Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Wednesday the publication of the final White Paper On Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection.

Motsoaledi was briefing the media on the publication and explained that the Final White Paper is a product of robust engagements.

Last week the cabinet passed the paper after public comments.

In November, the department published the White Paper On Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection towards a complete overhaul of the migration system in South Africa for public comments.

Written submissions were meant to reach the Department of Home Affairs on or before January 31.

Motsoaledi explained that public hearings were conducted in all nine province, highlighting that the outcome of the engagements and public comments is that the policy position adopted in the white paper enjoyed wide support.

He noted that only a handful of public interest group are opposed to selected policy positions, such as the withdrawal of 1951 refugee convention, the 1967 protocol - UN protocols - and acceding to them with reservations proposed repeal of Section 4.3 of the South Africa citizenship Act.

"…and the first safe country principle. This are the things that people objected to," he explained.

He said the department carefully considered all the oral and written submissions and highlighted that public comments to the paper reaffirmed an urgent need to adopt effective policy measures and legislative interventions, dealing with migration in the country.

He said that South Africa has different pieces of legislations dealing with citizenship, migration and refugee protection, noting the Citizenship Act which was passed in 1995, the Immigration Act passed in 2002 and the Refugee Act passed in 1998.

Motsoaledi noted that the paper proposed that government of South Africa must review or withdraw from the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol with a view to accede to them with reservation, like many other countries did.

He explained that government only intended to exercise its rights granted in article 42 of the 1951 convention and article 7 of the 1967 protocol and make reservations accordingly.

He previously said South Africa had to correct its "mistake" when it adopted the UN protocols without reservations in place. Those opposed to the move warned that this could mean migrants would be stripped of certain rights.

Motsoaledi said the refugee protection and immigration legislation must provide for reservations and exceptions as contained in the 1951 convention and 1961 convention.

"…particularly in that South Africa does not have the resources to grant all the socio economic rights envisaged in the 1951 convention. Remember these rights were developed for all the countries - rich and poor - and there will be those countries, which will find there won't be a problem, but others will," he said.

The Labour Party of South Africa on Tuesday noted that owing to Electoral Court delays in its case to reopen the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC's) online portal, the party will now be launching an application to the Constitutional Court seeking to set aside the electoral timetable and postpone the elections scheduled for May 29.

On Monday, the Electoral Court handed down judgment in the Labour Party's application to reopen the IEC online portal, which the party said was unstable during the uploading period during which parties were asked to submit the required documents needed to contest the elections.

Parties had until 17:00 on March 8 to ensure all documents were submitted.

In March, the Labour Party asked the Supreme Court of Appeal to ensure that its application to the Electoral Court was set down as soon as possible, raising concerns that delays in the matter being heard would threaten the freeness and fairness of the 2024 national and provincial elections.

"The judgment which was handed down more than a month after the urgent application was filed, dismissed the case of the Labour Party with no order as to costs," said Labour Party secretary Krister Janse van Rensburg.

He explained that the judgment contained a minority dissent of some of the judges on the panel who agreed with most, if not all, of the Labour Party's arguments.

After meeting with its legal team and considering the Electoral Court's judgment and the minority dissent, the Labour Party made the call that the relief that was initially sought has effectively become moot.

Van Rensburg explained that a draft notice of motion outlining the gist of the case has been served on the IEC as a courtesy.

"As this matter is currently sub judice, and we are still busy drafting our court papers, we will reserve comment on the finer details of our case," he said.

The party is confident that the ConCourt will see the "prejudice to be suffered" if political parties are excluded from participating in what is being called a critical election.

"Put simply, these elections will most definitely not be free and fair if the IEC is left to bar new parties when it itself admits serious shortcomings in an untested and glitchy online portal," he added.

Van Rensburg said that even more compelling is the serious prejudice caused to the Labour Party, other new parties and the voters by the IEC and the Electoral Court dragging their feet for more than a month to pronounce on Labour Party's case.

"It is a clear travesty of justice, and we are of the firm belief that the ConCourt will not allow this situation to prevail," Van Rensburg said.

South Africa's headline consumer inflation fell to 5.3% year on year in March from 5.6% in February, statistics agency data showed on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would slow to 5.4% in annual terms.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) kept its main interest rate unchanged at 8.25% last month, saying its policy stance needed to remain restrictive to tackle higher inflation expectations.

It expects headline inflation to reach the midpoint of its target range of 4.5% only near the end of 2025.

SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago told Reuters earlier in April that South African policymakers were in discussions to lower the bank's current inflation target range of between 3% and 6% to bring it more in line with peers.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation was at 0.8% in March compared to 1.0% a month before, Statistics South Africa said.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the political landscape after the May elections, the Public Servants Association (PSA) has advised President Cyril Ramaphosa to delay the signing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.

The NHI Bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces in late 2023, and sent to Ramaphosa to be signed into law.

Government has stood firm in its support for the Bill, despite warnings that it undermines universal healthcare instead of advancing its progress.

The Bill has been sharply criticised by doctors, health facility providers and health insurance companies.

The PSA said it was extremely concerned about the implications of proposed tax hikes to fund the NHI scheme, pointing out that South Africans are not able to bear such a financial burden, particularly during the current economic climate.

The PSA said government's plan to increase value-added tax and income tax to offset the NHI deficit was alarming, and it was urging government to instead address fiscal inefficiencies, including fruitless expenditure and corruption.

The PSA said the funding model presented by the Department of Health lacked sustainability, saying it disproportionately burdened the poor who were already struggling to make ends meet with a high cost of living, constant increases in petrol prices and high interest rates.

"In addition, salary increases have consistently lagged behind inflation rates, exacerbating the financial strain on households," PSA added.

The association believes that the proposed tax hikes are likely to be insufficient to cover the costs of the NHI, and that it will also place additional strain on consumers, further diminishing their purchasing power and exacerbating financial hardships.

Previous estimates suggested that government would need nearly R200-billion a year to sustain the NHI.

With persistent economic challenges, the PSA again stressed that citizens would undoubtedly bear the brunt of the financial burden and that this would perpetuate financial constraints on households and deepen socio-economic inequalities.

The association advised government to prioritise job creation to bolster revenue streams and alleviate the pressure on taxpayers.

The PSA said any funds acquired through corrupt means must be recovered and redirected towards supporting the NHI. It also tasked government with streamlining Cabinet and reducing unnecessary expenditure.

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) Fiscal Transparency Evaluation Report has placed South Africa in the top three countries in terms of transparent fiscal practices, which National Treasury has welcomed.

In July 2023, the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) undertook a Fiscal Transparency Evaluation, at the request of National Treasury. Interviews were conducted with Treasury senior staff, government ministries, parliamentary committees, the Reserve Bank, civil society organisations, development partners, and Eskom.

"South Africa has many elements of sound fiscal transparency practices. Based on an assessment of fiscal transparency practices against the IMF's Fiscal Transparency Code, South Africa's practices are strongest in fiscal reporting, followed by fiscal forecasting and budgeting, and weakest in fiscal risk analysis. There is room to improve South Africa's fiscal reporting, budget transparency and management of fiscal risks," the IMF report said.

Treasury noted the need to improve in specific areas and said work in these was in progress.

The IMF suggested that South Africa could improve its fiscal reporting by including other spheres of the public sector, strengthening tax expenditure disclosure, and improving adherence to audit timelines for published financial statements, all of which will align with international best practices.

Further, it urged South Africa to implement precise, time-bound and stable fiscal rules, and to enhance analysis of risks in the fiscal risk statement, regularly publish public-private partnership financial data, consolidate transfers to State-owned companies to show fiscal impact and set limits on government guarantees.

"Work is underway on all these areas. Government is committed to addressing these areas to enhance fiscal credibility and ensure continued transparency and accountability in the management of public finances," Treasury said.

Download the report here

Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) CEO Sy Mamabolo said on Tuesday that there is no basis for IEC Commissioner Janet Love to step down from her position, as there is no substantive evidence establishing misconduct on her side.

Mamabolo was giving a media briefing on the key aspects of the election timetable.

Last week, former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party called for Love's immediate resignation, warning that should she fail to resign in seven days, the party would pursue "all available avenues" to remove her, including approaching the courts.

"Janet Love, in an unprecedented move publicly declared nationally that President Zuma would not be eligible and couldn't be included in the MK Party's Parliamentary candidate list," the party noted.

The party accused Love of being "highly vested" in the outcomes of the May 29 elections, saying she cannot be trusted.

The MK Party justified its call for Love's removal by noting her "obnoxious behaviour" in January, before a public objection was lodged regarding the eligibility of Zuma to participate in the Parliamentary elections.

Mamabolo said the commission wants clarity in its case, in which the recent Electoral Court judgment saw Zuma win his appeal against the IEC's decision to exclude him from being able to stand as an MK Party parliamentary candidate.

