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Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has accused the African National Congress's (ANC's) election committee of "blatantly ignoring rules" and disadvantaging her candidacy for party president.

In a letter addressed to the party's electoral committee chairperson, Kgalema Motlanthe, she lodged a dispute in which she bemoaned her exclusion from the top six nominations.

Her main bone of contention is that she met the 25% threshold of support she requires for nomination, but that her name was excluded.

"My team, therefore, requested to know what happened to those nominations, or maybe your committee can provide us with raw data because we can help your committee and produce them for your benefit as and when such information is required from our side," she said in the letter.

According to Sisulu, who launched a campaign to run against President Cyril Ramaphosa, her team filed all their nominations from branch general meetings across the country with the suspicion in mind that they could be lost in the pipeline.

"Our suspicions are confirmed. We are more than ready and prepared to come and present to your committee with all our nominations from the branches that nominated us," she added.

Sisulu also claimed that there was a violation of Rule 8.4, which states that the electoral committee will publish a list of the top three nominees for each of the official positions. This was the case with the nominations for the treasurer-general and secretary-general positions.

"In the position of president, the committee under your esteemed leadership, published only two names, that of Comrades Cyril Ramaphosa and Zweli Mkhize, and thus have excluded our candidature, despite meeting the 25% threshold of support from the branches," she said.

Sisulu added that at the national elective conference in December, the first ballot will contain the top three nominees for the positions of president, secretary-general, national chairperson, and treasurer-general, with each position on a separate page.

"We hereby request to be furnished with reasons as to why, in the instance of the Presidency nomination, distinct from all other [branch nominations], only two nominees for the position of president were publicly announced, when the rules require the publication of the top three nominees for each of the official positions. In some categories, other candidates qualified with a mere 300 plus nominations and their names are there," she said.

Sisulu claimed the committee's practices were unjust and that the processes and outcomes were rendered biased.

"Our competitors are unilaterally promoted at the expense of rules and the choice of branches that entrusted in us such nomination. It would appear the rules were bent or blatantly, if not deliberately, ignored to treat our candidacy at a disadvantage," she added.

Sisulu implored the committee to consistently and faithfully enforce the rules to ensure a credible, transparent and lawful conference.

"We stand ready, willing and able to provide you with records supporting our argument that we have met and exceeded the threshold. We have collected affidavits and records from branches that nominated us and we stand ready to assist you in this regard," she said.

The committee is expected to consider Sisulu's complaint.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape has submitted a motion of no confidence against the provincial legislature Speaker, a suspended DA member.

The motion was submitted on Friday morning against speaker Masizole Mnqasela after the party had charged him with misconduct and suspended him from all party activities.

The party's caucus leader, Alan Winde, confirmed that a motion against Mnqasela had been filed.

"In accordance with section 20(4) of the Constitution of the Western Cape 1997, a motion expressing that the house has lost confidence in the Speaker ... was submitted on Friday. The motion is submitted in light of serious allegations of misconduct against the Speaker, which are material to the Code of Ethics for Members of the Executive Authority and the Speaker's functions. The motion will be set for debate and a vote in the house," he told News24.

Mnqasela was subject to a disciplinary hearing last month where he faced off with the party's top brass over extravagant spending allegations. The DA unanimously decided to file a vote of no confidence to axe him from his position in the legislature.

The motion filed by the party's deputy chief whip, Diedre Baartman, reads:"(The house) has lost confidence in the Speaker's ability to fulfil his responsibilities as Speaker, and hereby removes the Speaker from office forthwith."

In May, whistleblowers handed over a mountain of evidence to Winde, revealing Mnqasela's travel and entertainment claims and apparent lavish spending while on official government business.

Mnqasela denied the allegations and, after being charged with misconduct, said the allegations levelled against him were influenced by a political agenda.

The motion will now be considered by the legislature's programming committee. The next house sitting will take place on Thursday next week.

Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse has called motions of no confidence to remove herself and members of the mayoral committee a "desperate attempt. without substance".

The two motions were withdrawn in council on Thursday, the second day of its ninth ordinary sitting.

Two other members of the Democratic Alliance-led coalition were also facing motions of no confidence – the chair of the Section 79 committee for gender, youth and the disabled, DA councillor Nakita Dellwaria, and the chairperson of the environment, infrastructure and service delivery Section 79 committee, ActionSA councillor Lerato Ngobeni.

