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ActionSA labels GNU's tenure a 'failure'

ActionSA has launched a scathing assessment of the Government of National Unity (GNU), declaring its two-year tenure a failure that has yielded a bloated executive, record unemployment, and widespread institutional decay.

Speaking on Thursday, ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip revealed the party's "GNU Performance Tracker", which gives government's overall performance an F rating, citing a severe lack of urgency, accountability, and results.

Trollip heavily criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to expand the Cabinet rather than streamline State expenditure. The executive has grown to 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers.

According to ActionSA, this "bloated executive" costs taxpayers R6-billion a year, with R600-million going to salaries for Ministers, Deputy Ministers and support staff; R350-million going to travel and accommodation expenses; and R4.5-billion for VIP protection services.

Trollip argues that this massive financial investment has yielded zero returns, pointing to a string of recent ministerial scandals.

He highlights a suspended Police Minister linked to institutional infiltration, a Higher Education Minister who lied to Parliament, and a Social Development Minister who concealed luxury SUV gifts.

ActionSA also awarded the GNU an F for Ethical Leadership and Public Service.

The party painted a grim picture of the country's economic trajectory, noting that the expanded unemployment rate has climbed to an historic 43.7%.

The economic indicators highlight a deep-seated crisis, with 345 000 jobs lost in the first quarter of 2026 alone, 12-million total South Africans currently unemployed and 0.5% GDP growth in Q1 2026, following weak growth of 0.6% in 2024 and 1.1% in 2025.

"These are not growth figures; these are stagnation figures," Trollip states, emphasising that South Africa requires sustained growth of 3% to 4% to curb joblessness.

The category of Economic Growth received an F from ActionSA.

While the party acknowledges isolated improvements, it rates Infrastructure for Trade and Transport a D.

Trollip notes that the Cape Town and Durban ports remain among the worst-performing container hubs globally, and freight rail volumes sit well below State targets.

He does, however, concede that Eskom's energy availability factor has improved, marking one year without loadshedding.

"But we do not congratulate a fish for swimming," Trollip remarks. "We ask why it nearly drowned in the first place."

Law and Order received an E grade. While the national murder rate has seen a slight decline, an average of 58 people are still killed every day, and gender-based violence remains a national crisis, Trollip says.

He raises major concerns over recent revelations from the Madlanga Commission and Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee, saying both probes exposed how deeply criminal syndicates have penetrated the top tiers of South African law-enforcement institutions.

SARB sees financial system staying resilient despite Iran war

South Africa's central bank said on Wednesday the country's financial system was likely to remain resilient despite tighter financial conditions and monetary policy stemming from the Iran war.

Africa's biggest economy started to pick up pace last year and investor sentiment brightened on signs of fiscal discipline, but the Iran war has dampened the near-term outlook as it has rippled through oil markets, capital flows and household finances.

"The oil price shock is expected to continue to exert inflationary pressure, potentially prompting tighter monetary policy than before the conflict," the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its Financial Stability Review, a biannual checkup on the health of the financial system.

The SARB's quarterly projection model now suggests another interest rate increase in 2026 after a 25-basis-point hike at its policy meeting on May 28.

"Relief for interest rate-sensitive households is unlikely to materialise as expected at the beginning of the year," it said in the report.

It noted that beyond the immediate impact of the Middle East conflict, advances in frontier AI, notably Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview, also posed financial stability risks.

"Cyber risk has shifted from episodic and largely manageable events to continuous and compounding," it added.

Other risks mentioned in the review included capital outflows amid heightened market uncertainty, unsustainable fiscal dynamics and increased financial distress in households.

"Despite these risks, the South African financial system remains resilient overall," said the central bank.

South Africa's foreign exchange reserves have grown to over 16% of gross domestic product, the highest recorded level since the early 1960s, and the country meets all major reserve-adequacy metrics, the bank continued.

South Africa posts largest current-account surplus since 2022

South Africa posted its largest current-account surplus in four years in the first quarter as the value of gold exports surged and imports dropped.