The IEC has approached the Constitutional Court to appeal the Electoral Court's judgment on this matter.

"With respect to the Constitutional Court appeal, it is preferable to lodge an appeal when you have reasons because then you can follow the reasoning of the court against which whose orders you are appealing. But when an appeal is lodged, it is lodged against the orders of court not against the judgment and we have orders in this case, and on the basis of those orders we think that there is a need for clarity on a number of issues," said Mamabolo.

He said questions had to be answered for the sake of clarity for everybody in respect of the immediate case, but also in respect of future elections.

He also noted that the commission was concerned about the safety of people and the safety of property during elections. He explained that an election should never be an opportunity for people to lose lives nor an opportunity for people's properties to be lost.

"…it is rather an opportunity for the voter to record their political choices in an election that is arranged in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the law. The security agencies in the country are responsible to secure all of us," he said.

ELECTION PREPARATIONS

Meanwhile, he said last week the Commission issued certificates to the 14 892 candidates who will contest 887 seats in the forthcoming elections.

Nominations of candidates closed on March 8 and following verification processes and objections 70 political parties, and 11 independent candidates were published as final contestants in the upcoming May 29 elections.

He explained that the list of candidates reflected that 58.14%, or 8 658, were male, with female candidates at 41.86%, or 6 234.

Candidates in the age category 40 to 49 are the majority at 4 361, followed by the 3 708 in the 50 to 59 age category and the 3 406 in the 30 to 39 age group.

"Notably, there are 15 candidates who at 18 years are also first-time voters. Of the 15, nine are female and six are male. These candidates are spread across eight political parties," he said.

Mamabolo explained that voters who would be away from their voting districts on election day, may give a Section 24A notice of their intention to vote at another identified voting station by no later than May 17.

He reminded voters that they may only vote at a voting station at which they are registered.

Nigeria's creaking grid collapsed for the fifth time this year in the early hours of Monday, highlighting the country's inability to provide reliable power after raising tariffs for wealthier consumers by 230% only two weeks ago.

Nigeria's electricity regulator on April 3 approved an increase in tariffs for the 15% of consumers who use the most power, as the government tries to reduce the $2.6-billion worth of subsidies for the sector.

The head of the Nigerian electricity regulator, Musiliu Oseni, defended the tariff increase saying it will mean an end to grid collapses and bring investment into the sector.

National supply data showed the supply of power via the grid fell to around 50MW early on Monday from 4 020MW the previous day.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, which oversees the grid, has not yet issued a statement on the cause of the latest near complete halt to the supply of power via the grid and did not immediately reply to an inquiry by Reuters.

Gas shortages and vandalism have triggered grid collapses in the past.

The new rate raises the tariff to 225 naira per kilowatt hour from a maximum of 68 naira for about 15% of customers, who will enjoy a maximum of 20 hours of supply daily.

Some analysts have criticised the tariff increase because it pushes more power to wealthier consumers from the meagre 4 000MW available for distribution to over 200 million Nigerians from the grid.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, faces perennial power shortages that have contributed to years of weak economic growth.

Its electricity sector faces a myriad of problems, including a failing grid, gas shortages, high debt and vandalism. The country has 12 500 megawatts of installed capacity, but produces only about a quarter of that, leaving many Nigerians reliant on expensive diesel-powered generators.

South Africa's health regulator said on Saturday it is recalling batches of Johnson & Johnson's children's cough syrup after detection of high levels of diethylene glycol.

The affected batches were sold in South Africa, Eswatini, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, the statement added.

The recall follows a report by the regulator's Nigerian counterpart on Wednesday, which first detected the toxin in a batch of Benylin Paediatric Syrup.

Kenya and Nigeria have already issued recalls for the same syrup, which is used in the treatment of hay fever and other allergic conditions affecting the upper respiratory tract.

Kenvue, which now owns the Benylin brand after a spin-off from J&J last year, said in a statement that it is conducting its own assessment and working with health authorities to determine a course of action.

"A review of our global safety database for the period between product release in May 2021 and up to 11 April 2024 did not identify any serious adverse events for any batch of Benylin Paediatric Syrup," it said.

High levels of diethylene glycol in cough syrup has been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022 in one of the world's worst waves of poisoning from oral medication.

The African National Congress (ANC) is confident, ahead of the May 29 elections, of an outright win and has not spent time discussing a coalition strategy, nor is it concerned about its former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.

This was according to ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri who spoke exclusively with Polity on Monday, to unpack the party's manifesto and policies set out within.

