Latest news with #Venda
Zawya
4 days ago
- General
- Zawya
President mourns passing of the Rev Dr Tshenuwani Simon Farisani
President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the passing of theologian, former Member of Parliament and former Speaker of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, Dr Tshenuwani Simon Farisani, who has passed away at the age of 76. President Ramaphosa offers his condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Dr Farisani who was a co-founder, alongside the President and the late Tshifhiwa Isaac Muofhe, of the Black Evangelic Youth Organisation in the early 1970s. Rev Farisani was a Lutheran minister who fought apartheid from the pulpit and was arrested for his activism in the Black Consciousness movement and the Black People's Convention, where he was a close associate of Steve Bantu Biko. After the end of apartheid, Dr Farisani represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly and later served as a Member of the Limpopo Provincial Executive, following which he served as Speaker of the Limpopo legislature. President Ramaphosa said: 'Dr Farisani has left us as part of a succession of stalwarts who have passed on recently and whose dedication to our freedom and national development demands both our mourning and reflection. TS Farisani preached the gospel of humanity and liberation in ways that energised our struggle and shook the apartheid regime into targeting him and depriving him of his personal freedom. From the pulpit of his congregations in Venda and the then Transvaal, to the podiums of Parliament and the Speaker's chair in Limpopo, Dr Farisani's commanding baritone oratory conveyed his love for humanity and his fearless, sacrificial fight for our freedom. May his soul rest in peace.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
News24
6 days ago
- Business
- News24
Farewell Muvhango: SABC2 cancels beloved Venda soap after 28 years
SABC2 has cancelled the long-running soap Muvhango, with its final episode to air on Friday, 8 August. Muvhango faced challenges in recent years, including production halts due to unpaid cast and crew. Launched in 1997 as a one-episode-per-week drama, Muvhango grew into a five-day soap over its run. After 28 years on air, SABC2 has cancelled the long-running Venda soap opera Muvhango. 'Muvhango has captivated audiences with its rich storytelling, rooted in Tshivenda culture and explores the tension between tradition and modernity,' reads a statement from the channel. 'The soapie was introduced at a pivotal period when South Africa was transforming, and most vernacular dramas at the time were in the majority dialects. Tshivenda was seen as a minority language, and the show was a vehicle to showcase the culture,' continued the statement. Muvhango creator and executive producer Duma Ndlovu said: 'Muvhango gave an opportunity to an ignored language that has become one of the most celebrated languages in South Africa now. It has been a privilege and an honour to create moments on television where the marginalised languages were at the centre of them all.' 'For almost 30 years, Muvhango has been a pillar of SABC2's programming and a beloved part of South African television history. More than just a drama, Muvhango has been the champion of language, culture, identity and national pride, inspiring, entertaining, educating and uniting audiences across South Africa,' added Lala Tuku, acting group executive for Video Entertainment. 'As the television landscape continues to evolve, SABC 2 looks forward to ushering in a new era of storytelling, one that builds on this incredible legacy by continuing to reflect the rich tapestry of South African life.' The news of the cancellation comes after the soapie's tumultuous run over the past two years. The show, produced by Word of Mouth Pictures, was cancelled after it shut production in June last year after completing a shortened 130-episode season. In July, the SABC announced that the show would be revived for a 26th season with a new logo, an updated opening sequence, new characters, and compelling storylines. With a new one-year full season of 260 episodes. The season went on to premiere in August. However, in October last year, production stopped again after writers, crew and cast were not paid. In February, SABC spokesperson Mmoni Ngubane told News24 that the broadcaster had not ordered another season of Muvhango. 'The SABC can confirm that only one season of Muvhango is currently contracted and that the current contract is set to end on 31 July 2025. The SABC cannot comment on the future of the programme at this stage,' she said at the time. Muvhango was the South African public broadcaster's first Tshivenda language drama. It started in April 1997 with one episode per week and eventually expanded to become a five-day soap. The final episode will air on Friday, 8 August. SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli told TV analyst Thinus Ferreria that a new telenovela would be replacing the soapie. 'For SABC2, we're introducing a new telenovela starting in August, which is going to replace the existing Muvhango.' 'We are certain that, based on the storyline and where we are in the scriptwriting room, this should also be successful from a launch perspective.' Chabeli hopes the new telenovela will drive the audience back to SABC2. 'We're working hard to ensure that the script is relevant for the audiences and that the storyline will be effectively doing what we need it to do,' she said. The new show is produced by Bakwena Productions, who made headlines last year for controversies surrounding late payments or non-payment to cast, crew, and other stakeholders, including service providers, for their work on the BET Africa (DStv 129) series Pound 4 Pound. In April, the company visited News24 'to set the record straight.'
