Latest news with #CyrilRamaphosa
IOL News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
More Afrikaners take up Trump's resettlement offer, thousands of applications being processed
The second batch of Afrikaner refugees arrived in the US on Friday. Pictured are US President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, during a meeting which aimed to clear misinformation about genocide claims. Image: Jim WATSON / AFP About 8000 applications have been made by Afrikaners to the US embassy to resettle in that country. The Afrikaners are taking up President Donald Trump's offer to resettle them amidst false claims of white genocide and persecution in South Africa. Another small batch of Afrikaners arrived in the US on Friday after an initial group of 49 left the country last month. Trump issued an executive order in February where Washington cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners. Solidarity's Jaco Kleynhans said the second group departed on a commercial flight on Thursday that landed in Atlanta in the US on Friday. 'It is a smaller group, including children. Several more groups will fly to the USA over the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State Department in Washington DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications, and we expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few months. "They are settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as Texas, North and South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska,' Kleynhans said. Reports indicate that the US embassy in South Africa is aware that 'refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement programme's ongoing operations'. Solidarity said it has helped some people understand the application process better and referred them to the right people at the US embassy. They have also assisted the US government in determining the criteria for Afrikaner refugee status. Video Player is loading. 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Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ 'Our primary focus is not refugee status for Afrikaners, but rather to find ways to ensure a free, safe, and prosperous future for Afrikaners in South Africa. We remain 100% convinced that South Africa can and must create a home for all its people,' Kleynhans said. He added that at least 20% of Afrikaners have already left the country 'because if they stayed, they would have been unemployed'. Kleynhans said he was campaigning in at least ten countries to increase international pressure on the SA government in the run-up to the G20 summit. On criticism that this refugee path is politically motivated, Kleynhans said: 'The American refugee programs are paid for by American taxpayers and it is outrageous that international organisations and foreign groups think they can dictate to the Trump administration who should be eligible for refugee status. If Americans disagree with Trump on this, they can elect a different president in three years." Kallie Kriel, AfriForum's CEO, said he did not know the Afrikaners who were leaving because they applied directly to the US embassy. 'Our view is not to condemn people (who are) leaving, but rather to condemn the circumstances in the country that have led to this, such as hateful chants, like 'Kill the Boer'," he said. Kriel added that matters were compounded by the government, including the president and courts, which failed to condemn the chant. He acknowledged that everyone in the country has challenges, but said Afrikaners felt threatened by the open call for such violence with the 'Kill the Boer' chant. 'No community should be targeted through calls for violence. Also taking away the future of young people who now have to go into the labour market, but then are discriminated against based on their skin colour. 'We want to address that, and that is why we are vocal, because we want to make sure that South Africa truly belongs to all who live in it,' Kriel said. Professor Siphamandla Zondi, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg, said the US's welcoming of the second batch of white Afrikaners should not surprise anyone, especially in the absence of a change of US policy. 'We should expect more and more poor Afrikaners to take advantage of this to get a free pass to the US in search of basic jobs, which ordinarily would prove difficult to get visas for,' Zondi said.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Is South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa running out of time?
