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President Cyril Ramaphosa noted on Monday that ensuring the country's borders are well-managed and well-protected is key to its security and development.

Last week, Ramaphosa launched the new Border Management Authority (BMA), which is tasked with ensuring that the country's immigration laws are enforced, and that the borders are well-protected and ports of entry well-managed.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that the proliferation of cross-border crime, including illicit trade and illegal migration, as a result of porous borders, is a serious threat to national security and the economy that places strain on already stretched resources and public services, and fuels social instability.

South Africa has 53 land ports of entry, 11 international airports and 8 sea ports. The country's land border is over 4 800 km long and is shared with six countries.

The new authority is now the third armed service in South Africa after the South African Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (Saps).

Ramaphosa explained that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that South Africa has become an important transit route for organised criminal networks involved in human trafficking, drugs and small arms smuggling and various other forms of cross-border crime.

"It has also noted that as the economic powerhouse of the region, South Africa continues to attract economic migrants who are undocumented, especially from the Southern African Development Community region," he noted.

He said that maintaining the integrity of the country's borders is key if government is to realise the aspiration of every South African living in peace and harmony.

He added that in recent times anti-foreigner sentiment, resulting in acts of violence and harassment, have been seen.

"As a country, we must condemn without reservation all acts of violence against foreign nationals, regardless of their immigration status, and work together to prevent such acts. At the same time, we must recognise that South Africans are justifiably concerned about illegal migration. Like any sovereign nation, we have the right to guarantee the integrity of our borders and provide that all who reside in our borders have a legal right to be here. Those who have sought refuge in South Africa or wish to live and work here are subject to immigration regulations and must adhere to the country's laws," Ramaphosa stated.

He noted that through the BMA, government will be able to better prevent the illegal importation and exit of goods, curb illegal migration and human smuggling, and combat cross-border crime.

The BMA will take on the work of several other departments and agencies and is already working with the South African Revenue Service, Saps and SANDF to integrate border management functions.

Ramaphosa said the establishment of the BMA is a significant step towards safer communities, better law enforcement and the growth of South Africa's economy through greater trade with other countries.

Former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Thembinkosi Rawula has urged citizens to demand leadership that is accountable and that will be able to economically sustain the country.

Rawula was speaking during the announcement of his taking membership of ActionSA, where he said that the EFF's involvement in the VBS Bank scandal was an indication that there were thieves wearing red overalls in Parliament.

ActionSA Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip on Monday welcomed Rawula to the party and described him as one of the few people in South Africa that had had the courage of his convictions to take on his former leader Julius Malema.

In 2019, Rawula posted on his Facebook profile about alleged corrupt dealings of Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu.

Rawula had alleged that Malema and Shivambu had centralised all party funds and that they had knowingly accepted money from the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank - something the pair had always denied.

Recently, Parliament's Ethics Committee found that Shivambu was guilty of violating the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members' Interests by not declaring funds received through a company owned by his brother and which had ties to VBS.

"The fight about the VBS with the EFF is only now, even though we are not happy with the measures Parliament has taken against Floyd Shivambu, the reality is that there is evidence that they created slush accounts to ensure that they solicit money from VBS - money for the most vulnerable people. They took that money and careless enough, he [Shivambu] had money flow. to his personal account and hence he was found guilty," he said.

He said Malema was "clever enough" to not use his personal account but rather, he claimed, Malema had used the account of a business that was not registered in his name.

"That is why Parliament is unable to catch him, but the point is, at least. that indeed the money from VBS was stolen hence Shivambu is found guilty. I am told their advocate is advising them wrong things. What is [being said] is that the money was a loan, it cannot be a loan. You cannot be loaned by a company that does not [provide] financial services, it can only be a donation and that's what Parliament is saying," Rawula explained.

RESONATING WITH ACTIONSA

Rawula resigned from the EFF in 2019, after successfully defending a defamation case against himself by Malema in the High and Supreme courts.

"I resonated with the ActionSA message; the message had nothing to do with what I was used to in the EFF. Because I come from a political party that touted ideology more than any other thing, but I've come to release that ideology and convictions are no different from religion and tradition, where people choose their ideology or religion and you cannot expect everyone to choose your religion," he said.

ActionSA's message of ensuring there is economic justice in the country resonated with him, he added.

"What I like about ActionSA is that you cannot gloss over from the reality that poverty in South Africa has got a black face, in particular an African face. .the party was willing to stand and take a podium and say economic justice is about redressing the imbalance of the past and ensuring that you redistribute the economy to ensure that you do not have this challenge of inequality and black poverty in the country," he said.

