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Trump says he may skip G20 summit in South Africa, cites policy disapproval

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he might skip the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) leaders' summit in South Africa in November and send someone else to represent the United States, citing his disapproval of South African policies.

"I think maybe I'll send somebody else because I've had a lot of problems with South Africa. They have some very bad policies," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump has taken issue with South African domestic and foreign policies - ranging from its land policy to its case accusing Israel of genocide in the US ally's war in Gaza.

Trump signed an executive order in February to cut US financial assistance to South Africa. In May, Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide and land seizures during a White House meeting.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also boycotted a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in South Africa, which has the G20 presidency from December 2024 to November 2025.

Washington, both under Trump and former President Joe Biden, has complained about the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, where it accused Israel of genocide over its military assault in Gaza.

Israel's assault has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and also led to accusations of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations and casts its Gaza offensive as self-defence after a deadly October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1 200 people and in which over 250 were taken hostage.

Diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa have also been strained under Trump due to South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies to address the legacy of centuries of racial inequality.

Ramaphosa, who has urged Trump to attend the G20 summit, rejects Washington's claims that South Africa will use its land policy to arbitrarily confiscate white-owned land.

Budget, Eskom Bills passed by Parliament, Ramaphosa to sign off

After months of back and forth, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will send the 2025 Appropriation Bill to President Cyril Ramaphosa for assent, with only the Economic Freedom Fighters and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party opposing it.

The Appropriation Bill is a key part of the National Budget, outlining how government funds will be allocated among various departments. Once Ramaphosa signs it into law, government departments can start spending in accordance with the Act.

"Section 27(1) of the Public Finance Management Act requires the Minister of Finance to table the annual budget for a financial year in the National Assembly before the start of that financial year or, in exceptional circumstances, on a date as soon as possible thereafter," explained Parliament.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled the National Budget for the 2025/26 financial year, including the Appropriation Bill, in May this year, with multiple delays following.

After the passing of the Bill in the National Assembly last week, the Appropriation Bill was subsequently referred to the Select Committee on Appropriations for consideration and reporting back to the NCOP plenary sitting for adoption.

This Bill is the law that allows government to use public funds for various departments and entities, enabling them to deliver services and develop infrastructure and social programmes such as healthcare, education and social grants, while also supporting economic growth.

Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill

The Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill has also been sent to Ramaphosa for assent.

The Eskom Debt Relief Bill amends the Eskom Debt Relief Act of 2023 by reducing Eskom's financial requirements for the 2025/26 financial year.

The Bill proposes that the amount for that year be treated as a loan, which can be converted into equity under certain conditions.

The Bill also introduces interest into the Eskom debt relief package at a market-related rate.

"The aim is to balance the interest charge and Eskom's cash flow, while reflecting a fair market-related rate. This is part of ongoing interventions to stabilise the power utility, which has faced years of operational challenges and financial crisis, and to modify its debt relief plan," Parliament highlighted.

Now that the Bill has been passed, Parliament hopes that Eskom will have an improved balance sheet, which could lead to the entity improving its capacity to supply electricity.

South Africa still seeks US trade deal days before tariff deadline

South Africa's trade ministry said on Tuesday that it still wanted to negotiate a trade deal with the United States, before a 30% tariff on its exports to the US is due to kick in on Friday.

Pretoria has been tight-lipped about its negotiations with US President Donald Trump's administration ahead of the August 1 deadline, which comes as the two countries' relationship has deteriorated over South Africa's domestic race policy and its genocide case against Israel, which Israel denies.

In a statement, the trade ministry said it was still waiting for "substantive feedback from our US counterparts on the final status on our framework deal".

Bank of America sees South African inflation target by end of 2027

South Africa's move to a lower 3% inflation target may be phased in by the end of 2027, potentially resulting in official interest rates moderating to below 6%, Bank of America said.

"We think moving to 3% is almost certain," Tatonga Rusike and Mikhail Liluashvili, respectively an economist and strategist at the bank, said in a note. "The phase-in period could be two years - announced by end-2025, and the target reached by end-2027."

Under that scenario, the lender sees the benchmark lending rate at 5.75% by the end of 2027.

South Africa's monetary policy committee is meeting on Thursday to discuss its latest interest-rate stance and is widely expected to reduce borrowing costs by another 25 basis points to 7%. At its May meeting, the central bank said research showed that lowering the inflation target to 3% would lead to the benchmark declining to 5.79%, compared to its baseline showing the rate remaining above 7%.

While the long-term benefits of lowering the target would outweigh the short-term costs, the shift may have fiscal consequences, Bank of America said.

"The Treasury could lose some tax revenues associated with higher inflation," it said. "Nominal government revenues could increase at a slower pace due to lower nominal GDP growth."