The balance on the current account — the broadest measure of trade in goods and services — widened to a surplus of 2.4% of gross domestic product, or R190.7-billion, from 0.6% in the previous quarter, the South African Reserve Bank said in a report on Thursday. That beat the median estimate of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who forecast a positive balance of 1.1% of GDP.

The quarterly surplus was the second in a row and the biggest since the third quarter of 2021, the central bank data showed. As a percentage of GDP, it was the highest since the first quarter of 2022.

The better-than-expected outcome may boost the rand, which is little changed against the dollar since December after a rally at the start of the year was erased by the US-Israeli war in Iran that erupted on February 28.

South Africa's trade surplus jumped to R437.9-billion in the first quarter from R282.2-billion "as the value of merchandise and net gold exports increased while that of merchandise imports decreased," the Reserve Bank said.

The value of exported goods and services rose by R78.3-billion, reflecting higher prices and volumes, while the value of imports of goods and services dropped R96.8-billion as prices and volumes decreased.

The deficit on the services, income and current transfer account was wider at R247.2-billion, compared with R232.1-billion during the prior three months, or 3.1% of GDP from 3% previously.

"The wider deficit emanated from larger deficits on the primary income and current transfer accounts, while the shortfall on the services account narrowed," the central bank said.

'State capture never ended': Hill-Lewis backs Rasilingwane to clean up Ekurhuleni

The DA has launched its Election Pledges to the people of Ekurhuleni, declaring it a definitive promise that the city will be rescued from crippling institutional corruption and structural collapse.

Speaking at the party's campaign launch alongside the DA's mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni Khathu Rasilingwane, DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis pulled no punches about the scale of the crisis he said was facing the municipality.

Hill-Lewis claimed that "State capture never truly ended in Ekurhuleni". Instead, he argued, the metro had "mutated into the epicentre of a Gangster State" where he stated political corruption was enforced through fear.

"Every contract, every service, everything is corrupted, so that politicians and senior officials can steal millions and millions out of the city. And their corruption is protected by gangsters who will murder to keep it quiet," he said.

According to the DA, the everyday struggles of Ekurhuleni residents were a result of a deeply entrenched criminal network.

The DA is positioning Rasilingwane as the "strong medicine" needed to deal with corruption. The party highlighted its governance track record in Cape Town, the Western Cape, Midvaal, and Umgeni as proof that "clean, transparent" governance is possible in South Africa.

Hill-Lewis highlighted that the party's campaign outlined a choice between two visions for the residents of Ekurhuleni - one the failed vision of the ANC, EFF and MK, which he said was more "State control, more corruption, more cadre deployment, more racial division, more reckless spending, more hostility to business, and more empty promises".

On the other side was the DA's vision of "growing economy, honest government, safe communities, quality services, infrastructure that works, and a State that helps people to build their own future", he said.

The rescue plan targets urgent revitalisation across Tembisa, Katlehong, Benoni, Boksburg, Kempton Park, Germiston, and Edenvale. The primary objectives focus on fixing potholes, securing electricity grids, stabilising water supply, and building a professional, responsive municipal administration that actively welcomed job-creating investment.

SACP blames capitalism, exploitative employers for immigration crisis, condemns vigilantism

The SACP said while it agrees that South Africa cannot tolerate illegal immigration or corruption in its immigration system, the root of the crisis is not migrant workers, but rather capitalism, accusing some employers of deliberately exploiting the status of undocumented migrants to pay them low wages and undermine labour rights.

The party believes that undocumented migration is inextricably linked to labour exploitation, adding that it strongly supports proposed labour inspections to penalise employers who break immigration and labour laws.

The party welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's national address on migration, affirming that immigration enforcement remains strictly the duty of the State. While acknowledging legitimate public concerns about systemic issues, the SACP issued a strong warning against vigilantism, xenophobia, and the scapegoating of foreign nationals.

