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The South African government maintains that diplomacy and dialogue is the only path to resolving the bloody war between Russia and Ukraine.

A year after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, South Africa has not shifted its position on the invasion and has maintained a neutral stance on the matter.

Responding to the UN General Assembly vote on Thursday demanding that Russia pull its troops out of Ukraine, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said South Africa continued to express its deep regrets about the war in Ukraine.

In a statement, Dirco said the war continued to destroy innocent lives and critical infrastructure, as well as displacing millions.

"This is a war whose impact has resonated across the globe, affecting the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and heightening the current debilitating global food, fuel, and finance crisis. South Africa wishes to stress its unwavering belief in the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter. We believe that sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states should be sacrosanct, and this also applies to Ukraine," it said.

Dirco added that urgent action was needed to end the war.

"However, it is a sad indictment of our efforts that we as the international community have been unable to come up with concrete proposals to create the conditions to do so. As South Africa has stated before in this Assembly, diplomacy and dialogue is the only path that will lead to a sustainable and peaceful resolution of the conflict."

In October, South Africa was one of 35 countries that abstained from a vote condemning Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territories.

At the time, members of the UN General Assembly voted against the annexation of partially occupied territories in Ukraine, including the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

North Korea, Belarus, Syria, Nicaragua and Russia itself were the only countries that voted against the resolution. It was passed after 143 countries voted in its favour.

"This resolution on the war in Ukraine, comes amidst an influx of arms to the region, perpetuating greater acts of violence and increased human suffering. This, together with the threat of nuclear war makes peace seem less attainable. Over the last year, the UN General Assembly has adopted a series of resolutions on Ukraine," Dirco said.

"As we have asked the Assembly before, are our words and actions focused on the maintenance of peace OR creating further divisions that make the attainment of immediate peace less likely?"

Dirco said that while it supported the current resolution's focus on the principles of the charter and international law, "it sadly brings us no closer to laying the foundations for durable peace and bringing an end to the devastation and destruction".

A firm unequivocal commitment to peace, from all parties was needed, it added.

"A resolution calling for peace without firm action will ring hollow."

The African National Congress (ANC) has threatened to file criminal charges against former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter if he doesn't report his allegations of corruption at the power utility, backed with evidence, to law enforcement agencies in seven days.

The party said De Ruyter was bound by law because of his former position as the head of the power utility to report acts of corruption.

The ANC is still reeling from De Ruyter's accusations that corrupt acts were conducted at Eskom, in which he also implied that Cabinet ministers were involved.

Since De Ruyter's revelations, the party's senior leaders criticised him for most of last week. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele labelled him as a "failure and right-wing".

The ANC was still angered by the comments made by De Ruyter during a television interview on Tuesday, with the party saying on Sunday that it was in consultation with its lawyers about De Ruyter's comments.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said on Sunday that the party reiterated its call for De Ruyter to lay criminal charges, supported by verifiable evidence, about the corruption he alleged took place at the power utility.

She said an active criminal case would allow law enforcement agencies to act by probing and possibly prosecuting any ANC member or public representative who may have been involved in the corruption activity.

"We draw attention to the provisions of Section 34 of the Prevention and Combating Corrupt Activities Act, 2004, which make it illegal for any person in authority not to report an act or information or corruption and criminality.

"To date, the ANC is unaware of any action taken by Mr De Ruyter in this respect. The ANC urges Mr De Ruyter to fulfil his constitutional and legal obligations to officially report to the police any act of criminality and illegality he is aware of within the next seven days," Bhengu-Motsiri said.

The party has threatened to file charges against De Ruyter for contravening Section 34 if the seven days lapse without a case being opened.

De Ruyter left Eskom last week following his television interview. The interview angered the Eskom board, who accused De Ruyter of bringing the organisation into disrepute.

His notice was terminated immediately from Wednesday.

De Ruyter was set to leave the company at the end of March, following his resignation in December last year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the country’s greylisting is an opportunity to tighten controls and improve the response to organised crime.

Last week, South Africa was put on a ‘greylist’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for falling short of certain international standards for the combating of money laundering and other serious financial crimes.