These were also scrapped.

Phalatse said those submitting the motions had "no confidence in their own abilities to garner enough support" to remove her or other executive members.

"A reading of the two motions makes it clear that the desperate attempts and campaign to remove the Multi-Party Government are without substance.

"What we are dealing with is a political operation aimed at gaining power and access to the City's bank account by any means possible – all at the expense of residents," she said.

"If indeed there was a case for me to answer for, matters of substance that speak to service delivery, governance and the rule of law would have been put forward, but these were never put forward."

Phalatse also called for council to "seriously consider the rules around motions of no confidence".

"It cannot be that these motions are tabled on a monthly basis, thus interrupting the business of the administration and council, and affecting the focus and morale of officials; and in some extreme instances, service delivery takes a hit," she said.

"Our focus as the Multi-Party Government is on ensuring that quality services are delivered to all six-million residents and that we work with and for residents in the repair and rebuild of Joburg until our electoral term in office reaches its natural conclusion in 2026."

"There is no longer any doubt that government has fallen behind in implementing priority objectives of President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration, which include eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030."

This was the admission Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele made on Thursday when he led the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) during a media roundtable discussion.

The roundtable was held to discuss the bi-annual report on the progress, challenges and next steps for the department's implementation of the current administration's medium-term strategic framework.

The 2019-2024 medium-term strategic framework is the government's plan for the current electoral term.

The seven priority areas Ramaphosa's administration adopted were ensuring that the government "builds a capable, ethical and developmental state; fosters a healthy economy; provides education, skills, and health; provides social wage, safer communities, social cohesion and a better Africa and better world".

Gungubele admitted that more still needed to be done to ensure that all seven priority area goals were realised.

He added that while no one was deceived into believing that the targets had been met, the government was not "admitting to failure but looking at what we can do now to ensure that we meet the targets that we had set for ourselves".

DPME director-general Robert Nkuna attributed the government's failure to meet its targets to its lack of capacity and the inability of its departments and clusters to work together.

"Everything that we do hinges on the ability and the capacity of government to deliver what we have committed to do. In our assessment as DPME, we find that there are interdependencies in the work of different facets of the government, so we find that if we don't succeed in the security area... we are not going to succeed in the economic area," he said.

He said government departments should never lose sight of the interdependencies necessary for the state to honour commitments made to the South African population.

"When we go to our colleagues in the security cluster, we find that they say they can't succeed because of the failures in the economic cluster, and when we go to the colleagues in the economic cluster, they also say they can't succeed because of challenges that we see on the security front," he said.

He reiterated that "the interrelated nature of government must not be seen only on organograms, but must be visible and real in the way that government does its work".

Nkuna and Gungubele were adamant that if the government fails to ensure that it builds a capable state, all the other priority areas will not be achievable.

The bi-annual report contained a finding that corruption and weak accountability were eroding the state's capability.

The DPME also found that were severe challenges in the elimination of poverty.

"The percentage of the population living below the food poverty line is estimated to be at 32.6%, a significant increase from 20.5% in 2011," the report stated.

It also contained a finding that Ramaphosa's administration failed to reducing inequality because the level of inequality had "stagnated at best", and job creation wasn't bearing any fruit, with unemployment having risen to 46.2%.

Gungubele, however, argued that "in the face of adversity arising from unemployment, poverty and inequality, the government has expanded the safety net to the most vulnerable segments of society".

He reiterated that human capability was being improved through access to primary and higher education, healthcare and social security.

Despite this claim by the minister and the DPME, the report cited "weak learner performance in Mathematics, Science and languages, shown in international assessments" and "slow eradication of infrastructure backlogs" as reg flags that need urgent attention.

The report also lamented school ICT connectivity for teaching and learning as very low and stated that there was an urge...

The African National Congress’s (ANC’s) Ekurhuleni chairperson Mzwandile Masina has said he will voluntarily resign as a councillor in the region.

Earlier this month, the ANC’s Gauteng leadership said Masina would face disciplinary action for allegedly defying an instruction to withdraw a motion of no confidence against the Democratic Alliance‘s Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell in October.

Masina is also expected to offer a public apology to members of the ANC.