A few hours before South Africa 's president Cyril Ramaphosa was subjected to a litany of false and embroidered charges by Donald Trump live on television in the Oval Office, back in Cape Town a more orderly but perhaps more significant debate reached a climax: the country's parliament finally passed a highly contested budget. It was the third attempt. Two previous budgets had been shot down over disagreements between the two main political parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), in the year-old government of national unity. Each time, the financial markets were rattled over fears that the coalition might collapse – scuppering what investors see as the best chance in years for a business-leaning government. So the budget's passing was a vital moment for investor confidence. The big question is which of last week's two meetings – one in the White House; the other in parliament – will have the greater long-term impact on South Africa's trajectory. The walls are closing in on the 72-year-old Ramaphosa at home and abroad, with a hostile US, a stagnant economy and radical populist parties hovering in the wings. READ MORE Millions of South Africans watched the White House showdown live on their phones, as the US president repeated the lie, first propagated in his first term in office, that the white Afrikaner minority faces 'genocide'. Some in South Africa have suggested it was ill-advised for Cyril Ramaphosa to go to meet with US president Donald Trump in the White House earlier this month. Photograph: Eric Lee/The New York Times Members of Ramaphosa's entourage argue the visit went better than the fracas indicated. Two prominent Afrikaners, Johann Rupert, the billionaire founder of the luxury goods company Richemont, and John Steenhuisen, head of the DA party, did their best in the Oval Office to present a more accurate picture. 'I think we leave better than we came in,' Steenhuisen says. Progress was made towards a vital trade deal with America to head off the threat of 30 per cent tariffs, officials insist; with unemployment over 40 per cent, tens of thousands of jobs may depend on this. But many businesspeople are less sanguine, fearing that the spectacle did serious harm to South Africa's image, however much the claim of genocide has been debunked. 'This was awful for brand South Africa, for tourism and investment,' says a leading corporate figure. Investors were delighted last June by the formation of the unity Government and the inclusion of the market-friendly DA, ending 30 years of solo rule by the statist ANC. It was hailed as a fresh start after more than a decade in which the former liberation movement had been mired in corruption scandals and presided over an erosion of public services. One year on, with the economy growing at a little more than 1 per cent, optimism is waning. Now business leaders are arguing that the White House showdown has to be a catalyst for a new approach. They also hope Ramaphosa has returned aware of the need to act more decisively to open up the economy and keep populists on the back foot. Hendrik du Toit, chief executive of the Anglo-South African asset management firm Ninety One, does not mince his words. While he praises South Africa's unified stance in the White House, he believes 'the wisdom of going there' is open to question. 'What South Africa has to do now is move on and focus on how we can grow our economy,' he says, pointing to the appallingly high rates of violent crime and calling for a clampdown on corruption and an investment in education. 'South Africa is on the brink of an economic emergency,' he adds, citing statistics suggesting 60 per cent of workers below the age of 24 are jobless. The country is 'grinding through its challenges', du Toit says. But he worries that other developing economies are adapting better to a fast-changing world. He goes on: 'In the White House I saw a clear understanding there are threats from the populists in South Africa which need to be dealt with and that we are starting to face up to our challenges . . . The big question is for our president: Mr President, what is the next step?' John Steenhuisen, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Photograph: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg The ANC's critics have long argued that the party is better at promising reform than delivering it. When Ramaphosa, an anti-apartheid activist turned tycoon, took over the presidency from the discredited Jacob Zuma seven years ago, he was hailed as the man to rescue the country's fortunes. Under Zuma, the party had become engulfed in the scandal known as 'state capture' as businesspeople and politicians conspired to influence decision-making for their own financial interests. After taking office, however, Ramaphosa's reputation suffered. The economy flatlined and the supply of essential services, in particular energy, water and transport, faltered. Ever the conciliator, the president was accused by many of ducking the tough decisions needed to energise the economy and root out corruption. 'I think Ramaphosa was pretty unequivocally pro-growth when he came to power in 2018,' says Jonny Steinberg, a South African author now at Yale's Council on African Studies. 