Conversely, interest rates would be sustained at lower levels, potentially helping boost private-sector credit and economic growth, it said.

While technical work is under way to review South Africa's inflation target, which hasn't been adjusted in more than a quarter century, the nation's finance minister has warned against rushing the process.

Central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago has argued that the current tame inflation environment - with annual price growth currently at 3% - provides the opportunity to lock in lower inflation at a low cost.

Bain shuts scandal-tainted South African consulting business

Bain & Co. is closing down its consultancy business in Johannesburg, likely bringing to an end a years-long battle to try and restore its reputation in Africa's biggest economy following a 2022 ban.

"We are winding down consulting operations in South Africa," Bain said in a response to a query on Tuesday. "In May, we informed our local teams that our Johannesburg office will become a services hub supporting Bain's global operations."

South Africa's National Treasury accused the Boston-based firm of engaging in "corrupt and fraudulent practices" related to a contract with the country's tax agency and banned it from doing business with government agencies in 2022. Bain was also temporarily barred from competing for UK government contracts because of the scandal in South Africa.

Bain sued the Treasury and tax service in a bid to reverse the censure, which it argued was unconstitutional. It undertook unpaid work for the Energy Council of South Africa before the private-sector group, whose members include Sasol and the local unit of TotalEnergies, ended the relationship - a move that was welcomed by President Cyril Ramaphosa's office in December.

Bain is one of several international companies - including McKinsey & Co., SAP SE, KPMG LLP and ABB Ltd. - whose reputations were tarnished because of links to State-corruption scandals during former South African President Jacob Zuma's tenure, which ended in 2018. All paid back fees or accepted fines in a bid to atone for their employees' conduct.

Bain's advice contributed to the gutting of the state revenue service. A number of its senior staff were ousted and its investigative capacity was destroyed.

The firm's former South African head, Vittorio Massone, liaised with Zuma, contravening normal practice. He also met with the former president's ally, Tom Moyane - whom a commission of inquiry into the tax service accused of wrongdoing - before Moyane became head of the tax agency. Zuma and Moyane have denied wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa has said more than R500-billion was stolen from state coffers during Zuma's rule.

That corruption led to a commission of inquiry into State graft, which spanned four years. While the testimony implicated a host of government officials, including ministers currently in Ramaphosa's cabinet, none have been successfully prosecuted to date.

'Serious Mistakes'

In 2022 Stephen York, Bain's managing partner in South Africa, wrote a public apology to the country in the form of a full-page advert in Business Day newspaper. He admitted to "serious mistakes in the procurement and execution of our work" at the revenue service, but denied the company was complicit in corruption.

Ismail Momoniat, the Treasury's then-acting director general, accused the company of "treason" and urged the private sector to stop doing business with it. Sasol has continued to do business with Bain.

York didn't answer a call to his mobile phone or respond to a text message.

Bain said it will retain most of its staff in South Africa, but didn't answer questions as to how many people it employs or why the decision had been taken. It also didn't clarify the status of its court case against the government entities.

The case was filed in South Africa's High Court about two years ago and has since stalled, with both the Treasury and tax agency having said they would oppose it.

The decision to close the consultancy was reported earlier by the Financial Times.

ActionSA launches govt tracker to monitor progress in Tshwane

ActionSA on Tuesday launched its Government Tracker tool to highlight what it described as "positive work" by City of Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya and her multiparty coalition, since she took office in October 2024.

The Tracker provides a transparent view of the progress made to date, and highlights areas that still require improvement, while also enabling residents to hold government to account.

ActionSA's government tracker is updated in real time, based on data that is shared with the party from the City of Tshwane, and it can be accessed through the party's website.

The tracker is split into five key governance monitoring areas; financial stability; infrastructure and service delivery; economic revitalisation; safe and clean city and governance and customer care.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba stated that the current administration inherited a city "on the brink of collapse", claiming finances were in disarray, townships deeply neglected and alleging that the previous coalition's leading party focused on political point-scoring more that fulfilling its mandate to deliver equitable services to Tshwane residents.

The current coalition in Tshwane is led by ActionSA, the African National Congress, the Economic Freedom Fighters and other smaller parties; while the previous coalition comprised of the Democratic Alliance, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, the Congress of the People, the African Christian Democratic Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

"This reality informed our decision to withdraw from that coalition and reconstitute a new administration under the leadership of Dr Nasiphi Moya and her committed multiparty partners," he said.

He said the successes achieved over the past few months were "undeniable" and signalled that Tshwane had begun to turn a corner.

