South Africa's struggle for happiness: insights from the World Happiness Report 2025
Social media platforms and online forums are filled with complaints about various issues.
In present-day South Africa, national affairs continue to spark conversations among citizens.
However, these discussions arise not from disdain but from deep patriotic sentiment and a desire to address the country's challenges.
In May 2025, a group of 49 Afrikaners made headlines by leaving South Africa for the United States, claiming victimhood to discrimination and seeking refugee status.
The Trump administration extended this status to them, and reports indicated that the US Embassy in Pretoria was processing around 8,000 similar applications, potentially signalling a larger wave of Afrikaners relocating to the US.
Conversely, many African Americans are now seeking new beginnings in SA.
Motivated by factors such as a more welcoming environment and a desire to escape racial tensions in the US, the allure of SA's rich culture and lower cost of living resonates with many.
This juxtaposition of migration trends presents a complex picture of factors influencing an individual's happiness in a country.
Perceptions of places vary, and while some individuals thrive in one environment, others may struggle in another.
The World Happiness Report 2025 ranks countries based on their citizens' well-being.
It uses data from 147 countries and analyses various factors that contribute to happiness.
SA ranks 95th out of 147 countries assessed.
While this may seem like a decline from previous years, local happiness economists suggest that the data reflects a three-year rolling average, indicating that individual annual assessments might show a more positive view of wellbeing.
The report also highlights the happiest countries globally, with Nordic nations leading the rankings.
Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are celebrated for their high public happiness and strong social organisations.
Their success starkly contrasts with the lowest-ranking nations, many of which face civil unrest, war, or natural disasters.
The World Happiness Report further lists the ten least happy countries, underscoring the societal challenges they face:
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IOL News
5 hours ago
- IOL News
'Distorted and Inaccurate': South Africa dismantles US Human Rights report allegations
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet with Trump, where he must defend South Africa's sovereignty against aggressive US policies. Image: IOL Graphics The South African government has firmly denied allegations contained in the 2024 United States Human Rights Report, rejecting claims that white farmers are being specifically targeted in racially motivated attacks. The controversy has revived a long-standing false narrative, one previously amplified by high-profile figures such as US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Trump also threatened to skip the SA G20 summit later this year because 'bad things are happening in South Africa'. Musk, in turn, has echoed similar sentiments in public statements and online, warning of an alleged 'white genocide' in the country. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) labelled the assertions as 'distorted and inaccurate,' reaffirming its commitment to a transparent, evidence-based approach to rural safety. In a revised statement issued this week, DIRCO spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, clarified what it described as "misleading interpretations" of crime data in South Africa's farming communities. 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 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. Next Stay Close ✕ The US report had suggested a pattern of racial targeting in rural attacks—a claim the South African government says is not supported by official statistics. 'We address all forms of crime, which remain a significant challenge for all of our citizens, regardless of race or location,' said Phiri. 'The suggestion that these crimes represent a concerted practice of racially motivated attacks is not borne out by the facts.' According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), only six murders were reported in farming communities between January and March 2025. Of these, two were farmers, three were employees, and one was a farm dweller—evidence that violence in rural areas is not racially selective but affects all individuals living and working in those communities. The government also aimed at domestic groups—specifically AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement—for fuelling divisive rhetoric. Both organisations have publicly accused the South African government of attempting to "destroy Afrikaners" and of turning a blind eye to farm attacks. These claims have sparked widespread public outrage and drawn criticism from across the political spectrum for misrepresenting facts and deepening social tensions. 'The claim that the government is trying to destroy Afrikaners is not only false—it is inflammatory and dangerous,' the Presidency said earlier this year. 'We will not allow any organisation, local or international, to spread lies about our country.'
