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IOL News
3 days ago
- IOL News
Swift police action in Olorato Mongale murder highlights gender-based violence in South Africa
Olorato Mongale was recently found dead after going on a date. Image: X Police have been praised for the swift action that led to the apprehension of suspects in the tragic murder of journalism graduate Olorato Mongale. This comes after KwaZulu-Natal police traced one of three suspects wanted in connection with the murder to the coastal town of eManzimtoti south of Durban. Mongale went on a date with her alleged killer, who picked her up from her residential complex last Sunday before he killed her. 'The main suspect in the killing of Olorato Mongale, who was killed and dumped on the side of the road at Lombardy West, in Johannesburg, Gauteng province, was shot and fatally wounded in a shootout with police in the Amanzimtoti area in KwaZulu-Natal,' said police. KZN Premier Thami Ntuli commended the police for their prompt and decisive response to the tragic murder 'The swift action by SAPS in tracking down those responsible sends a powerful message: there will be no refuge for criminals in this province. The outcome of the shootout demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that justice is neither delayed nor denied,' he said. The premier expressed his appreciation to community members who showed remarkable bravery in helping the police. 'We salute the courageous individual who provided critical information that enabled the authorities to act. This collaboration between citizens and law enforcement is vital in dismantling criminal networks and reclaiming our communities from fear and violence,' he stated. Ntuli issued a direct warning to the remaining suspect who remains at large. 'To the individual still evading justice: your time is running out. Law enforcement agencies are working with relentless focus to bring you to account. I urge you to surrender yourself without delay.' The EFF said Mongale's life was cut short in a senseless and horrific act of gender-based violence that continues to haunt the women of South Africa daily. 'Olorato's murder is not an isolated case; it is part of a terrifying epidemic that we have been highlighting for a long time. Gender-based violence statistics in South Africa reveal a grim reality: women live in constant fear, and too often, that fear is realised through assault, rape, and murder.' The EFF welcomed the swift response of law enforcement. 'We commend KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi for his relentless efforts in this case. Under his leadership, crucial breakthroughs have occurred: the white VW Polo used to abduct Olorato was recovered in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, and suspects Philangenkosi Makhanya and Bongani Mthimkhulu — both out on bail for previous kidnapping and robbery charges — have been named as persons of interest.' However, the EFF said the fact that they were granted bail, despite their criminal histories, is a 'damning indictment' of our justice system's failure to prioritise the safety of women. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), in reaction to Mongale's murder, said: 'Crime cannot continue to be normalised. It is time that war be declared against this cancer that is claiming too many lives, especially in our townships and rural areas.' KZN Violence monitor Mary de Haas said she is appalled by the killing of women and children. De Haas said South Africa has to deal with levels of violence in the country. 'We have never dealt with the trauma of the past. We have a huge problem with the upbringing of children, in the sense that children are having children they can't look after, children are malnourished, and those children that are mentally stunted make prime choices for criminality.' De Haas also questioned why so many suspects are being shot dead by police, although she conceded that some situations cannot be avoided. 'Dead men tell no tales, because that suspect may have been one of many… Is there nobody that can shoot to disable, because you want to keep that person alive, to trace networks,' she said. [email protected]
IOL News
26-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
SA's Jobs Crisis: A Reflection of Capitalism's Failures
Members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) hold placards and shout slogans in support of a nationwide demonstration in Durban on February 13, 2019. The ANC has failed to prioritize job creation in its economic policies, says the writer. Image: AFP Dr Trevor Ngwane Are South Africans looking for a sign? After 30 years of democratic governance, millions of working-class and poor people continue to await the promised benefits of liberation after decades of struggle. Some are losing hope that meaningful change will occur for themselves and their children. There are still far too many continuities of oppression and exploitation from the past. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke's recent release of the country's unemployment figures may be the sign the masses have been waiting for. He informed the nation that approximately 12 million workers are unemployed, with youth aged 15 to 24 bearing the brunt of the crisis. About 3.2 million of them are idling at home, neither working nor attending educational institutions. Their future is bleak. Is the unemployment crisis in South Africa a sign that the economic system is failing, that our society is unviable, and that we are staring into the abyss of a social apocalypse? Using the expanded definition of unemployment, 43,1% of workers were unemployed in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 1.2-percentage-point increase from the previous quarter. Conditions are worsening, not improving. This suggests systemic failure, indicating that the economy is broken and unsustainable. The unemployment rate is not merely a statistic; it is a crime scene. Unemployment represents a form of structural violence. Daily life poses a challenge for the majority of people. Everything becomes a problem when you are both unemployed and poor: food, water, electricity, housing, healthcare, education, transport, and so on. Deprivation and destitution define your existence, leaving you perpetually on the brink of despair and hopelessness. At times, it seems as though there is neither a present nor a future. Hardship and suffering have been normalized in post-apartheid South Africa. Unemployment is not the worst of the morbid symptoms found in a society caught at a crossroads in its history. Post-war Germany and the USA faced a similar predicament in the 1930s following the 1929 Great Depression: mass unemployment, economic despair, and a crisis of legitimacy in their respective political systems. 