“The PWC wishes comrade Mzwandile well on his endeavours and thanks him for leading one of the most stable, innovative and well run municipalities for the past 5 years as a Mayor. The City of Ekurhuleni under the stewardship and exemplary leadership of comrade Mzwandile Masina and his collective was a model for good governance,” said ANC Gauteng provincial secretary Thembinkosi Nciza.

Interest rates are now at their highest level since 2016 after the South African Reserve Bank hiked rates by 75 basis points, for the third meeting in a row.

Three members of the monetary policy committee voted in favour of the 75 basis point hike, while two wanted a 50 basis point increase.

The move brings the repo rate to 7%, and the prime rate to 10.5%.

On a new home loan of R2-million at the prime rate, the latest increase hikes the monthly installment by around R1 000. Since November last year, monthly payments on a R2-million home loan are almost R4 500 more expensive due to a raft of rate hikes.

The latest rate hike was in line with economists' expectations.

On Thursday, Governor of the SA Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, warned of high inflation and weak economic growth.

The monetary policy committee expects the headline inflation rate to remain above its maximum target rate of 6% until the second quarter of 2023.

Headline inflation is only expected to "sustainably revert" to the mid-point of the target range (4.5%) by around the second quarter of 2024. Economists expect that rates will only be lowered when inflation reaches this level.

The Reserve Bank is under pressure to hike rates to cool inflation – but also to protect the rand's value.

Higher interest rates appeal to foreign investors, who are on the hunt for good returns. South Africa needs foreign inflows of money to keep the rand stable, and local interest rates have been attractive for many years compared to other countries. But over recent months, other countries – particularly the US – have hiked their rates aggressively to subdue inflation. South Africa cannot afford to be left behind. On Thursday, the rand was trading at its best level in months.

However, the sharp hike in interest rates will heap more pain on the embattled South African economy and consumers, who are already struggling with sky-high fuel and food prices and record load shedding.

October inflation picked up to 7.6%, from 7.5% recorded in the previous month.

Economists had expected inflation to ease to 7.4%.

Stats SA released the figures on Wednesday, which show a 0.4% month-on-month increase in October.

The main contributors to inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages, which increased 12% on a year-on-year basis and transport, which was up 17.1%.

Housing and utility prices were up 4.3% on a year-on-year basis, and also contributed to the increase.

Breads, cereals, meat and dairy are the key product groups which drove food inflation, explained Patrick Kelly, chief director for price statistics.

"The bread and cereals category continues to see high levels of inflation with the annual rate increasing to 19.5%, compared to 19.3% last month," Kelly said.

Large monthly price increases were recorded for sweet biscuits, macaroni, and maize meal - Stats SA highlighted.

Annual meat inflation rose to 10.5% from 9.9% in September and milk, eggs and cheese prices saw an increase of 10.5% - the highest rate since February 2017, Kelly said.

Hot beverage prices increased by 14% - also the highest annual reading since February 2017.

The oil and fat products category, which drove food inflation higher for many months, had recorded its second consecutive month of disinflation. Prices fell by 1% after a 6.1% decrease in September.

Transport inflation was driven by vehicle prices - which climbed to 6.1% from 5.8% in September. This is mainly due to higher used vehicle prices - which are, on average, 14.5% more expensive than they were a year ago, Kelly said.

Lower petrol prices have seen fuel inflation decline for a third consecutive month.

As for household utilities - detergents such as washing powder and dishwashing liquids and health insurance premiums all reflected increases.

Economists expect the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates by 75 basis points at its next meeting on Thursday - given risks around the inflation outlook and a "softer" rand exchange rate, the Bureau for Economic Research said in its weekly overview.

A plan to deal with Eskom's diesel crisis will be announced in the coming days, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan told Parliament on Wednesday.

Eskom said last week that it had overspent its budget for diesel and had no more cash to buy new stocks until 1 April. Diesel is used to run Eskom's two open-gas cycle turbine power plants, each of which can ward off a stage of load shedding.

News24 reported earlier on Wednesday that Eskom was in talks with the National Treasury to "find a mechanism through which diesel can be bought" to minimise load shedding until the end of the financial year. Government sources said Eskom had requested R10-billion to fund diesel purchases and R5-billion for fuel oil.

Briefing Parliament's Standing Committee on Appropriations, Gordhan said within the next few days, the department would get going on interventions for Eskom's diesel supply for open-cycle gas turbines.