Recent polling has put the ANC's electoral support at below 50% in this election, which, if proven true, would mean the party would have to enter into a coalition to form a government. However, Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC was aiming for an outright majority.

While other parties had been in coalition talks and had even expressed interest in a coalition with the ANC, she said the ruling party was focussing on its own campaign for an outright win.

"Our ground is seriously energised. It's almost as if its 1994. We are not thinking of other parties, we are focussing on the message of the ANC," she said.

And despite the controversy surrounding Zuma's MK Party, this issue is not top of mind for the ANC.

When asked about whether the ANC was concerned about the former ANC President's MK Party in the election fray, Bhengu-Motsiri stressed that Zuma was suspended as an ANC member.

"There's no worry about the MK Party. The 29th of May will be the defining moment and we are looking forward to that," she said.

CADRE DEPLOYMENT AND CORRUPTION

Bhengu-Motsiri noted that while the ANC may have had or currently has corrupt members, the party itself was not corrupt.

She punted the party's renewal programme as a way to improve the way the party connects with South Africans.

Priorities included "…to go back to what our founding fathers, including Nelson Mandela and countless others have left us, and the directives they have left us with, making sure that all of those things are attended to and one of those is addressing the demon of corruption and clarifying that the ANC is not a corruption organisation. We may have had, we may have, members that are corrupt but it is not the ANC that is practising corruption," she said.

And to underscore that fact, she said the party had embarked on several actions to emphasise its renewal agenda, one of which was the party's integrity commission, which was able to enforce the step-aside policy if an ANC member was convicted of wrongdoing.

"Those are interventions by the ANC to make sure corruption is being dealt with. We are modernising the work we are doing to ensure that ethics and integrity management is upheld in the organisation," Bhengu-Motsiri assured.

She noted that the party would continue with its cadre deployment policy, but stated that it would be improved upon.

She pointed out that cadre deployment was practised across the world and was not unique to South Africa.

"Once people have given you the mandate to govern by voting for you, surely it is not expected that you go in there blind [sided] without the human capital that understands the policies of the party that has been voted in. So we don't see anything untoward about our cadre deployment policy, we will continue to practise it and we will improve it…," she said.

Discussing how the party would keep its proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) safe from corruption, she said she did not understand the narrative that it would attract corruption.

She accused opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance (DA), of being ideologically opposed to the NHI and not for reasons relating to corruption.

"[The NHI] will not attract corruption because it enjoys huge support from the people of South Africa that are going to be impacted positively by this policy. I don't understand where the idea of corruption comes from. [The DA] are opposed to it on the basis of the fact that they don't think that the poorest of the poor and those currently not covered by health policies deserve to have that access," she stated.

ENERGY

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The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party on Friday called for the immediate resignation of Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) commissioner Janet Love, warning that should she fail to resign in the next 7 days, the party will pursue "all available avenues" to remove her, including approach the courts.

The party accused Love of being "highly vested" in the outcomes of the May 29 elections, saying she cannot be trusted.

The MK Party said the Electoral Court's judgment, which saw former President Jacob Zuma win his appeal against the IEC's decision to exclude him from being able to stand as an MK Party parliamentary candidate, underscored a defeat against President Cyril Ramaphosa's African National Congress and "all its treacherous allies".

The party said it also showed Love's "prejudicial conduct" as commissioner.

The IEC has since approached the Constitutional Court to appeal the Electoral Court's judgment.

The MK Party justified its call for Love's removal by noting her "obnoxious behaviour" in January, before an objection was lodged regarding the eligibility of Zuma to participate in the Parliamentary elections.

"Janet Love, in an unprecedented move publicly declared nationally that President Zuma would not be eligible and couldn't be included in the MK Party's Parliamentary candidate list," the party noted.

The party said that this pronouncement was not only premature and unwarranted, but that it was also in direct violation of the rules which stipulated that such declarations could only be made following an official objection.

The MK Party pointed out that at the time of Love's statement, no objection had been filed, which the party said made her actions irregular and prejudicial.

"What made things worse is that, even after the obviously orchestrated objection which was launched by a member of the ANC, she still presided within the committee responsible for deciding on President Zuma's eligibility, instead of recusing herself. Despite the clear conflict of interest," the party explained.

The MK Party added that this "rogue of arrogance", has clearly undermined the credibility of the IEC and its capacity to administer free and fair elections, which the party said could not afford to harbour any sense of bias and should be beyond reproach.