The move puts South Africa in the company of countries such as Syria, Haiti, Yemen and Mozambique.

In his weekly letter to the nation Ramaphosa wrote that the development strengthened South Africa in its ability to effectively fight such crimes.

He said the listing of South Africa as a jurisdiction under increased monitoring had caused much concern about the state of the country’s financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and investment environment.

He said, however, that while the situation was concerning it was less dire than some people suggested.

Ramaphosa noted that the strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF did not relate directly to the country’s financial sector, meaning financial stability and costs of doing business with South Africa will not be seriously impacted by the greylisting.

He highlighted that partnerships between government and the financial sector had played a valuable role in efforts to address serious economic crimes.

“The South Africa Anti-Money Laundering Integrated Task Force was set up in 2019 as a partnership between the banking sector and government regulatory authorities. Between the beginning of 2020 and the end of March 2022 successful interventions by the Task Force led to the preservation of criminal assets worth R86-million,” he said.

Ramaphosa noted that, like all countries, South Africa was dealing with globalised crime and criminal syndicates. The challenge facing authorities was to anticipate criminal innovation and to respond swiftly and effectively, he said.

He said South Africa welcomed the intensified monitoring by the FATF and had a focused action plan in place to address the remaining deficiencies identified.

He noted that South Africa’s action plan to address these deficiencies was aligned with the work government was doing to implement the recommendations of the State Capture Commission as outlined in its submission to Parliament in October last year.

LEGISLATIVE REFORMS

He said South Africa had come a long way with developing world-class expertise, legislative reform and strengthening State institutions to combat complex financial crimes, despite deliberate attempts to erode the State’s ability to detect, investigate and prosecute such crimes during the State capture era.

Ramaphosa highlighted that government had restored credibility to key institutions such as the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to enable them to fulfil their respective mandates.

“We have bolstered the powers of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) by establishing a Special Tribunal to recover public funds stolen through corruption and fraud, and an Investigative Directorate in the NPA to investigate serious corruption,” he said.

Ramaphosa noted that one of the country’s most effective tools for combating money laundering and other financial crimes is the multidisciplinary Fusion Centre, established in 2020.

The Fusion Centre brings together bodies such as the NPA, SIU, Sars, the Hawks, Crime Intelligence, the State Security Agency and the Financial Intelligence Centre. Since its inception the work of the Fusion Centre has led to the preservation and recovery of about R1.75-billion in criminal assets.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter "must not throw a stone in a bush and hope an animal will come out" - he must name the politicians he claimed were corrupt.

Mantashe was briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on mineral resources and energy on Friday. He was asked by MPs to respond to the claims by De Ruyter in a recent interview, in which it was alleged that "a top politician" was involved in corruption at Eskom.

De Ruyter also claimed that when informed, the government did nothing about the corruption at Eskom and that the company was a feeding trough for the ANC.

"All we need from our side is that he must not throw a stone in the bush. He must say Minister X has said this; Minister Y has asked for a cut and said and done this. That is all we want from our side because this thing of throwing a stone in the bush and hoping an animal will come running out [is wrong], he said.

Mantashe also criticised De Ruyter for allowing Eskom to lose "market share" by allowing the performance of the coal-powered power stations to decline at a time when independent power producers also entered the market.

"Any CEO must be worried about losing market share and therefore look after the current generation capacity at his disposal. If you don't look after those, you will not retain market share," he said.

Mantashe said he was looking forward to the appointment of an electricity minister who would be responsible for ending loadshedding.

"There are six power stations with an energy availability factor [EAF] of less than 50%. In that process, we lose above 7 000MW. So if we want to deal with loadshedding, there must be an emphasis on optimising the power stations that are available and connected to the grid," he said.

While "renewable energy lobbyists" claimed that additional renewable energy would end loadshedding, this was a "myth" as new projects have a lead time of 12 to 18 months or more.

"If you want to deal with loadshedding, then it is not renewable energy that can do it."

The electricity minister will focus on Eskom accelerating optimal performance; accelerate the procurement of emergency energy; ensure that SA is able to import electricity from neighbouring countries, and put a greater focus on acquiring skills for Eskom.