'He's subsequently learned that governing the ANC and being pro-growth are not only not the same thing, but they tug against each other.' Reform of Black Economic Empowerment regulations may be under way, driven by none other than South Africa's most famous émigré, Elon Musk Ramaphosa's ANC was punished in last year's elections. Securing just over 40 per cent of the vote, it lost its overall majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela took office in 1994 and ended white-minority rule. But the formation of the unity government, crucially without the two biggest populist parties that had broken away from the ANC – the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) – inspired hopes of an economic recovery. Yet a combination of the global fallout of Trump's protectionism and the government's failure to fully embrace the private sector has held back prospects for this year, analysts say. The economy is set to grow at 1.4 per cent in 2025, not nearly enough to reduce unemployment. Privately, potential investors argue the biggest disincentive is South Africa's network of quotas and regulations, which were designed to address the legacy of white rule. Many have singled out the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations for particular criticism. Introduced after the 1994 elections, they were aimed at tackling the economic injustices of apartheid, when almost all companies were white-owned and run, by creating a black business class. The key clause mandated transferring a stake to a black business entity. Ramaphosa himself was one of the ANC leaders 'deployed' by the party into business in the mid-1990s as white-run companies raced to seek a high-profile black partner. But over time, critics accused BEE of doing little more than creating a new elite, one that most black South Africans could never dream of entering. Moeletsi Mbeki, a prominent commentator and the brother of democratic South Africa's second president, Thabo Mbeki, has long been a sceptic of the project. He argues that by handing out stakes in businesses, the law stifles a sense of initiative essential to foster true entrepreneurs, and that its official mission of 'economic equality' is little more than a sideshow. European managers who tell him they want to invest in South Africa say BEE is a 'major obstacle', he adds, and they 'don't have a way round it'. While the policy has been tweaked over the decades, the ANC has seen it as a touchstone. But reform may now be under way, driven by none other than South Africa's most famous émigré, Elon Musk . The Pretoria-born billionaire adviser of Trump has in recent months launched a campaign against BEE laws, labelling them as 'openly racist'. If he has to comply with them, he will not introduce his satellite broadband network Starlink into South Africa, he has said. On the eve of the White House meeting, Maropene Ramokgopa, minister for planning, monitoring and evaluation, and one of the most senior ANC officials, told the Financial Times a compromise may be in the offing, and not just for Musk. More investors could take advantage of a 'workaround' to allow them to fund social projects instead of handing over equity, she said. Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, at a rally where he chanted 'Kill the Boer!' in the Soweto township of Johannesburg in July 2023. US president Donald Trump surprised a South African delegation with a video montage of apartheid-era chants from Malema. Photograph: Joao Silva/The New York Times 'Scrapping BEE is not a good thing,' she added, arguing it would outrage the ANC's supporters and lead to a 'revolution'. But, she added, there were 'mitigating avenues' that could facilitate investment. 'For example, you can say, 'I'll create thousands of jobs or I'll help you build schools.'' Although Musk attended the White House session with Ramaphosa, he did not speak, but was present at the subsequent private lunch. It is seen as no coincidence that two days after the talks, the government published a proposed policy change that could enable Starlink's owner to invest. This would allow people applying for a communications licence to invest in social projects instead of giving a 30 per cent stake to 'historically disadvantaged groups' – a workaround already offered to car manufacturers. Business leaders and DA insiders hope this may be the first step to a broader rethink, but they are not holding their breath. 'BEE must remain,' says a senior business figure. 'But does it have to include ownership? We should be the mining capital of the world but we're not, and a lot of that is because of the difficulties of BEE.' One of the few obvious positive outcomes of the trip for South Africa was that Trump did not scold the country over its close ties with America's rivals and enemies, nor its hostility to Israel. Democrats and Republicans alike have been irked by South Africa's uncritical stance towards Russia, China and Iran in recent years, and also by its sponsorship in 2023 of the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza. In a sign of a possible thaw in relations, Ramaphosa says Trump might after all come to the G20 summit in November, which South Africa is hosting. Trump's secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, have boycotted meetings of their G20 peers this year. Diplomats argue South Africa has been far less nimble than other nonaligned states. 'South Africa has not been as agile and responsive in balancing interests [as its peers],' says Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, head of the South African Institute of International Affairs. 'We need to think how we can manage our relationship with America more effectively, and in a way that doesn't compromise our vital economic priorities.' The scale of the economic stakes is all the more apparent since Trump launched his trade wars. South Africa has benefited hugely from America's 25-year-old Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows duty-free access for certain products from some African states. This is due to expire in September, and South African officials accept that it is unlikely to be renewed, with potentially devastating repercussions for South Africa's agriculture and car industry. If the government does fall, investors fear the more radical wing of the ANC might push for an alliance with parties that advocate nationalisation of industry and land redistribution of the sort Trump claims falsely is already under way Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa's spokesman, told the Financial Times this year that South Africa would not be bullied by Trump into dropping its nonaligned stance. 