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 ✕ Hitler led the Volk down the path of fascism, providing them with scapegoats and authoritarianism. Roosevelt adhered to the democratic course, presenting a vision of hope and reform. Hitler directed Germany toward war and disaster, while Roosevelt steered the USA toward reforming capitalism through a bold program of public works, financial regulation, and social safety nets. Since the 2008 global economic meltdown, a crisis rooted in neoliberal capitalism, the world has been plunged into uncertainty, insecurity, and instability. Once again, the world finds itself at a crossroads. Under President Trump, the U.S. government drives a populist right-wing shift in global politics. There is a movement to retreat from liberal democracy and the globalization agenda of neoliberalism. Governments and political leaders are forced to choose which path to take. This choice is often framed as democracy versus authoritarianism, multilateralism versus unilateralism, open trade versus protectionism, the Global North versus the Global South, etc. At the heart of it all lies the question of how to survive and thrive as nations, classes, and individuals amid the conditions of a capitalist crisis. The system has long passed its expiration date. Every capitalist government or enterprise strives to save itself, maintain its economic power, and shift the burden of the crisis onto others. South Africa finds itself in this predicament. In its 30 years of governance, the ANC has failed to extract the country from the ongoing dysfunctions of racial capitalism, including a low growth rate, a small domestic market, the non-beneficiation of its mineral resources, and a high unemployment rate, to name just a few of its shortcomings. It is fair to say that the ANC came to power during a challenging economic period. The 1940-1970 Golden Age of Capitalism, marked by significant economic growth, high productivity, low unemployment, and prosperity for Western European and East Asian countries, had long since ended, and neoliberalism took hold. Contrary to the Freedom Charter, the ANC was never allowed to seize 'the commanding heights of the economy'; instead, ANC leaders accepted the dominance of neoliberal ideology without resistance. From all accounts, neoliberalism devastated the South African economy, fulfilling its agenda of making the rich richer and the poor Africa lost millions of jobs due to the opening of the economy by World Trade Organization policy; manufacturing was nearly decimated by the ANC's eagerness to embrace unfettered global trade; billions of rands exited the country when the ANC removed exchange controls; the economy was nearly suffocated by the South African Reserve Bank's high interest rates and dogmatic inflation targeting. These misguided policies have contributed to unemployment. The ANC has failed to prioritize job creation in its economic policies. It has been timid when faced with vested interests that sought to benefit from the country's economic resources at the expense of the working class and the poor.
Daily Maverick
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
‘Diplomatic doors were opened again,' says Cosatu president after ‘nerve-racking' meeting with Trump
When President Cyril Ramaphosa gave Zingiswa Losi an opportunity to speak, she delivered a firm rebuttal to Trump's lies about land expropriation in South Africa and violence against white farmers, making the point that South Africa did not have a race but a crime issue. Zingiswa Losi, the president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was roped in at the eleventh hour to be a part of the South African delegation that met US President Donald Trump in Washington last week. After a flight that took nearly 20 hours, she was informed by the Presidency that only seven SA officials could attend the meeting in the White House, which meant she and Adrian Gore, the Discovery CEO and deputy president of Business Unity South Africa, would be excluded. 'I fought and I said, 'Never, I am not accepting it. Money has been spent for me to come and be a part of a meeting; I did not come here to sit at a hotel; I did not come for a Washington jol.' I said, 'Whether I go in as part of the security or what, make a plan,'' Losi told Daily Maverick. After some negotiating, Losi was able to attend the meeting. She said she cringed when Trump called for a video to be played and made unfounded claims of a genocide of white farmers in South Africa. 'It was nerve-racking. But also, for me, there was that irritation of the lies being repeated, and I was wondering if we would ever get an opportunity to state our side of the story, the real story of South Africa. I was eager for us to get to that point.' When President Cyril Ramaphosa gave Losi an opportunity to speak, she delivered a firm rebuttal to Trump's lies about land expropriation in South Africa and violence against white farmers, making the point that South Africa did not have a race but a crime issue. 'For me, it was two things [that needed to be done]: to speak about trade and to demystify this white genocide. I said to myself, 'If I can illustrate that there is no white genocide and paint a picture of what was happening in South Africa… 'I felt we were not having that conversation, and I needed to remind ourselves of why we are here.' Although Trump often interjected and was dismissive of what was being said, Losi said that Ramaphosa 'helped us in his demeanour of managing the situation very well. He was very calm about it.' After the media briefing concluded, Losi said the delegation went on to a closed meeting, which proceeded smoothly. Objectives achieved 'We achieved the objectives of the meeting. When we went to the lunch meeting, the issue of genocide, the issue of [South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice] never arose. The only issue at the table was the resetting of the relationship between the two nations.' In April 2025, the Trump administration introduced a 10% baseline tariff on all imports, with South African goods facing a rate of 30%. The decision was expected to have a negative impact on South African exports to the US, such as vehicles, precious metals, machinery and citrus fruit. 