Asked about the likelihood of contracting a power ship to supply emergency power, Mantashe said the fact that Karpowership had not yet gained environmental approval was "a different department's responsibility".

"We approved them because we thought they could help. People said they are expensive, but at R2.70 a unit, there is nothing expensive about that. If you reduce the length of the contract to 10 years, then it is equal to R1,34 a unit and there is nothing expensive about that."

Business is urging government and the appropriate State agencies to urgently investigate and take action regarding Eskom corruption, following the recent allegations made by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) said the allegations bought into serious doubt the ability of Eskom to appropriately manage its resources, including substantial additional resources allocated in the recent Budget.

In a television interview this week, De Ruyter raised serious allegations against an unnamed senior African National Congress (ANC) politician.

“We acknowledge that the allegations of corruption made by Andre de Ruyter remain unproven, however, we take these allegations extremely seriously, particularly because of allegations that ministers and advisers in the Presidency knew about the continued high levels of corruption and apparently did nothing about it,” both entities said.

Busa CEO Cas Coovadia and BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso pointed out that if De Ruyter’s allegations were proven to be true it would be extremely damaging to Eskom and to the efforts to address the energy crisis.

Following the airing of the interview, Eskom announced on Wednesday that De Ruyter would leave the utility with immediate effect.

De Ruyter resigned in December, after three years at the helm. His last day was set to be March 31. Eskom chief financial officer Calib Cassim has been appointed as interim CEO.

Business wants all major procurement contracts, including those related to the $8.5-billion climate change fund, to be transparent to assure the public that proper processes and structures are in place to prevent any corruption and to ensure accountability.

Business also condemned attacks by prominent politicians on De Ruyter after his interview, and said the reactions to his allegations added credence to accusations that whistleblowers were often treated as criminals.

“We will not comment on reactions from political parties but urge government to act responsibly and give our country the confidence that they will address the allegations speedily and responsibly. This is particularly important in the midst of the energy crisis we currently have and the centrality of Eskom in that,” it said.

ENERGY ACTION PLAN

Business highlighted that as serious as these developments were, government and business must continue to work together to implement the Energy Action Plan as soon as possible.

“Business is committed to continue working with government to ensure urgent implementation of the plan and recognises that Eskom is a critical element of this plan. We also urge that a critical part of the Energy Action Plan must be to instill an appropriate culture in Eskom with values of honesty, integrity, excellence, ethics and accountability,” Busa and the BLSA said.

South Africa has been greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that sets global standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The move puts South Africa in the company of countries such as Syria, Haiti, Yemen and Mozambique.

The watchdog's decision signals to global banks, financial institutions and investors that the country is not fully compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing standards.

The FAFT took the decision during a meeting this week in Paris. In a statement on Friday afternoon, the group said that Nigeria and South Africa have been added to the grey list.

It said that in recent months, South Africa has made significant progress on many of its recommended actions to improve its system.

But more work is needed to increase investigations and prosecutions of money laundering, as well as the seizure of assets due to crimes. Eight areas of improvement were identified.

Friday's decision was not unexpected. Delivering the Budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said SA should be "prepared for the possibility" of greylisting.

In response to the announcement on Friday, Godongwana said South Africa would work to "swiftly and effectively address all outstanding deficiencies and strengthen the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime".

Godongwana said Cabinet has considered the action plan put forward by the FATF and had committed to actively work with the watchdog.

"Government recognises that addressing the action items will be in the interest of South Africa, and that doing so is consistent with our existing commitment to rebuild the institutions that were weakened during the period of state capture, the effectiveness of which is essential to addressing crime and corruption," he said in a statement.

More due diligence, higher costs

Greylisting is expected to hike the cost of doing business in South Africa by increasing the amount of due diligence companies have to carry out.

South Africans may also find sending funds offshore and transacting with international banks more onerous.

Greylisting has also historically also led to a decline in foreign investment. A report by research firm Intellidex noted last year that capital flows, foreign direct investment and portfolio inflows all tended to decline after a country was greylisted.

On Friday, Intellidex Managing Director Peter Attard Montalto said in a note that while the decision was expected, it was still "deeply unfortunate".