Rawula noted that he also resonated with party leader Herman Mashaba when he called on citizens to fix South Africa.

Meanwhile, Trollip said that the Eastern Cape was an example of a failed political establishment. He said all political parties represented in the legislature in the Eastern Cape and all political parties represented in every municipality in the Eastern Cape must take responsibility because the province comes last in every index.

"All of this bad administration, maladministration, corruption in the Eastern Cape does not take place in a vacuum, it takes place in the confines of a provincial legislature with an executive that should...

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has said that no real and lasting peace in Israel, Palestine and the region is possible in the absence of a "just and comprehensive resolution" of the conflict.

This follows what the department calls a devastating escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Continuing the decades-long conflict, Israel declared war on Hamas, on Saturday, following an attack from Gaza that killed hundreds of Israelis and which has since seen hundreds more of Palestinian deaths in response.

Dirco has reported that South Africa and the international community seek to ensure a "lasting and durable peace that produces a viable, contiguous Palestinian State.

"UN resolutions and international law matter. The international community cannot avoid its duty to act, and together, we must shoulder the responsibility to remove obstacles to peace and any violations of international law," the department said.

Dirco also stressed that urgent attention must be given to resolving the final status issues such as borders, the status of Jerusalem, the release of political prisoners, and the right of return.

Meanwhile, the ruling African national Congress (ANC) has also called for peace in the Gaza Strip and added that on the accounts of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Israel is a "blatant apartheid state" that imposes privilege on Jewish Israelis' and discriminates against Palestinians.

It said South Africa's apartheid history is occupied Palestine's reality.

"As a result, the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli's apartheid regime is unsurprising. The ANC stands with the people of occupied Palestine as it is clear that the degenerating security situation is directly linked to the unlawful Israeli occupation," the party said.

The ANC has also called on the UN resolutions and international law matters to be affirmed and said that the international community can no longer avoid its duty to act.

The party called for peace from both parties and a peace process to enforce the two-state colution based on 1967 borders.

The African National Congress (ANC) has welcomed the establishment of the Border Management Authority (BMA) as a step towards addressing South Africa's concerns about illegal immigration, its impact on the economy and government's ability to create jobs in a manner that is beneficial to South Africans.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday launched the BMA, which he said was a vital link in the country's efforts to harness the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said this development would result in strict border control and the elimination of corruption and illicit trade, including drugs, alcohol and contraband.

Its mandate will include the execution of frontline border law enforcement functions which include port health, food safety, biosecurity, land border infrastructure and risk management, amongst others.

Ramaphosa said that when the country's ports of entry and borders were well-protected and well-managed, government was able to prevent the illegal importation and exit of goods.

"We are able to facilitate lawful trade at a greater scale and more efficiently. This is becoming increasingly important as we work with other countries in our region and elsewhere on the continent to increase intra-African trade," he said.

Ramaphosa noted that a more secure border was important for curbing illegal migration, human smuggling and trafficking. It would help in combating cross-border crime.

BORDER LAW ENFORCEMENT

The BMA is now the third armed service in South Africa after the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service.

Ramaphosa highlighted that the BMA was established in response to a number of serious challenges, such as the increase in the number of undocumented foreign nationals entering the country.

He explained that this had exacerbated many of the country's social and economic problems.

"The movement of persons and goods at ports of entry has often not been as efficient as it should be, resulting in unnecessary delays and increased costs for individuals and companies. This in turn is harming our economy. Deficiencies in border management have also enabled corruption and organised and cross-border crime to thrive. We have faced a problem of fragmentation of powers, responsibility and accountability," he said.

The ANC said the establishment of the BMA was in line with a vision of a world-class, integrated border law enforcement authority for a safe and prosperous South Africa.

Ramaphosa visited the Beit Bridge Border Post with his Zimbabwean counterpart President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and they agreed that the establishment of the BMA would be an important tool for the development of the region.

It will form part of integrating border management activities in the Southern African Development Community, assisting in working towards eradicating various forms of red tape that were hindering trade, investment and the movement of persons.

The BMA will be redeveloping six ports of entry as one-stop border posts.

RISE Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi stated on Friday that as important as economic policy solutions are, it must be recognised that a thriving economy cannot be built without a strong, ethical and capable government.

Speaking during the party's maiden People's Convention in Johannesburg, Zibi explained that unless South Africa has a government that will take care of public money, implement rules of good governance, and fight crime effectively, the economy will not grow and jobs will not be created.

RISE Mzansi is holding its first People's Convention over the weekend to discuss the socio-economic challenges facing the country and how to address them.

RISE Mzansi believes that the country's politics has failed to live up to those values, and, therefore, the party is taking forward the work that it says has been neglected for 30 years.