'It was us going back on the trade issues, and also President Trump even conceded that you can't ignore South Africa; he conceded that we must continue now engaging, even on the issue of Agoa [African Growth and Opportunity Act], on the issue of tariffs.' Losi said relations between South Africa and the US had soured, pointing to various incidents, including the expulsion of South African ambassador Ebrahim Rasool. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool 'persona non grata' in a post on X. He called Rasool a 'race-baiting politician who hates Trump and hates America' because of remarks Rasool made in a webinar. Losi said the issue had not been managed through diplomatic channels. She pointed to challenges experienced by her sector in trying to meet with policy officials. 'That team had difficulty even in meeting policy people in Washington. They tried, they managed, but it could not be in the offices, it had to be in restaurants — that's how hostile it was.' Previously, Trump and senior officials in his administration stated they would not attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg from 22-23 November. However, during the talks, Ramaphosa urged him to reconsider his decision. 'I want to hand over the presidency of the G20 to President Trump in November, and I said he needs to be there. I don't want to hand over the presidency of the G20 to an empty chair. He is going to give serious consideration to it. In fact, I expect him to be coming to South Africa,' said Ramaphosa. Losi said that during the closed meeting, Trump said he would attend the meeting. 'So, the diplomatic doors were opened again.' DM
Eyewitness News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Call for unity on Africa Day
JOHANNESBURG - Various unions, civil society groups and organisations are calling for African unity and cooperation ahead of Africa Day. On Saturday, the group embarked on a solidarity march from Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown, to Constitutional Hill in Braamfontein. The march began this morning at Mary Fitzgerald Square. Groups such as the Lawyers for Human Rights, Palestine Solidarity Alliance and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), among others. Africa Day is celebrated on 25 May each year to commemorate the formation of the Organisation of African Union and the independence of African countries. In South Africa, the day also celebrates the success of the fight against colonialism and apartheid mining trade union leader, Mametlwe Sebei, said that the celebrations are important for reflecting on how far we have come as a country and what still needs to be done. "To realise the oneness of the continent and its people and that is much more important today than before in the context of a surge in rising populism and xenophobic scapegoating of African migrants and others who have been scapegoated of all the problems faced by the working class as a result of crisis of capitalism and imperialism."
The Citizen
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Presidency clarifies Mcebisi Jonas' absence from Trump meeting
Jonas contributed to preparatory engagements ahead of the meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump. The Presidency has moved to clarify US special Mcebisi Jonas' noticeable absence from the much anticipated meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House in Washington DC. Jonas, a former deputy finance minister, was part of Ramaphosa's delegation to meet Trump at the Oval Office on Wednesday. Delegation Others in the delegation included four ministers, renowned businessman Johann Rupert and golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) Vice President Adrian Gore and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) President Zingiswa Losi were also in Washington DC to provide support to Ramaphosa and the South African delegation for the meeting with Trump. However, Jonas didn't join Ramaphosa with the Presidency, dismissing speculation around his status. ALSO READ: Ramaphosa says Trump meeting a success despite ambush [VIDEO] Clarification Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya on Thursday said Ramaphosa's office acknowledged the 'recent commentary' regarding Jonas and deemed it prudent to provide clarity. 'Initial interpretations of procedural matters, communicated in good faith, have been amended following confirmation that Mr. Jonas holds a valid visa for travel to the United States of America'. Magwenya said no 'formal concerns or substantive inquiries' related to Jonas' professional responsibilities have been brought to the attention of the Presidency. 'Mr. Jonas contributed to preparatory engagements ahead of the meeting between President Ramaphosa and President Donald Trump, including consultations abroad. His absence from Washington, at his own request, has no bearing on the President's official programme'. Jonas appointment Ramaphosa appointed Jonas in April as tensions between the United States and South Africa continued to simmer. His appointment as special envoy followed the expulsion of the former South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool. Rasool returned to South Africa in March after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled him and stripped him of his diplomatic privileges. He was declared persona non grata and given just a week to leave the US due to comments he made about the country and the Donald Trump administration during a webinar. Ramaphosa said Jonas would serve as the official representative of the Presidency and government. ALSO READ: 'There is doubt in Trump's head about genocide in SA,' Ramaphosa says [VIDEO]