'It's going to be hard for Americans to swing us in one direction or another,' he said. 'Trump will not be president of the US forever and if we have to ride over a few years, we will ride it.' Still, Ramaphosa clearly concluded he needed to repair relations with Washington, not least after his US ambassador was expelled in March after saying Trump was 'mobilising a supremacism'. With this in mind, Ramaphosa came to Washington with a package of measures, including preferential access for US companies to South Africa's critical minerals and gas, and also easing South African restrictions on US poultry and pork. 'We need America,' said minister Ramokgopa, adding: 'They need us as well.' For decades, South Africa has lurched between optimism and pessimism – usually to undue extremes. Now, once again, it is at a critical juncture. On the more moderate end of the ANC spectrum, Ramaphosa is seen as uniquely able to hold together a coalition that spans stalwart ANC ideologues on one side and DA free-marketeers on the other. The passage of the budget – after the DA rebelled successfully against a move by the ANC finance minister to increase VAT – has underlined the ability of the coalition to weather storms. Privately DA and ANC insiders concede it is in their interests for it to endure, although it will be tested again, not least next year when the country holds local elections. Tony Leon, a former DA leader and author of a new book on the formation of the government of national unity, says it will face more strain, but that the DA has decided it is there for the long haul. 'Crises can erupt down the line, but the DA is saying that if you want to get rid of us, you need to fire us, we are not walking out.' If the government does fall, investors fear the more radical wing of the ANC might push for an alliance with the EFF, led by the demagogic Julius Malema, and Zuma's MK, which advocate nationalisation of industry and land redistribution of the sort Trump claims falsely is already under way. For now, its defeat over VAT has put the ANC on its mettle and brought a new competitive vigour to politics. 'For all its weaknesses and internal fights, the [coalition] performed better than the ANC Government in the previous five years,' says William Gumede, a prominent commentator. 'There is a sense of hope. We've seen real movement in some areas of delivery. Public servants are feeling the pressure. Up to now they were so complacent. Now ministers are being upstaged in public by the DA. The populist cause is on the back foot – but if the [unity government] collapses the populist cause would come back.' As ever in ANC politics, there is much intrigue. Behind the scenes, a succession battle has begun ahead of leadership elections in 2027. For the first time in the party's post-apartheid history there will be no liberation-era grandee contesting the top job. The future of the coalition – and the chances of the populists making a comeback – depends on the identity of the victor. Long before Ramaphosa became president, many in and outside the ANC pinned their hopes on him as a prudent helmsman. Many of his erstwhile fans have grown disappointed and now see him as too cautious. 'The country is on autopilot,' says Mbeki. Now the final chapter of Ramaphosa's long career has begun. For his allies, he has one last opportunity to prove his sceptics wrong – and grasp the nettle of reform. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Mail & Guardian
10 hours ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Starlink raises questions about necessity and relevance of BEE laws
The licensing of Elon Musk's Starlink has sparked debate about whether South Africa's black economic empowerment laws are an impediment to growth or path to an inclusive economy The South African government may have said that black economic empowerment is not negotiable, but Starlink's battle to enter the market has brought into play the influence of international trade. During a Q&A session in parliament last week President Cyril Ramaphosa said his administration is seeking to create an inclusive economy making broad-based clack economic empowerment (broad-based BEE) legislation critical. Ramaphosa was asked a barrage of questions about racial categories by members of the National Assembly on Tuesday and whether he was willing to do away with BEE laws. Starlink's efforts to set up shop changed in February shortly after US President Donald Trump was inaugurated into office and the company withdrew from licensing hearings. Instead the company argued in submissions that its global policy does not allow local ownership. Democratic Alliance (DA) member George Michalakis asked Ramaphosa whether he would do a cross-departmental review of legislation that stifles investment and limits growth at 1%. This came after Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi, a DA member in the coalition government, issued a policy directive to review ownership requirements in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Malatsi Portfolio committee chairperson Kusela Diko had invited Malatsi to explain the policy directive and said other telecom companies do business in the country without complaint. Malatsi told committee members that his department sought to allow contribution to transformation besides share ownership to historically disadvantaged groups. Portfolio committee members accused Malatsi of seeking to draw back transformation for the sake of one multinational company and for using a ministerial policy directive instead of tabling a bill to amend legislation. After receiving public comments in the next 30 days, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) will conduct a six-month study on whether