The SACP said it supported the President's stance that immigration laws must only be enforced by authorised State institutions.

The party strongly condemned mob vigilantism, street intimidation, and individuals demanding identity documents under the guise of "community concern". The SACP said such lawlessness endangers communities and undermines the rule of law.

The party cautioned against narrowing the migration issue down to a security or policing problem. Echoing Ramaphosa's sentiment, they noted that illegal immigration is not the sole cause of South Africa's economic challenges.

Instead, the SACP directed the focus to structural causes, mass unemployment and poverty, deindustrialisation and weak local production and the ongoing domination of the economy by monopoly capital.

To address the challenges faced by poor, working-class communities, the SACP insists that migration must be part of a broader socioeconomic transformation programme. The party wants robust working-class solidarity to confront what it says are systemic failures, rather than turning documented and undocumented workers against each other.

The SACP suggests the building of democratic, community-owned, and worker-controlled economic alternatives, such as cooperatives, buying clubs, and local procurement systems, and the expansion of public employment, land and agrarian transformation, and developing local manufacturing.

Ties must be strengthened with the Southern African Development Community and the African Union to address the root causes of forced migration, the party adds.

The SACP also wants government to ensure the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration collaborates with civil society, organised labour, and legitimate community structures.

Parly committees want answers after Joburg writes off R13.2bn in unlawful expenditure

Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs have demanded an exhaustive breakdown of the more than R13.2-billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure that the City of Johannesburg wrote off or regularised during the 2024/25 financial year.

During a joint parliamentary briefing regarding the metro's recent audit outcomes, the committees demanded explicit details on the R13.278-billion balance reduction, which fell from R23.614-billion in 2023/24.

The committees stressed that regularising or writing off unlawful expenditure does not make it legal, and does not absolve the embattled municipality of the obligation to hold responsible individuals accountable.

The committees requested an itemised, factual, and legal breakdown of each contravention, the exact financial loss and whether any value was received, as well as the current status of disciplinary action, money recovered, and criminal referrals.

The Auditor-General previously cautioned Scopa that the City of Johannesburg is operating on "false assurances" regarding its true financial health. This is owing to deep-rooted problems with internal controls and reliance on an unfunded budget.

Committee members, including Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi and Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize, made it clear that accountability will not be measured by the metro's public relations efforts, but by completed investigations, sanctions against responsible officials, and the recovery of lost funds.

Committee members said a crucial distinction must be drawn between "administrative procurement breaches" where necessary services were actually delivered, and cases involving deliberate financial loss, waste, inflated pricing, or criminal conduct.

The committees expressed concern over the delayed disciplinary processes within the municipality. Currently, historical cases still languish before the disciplinary board while 34 related matters remain under active investigation. The metro has blamed these lags on missing documentation, a backlog spanning over a decade, and implicated ex-employees leaving the municipality.

DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY

However, the two committees dismissed these factors as justifications for indefinite delays.

In response, they demanded strict, finalised deadlines for all outstanding investigations. They also want to be provided with a clear outline of actions that will be taken against senior managers and heads of department who fail to provide the information.

Meanwhile, parliamentary committees also pressed the City of Johannesburg Metro regarding accountability and governance issues across its 13 municipal entities. Members demanded strict adherence to the Municipal Finance Management Act's (MFMA's) financial misconduct frameworks, full transparency on executive remuneration, and concrete consequences for ongoing service delivery and financial failures.

Committee members said they were concerned that previous disciplinary actions were handled merely through routine labour relations, rather than the stricter financial misconduct framework mandated by the MFMA.

"This approach raised potential double-jeopardy issues, prompting members to demand a legal and factual explanation of each affected matter and the intended actions by the metro," the committees noted.

They highlighted that the metro's accountability issues are exacerbated by a highly fragmented structure consisting of a core administration and 13 municipal entities, each with separate management, boards, and audit structures.

Committees questioned if political and administrative leadership could properly control these entities, noting that recurring issues include unreliable performance information, procurement failures, unpaid creditors, and financ...

