimagine citizenship, not as periodic voting, but as perpetual participation. The strengthening of civic institutions and the rebirth of an active citizenry is the only credible antidote to elite capture and democratic decay. Ultimately, the National Dialogue must restore the central promise uttered boldly 70 years ago in Kliptown: 'The People Shall Govern.' That is not a slogan. It is a covenant. And covenants, once broken, demand not just apologies but repair, repentance, and recommitment. Let us, therefore, put back the wheels that fell off the democratic vehicle. Let us take the Dialogue back from political actors playing hide-and-seek with our future. Let us, the people, write the next chapter of our nation, not with ink, but with intention. For if we do not steer the vehicle back onto the road, history will not be kind. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves. * Zamikhaya Maseti is a Political Economy Analyst with a Magister Philosophiae (M. PHIL) in South African Politics and Political Economy from the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), now known as the Nelson Mandela University (NMU). ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