equity equivalent programmes (EEIPs) can be implemented in the ICT sector. While the ANC is considering EEIPs under the Transformation Fund as an alternative to the 30% share requirement, it rejected Malatsi's policy directive, stating there was no deal struck during the Washington visit. Economic Freedom Fighters committee member Sinawo Tambo criticised Malatsi for using a ministerial directive to amend legislation, and said the tactic sought to circumvent parliamentary processes. uMkhonto weSizwe party portfolio committee member Colleen Makhubele said Malatsi was using a 'clandestine unilateral approach' to fast-pace licensing of Starlink instead of empowering 490 already licensed network providers. Although South African billionaire Johann Rupert, When answering Michalakis' question during the Q&A Ramaphosa said he would initiate a 'regulatory review process' that would unleash 'speed of execution' in government administration but doubted BEE was the issue holding the economy back. Corné Mulder, leader of the Freedom Front Plus, asked whether Ramaphosa was prepared to take a different approach, away from BEE and the Expropriation Act, to stimulate the economy. Ramaphosa said his starting point was the redress of past black economic exclusion and cited an International Monetary Fund report that highlighted the concentration of capital and ownership, where the top 10% own 86% of the wealth as the hurdle for growth. 'I'm rather surprised and taken aback when I hear that the policy of BEE militates against the growth of our economy. That I find surprising,' he said. 'If we accept that ownership of our economy is imbalanced, the clause on equality in our constitution seeks to undo that. So therefore ownership in our economy should be broadened,' he said. Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane agreed that the EEIPs as an alternative to share holding are important to attract foreign investment and asked Ramaphosa whether these will be extended to South African companies. Ramaphosa said his government was looking at a number of laws that would address both past racial exclusion and growth to build an inclusive economy. 'To do so we need to take into account where we come from, what our constitution says, what our laws say and be able to move forward in a very determined way,' he said.
News24
19 hours ago
- Business
- News24
Lottery decision: South Africans deserve to know details of SA's biggest tender
There are some things that are totally predictable in South Africa. Jacob Zuma will find a reason to drag out his trial. Helen Zille will say something stupid and inflammatory. Julius Malema will say something stupid and inflammatory. Cyril Ramaphosa will be shocked. The PSL season will end in chaos. And Johannesburg's traffic lights will flake out during the summer rains. There is an argument that societies should be grateful for predictability, as it enables them to plan. If that predictability is negative, then you can work on overcoming the deficiency and, if it is in the positive, then you can work on improvements. But there is nothing good when that predictability is costly and eminently avoidable. This is the case with the selection of the operator of the National Lottery. This newly chosen entity will be the fourth operator of the lottery in the country. Each time the process for the running of what has been described as the country's 'biggest tender' is about to reach conclusion, it is blighted by a flurry of legal challenges. The challengers range from the incumbent to the line-up of fresh bidders who have invested enormous amounts of cash in the expensive bidding process for the eight-year licence that almost literally allows you to print money. The current process has been mired in the same predictable controversy, only messier. After an inordinate amount of time spent making his decision in conjunction with the National Lotteries Commission, Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau eventually named the Sizekhaya consortium as the winner. To underline the shambolic nature of the process, Tau made the announcement just three days before the expiration of the current licence, after being forced to do so by the Pretoria High Court. Judge Sulet Potterill shot down Tau's attempt to delay the announcement by a year while the lottery is run by a temporary holder – most likely a sister company to the incumbent, Ithuba. Saying the process was 'very complex', Tau justified his decision (or indecision) on the grounds that, 'in the past, serious allegations of corruption were made in respect of the National Lotteries Commission and the way the lottery was managed. These considerations prompted me to take a very cautious approach.' Potterill was having none of it and ordered him to announce the winner by yesterday, when Ithuba's licence was set to expire. When he made his declaration, Tau left the winner with just three days to get its ducks in a row, instead of the five to six months it would need. To complicate matters, Ithuba – the only entity with the capacity to step in until Sizekhaya is ready – has been refusing to continue working for the next five months and is insisting that it will only make commercial sense if this period is much longer. With accusations of political bias whirling, the integrity of the process is in tatters. Months and even years of litigation are inevitable. Build One SA and other societal players have called on Tau and the National Lotteries Commission to disclose to Parliament, and therefore to the nation, the records of the adjudication that delivered the final outcome. 'Party connections and insider deals cannot be the order of the day,' Build One SA's Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said this week.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Who is Julius Malema, the South African politician behind 'kill the farmer' chant?