IOL News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
'Muvhango' bows out: SABC2 rolls out the red carpet for 'Pimville Queens'
Long-running Venda weeknight soap "Muvhango" has been cancelled, with the show ending in July. In hopes of gaining back its appeal, the SABC took a bold step last year to revamp the show for season 27. Long-running South African soap " Muvhango " has faced several challenges in recent years, including a decline in viewership and a potential cancellation. This overhaul saw the introduction of new cast members such as the legendary actress Leleti Khumalo and Thandy Matlaila, a contemporary aesthetic and a revamped opening title sequence, aiming to attract a younger, more fashion-conscious audience. However, it seems like their brave attempt to save the show has failed, and long-time fans will be bidding farewell soon. According to various online reports, the SABC has officially made the decision to cancel "Muvhango," with final episodes airing until July. "Because we don't have fresh, new content, we have to repeat existing content. We have that lack of fresh, local properties that are a key driver of South African audiences," said SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli. To fill the void left by "Muvhango", Chabeli said a new telenovela titled "Pimville Queens" is set to premiere in August. The new show is produced by Bakwena Productions.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘white genocide' claims ignore the real danger facing South Africa
Amid green hills near the South African town of Levubu, Louis Cloete and his wife, Ina, raised their children on a farm that had been in the family for three generations. This lushly fertile region, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is a heartland for growing tropical fruit and nuts. After they retired and their son and two daughters left home, Louis and Ina stayed on the farm as tenants. Their idyll ended one afternoon in April 2022 when intruders burst in and attacked the pair, then aged 74 and 66. The attackers murdered Louis and Ina, white farmers, before ransacking the homestead for valuables and setting it ablaze. The corpses of the couple were later found burnt beyond recognition inside the ruins of their home. All around lay the charred remains of the life they had made together, including dozens of damaged hunting trophies in what was once the living room. Louis and Ina were residing on a remote farm in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, but relations said they had always felt safe. 'I often raised the issue with her of them being in a vulnerable situation all by themselves on the farm,' Ina's brother, Jurie Schoeman, later told the Sunday Times of South Africa. 'She was positive, she got along with local people,' he said, adding that the couple were both fluent in the Venda language spoken in the area. The fate of Louis and Ina – and many others like them – has taken on a new significance since Donald Trump's highly charged encounter with Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Trump challenged his visitor about the supposed persecution of white South Africans in general and white farmers in particular, producing a sheaf of news stories and a carefully prepared video. Although he did not use the word during this meeting, Trump has previously spoken of an alleged 'genocide' of white farmers in South Africa. In a stroke of political theatre, Trump held up the news reports of various crimes committed against white South Africans and summarised their contents. 'Death, death – horrible – death, death,' he intoned as he went through each example. Ramaphosa, by contrast, calmly and deliberately rebutted the president's charges. So what is the truth? How should the world view Trump's accusations? One chilling fact is that about 75 people are murdered in South Africa every day, compared with fewer than two in England and Wales, even though their respective populations are similar. The South African police recorded a total of 27,621 murders in 2023-24 – that amounts to some 45 people per 100,000. Yet black South Africans comprised the great majority of these victims. The number of killings known to have taken place on farms, meanwhile, is relatively low. In the last three months of 2024, police registered nearly 7,000 murders, of which 12 happened on farms. The the race of the victims was not recorded, but one was a farmer; the remainder were either farm-workers or people staying on farms, while one was a security guard. Throughout 2023, there were 49 murders on farms, with some of those victims being black workers. AfriForum, a South African campaign group representing the white Afrikaner minority, recorded nine farm murders in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 11 and seven in the same periods of 2022 and 2021 respectively. Presented with these numbers, scarcely anyone in South Africa would apply a word like 'genocide'. Yes, white farmers have been murdered, but so have thousands of others. The farmers are not being systematically targeted for a concerted campaign because of their race; instead, they have fallen prey to the lawlessness that often prevails across the country. Gareth Newham, who runs a justice and violence prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies in the capital, Pretoria, describes the idea of a 'white genocide' as 'completely false'. The overwhelming majority of murder victims in South Africa were, he says, young and poor black men. 'White people – and white farmers – are the least at risk of violent crime and murder compared to other racial or ethnic groups in South Africa,' says Newham. 