ActionSA wants three economic Ministers fired over Q1 job losses

ActionSA has intensified its pressure on the Government of National Unity (GNU) to immediately fire three key economic Ministers following the latest GDP and employment data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday.

ActionSA called the statistics a "devastating double blow" of "microscopic" economic growth and "massive" job losses for the first quarter of 2026.

According to Stats SA, South Africa's economy expanded by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2026, slightly up from the 0.4% recorded in the final quarter of 2025.

But the country shed 345 000 jobs during the same three-month period.

As a result, ActionSA wants the Ministers of Employment and Labour; Trade, Industry and Competition; and Small Business Development on the chopping block.

ActionSA MP Alan Beesley says the figures prove that the GNU is failing to address South Africa's crises of economic stagnation and growing unemployment.

"These figures should surprise nobody. South Africa remains trapped in a cycle of low growth, declining investment, and persistently high unemployment because government lacks both urgency and a credible plan to reverse these trends," Beesley says.

He pits South Africa against comparable emerging market economies, which he says consistently post annual growth rates between 3% and 4%. By contrast, South Africa managed just 0.6% growth in 2024 and 1.1% in 2025.

ActionSA says it rejects attempts by government to blame international headwinds for the country's financial woes.

"The GNU cannot continue blaming external factors such as global trade uncertainty or commodity prices for an economic crisis that is overwhelmingly the result of domestic policy failures and decades of government corruption and inaction," Beesley asserts.

While Stats SA reported some positive movement – driven primarily by a 0.9% boost in the finance, real estate, and business services industry – ActionSA believes that the broader economic foundation is crumbling, citing the "accelerating deindustrialisation" of the country.

The manufacturing sector contracted by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2026, compounding a 0.6% shrinkage at the end of 2025.

This decline is matched by a decimated construction industry, which plummeted by 5.4% in 2024 and another 4.4% in 2025.

Beesley acknowledges that the government's recently adopted Revised Industrial Development Strategy correctly identifies the need for affordable electricity, efficient ports, functioning rail networks, and modern telecommunications. However, he notes that listing problems is not the same as solving them.

"The reality is that South Africa's deindustrialisation is no longer merely continuing; it is accelerating under the GNU," Beesley warns, adding that current growth levels cannot absorb new school leavers and graduates into the market and deal with the unemployment rate.

ActionSA threatens legal action over 'SAPS secrecy' on Phala Phala records

ActionSA has launched an internal appeal against the South African Police Service (SAPS) after the law enforcement agency rejected its Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application for material relating to the Phala Phala farm robbery.

The party filed the appeal on Tuesday, warning that it will escalate the matter to the Information Regulator and the High Court if SAPS continues to withhold investigation documents.

ActionSA originally submitted its PAIA request in April, seeking access to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) report on the theft at President Cyril Ramaphosa's Limpopo farm.

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the blocked request targets Ramaphosa's official statement detailing the exact amount of cash stolen from his property and a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) audit revealing R15-million in financial transactions linked to just one of the three accused suspects following the heist.

ActionSA argued that the NPA's financial analysis directly contradicts Ramaphosa's public version of how much money was stolen.

Beaumont stated that under-declaring a serious financial crime violates the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, while falsifying information to police constitutes fraud and perjury.

Beaumont said SAPS blocked the application by citing legal provisions that exclude documentation meant for ongoing civil or criminal proceedings. He dismissed this reasoning, noting that ActionSA is not seeking the data for litigation.

The political standoff intensified during a recent parliamentary question-and-answer session with the security cluster.

Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale, representing Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, refused to commit to releasing the PAIA documents. Instead, Mathale reportedly re-read a generic response meant for an unrelated question.

ActionSA cited this interaction as proof that the Government of National Unity (GNU) is actively shielding the President.

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa approached the Western Cape High Court to review and set aside the 2022 Section 89 Independent Panel report on the Phala Phala scandal, with the legal challenge scheduled to be heard from September.