The Citizen
6 hours ago
- The Citizen
Dirco clarifies its response to US report that claimed racial minorities are abused in SA
Dirco disputed the 'inaccurate and distorted account of the facts' in the US Human Rights Report. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has updating its initial statement challenging the 2024 US Human Rights Report's assessment of safety conditions in South Africa's rural and farming communities. The report, released this month, stated that 'South Africa took a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country'. It highlighted 'significant human rights issues', including unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and the repression of racial minorities. 'The [South African] government did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities.' SA government rejects racial motivation claims Dirco on Wednesday said the South African government wishes to clarify what it called 'an inaccurate and distorted account of the facts'. It said the nation addresses all forms of crime as a significant challenge affecting all citizens, regardless of their race or location. 'The suggestion that these crimes represent a concerted practice of racially motivated attacks, as insinuated by the US report, is not borne out by the facts,' Dirco stated. ALSO READ: Dirco rejects 'inaccurate and deeply flawed' US reports on SA human rights Police statistics challenge US assessment Official statistics from the South African Police Service (Saps) support the government's position. The data covers rural safety for the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, from 1 January to 31 March 2025. Dirco highlighted that during this period, six murder cases occurred in farming communities. The breakdown of victims demonstrates that crimes do not target a single racial group. According to the statistics quoted by Dirco, the three victims were farm employees, one was a farm dweller, and two were farmers. 'These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas,' the department said. 'While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community.' ALSO READ: US report on human rights abuse in SA rejected Rural safety strategy Dirco said the government continues implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to rural safety. It said the National Rural Safety Strategy remains a priority and operates in police station areas serving rural and farming communities. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2024/2025, the strategy had been fully implemented in 893 out of 900 identified rural police stations. The initiative focuses on strengthening police capacity and encouraging community involvement, including traditional leaders and agricultural organisations. Parties involved in rural safety strategy The strategy incorporates multiple stakeholder groups in its implementation. Commercial farmers associations participate through organisations including: African Farmers Association of South Africa, National African Farmers' Union, Agri-SA and its provincial structures, and Transvaal Agricultural Union. Labour unions also play a role, particularly the Food and Allied Workers Union and organisations advocating for farm workers' rights. Interest groups such as AfriForum, the South African Agricultural Research Institute, and Stop Attacks and Farm Murders contribute to the collaborative effort. Private sector collaboration The government said it actively strengthens public-private partnerships through specialised programmes. 'Furthermore, we are actively strengthening public-private partnerships through initiatives like the Eyes and Ears (E2) programme, coordinated with Business Against Crime South Africa (Bacsa),' the department stated. This initiative utilises the private security industry's technological and logistical capabilities, which improve response times to rural crimes. Commitment to transparency Dirco said South Africa maintains its commitment to transparent and collaborative crime-fighting approaches. The government expressed readiness to engage with other countries on matters of mutual interest through established diplomatic channels. 'We stand ready to engage with any nation on matters of mutual interest through established diplomatic channels, and we will continue to provide accurate, data-driven information to counter any misrepresentations of our domestic situation,' the department concluded. NOW READ: Dirco reviewing ministerial report on Hajj and Umrah for SA pilgrims
IOL News
7 hours ago
- IOL News
Eggs, tomatoes, sandwiches: The history of food as protest projectiles