"Over the past nine months, the multiparty coalition has taken bold steps to reverse the tide of decay, from enhancing by-laws enforcement and tackling lawlessness to rolling out improved systems that will show equitable service delivery for all residents, no matter whether they are in the suburb or their postal code.

"We are beginning to see for ourselves what is possible when competent leadership is met with political will. ActionSA as part of this coalition in the city and has made every effort to contribute meaningfully to this achievement. We have insisted on accountability and demanded results, to ensure that the professionals we deploy to lead the city, and its key portfolios do so with a clear mandate to serve residents," Mashaba stated.

He asserted that ActionSA and its coalition partners had made service delivery the "heartbeat" of its administration, with achievements such as resurfaced roads; upgraded water infrastructure; consistent waste collection and cleaner streets.

He said the current coalition government was a model of what could happen when political parties set aside ideology to serve a greater good, while acknowledging that there were still issues in Tshwane, on which progress was being made.

"…and it is doing so because accountability has become the engine of progress. Fully recognising that coalitions are inherently complex environments, requiring respect, cooperation, even sometimes disagreements amongst partners, ActionSA remains confident that we can continue this path of recovery for the capital city of our great country," said Mashaba.

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the decision to develop this tracking device was taken to ensure that misleading information from opposition parties was dispelled.

"…but our other motivation is that ActionSA wants to be held accountable, we do not want to operate in an environment where simply we engage with our voters every five years. We believe that it must be a continuous process, and it starts with doing what for example this GNU [Government of National Unity] has never done, which is defining your priorities, which is ...

ActionSA moves to amend Constitution to reduce cabinet size

ActionSA has gazetted its notice to introduce the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill, calling on South Africans to submit their submissions in favour of the Constitutional Amendment, which would see a significant overhaul of the size of the South African executive.

Cabinet currently consists of 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers, which ActionSA has described as "bloated".

ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip explained that the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill will abolish the role of Deputy Minister entirely, removing all 43 Deputy Ministers to save South Africa "billions".

He said ActionSA's proposed amendment followed a series of governance failures, the latest being President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to place Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on special leave amid allegations of interference in police investigations and ties to criminal elements made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

"In response, the President announced that Professor Firoz Cachalia, currently a non-MP and non-Minister, would be appointed as Acting Minister of Police. Thus, surpassing the two current police deputy ministers. However, until Cachalia is formally sworn in under sections 91(3) and 95 of the Constitution, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is presiding over the police portfolio in an acting capacity," he noted.

Trollip said this came amid other "questionable" ministerial appointments, such as that of Thembi Simelane, who was implicated in the VBS corruption scandal and yet was appointed as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development before a late-night portfolio swap with Mmamoloko Kubayi, then Minister of Human Settlements.

ActionSA has claid criminal charges against Simelane.

Trollip claimed serious structural flaws in the current constitutional framework.

"…firstly, Deputy Ministers are not constitutionally empowered to act in the absence of their Ministers, rendering them useless in moments of executive disruption. If Deputy Ministers cannot step in during a crisis, what purpose do they serve beyond being instruments of cadre deployment and financial waste," he questioned.

He called out the President's "unfettered" prerogative to appoint and dismiss Ministers without parliamentary oversight, adding that this resulted in questionable appointments that escape proper scrutiny.

"Given that Ministers occupy positions of significant power and influence within the Republic, a higher standard of accountability and transparency must necessarily be applied to their selection with the ability of Parliament to also dismiss them," he added.

Trollip said South Africans will have 30 days to email their submissions in favour of the Constitutional Amendment to [email protected] and copy in [email protected].

"Parliament must not only clean up the executive's failures - it must be empowered to prevent them. South Africa cannot afford to drift leaderless during moments of national crisis. This Constitutional Amendment is ActionSA's commitment to restoring integrity, professionalism, and accountability in the executive, while placing the power of appointment and removal where it belongs: in the hands of the people's Parliament," he said.

He said these positions were redundant and served no meaningful governance purpose, highlighting that the Bill would mandate parliamentary vetting of all Cabinet appointments, first through a committee set up specifically for this purpose and then through a vote of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly would be empowered to remove individual Ministers through motions of no confidence, ensuring that Parliament, and not just the President, could enforce accountability.

The Bill would also see several Ministers who may be appointed from outside Parliament increased from two to four, allowing qualified professionals and subject-matter experts to serve in Cab...

Emma Powell resigns as DA's International Relations spokesperson

Emma Powellon Monday announced her resignation as the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) International Relations spokesperson in Parliament, amid claims of threats, intimidation, harassment, and illegal surveillance.

Powell made headlines earlier this month, when she came under fire for allegedly spreading disinformation about South Africa during a trip to the US, and for allegedly undermining the South African government's response that seeks to roll back the US's new tariff regime, amid the already strained relationship between both countries.