Zibi said that instead of feeding people who are dying of hunger and depression, government is repaying loans on money that is being "stolen by African National Congress cadres and their friends", including the Guptas.

"And you know what? They are still stealing public money today," he added.

He noted that unemployment is higher than it was twenty years ago. He said there are more unemployed young people today than twenty years ago, and more unemployed graduates today than at any point in the country's history.

He added that nearly half of all children who start school never finish because of poverty, hunger, stunting, drug abuse and other problems.

"We all know our economy does not work for everyone, but we now have even bigger problems than before. We cannot build an economy on broken infrastructure, loadshedding and a failing railway system. We cannot build an economy on dams and reservoirs that have no water in them," said Zibi.

He explained that South Africans cannot start or grow businesses when criminals control the streets and extort money from businesses and also stated that businesses cannot remain open when electricity, water and other government services are so expensive.

He highlighted that the years of corruption, of buying a roll of toilet paper for R100, or a laptop for R1-million, have brought the economy to its knees.

"That stolen money could have built roads and bridges, installed high speed internet in communities, hired more police and paid them more. It could have brought better equipment for our army, hired younger soldiers and paid them fair salaries so they can protect our borders," he said.

Zibi explained that bad governance by bad politicians and corrupt political parties is standing in the way of prosperity and economic justice.

"When we have our discussions over the weekend, we must pay particular focus on governance because it is needed to grow the economy. It is in our collective power to make change happen. There are millions of South Africans waiting for the message we will leave this venue with on Sunday. They want a strong message, and we must go and tell it with confidence," he said.

He said that RISE Mzansi believes that non-racialism will only be realised when South Africa has economic justice, adding this is not just about black people and women owning the productive economy. It is also about spatial planning and investment that works to reverse old spatial patterns that keep black people poor, he added.

Also speaking at RISE Mzansi's event was GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron.

"And, while there is good reason for a degree of pessimism in South Africa in the present moment, I also find room for great hope," he said.

He said that beyond the scar tissue of the fights of the past, a new generation that speaks of justice, of equity, of sustainability and of love in any form and without judgement is rising.

He noted that it is a generation that craves unity and a future that is worth fighting for.

"We have a responsibility to fight their fight for them, and fight it alongside them rather than from above them," he said.

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has been interdicted from placing the University of South Africa (Unisa) under administration.

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria handed down the order on Friday after the Unisa Council's urgent High Court application.

The order comes after Nzimande served a notice of his intention to place the university under administration on Thursday.

On Friday, Nzimande was due to announce his decision on whether he would place Unisa under administration, which was prompted by the findings of an independent assessor's report, which he said reveals financial and other maladministration of a serious nature and undermined the effective functioning of the university.

According to the minister, the report reveals that the appointment of an administrator is in the best interest of Unisa and of higher education in an open and democratic society.

Unisa's Council, however, disagreed. They maintained that the report was fundamentally flawed and its recommendations misplaced. The university has taken the report on legal review to be set aside.

"Until the side of the university is properly heard in a legal review, in a court of law, the university believes that it is premature for the minister to implement the recommendations of the independent assessor. Unisa also believes that the institution of an administration is not necessary and may only serve to harm the university," reads Unisa's statement.

The university said it welcomed the court judgment interdicting Nzimande from placing it under administration.

"Unisa wishes to assure the public that the academic programme of the university remains intact and its finances are healthy. In May 2023, the Council on Higher Education (CHE) issued its institutional audit report that affirms that Unisa's academic programme and quality assurance systems are largely intact and governed according to norms and standards of the sector," Unisa said in a statement.

The university said it hoped its students would be afforded the opportunity to focus on their final examinations, which are currently under way, without any form of anxiety or disturbance.

"The academic programme must be hosted and protected all the time," Unisa said.

Nzimande said his decision on whether to place Unisa under administration was delayed because he was waiting for a response from Unisa's Council, but said nothing of substance happened for more than a month and he accused the council of going about its business as if there was no pending decision to be taken.

Nzimande said there was also a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) which conducted an independent review of Unisa and looked at the issue of "Unisa's mission drift" - which had massive implications for the financial sustainability and future of the university.

He said the MTT was also tasked to make a rigorous assessment of how the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its associative disruptions and shifts will affect many aspects of the academic mission, academic programmes, markets and operating model of Unisa.

Trade union the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) on Thursday urged government to reduce wasteful expenditure at State-owned entities (SOEs) and appoint qualified, experienced and competent professionals to ensure the survival of SOEs and attract investments for the country's economic recovery.