For SA to be quickly removed from the list, there would need to be a "step up in effort from the whole of government led from the very top," particularly around the criminal justice sector.

"We see limited market and growth impacts short run but this will grow over time if foreign banks think SA will be stuck on the list," he said.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter "was economical with the truth" in his comments about corruption at Eskom in a recent interview.

The interview, which was screened on eNCA on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, led to De Ruyter's immediate departure from Eskom at the board's request.

Answering questions from MPs in Parliament on Thursday on the Budget, Godogwana said, "The [former] CEO of Eskom was economical with the truth because when he raised the issue of corruption at Eskom, particularly in Mpumalanga, an investigation was done, and indeed some syndicates were operating, which also included police. The government set up a task team and moved into Megawatt Park and arrested a number of people. So, I find it difficult to accept his statement [that nothing was done]."

Godongwana also briefed MPs on the debt solution for Eskom. The bailout will see the Treasury take over R254-billion in debt repayments and interest costs for the next three years and take over R70-billion of loan debt. The bailout will take the form of an interest-free loan with conditions attached.

"We have appointed an independent team to assess Eskom to give us a better understanding and to say exactly what conditions to attach to the loan. We will get to the bottom of the issues," he said.

The independent consortium of consultants will be led by Vgbe Energy and includes several global engineering consulting firms. Vgbe has previously worked with Eskom.

Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Finance Dion George has criticised Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget speech as a “missed opportunity” for failing to announce sound structural reforms that could drive economic growth, incentivise savings and attract foreign capital.

Godongwana’s much-anticipated speech comes as South Africans are frustrated with ongoing loadshedding that is negatively impacting on businesses and ordinary people.

Currently the country is at stage 6 with a possibility of changing to stage 8 loadshedding as Eskom battles to keep the lights on.

George said the Budget completely ignored the country's mounting debt problem, and it offered no solution to revitalise State-owned enterprises or address the energy crisis.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) welcomed the budget, which it said confirmed decisions taken by the party in its 55th National Conference, and NEC Lekgotla, as well as the recent State of the Nation Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The ANC believes that the Budget responds to the immediate and long-term challenges confronting South Africa, including the current energy challenge.

ActionSA has welcomed Godongwana's commitment to introduce tax credits for private solar panel installations and to take over Eskom’s R254-billion debt to stabilise operations at the utility.

However, the party is concerned that fundamental reforms to ignite long-term economic growth are missing.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said that while there were some positive budgetary allocations, it was depressing to note that the budget continued along the same “neo-liberal trajectory” that had led to the current crisis.

Cosatu said the Budget did not provide hope of a decisive set of bold interventions that would jolt the economy from a projected growth of 0.9% in 2023, 1.5% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025. However, it applauded the work done by workers at the South African Revenue Services.

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union said the Budget had yet again failed to address the many financial challenges faced by the country’s municipalities and added that the financial collapse of municipalities could largely be attributed to the failure by National Treasury to prioritise municipalities based on their financial need.

Meanwhile, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union said for Treasury to pretend that the collective bargaining dispute of the 2022/23 financial year did not exist and to merely state that “this Budget provides for the carry-through costs of the 2022/23 wage increase” is disingenuous and provocative.

Sakeliga chief executive officer Piet le Roux said the most remarkable feature of an otherwise further corrosive Budget was the Finance Minister's effective concession that the private sector would run future energy expansion.

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has called former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter a "naysayer" and "right wing", saying he had failed to meet his mandate of turning around the power utility and had instead ventured into the political arena.

Mbalula was responding to allegations made by De Ruyter in a television interview with e.tv on Tuesday.

The former Eskom CEO alleged that there were efforts to cover up corruption at Eskom, despite his attempts to report the matters to government ministers.

De Ruyter also said a particular minister had been involved in questionable activity at Eskom, but he did not name the minister or provide details of the corruption he was referring to.

His interview has angered the ANC.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan immediately demanded that he be investigated, while Eskom's board ended its relationship with De Ruyter on Wednesday.

Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha told Talk Radio 702 that the utility's board believed De Ruyter had brought the entity into disrepute.