Ramaphosa revived this legal action after a Landmark Constitutional Court ruling declared that Parliament's previous 2022 vote to reject the report was unconstitutional and invalid.

GDP increased by 0.5% in the first quarter – Stats SA

South Africa's GDP increased by 0.5% in the first quarter, following an increase of 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports.

Its data shows that the finance, real estate and business services industry increased by 0.9%, contributing 0.2 of a percentage point. Increased economic activities were reported for financial intermediation and auxiliary activities.

The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry increased by 3.9%, contributing 0.1 of a percentage point, primarily owing to increased economic activities reported for field crops and horticulture products.

The trade, catering and accommodation industry increased by 0.7%, contributing 0.1 of a percentage point. Increased economic activities were reported for wholesale trade, motor trade, food and beverages and accommodation.

The transport, storage and communication industry increased by 0.7%, contributing 0.1 of a percentage point, with increased economic activities reported for land transport, air transport and transport support services.

The manufacturing industry, however, decreased by 0.8%, contributing -0.1 of a percentage point.

Stats SA points out that five of the ten manufacturing divisions reported negative growth rates. The largest negative contributions were reported for the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products; basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery; and wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing divisions.

Meanwhile, expenditure on real GDP increased by 0.5% in the first quarter. This follows the increase of 0.3% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) increased by 0.1%, contributing 0.1 of a percentage point to the total growth. Positive growth rates were reported for durable, non-durable and semi-durable goods.

The main positive contributors to the increase in HFCE were expenditures on transport (0.8% and contributing 0.1 of a percentage point) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.9% and contributing 0.1 of a percentage point).

The negative contributors were expenditures on 'other'; restaurants and hotels; food and non-alcoholic beverages; and alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics.

Final consumption expenditure by general government increased by 0.6%, contributing 0.1 of a percentage point to the total growth. This was mainly driven by increases in purchases of goods and services and compensation of employees.

Further, gross fixed capital formation decreased by 1.1%, contributing -0.2 of a percentage point to the total growth. The negative contributors to the decrease were machinery and other equipment (-3.4% and contributing -1.4 percentage points), residential buildings (-7.2% and contributing -0.7 of a percentage point) and other assets (-1.8% and contributing -0.2 of a percentage point).

Stats SA reports that there was a R22.4-billion drawdown of inventories (seasonally adjusted and annualised), mainly driven by two industries – manufacturing and trade. Net exports contributed positively (0.9 of a percentage point) to expenditure on GDP. Exports of goods and services increased by 0.5%, largely influenced by increased trade in mineral products; vegetable products; and prepared foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco.

Imports of goods and services decreased by 2.6%, largely influenced by decreased trade in pearls, precious and semi-precious stones and precious metals; mineral products; machinery and electrical equipment; textiles and textile articles; and animal and vegetable fats and oils.

Nigeria plans five repatriation flights from South Africa

Nigeria will begin repatriating its citizens from South Africa this week, after anti-immigrant attacks and protests in the continent's biggest economy.

The Nigerian government has scheduled the first flight from South Africa on Wednesday, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, said in a text message. More than 500 people have "been screened and cleared" for the flights, Ebienfa said.

South Africa has seen a surge in xenophobic protests in recent months, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the nation on Sunday and outline steps his administration plans to take to address the issue. About 60 people died and 50 000 were displaced in a spate of attacks directed against migrants in 2008, and fears are mounting of renewed and intensified violence.

Nigerian carrier Air Peace will manage the repatriation flights, with the first one transporting 270 passengers.

At least 1 094 Nigerians have indicated their interest in leaving South Africa, Reuters reported on June 5, citing the foreign ministry.

The South African authorities have agreed to waive penalties for visa violations such as overstays, though individuals facing criminal charges won't be eligible to leave, the news agency said.

Separately, Ghana repatriated 654 of its citizens from South Africa at the weekend, the Border Management Authority said in a statement on Monday.