The PSA expressed concern at South Africa's troubled economic conditions, saying the increase in the inflation rate, and fuel and food prices exacerbate the situation.

"In addition, unemployment and crime rates increased drastically over the years. At the same time, tax revenue collection has declined. Service delivery to citizens is suffering whilst the cost of social relief grants has increased. International factors, such as the war in Ukraine and the weak US dollar, also contributed to the dire economic situation," the trade union added.

The PSA noted that one of the interventions required to improve the country's economic situation was a close focus on SOEs.

It explained that instabilities and uncertainties at the entities must be addressed, and urged government to put more emphasis on the effective and professional management of SOEs.

Capital budgets at SOEs have deteriorated and do not make profit, with SOEs no longer being sustainable, said the PSA.

The trade union noted that corruption had depleted government coffers, and capital budgets were looted owing to a lack of monitoring tools and accountability.

"The State Capture Commission made several recommendations, which were not implemented with urgency. Stolen monies must be recovered urgently to improve economic conditions," the PSA urged.

It suggested government review the status of SOEs and reshape them to ensure positive contribution to the economy and said they should be managed to become cost-effective and to provide necessary support to government.

It further noted that bailouts to struggling SOEs must stop and SOEs must sustain themselves and create jobs.

"Government must appoint qualified executives in these entities to ensure proper direction. The investigation into corruption and criminal activities at entities such as Transnet, PRASA, Denel and Eskom, amongst others, must be fast-tracked. There should be constant collaboration with law enforcement agencies to curb corruption. Those found to be on the wrong side of the law must be punished," said the PSA.

Providing security at the recently held Brics summit cost the South African taxpayer R75-million.

According to Police Minister Bheki Cele, more than 5 000 police officers were deployed and 700 vehicles were utilised for the two-day event.

He was responding to a written parliamentary question from Democratic Alliance MP Delmaine Christians, who asked about the cost of policing the summit.

"A total number of 5 234 SA Police Service (Saps) members were deployed during the summit and a total number of 726 Saps vehicles were utilised. An amount of approximately R75 000 000 was spent. There was no additional security with regards to the summit," Cele said.

In a statement, Christians bemoaned the large sum of money spent while ordinary South Africans are faced with murder, rape, robberies and kidnappings due to an underfunded police service.

The details come days after South Africa was ranked seventh in the world out of 193 countries for mafia-style criminal networks and organised crime syndicates by the 2023 Global Organised Crime Index.

Christians said: "It is unacceptable that scarce police resources had to be splurged on a controversial event that is used to drive the agenda of the ANC and not address the best interests of South Africans. Expenditure of the country's policing budget on the summit will not only have little economic benefit for the country but will more likely worsen instability and security issues, given the further expansion of Brics into authoritarian states with a tendency to operate outside the internationally established rule of law."

She said Cele and the ANC government's willingness to forego the protection of ordinary citizens while they "transform the incapacitated and under-resourced police service into a VIP protection service for delegates from countries that include mafia states is a direct indication of the absolute disregard that the ANC has for the safety and protection of South Africans".

Cele's office was requested to comment on the matter but had yet to do so by the time of publication. Comments will be added to this article once received.

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago says there was no political meddling in the central bank's investigation into the stash of dollars stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in early 2020. The cash was stolen from under a cushion on a couch, prompting accusations ranging from money laundering to contravention of foreign exchange controls.

Kganyago told PSG's Think Big webinar on Thursday that the investigation was conducted without fear, favour or prejudice. The SARB governor also mounted a staunch defence of the central bank's inflation-targeting policy, which has resulted in a series of rate hikes that have pushed borrowing costs to a 14-year high.

"Politicians cannot come into the Reserve Bank on any of the matters that we are busy with," Kganyago told host Alishia Seckam. "The investigation that has taken place, that is what every South African would have been subjected to."

The SARB announced on 21 August that its investigators had cleared Ramaphosa and Ntaba Nyoni Estates, the legal entity that owns the president's Phala Phala game farm, of contravening foreign exchange regulations following the sale of buffalo to a Sudanese businessman.

The buyer left $580 000 (R11.3-million) at the farm, though the animals were never delivered, raising questions as to why the money was not declared to authorities in accordance with foreign exchange legislation.

The SARB's Financial Surveillance Department cleared Ramaphosa on the basis that no transaction has been "perfected", prompting accusations of a cover-up. The DA has applied to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for a finding that Ramaphosa did indeed violate exchange controls, a case that may compel the SARB being to release its investigative report.

"My investigators have reached a conclusion. We have got no reason to second-guess them. The report itself has not been released because, by law, we could not release that report. When we are in court, we will ventilate it there. My investigators will file a replying affidavit. The court is the final arbiter about whether the laws have been interpreted correctly or not," Kganyago said.