"Eskom has utilised a lot of its allocated cash that Nersa [National Energy Regulator of SA] would allow to be recouped in one way or another. We did issue a statement on Sunday which said that we will find the cash and we are still in the processes of engagement around those issues.

"We will, hopefully in the next few days - and I was hoping it would be much sooner - get this process going. But we will issue a statement later today which will indicate what the status is and what the availability of diesel is currently as far as the open-cycle gas turbines are concerned," said Gordhan.

Gordhan said oil costs have been rising, which presented a challenge for Eskom and the electricity grid. He said the country will be kept up to date about Eskom's diesel requirements and the funding needed to fulfil them.

"Given the cost of crude oil and its derivatives like diesel have been rocketing for some time and that has serious implications for the cost factor as well. But we do want to reduce the levels of load-shedding. We do want to have predictability as far as load-shedding is concerned," said Gordhan.

Transnet group CEO Portia Derby told the committee the appropriation of R2.9-billion that the entity was seeking from the fiscus would help Transnet to recover from damage caused by the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and improve capacity to meet the economy and Eskom's commodity demands.

Derby said national coal demand is equivalent to 198 trains, but Transnet only has a capacity of 138 trains available. She added that Eskom's Majuba coal power station has a demand equivalent to 42 trains, but Transnet only has a capacity equivalent to 21 trains.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Wednesday that a double-digit percentage increase for murder, attempted murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against women was recorded.

The quarterly crime statistics reflected crimes that were reported to the South African Police Service (Saps) between July 1 and September 30.

“As we edge closer to commemorating the commencement of the global 16 days of Activism against gender-based violence campaign on November 25, the reality is women continue to be victims of violent crimes in South Africa,” he said.

Over 13 000 women were victims of assault with intend to cause grievous bodily harm between July and September.

1 277 women were victims of attempted murder and 989 women were murdered during this reporting period.

Cele said the rate at which women are abused, violated and killed in the country remains worrying and unacceptable. Many are killed by people they know, love and trust, he said.

He explained that the crime statistics also highlighted that communities continue to fail to protect some of the most vulnerable in society, such as children.

He said it was shocking that in just six months 558 children were killed in the country, with 1 895 assault to cause grievous bodily harm cases.

Cele said last month the kidnapping, rape and brutal murder of four-year old Bokgabo Poo shocked the nation and world at large.

Over 10 000 rape cases were opened with the Saps, with 1 651 of the rape incidents occurring at public places and 5 083 of the incidents happening at the residence of the victims, while 69 people were raped at abandoned buildings.

Cele highlighted that 4 375 perpetrators of crimes committed against women and children were arrested by the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit with 410 rapists traced and arrested, 68 of them having been sentenced to life behind bars.

“While the overview of these crime statistics may be disheartening at face value, they should not make us lose confidence in our endeavour to fight crime. The rule of law must stand firm in South Africa,” he said.

He said the crime figures are a management tool to guide the Saps and streamline policing operations, by shifting resources to where they were needed most. He added that the Saps must continue to sharpen its response to crime including arresting some members of the Saps who choose to work against the law.

King Charles hosted his first State visit since becoming British monarch on Tuesday, welcoming South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Buckingham Palace.

Charles, 74, rolled out the traditional pomp and ceremony for the first time as head of State, as Britain seeks to bolster its relations with its biggest trading partner in Africa.

Ramaphosa and his wife were officially greeted by Charles's eldest son and heir Prince William and his wife Kate at a central London hotel to mark the start of his two-day trip, the first state visit to the UK by a world leader since that of former US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania in 2019.

Gun salutes and a ceremonial welcome from the king and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, followed before a grand carriage procession along The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where a banquet will be held later in the president's honour.

Ramaphosa is scheduled to visit Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and see the memorial stone for former South African President Nelson Mandela. He will also address lawmakers in parliament and meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Britain hopes the visit, which had been planned before the death of Queen Elizabeth in September, will strengthen trade and investment ties between the two nations, and show the importance of links with the Commonwealth of Nations, the international organisation which Charles now heads.

"This is a reinforcement of the strong bilateral relationship that we have with South Africa, a real opportunity to build on that close working relationship and discuss some of the issues that affect us all," British foreign minister James Cleverly told Reuters.

The last state visit to Britain by a South African leader was that of President Jacob Zuma in 2010, when he was met by Charles and Camilla at the start of the trip.