'White people, generally, are far wealthier, own more land and have a far better quality of life than black people. This would not be the case if there was a 'white genocide' taking place.' Newham says that robbery was the main motive for the great majority of farm attacks. Any evidence of a racial or political motive, such as slogans written on walls or statements made by the attackers, was 'exceedingly rare,' he adds. No political party in South Africa, including those representing Afrikaners, alleges that a 'genocide' is underway. Nor do groups representing farmers themselves. 'If a murder is on a farm, we call it a farm murder,' says Johann Kotzé, the head of Agri SA, a farmers' lobby group. 'But remember, that same night somebody was also murdered in the little township where the farm workers came from.' Trump's presentation in the Oval Office also contained glaring inaccuracies. The first case study that he chose to present to the world concerned an attack on Jan Jurgens, a 73-year-old white farmer. True enough, Jurgens was assaulted and tied up on his farm last week. But, contrary to Trump, he was not murdered: he is still alive. One white farmer in Mpumalanga province tells The Telegraph: 'Yes, farmers are murdered, but so is everyone else. Being isolated on farms may increase the risk of attacks, but this is not genocide, but rather straight criminality.' Yet, if Trump's main charge is demonstrably false, people have every right to be alarmed by the incendiary rhetoric of some South African politicians. Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, has addressed mass rallies with the slogan: 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer!' He has led crowds of thousands in chants of 'shoot to kill'. Malema is an opposition politician who has never held office and his party won just 10.8 per cent of the vote at the last election. And, however distasteful it sounds, the slogan 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer' was frequently heard during the struggle against apartheid. Even so, Malema's rhetoric in a country with a bitter history of racial conflict must inevitably stir a sense of threat. That is particularly true when, more than 30 years after the end of apartheid, over a third of all South Africans are jobless, rising to about 60 per cent for the young. After years of economic stagnation, millions of people endure absolute poverty in squalid townships. Meanwhile, the African Nation Congress's (ANC) shameless corruption has indelibly tarnished South Africa's Mandela-era image as a rainbow nation and symbol of hope. The presidency of Jacob Zuma between 2009 and 2018 degenerated into a festival of brazen looting, during which the state was captured and bled dry by a kleptocratic elite. In that era, no less than £20 billion was stolen from government coffers and public enterprises. But the ANC paid the price when it lost its parliamentary majority in last year's election. Today, Ramaphosa leads a coalition government of 10 political parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is supported by most white voters. John Steenhuisen, the DA's (white) leader represents the interests of farmers as agriculture minister. Leon Schreiber, another (white) DA politician, serves as Home Affairs minister. The real danger facing South Africa is not Trump's false and inflammatory accusations. Instead, the greatest risk is that Ramaphosa's new government will fail to achieve the economic transformation that must happen if jobs are to be created and poverty reduced. 'As the unemployed ranks swell, of which a lot of the blame can be laid squarely at the door of the ANC,' says the white farmer from Mpumlanga, 'criminality increases and more and more desperate people resort to desperate measures.' Unless this generation of South African leaders can drag the country out of its malaise, the number of desperate people will grow. And all the time, Malema is waiting in the wings. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump's ‘white genocide' claims ignore the real danger facing South Africa
Amid green hills near the South African town of Levubu, Louis Cloete and his wife, Ina, raised their children on a farm that had been in the family for three generations. This lushly fertile region, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is a heartland for growing tropical fruit and nuts. After they retired and their son and two daughters left home, Louis and Ina stayed on the farm as tenants. Their idyll ended one afternoon in April 2022 when intruders burst in and attacked the pair, then aged 74 and 66. The attackers murdered Louis and Ina, white farmers, before ransacking the homestead for valuables and setting it ablaze. The corpses of the couple were later found burnt beyond recognition inside the ruins of their home. All around lay the charred remains of the life they had made together, including dozens of damaged hunting trophies in what was once the living room. Louis and Ina were residing on a remote farm in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, but relations said they had always felt safe. 'I often raised the issue with her of them being in a vulnerable situation all by themselves on the farm,' Ina's brother, Jurie Schoeman, later told the Sunday Times of South Africa. 'She was positive, she got along with local people,' he said, adding that the couple were both fluent in the Venda language spoken in the area. The fate of Louis and Ina – and many others like them – has taken on a new significance since Donald Trump's highly charged encounter with Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Trump challenged his visitor about the supposed persecution of white South Africans in general and white farmers in particular, producing a sheaf of news stories and a carefully prepared video. Although he did not use the word during this meeting, Trump has previously spoken of an alleged 'genocide' of white farmers in South Africa. In a stroke of political theatre, Trump held up the news reports of various crimes committed against white South Africans and summarised their contents. 