Interest rate pain

Kganyago, who has been the central bank governor since November 2014, also defended the SARB's policy of using interest rates as a tool to maintain inflation within a target band of 3% and 6%.

The SARB has hiked its benchmark lending rate by 4.75 percentage points to 8.25% since it began tightening monetary policy in November 2021, prompting criticism in some quarters that it was hurting consumers and the economy.

"If anybody wants to change the mandate of the Reserve Bank, they would have to change the constitution," said Kganyago. "None of the political parties came to engage us and said that 'we think your independence must go'. But even if they were to come and say, 'your independence must go,' we will tell them go change the Constitution."

Kganyago argued it was inflation that eroded consumers' disposable income rather than higher interest rates, adding that it was the poor who suffered most from rising prices. Asked whether the SARB's 3% to 6% inflation target was appropriate for SA, he said no country could grow sustainably with high inflation, specifically mentioning Zimbabwe, Turkey, Angola and Ghana.

"Any development strategy that does not promote price stability is by definition anti-poor because the poor feel the ravages of inflation more than any other income group, Kganyago said. If anybody tells us we must stop paying attention to inflation, they are telling us we must stop paying attention to the poor."

On the rand the governor said it was futile to try and protect the currency from depreciation, adding that the SARB only watched the exchange rate to the extent that it influenced inflation, and was not a variable the Bank controls.

Asked about proposals to launch a common BRICS currency, Kganyago such an initiative would require a common central bank, a common fiscal poli...

Former president Jacob Zuma and the Jacob Zuma Foundation have approached the courts to review and set aside the "inexplicable" appointment of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

The foundation announced late on Tuesday night that it had launched an application against President Cyril Ramaphosa in a bid to have his conduct in appointing Zondo declared unconstitutional and to have the appointment process reviewed.

However, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution's Dan Mafora does not believe there are any grounds for Zuma's claims.

Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi said in a statement: "According to publicly available evidence, the current chief justice scored the lowest number of votes from the JSC (Judicial Service Commission) following the week-long interviews. Yet Mr Ramaphosa allegedly acted irrationally in ignoring the advice of the JSC and appointing him despite being effectively declared as unsuitable for the position and the poor showing he made at the public interview."

Mafora explained that the appointment of a chief justice is a discretionary power of the president and that the JSC only plays an advisory role in the process.

He said the claim that Zondo had a low score and therefore should not have been appointed was "completely confused", as there was no legal basis for the JSC to even have scored candidates in this way.

"It's a very strange decision that the foundation has taken, and it's particularly curious that it was taken with Zondo well into his second term and close to retirement," Mafora said.

He believes the litigation is a "deliberate attempt to undermine confidence" in the chief justice and the courts in general.

"It is a hopeless case. The foundation and its lawyers know it is a hopeless case. It's political theatre aimed at cultivating a lack of confidence in courts and leadership of the courts," Mafora said.

The Jacob Zuma Foundation expects Ramaphosa and the JSC to provide the record of proceedings and deliberations during the appointment process.

"[Ramaphosa] will be called upon to dispel the allegations or suspicions that Zondo was unduly rewarded for absolving Ramaphosa for his role in the Bosasa/CR17 scandal, among other things, in the so-called state capture commission report," said Manyi.

"He must also explain why he overlooked a woman candidate when she had, in any event, received the highest votes. Such conduct is in breach of the equality clause (Section 9 of the Constitution) and Section 174(2) of the Constitution, both of which prohibit gender discrimination."

JSC spokesperson Advocate Sesi Baloyi declined to comment.

The Presidency had not responded at the time of publication. Its comment will be added when received.

Ramaphosa appointed Zondo as the chief justice in March 2022, after the JSC recommended Judge Mandisa Maya for the position.

At the time, the Presidency said the decision followed "consultation with the JSC and leaders of parties in the National Assembly on the four nominees for appointment as chief justice".

Zondo was shortlisted with judges Maya, Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Dunston Mlambo.

Zondo's interview descended into a screaming match between Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema.

The JSC was widely criticised for recommending Maya, with several commentators pointing out that the president was not constitutionally obliged to follow this recommendation.

News24 previously reported that some felt the JSC had overstepped its constitutional responsibilities by making a recommendation instead of simply evaluating the candidates selected by Ramaphosa and providing their input to him.

The organisation is just one of several structures the president consults in the selection process.

Ramaphosa's engagements also included those with leaders of political parties in the National Assembly.

Professor Helen Kruuse of Rhodes University said the process followed by the president was more than what the law req...