Pro-Israel NGO protest held on Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema Beach on Sunday against Iran's policies on LGBTQ+ people
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News24
2 hours ago
- News24
DA demands court martial for SANDF chief over ‘reckless political freelancing' in Iran
The DA is demanding a court-martial for SANDF chief, General Rudzani Maphwanya, over comments made during his visit to Iran. Maphwanya pledged 'common goals' with Iran, breaching SANDF's apolitical mandate. The defence minister has been urged to take action amid concerns about South Africa's diplomacy. The DA is demanding that South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chief, General Rudzani Maphwanya, be court martialled for utterances made during a visit to Tehran, Iran. It was reported that he went beyond his constitutional and professional mandates when he pledged 'common goals' with that country, endorsed its stance on Gaza, and called for deeper strategic alignment. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) and Ministry of Defence issued statements on Wednesday distancing the government from Maphwanya's utterances. Now DA MP Chris Hattingh, who is the party's spokesperson on defence and military veterans, is calling for the immediate court martial of Maphwanya for gross misconduct and a flagrant breach of the SANDF code of conduct. He said the DA would formally demand that Defence Minister Angie Motshekga instruct the Adjutant General to initiate proceedings without delay. 'South Africa's national security, diplomatic standing, and constitutional order depend on it,' Hattingh said in a statement on Thursday. He added: 'This reckless political freelancing by the chief of the SANDF is not an isolated incident; it forms part of a wider pattern of foreign policy adventurism that is economically destructive, diplomatically reckless, and dangerously misaligned with South Africa's national interest.' He said this ranged from alienating key democratic allies, to embracing authoritarian regimes under sanctions. 'This approach is steadily eroding trade, investment, and security partnerships essential to our country's stability and prosperity. Hattingh added: 'Under the Military Discipline Supplementary Measures Act, this conduct is a military offence punishable by dismissal or cashiering.' The only appropriate response, he said, was an immediate court martial to restore discipline, reaffirm the SANDF's apolitical character, and send a clear message that no one, regardless of rank, was above the Constitution or the law. READ | Diplomatic row: SANDF chief draws fire over 'rogue' political statements in Iran Speaking at the Agri Western Cape Congress in Rawsonville, DA leader John Steenhuisen, who is the Minister of Agriculture, also weighed in, condemning Maphwanya's visit to Iran. 'Frankly, that intrusion onto government policy by a general in the SANDF should result in a court martial because of the very sensitive geo-political terrain we are currently trying to navigate. Steenhuisen added: 'On the one hand, we are trying to repair and fix relations with the United States of America; on the other, we've got a general going rogue and making comments with a country in which America is currently in conflict with. That's not a way to win this.' He likened the saga to going into a heavyweight fight with Mike Tyson with one arm tied behind your back. 'The government needs to send a very strong message that this general's comments were his and his alone and that there should be disciplinary action, and that he should face the full might of the law, because of the huge damage that he's done and because of the fact that while some of us are doing our very best to get the best possible deal from the United States of America, we have actions like this that pull the rug out from under us,' Steenhuisen added.
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Brazil's Eight-Year Campaign for Green Jet Fuel Hits the Trump Wall
Welcome to our guide to the commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, agriculture reporter Dayanne Sousa discusses how shifting US tax policies are frustrating Brazil's push to supply green jet fuel. It took eight years of intense lobbying for Brazilian ethanol makers to gain the upper hand in global jet fuel markets. Then Donald Trump retook the White House, and it was all for naught.
News24
3 hours ago
- News24
Ex-Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro is ‘innocent of all charges', lawyers demand an acquittal
Jair Bolsonaro asked Brazil's Supreme Court for an acquittal. Bolsonaro and others are accused of attempting to hold power despite his 2022 electoral defeat. US President Donald Trump has called the trial a 'witch hunt'. Defence lawyers for former president Jair Bolsonaro asked Brazil's Supreme Court for an acquittal during Wednesday's closing arguments in a trial in which he is accused of attempting a coup. Bolsonaro's lawyers argued in a 197-page document submitted to the court that the far-right former leader is 'innocent of all charges' and that an 'absolute lack' of evidence was presented during the trial, which began in May. Bolsonaro and seven collaborators are accused of attempting to hold power despite his 2022 electoral defeat by Brazil's current leftist leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on 8 January 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration, alleging election fraud and calling on the military to intervene. Bolsonaro, who led the Latin American country from 2019 to 2022, has maintained his innocence for months, calling any coup 'abhorrent'. He faces up to 40 years in prison if found guilty. Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest in Brasilia this month for violating a ban on using social media to plead his case to the public. The prosecutor's office maintains that Bolsonaro led an 'armed criminal organisation' that orchestrated the coup attempt and was its main beneficiary. The case file also focuses on meetings where draft decrees were allegedly presented, including those involving the possible imprisonment of officials such as Supreme Court judges. However, the defence has stressed that 'there is no way to convict' Bolsonaro based on the evidence presented in the case file, which they argued adequately demonstrated that he ordered the transition of power to Lula. His lawyers have questioned the validity of the plea bargain handed to Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's former aide, on whose testimony many of the accusations are based. Bolsonaro's legal wranglings are at the centre of fizzing diplomatic tensions between Brazil and the United States. US President Donald Trump has called the trial a 'witch hunt' and the US Treasury Department has sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing Bolsonaro's trial, in response. Trump has also signed an executive order slapping 50% tariffs on many Brazilian imports, citing Bolsonaro's 'politically motivated persecution'.