De Ruyter's comments have also angered Mbalula, who on Thursday told the media that he had failed to fulfil the mandate given to him when he was appointed CEO.

According to Mbalula, this mandate was to turn around the state-owned enterprise, and not to talk politics.

He called De Ruyter "right wing" for commenting on topics that fell outside of his mandate as CEO.

Mbalula said SOE CEOs had no right to comment on open political debates because their personal views "distracted from their professional work".

"Mr De Ruyter was appointed strictly to lead the turnaround at Eskom into a functional public enterprise that provides the country with stable electricity. He has completely failed to deliver on this contractual obligation.

Instead, he shifts the goalposts by advertising his right-wing ideological posture on a matter that falls outside the scope of his employment contract," he said.

Mbalula was briefing the media at a post-Budget speech press briefing on Thursday in Cape Town.

He said the question of whether Eskom was privately or government-owned was not part of De Ruyter's contractual duty.

"That is the forte of the governing party and its ideological perspective on how best to ensure equitable access to electricity as a public good. We reject his baseless claims of alleged political meddling and corruption at the embattled power utility."

Mbalula questioned why De Ruyter was only raising corruption allegations when he was set to leave Eskom. He added that if the former CEO had any evidence of corruption, he should report it to the police, Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit.

He said the ANC would consider legal action against De Ruyter if he did not prove his allegations.

Former ANC national executive committee member and minister Derek Hanekom tweeted that if De Ruyter had any evidence of corruption and the involvement of certain ministers, he should expose it.

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said De Ruyter portrayed a "right-wing" attitude in his interview on Tuesday.

Gungubele told Talk Radio 702 that the former CEO's comments reminded him of what apartheid officials used to tell "us".

De Ruyter has found some support among opposition political parties who believe the narrative that he was a victim of an unsupportive government. DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia showered him with praise, saying his tenure had seen an increase in maintenance, a dent in debt, and a renewable energy approach.

"We commend his bravery in which he lifted the veil on the large-scale corruption at Eskom. Mr De Ruyter is a true patriot. He pointed out that the ANC-aligned mafia remains embedded within Eskom under the protection of the ANC government," he said.

Meanwhile, Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane said he would write to President Cyril Ramaphosa, demanding that he explain what he knew about the allegations by De Ruyter.

He would also write to the former CEO, urging him to reveal the mini...

The Western Cape government has called on all stakeholders and government institutions to work together after the latest crime statistics painted a grim picture of the province.

On Tuesday, Western Cape Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen engaged with Western Cape police commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, following the release of the province's crime statistics for the third quarter of 2022.

Allen said the crime statistics indicated that a greater social cohesion strategy should exist among all stakeholders and all spheres of government.

"We have seen the numbers in terms of vigilantism with regards to gang-related murders, and when we consider gang-related murders, it contributes to 84.5% of gang-related murders in the entire country, so it remains a concern," he said.

Between 1 October and 31 December 2022, 1 198 murders were recorded in the Western Cape. That's 142 (13.4%) more murders than the same period the previous year.

Ongoing gang violence, which resulted in 229 murders (19%), along with the combined category of arguments/misunderstandings/road rage/provocation, which accounted for 19.9% of murders, were the significant contributors to the murder rate in the Western Cape.

"We want to make sure that the work we are doing with the National Prosecuting Authority and correctional services is clamping down on any particular gaps in the system that we can foster the collaboration so that we can see an actual result in convictions (sic)," Allen said.

The crime statistics further showed that eight police stations in the Western Cape were among the 30 with the highest number of murders in the country.

Khayelitsha showed a decrease of 11.11%, while the other seven had increases. These increases occurred at Mfuleni (56.1%); Delft (6.17%); Nyanga (54.55%); Kraaifontein (20%); Harare (23.4%); Gugulethu (6.38%); and Mitchells Plain (55.56%).

Patekile admitted that more work needed to be done in the province, adding that the priority would be to capacitate the Anti-Gang Unit.

"Gang violence is one of our priorities in this province. Apart from the Anti-Gang Unit, we have other units focusing on hotspots," he said.