JOHANNESBURG - Julius Malema, the South African politician who President Donald Trump wants arrested for repeatedly chanting "kill the farmer," is reportedly a Rolex watch-wearing Gucci revolutionary, often seen in snazzy, expensive clothes, who champions the poor from a luxury mansion in what is said to be South Africa's richest street. He has also called for the further arming of the terror group Hamas and has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from the very pensioners he is trying to get to vote for him. Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a video of Malema shouting "Shoot to kill, Kill the Boer (the Afrikaner), kill the farmer," when the South African president, a neighbor of Malema's in Johannesburg, visited the Oval Office earlier this month. South Africa's President Pushes Back On Trump's Demand To Arrest Politician Who Chanted 'Kill The Farmer' Trump has offered Afrikaner farmers, descendants of mostly Dutch settlers, refuge in the U.S., citing controversial and disputed claims that they are facing White genocide and forced land seizures. The self-styled commander in chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Party, Malema, a Marxist-Leninist, was the head of the Youth League of South Africa's biggest party, the African National Congress (ANC), but he was kicked out for bad-mouthing its leadership. Read On The Fox News App In last year's election, votes for the EFF slumped to under 10%, and both of Malema's sidekicks, party co-founders and men he described as "brothers," left him and joined a competing party. So it did not come as a surprise to many that, allegedly to spite President Trump, Malema just days later jumped up, literally, onto the stage at the very next rally he was due to appear at to yell "Kill the farmer, I repeat kill the farmer." In 2022, South Africa's Constitutional Court, the equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled the chant is not hate speech, declaring it is only the words of a song. Malema sits on the Judicial Services Commission, a body which appoints the Court's judges. To Malema, critics say, the chant may be more than just song lyrics. At least twice he told reporters here, "We have not called for the killing of White people – at least for now." On another occasion, he demanded, "We will cut the throat of Whiteness." Trump, South Africa In Growing Row Over Hotly Contested Land Law, Country's Deals With Us Foes Some say Malema is running two strategies - one which follows the mantra "There's no such thing as bad publicity," and the other to act like a small child that makes a lot of noise, hoping to be noticed, but with little real effect. Analyst J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital that Malema "has crafted a political reputation as the 'bad boy' of South African politics." Spector, a former U.S. diplomat who lives in Johannesburg and is associate editor of the Daily Maverick, continued. "In a country with a third of its workforce unemployed, and higher among young people, and poverty still a fact of life for many more, his (Malema's) populism initially drew significant support and enthusiasm among voters. However, his popularity as a political leader has faded somewhat." Malema openly supports the terror group Hamas, telling a rally in 2023, shortly after the October 7 attack on Israel, "when you are oppressed, you only have one option, shoot to kill. There is nothing wrong with what Hamas is doing. The EFF is going to arm Hamas." He also shouted he intended to shut down the Israeli Embassy in South Africa. "We are going to remove this embassy," he yelled to loud cheers. Allegations also suggest that Malema and his then right-hand man, Floyd Shivambu, benefitted from "dodgy" deals with the South African VBS bank, which subsequently collapsed, leading to people losing their pension savings. "In 2018, the VBS scandal exposed widespread looting by bank officials and politicians, including senior leaders of the EFF, Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema," the Opposition Democratic Alliance's (DA) Baxolile Nodada stated last August. On Friday, the DA's federal executive member and national spokesperson, Willie Aucamp, told Fox News Digital the DA "isn't letting the VBS scandal fade into the background. Not when over R2 billion ($111 million) was looted from pensioners, struggling municipalities, and poor communities. The DA has been leading the charge to expose those behind this daylight robbery, including Julius Malema, leader of the EFF." He continued, "The DA laid criminal charges back in 2018, but six years later, not a single charge has been prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Justice for the victims of VBS is long overdue. The DA will continue pushing for the arrest and prosecution of every single person involved - Malema included." Speaking in Cape Town in July last year, Malema said "I will never be intimidated by VBS. No leader of the EFF received VBS money." But now that Malema is on Donald Trump's radar, the president might push back powerfully on Malema's links to Hamas and the VBS saga, Max Meizlish, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "Like the ANC that courts Iran and supports Hamas, Julius Malema would be wise to not provoke Donald Trump. After all, Malema was clearly implicated in the VBS scandal and has openly called to "arm Hamas." Malema could very well find himself the target of Global Magnitsky Act sanctions — a tool which President Trump can wield unilaterally and at a moment's notice," Meizlish article source: Who is Julius Malema, the South African politician behind 'kill the farmer' chant?