'Death, death – horrible – death, death,' he intoned as he went through each example. Ramaphosa, by contrast, calmly and deliberately rebutted the president's charges. So what is the truth? How should the world view Trump's accusations? One chilling fact is that about 75 people are murdered in South Africa every day, compared with fewer than two in England and Wales, even though their respective populations are similar. The South African police recorded a total of 27,621 murders in 2023-24 – that amounts to some 45 people per 100,000. Yet black South Africans comprised the great majority of these victims. The number of killings known to have taken place on farms, meanwhile, is relatively low. In the last three months of 2024, police registered nearly 7,000 murders, of which 12 happened on farms. The the race of the victims was not recorded, but one was a farmer; the remainder were either farm-workers or people staying on farms, while one was a security guard. Throughout 2023, there were 49 murders on farms, with some of those victims being black workers. AfriForum, a South African campaign group representing the white Afrikaner minority, recorded nine farm murders in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 11 and seven in the same periods of 2022 and 2021 respectively. Presented with these numbers, scarcely anyone in South Africa would apply a word like 'genocide'. Yes, white farmers have been murdered, but so have thousands of others. The farmers are not being systematically targeted for a concerted campaign because of their race; instead, they have fallen prey to the lawlessness that often prevails across the country. Gareth Newham, who runs a justice and violence prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies in the capital, Pretoria, describes the idea of a 'white genocide' as 'completely false'. The overwhelming majority of murder victims in South Africa were, he says, young and poor black men. 'White people – and white farmers – are the least at risk of violent crime and murder compared to other racial or ethnic groups in South Africa,' says Newham. 'White people, generally, are far wealthier, own more land and have a far better quality of life than black people. This would not be the case if there was a 'white genocide' taking place.' Newham says that robbery was the main motive for the great majority of farm attacks. Any evidence of a racial or political motive, such as slogans written on walls or statements made by the attackers, was 'exceedingly rare,' he adds. No political party in South Africa, including those representing Afrikaners, alleges that a 'genocide' is underway. Nor do groups representing farmers themselves. 'If a murder is on a farm, we call it a farm murder,' says Johann Kotzé, the head of Agri SA, a farmers' lobby group. 'But remember, that same night somebody was also murdered in the little township where the farm workers came from.' Trump's presentation in the Oval Office also contained glaring inaccuracies. The first case study that he chose to present to the world concerned an attack on Jan Jurgens, a 73-year-old white farmer. True enough, Jurgens was assaulted and tied up on his farm last week. But, contrary to Trump, he was not murdered: he is still alive. One white farmer in Mpumalanga province tells The Telegraph: 'Yes, farmers are murdered, but so is everyone else. Being isolated on farms may increase the risk of attacks, but this is not genocide, but rather straight criminality.' Yet, if Trump's main charge is demonstrably false, people have every right to be alarmed by the incendiary rhetoric of some South African politicians. Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, has addressed mass rallies with the slogan: 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer!' He has led crowds of thousands in chants of 'shoot to kill'. Malema is an opposition politician who has never held office and his party won just 10.8 per cent of the vote at the last election. And, however distasteful it sounds, the slogan 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer' was frequently heard during the struggle against apartheid. Even so, Malema's rhetoric in a country with a bitter history of racial conflict must inevitably stir a sense of threat. That is particularly true when, more than 30 years after the end of apartheid, over a third of all South Africans are jobless, rising to about 60 per cent for the young. After years of economic stagnation, millions of people endure absolute poverty in squalid townships. Meanwhile, the African Nation Congress's (ANC) shameless corruption has indelibly tarnished South Africa's Mandela-era image as a rainbow nation and symbol of hope. The presidency of Jacob Zuma between 2009 and 2018 degenerated into a festival of brazen looting, during which the state was captured and bled dry by a kleptocratic elite. In that era, no less than £20 billion was stolen from government coffers and public enterprises. But the ANC paid the price when it lost its parliamentary majority in last year's election. Today, Ramaphosa leads a coalition government of 10 political parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is supported by most white voters. John Steenhuisen, the DA's (white) leader represents the interests of farmers as agriculture minister. Leon Schreiber, another (white) DA politician, serves as Home Affairs minister. The real danger facing South Africa is not Trump's false and inflammatory accusations. Instead, the greatest risk is that Ramaphosa's new government will fail to achieve the economic transformation that must happen if jobs are to be created and poverty reduced. 'As the unemployed ranks swell, of which a lot of the blame can be laid squarely at the door of the ANC,' says the white farmer from Mpumlanga, 'criminality increases and more and more desperate people resort to desperate measures.' Unless this generation of South African leaders can drag the country out of its malaise, the number of desperate people will grow. And all the time, Malema is waiting in the wings.