Roman emperor Vespasian was one of the first known politicians to have food thrown at him, in his case turnips by a tribe in North Africa. Image: Supplied Emily Heil and Tim Carman The Roman Emperor Vespasian might not be as well-known as his predecessors Nero and Caligula, but when he died in AD 79, he left behind a legacy that included stabilising the empire, beginning construction of the structure that would become known as the Colosseum - and being the first politician recorded to have been pelted with flying produce. During a visit to Africa, Vespasian was hit by rioters with turnips, according to the Roman historian Suetonius. Suetonius didn't note precisely what had angered the people or how the emperor reacted, but one thing is clear: They were onto something, and some 2 000 years later, the tradition of hurling food in political protest endures. Throughout the centuries, protesters have flung all manner of foods - eggs, pies, tomatoes, even fully composed sandwiches - at the targets of their ire. 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. 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Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The latest incident occurred two weeks ago, when a man turned his Subway sandwich into a projectile and tossed it at a federal law enforcement officer, who was on the streets one day before President Donald Trump announced he would take over DC police 'to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.' The man has now been fired from his Justice Department job, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, and is facing felony assault charges. Trump has been clear about his concerns over fruits and vegetables flying in his direction. In a 2022 videotaped testimony, Trump said, 'I think that [his guards] have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening,' according to a transcript in a lawsuit that accused Trump's security detail of assaulting protesters who allegedly planned to toss foodstuffs at a 2015 campaign rally. 'Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens. … To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah, it's dangerous stuff.' There are no prominent accounts of politicians being assassinated, or even maimed, by flying food. And pineapples? The bulky tropical treats would make terrible projectiles - and how many of them would one need to lug around, anyway, to ensure a successful attack? Bananas, too, are an unlikely missile. On tomatoes, though, Trump does have a point. Just hours after the news of Trump's fruit fears emerged in 2022, then-newly reelected French President Emmanuel Macron was pelted with a hail of cherry tomatoes when he appeared at an open-air market in a Parisian suburb. Macron, however, survived the onslaught, thanks in part to an umbrella someone nearby hoisted to shield him. Here's a rundown of foods that protesters have aimed at politicians and others: An art piece depicting an individual throwing a sandwich is seen near the Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. An increased presence of law enforcement has been seen throughout the nation's capital since President Donald Trump announced plans to deploy federal officers and the US National Guard. Image: Kayla Bartkowski/ AFP Sandwiches On Sunday, FBI agents were already on the ground in Washington, helping local law enforcement deal with crime, but Trump had not yet taken control of the city's police force or sent in the National Guard. Still, the presence of federal officers on the U Street NW corridor was enough to allegedly set off Sean Charles Dunn, who according to a federal court filing yelled obscenities at Metro Transit Police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. He allegedly called them fascists, too. Then came the sandwich toss seen 'round the city: Dunn allegedly turned his Subway sandwich into an overhand fastball, aimed directly at an officer's chest. He fled on foot, only to be arrested sometime later. Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, announced Wednesday that Dunn was being charged with felony assault. At a Thursday news briefing, Bondi said Dunn, a Justice Department employee, had been fired. The charge drew immediate ridicule on a subreddit for D.C., where commenters suggested Pirro could have accused Dunn of 'assault with a deli weapon' or 'assault with a breadly weapon.' Dunn became an instant hero to some: His protest was quickly turned into graffiti art, ready to share on social media. 'The gyro we deserve,' noted one commenter. Tomatoes are a common protest projectile, with Sarah Palin narrowly missing a hit at a book signing deal, and Hillary Clinton's motorcade pelted in Egypt. Image: Files Tomatoes Rotten produce, particularly tomatoes, has historically been associated with theatrical performances more than political ones. (The popular movie-reviewing site Rotten Tomatoes plays on the trope.) A bon mot that is often attributed to playwright Oscar Wilde - that when a rotten cabbage fell at his feet onstage, he apocryphally addressed its sender, quipping 'every time I smell it, I shall be reminded of you' - was perhaps inspired by an actual event from 1895. The angry father of Wilde's lover arrived at a performance of his hit play 'The Importance of Being Ernest' with a bouquet of vegetables he meant to throw, although he was turned away by police. And an actor in a New York Times story from a dozen years earlier was described as being 'demoralized by tomatoes' during a lackluster performance. It's unlikely, however, that tomatoes were thrown at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, as is sometimes described, since tomatoes weren't introduced in Europe until much later. Plenty of politicians, too, have been targeted by tomatoes (which are technically a fruit, not a vegetable, something the lawyers in the Trump deposition actually discussed in a very enjoyable aside.) Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was spared from a splat during a book signing at the Mall of America when the man lobbing the fruit at her from a balcony in 2009 missed; in 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade in Egypt was hit. And while Trump's fear of lethal tomatoes (maybe he's been watching too many B movies?) is overestimated, they can hurt - particularly if you're whacked with a hard, unripe specimen. One of the rules of La Tomatina - the festival in Bunol, Spain, where participants sling tomatoes at one another in celebration - is that you smash the tomatoes before throwing them at another person, to lessen the impact (and maximize the squish?). An aide removes an egg from Arnold Schwarzenegger's jacket after the egg was thrown at him as he arrived at a campaign rally at the campus of California State University in 2003. The governor asked 'where's the bacon'. Image: Files Eggs Egging is a long-standing tradition, carried on by middle-schoolers and political activists alike. As with tomatoes, the rotten variety has more impact (i.e. stench). In 2022, a trucker convoy protesting outside the home of a Democratic state lawmaker in Oakland, California, was met with a volley of eggs, many tossed by kids annoyed by the intrusion of the big rigs. The origins of the practice go back centuries. In the 1871 novel 'Middlemarch,' a man's ill-fated run for Parliament includes a scene in which a mocking crowd pelts his image - and him - with eggs. Over the years, prominent US politicians have taken shellings: Eggs were lobbed at Vice President Richard Nixon at several stops on his 1960 presidential campaign; Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) was similarly greeted on the presidential trail in 1980. President Bill Clinton took an incoming oeuf in 2001 during a trip to Poland. And California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should probably win the title for most-agreeable target for his reaction to getting hit in the (considerable) shoulders during his 2003 campaign. He defended the egging as part of free speech and joked that the perpetrator 'owes me bacon now.' Microsoft chairman Bill Gates after being hit with a pie in Brussels. Image: File Pies A pie to the face is a quintessential comedic stunt, and it's all the more primally satisfying when the object is a person of importance. The visual gag was popularized in vaudeville and in silent movies, and on-screen pieing became a cinematic staple, with practitioners such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. Many a political mug has been mashed into a pie, some the work of collectives such as the Biotic Baking Brigade and Pie Kill, which targeted the rich and powerful with pastry. The pie-to-the face roll call includes San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, New York Mayor Abraham Beame, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York), Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Watergate plumber G. Gordon Liddy. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates too was a victim of a pie protest in Brussels. A 2004 book by the Biotic Baking Brigade called 'Pie Any Means Necessary' offered practical advice for aspiring piers (selecting the right variety, aim and the like) as well as history and ruminations on the deeper meanings behind the prank, which it deemed a 'creative tool in the toolbox of resistance.' 'Pie-throwing utilizes carnival humor,' according to an essay in the book, 'unsettling the authority and control that those in power try to project.' British politician Nigel Farage has a milkshake thrown at him during the Brexit campaign of 2016. Image: Files Milkshakes 'Milkshaking' is a relatively more recent innovation. That could be because the milkshake itself has a shorter history than other commonly employed protest foods. It became a phenomenon employed against right-wing figures in the United Kingdom as Britain considered leaving the European Union. One protester tossed a banana-and-salted-caramel milkshake at Brexit leader Nigel Farage. Other targets included anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, and anti-feminist political commentator Carl Benjamin, who was hit by a creamy treat on at least four occasions. A point against the practice is the cost, relative to, say, the moldy, leftover contents of one's produce drawer. But it has the advantage of being visually appealing - the sight of a suit-wearing stiff coated in sticky, drippy dairy is quite photogenic. And as The Washington Post reported at the time, 'attackers sipping shakes are far less conspicuous than bystanders clutching eggs.' Spaghetti The tossing of ribbons of pasta is more specific to a part of the world that's very much in the news now. In Russia and Ukraine, the expressions 'hang noodles over your ears' reportedly is akin to 'pulling one's leg' or deceiving them. In the midst of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis, in which the country's pro-Kremlin president was ousted, protesters threw piles of spaghetti at the Russian consulate in Odesa, essentially accusing the Russian media of inaccurate coverage. | The Washington Post