On X, Powell wrote that after "careful reflection", she has taken the decision to step down as spokesperson, noting that over the past two-and-a-half years, she has travelled the world on behalf of the DA, first as Shadow Minister and later as national spokesperson, where she spoke out "against some of the most repressive and brutal regimes in the world".

She claimed that many of these regimes were enmeshed with government leaders and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco).

"In defending South Africa's constitutional values on the international stage, I have been threatened, intimidated, harassed, and illegally surveilled. Driven by my commitment to the DA's foundational principles, I accepted these risks as the unavoidable cost of standing up to and exposing Dirco and the ANC's relationships with authoritarian regimes," she stated.

Powell went further to state that as a woman in politics, she understood "viscerally" the cost of standing up to "bullies" and the pressures that came with public life.

"In an environment that rewards expediency, truly principled leadership is rare and often costly. I am profoundly grateful to every South African, diplomat, and colleague who has supported me along this journey. This world is full of remarkable, principled people who know that the cost of silence is far greater than the risk of confronting tyranny when the stakes are highest," she said.

Powell noted that given the complexities of the country's "fragile" Government of National Unity, she had achieved what she could.

"…we must each do what is possible to tip the worlds axis towards freedom, but good leaders know when it is time to step back and allow others to carry the baton forward. I remain thankful to the leadership of the Democratic Alliance for the trust you placed in me to fly South Africa's flag on the international stage," she said.

Ryan Smith will replace Powell as the party's spokesperson on the International Relations portfolio in Parliament, said DA Chief Whip George Michalakis.

He said Powell remains a "valued member" of the DA caucus in Parliament, and the party will soon announce her new Portfolio allocation.

"Our spokespersons on portfolios lead the party's efforts in Parliament on those portfolios and speak for the party in matters affecting those portfolios. They are mandated by the party to hold the Executive to account in Committee and in the Legislature, and to land DA policy in the national agenda," he said.

Govt recovers nearly R11bn as Ramaphosa reports on State Capture progress

President Cyril Ramaphosa says that while substantial progress has been made on the State Capture Commission's recommendations, work is ongoing - with high-profile prosecutions accelerating, new cases reaching the courts, and the finalisation of the Whistleblower Protection Bill and the National State Enterprises Bill.

On Monday the Presidency released an updated progress report on the implementation of actions from recommendations of the State Capture Commission, which has also been sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza and the chairperson of the National Council of Province Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane.

Further, Ramaphosa wants to prioritise the amendments of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) Act based on the Nugent Commission recommendations and the finalisation of the anti-corruption architecture proposals that are currently under consideration.

The State capture progress report for the fourth quarter of the 2024/25 period, reveals that of the 60 actions identified in the President's October 2022 Response Plan, 48% are complete or substantially complete, 23% are on track and 29% are delayed but receiving attention.

Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya pointed out that four State capture-related cases had already concluded with guilty verdicts.

He said government had achieved "remarkable success" in recovering stolen public funds, with total recoveries now reaching nearly R11-billion.

This is an increase from the R2.9-billion reported in October 2022 and includes R2.9-billion recovered by the Special Investigating Unit and R8-billion by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

"Additionally, assets worth R10.6-billion are currently under restraint or preservation orders, indicating significant additional recoveries to come. Major recoveries include settlements from ABB (R2.55-billion), McKinsey (R1.12-billion), and SAP (R1.16-billion)," he added.

Ramaphosa said the progress outlined in this report demonstrated the Presidency's "unwavering commitment" to ensuring that those responsible for State capture were held accountable and that the "systemic weaknesses" that enabled State capture were permanently addressed.

"…however, our work is far from complete. We remain committed to the full implementation of the State Capture Commission's recommendations and to rebuilding public trust in our institutions," he said.

Prasa, union reach wage deal

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and its key union reached a wage agreement that will see a 5.5% increase in workers' pay across the board.

The United National Transport Union and Prasa signed the pact on pay for the year through March 2026 yesterday "following a difficult and drawn-out negotiation period," Untu said in a statement Friday.

In addition to the increase, there will be no forced retrenchments of employees in the bargaining unit in the corporate office, the rail and technical units, the long-distance passenger division and the intersite unit during the period.

Prasa collapsed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic after looters vandalised most of its 580 stations and stole power lines feeding the trains, rendering about 95% of its network unusable.

It's slowly restoring services, with annual user trips rising to 39-million nationwide in the year to March 2024. While that's an improvement from a nadir of 10-million in fiscal 2021, it's a far cry from a peak of 646-million in 2009. Its disintegration has shifted more commuters than ever to mini-bus taxis, already the most common mode of transport after walking.