Politics Archives - Page 5 of 6

ROUNDTABLE: EU Chamber of Commerce and IPASA to host high-level roundtable on NHI implementation in SA

29Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

ROUNDTABLE: EU Chamber of Commerce and IPASA to host high-level roundtable on NHI implementation in SA

In a significant move towards enhancing healthcare access in South Africa, the EU Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA), will host a high-level roundtable on 2 April 2025. The event will focus on fostering collaborative discussions regarding the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The NHI Act represents a key milestone in South Africa's journey towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), aiming to ensure equitable and sustainable access to quality healthcare for all citizens. The roundtable, themed "Advancing NHI Implementation: Innovation, Access, and Collaborative Partnerships", has been designed to bring together key stakeholders from government, industry, and patient advocacy groups. By facilitatin...

FOOT ON THE GROUND: Trump inundated to turn a deaf ear to the inevitability of justice

28Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

FOOT ON THE GROUND: Trump inundated to turn a deaf ear to the inevitability of justice

If US 47th President Donald Trump has a heart, the choice of January 20, 2025, as the date of his inauguration has not increased the mistaken impression that his heart is in the right place. The third Monday of January is a federal holiday to honour the life and legacy of esteemed Black civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The Nobel prize recipient was just 39 years old when he was killed. Looking back at the issue-driven life of the man, till the day of his assassination 57 years ago, King has been dead longer than he lived. Shot with a high-powered rifle in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, attempts to resuscitate him at a nearby hospital were unsuccessful. If the cause that King represented meant nothing to Trump, what was on his mind to have chosen Martin Luther Kin...

GROWTH CRISIS: : The UK could be facing recession in the eyes as state policy stands in the way of growth

27Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

GROWTH CRISIS: : The UK could be facing recession in the eyes as state policy stands in the way of growth

By Thobile Jiwulane UK flag (Image: Facebook) The UK economy is facing recession risks, with today’s Spring Statement confirming what many had feared: conditions are worsening, and government policy is making it harder, not easier, to grow. This is the assessment of Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisory giant, deVere Group, following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement on Wednesday, which put spending cuts at the heart of the government’s agenda. This as rising taxes, increased employment costs, and added regulatory obligations are all landing at once, threatening to choke off business investment and hiring. Despite repeated claims of a pro-enterprise agenda, the policy direction from the government is undermining confidence and dragging the country toward a slowdown. “...

CONTROVERSIAL: Anger as former EFF member and parliamentarian, Mandisa Mashego, asks for help from Trump, Musk, and Afriforum

25Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

CONTROVERSIAL: Anger as former EFF member and parliamentarian, Mandisa Mashego, asks for help from Trump, Musk, and Afriforum

By Sitha Maliwa Mandisa Mashego (Image: X) In a recent interview on Hustlers Corner SA, a YouTube channel, Mandisa Mashego, former EFF Gauteng leader, MPL and outspoken civil society activist, made a shocking call to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Afriforum for help in tackling the SA government’s proposed VAT increase. Her pleas to the US and white rightist groupings raised fierce political debate and intense criticism, particularly from left-wing groups and Pan-Africanists. Mashego’s call for help is centred around the South African government’s decision to raise VAT by 0.5% to 15.5% this year and a further 0.5% to 16% in 2026 by the Ramaphosa government after it was raised by 1% from 14% to 15% in 2018 by the Zuma administration. The proposed VAT hike has been met with widespread ...

ACTIVIST: Party pays tribute to a Palestinian activist who suffers a stroke and hospitalised

18Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

ACTIVIST: Party pays tribute to a Palestinian activist who suffers a stroke and hospitalised

By Thobile Jiwulane Palestine flag (Image: Getty Images) Leila Khaled, a Palestinian activist after whom a street in Johannesburg was supposed to be named, was rushed to the hospital on Sunday suffering from an intracranial hemorrhage (stroke). The South African Communist Party (SACP) expressed concern about her hospitalization but wished the activist a quick recovery. “At this critical moment, our thoughts and most profound solidarity are with Leila, her family, her comrades, and the people of Palestine, who continue to struggle under the yoke of Israeli apartheid and oppression. We are relieved to know that Comrade Leila is receiving excellent medical care in the presence of her closest loved ones,” SACP said. Sandton Drive, one of the main streets in the leafy Sandton, north...

WARNING: Tucker Carlson warns US against attacking Iranian nuclear plants to risk bloody terror retaliation

18Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

WARNING: Tucker Carlson warns US against attacking Iranian nuclear plants to risk bloody terror retaliation

By Thobile Jiwulane Tucker Carlson, US television personality and founder of the Tucker Carlson Network (Image: Ryan Lim) US journalist-commentator-cum-podcaster, Tucker Carlson, has warned against the US striking at Iranian nuclear stations, saying that could spark a war that will not only result in the deaths of many Americans but will see a rise in terrorist attacks on American soil. In a tweet on X posted early this morning, Carlson said: “It’s worth pointing out that a strike on the Iranian nuclear sites will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the Middle East and cost the United States tens of billions of dollars. The cost of future acts of terrorism on American soil may be even higher. Those aren’t guesses; those are the Pentagon’s ow...

NO PAY: No salaries for MKP staff as party experiences the ANC styled bankruptcy

18Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

NO PAY: No salaries for MKP staff as party experiences the ANC styled bankruptcy

By Thobile Jiwulane Jacob Zuma and Floyd Shivambu of MK Party (Image from X) In an apparent bankruptcy, Jacob Zuma’s political outfit, Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) tells its staff: sorry guys no salaries this month! In a letter dated 15 March but only released yesterday under the heading “urgent communication: March 2025 salary payment delay” but only released yesterday, MKP secretary-general Floyd Shivambu announced the bad news to the party staff that their salaries for this month have been delayed. Some see this as a euphemism for bankruptcy. Shivambu’s announcement has set tongues wagging as to whether the party has become broke so early in its life. Those close to MKP doubt if the money would come at all as the new party begins to experience what has now become a habit in ...

UNWANTED: US declares SA Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool an unwanted individual in the US

15Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

UNWANTED: US declares SA Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool an unwanted individual in the US

By Thobile Jiwulane Former SA Ambassador to the USA - Ebrahim Rasool. In a shock move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared the South African Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, as a persona non grata, which means the envoy is unwanted in America. This marks the beginning of the worsening of the already frosty relations between Washington and Pretoria.The latest fallout came after Rasool on Friday criticized the Trump administration for its "assault on the incumbency" and using "naked punitive coercion" as a currency of exchange and "mobilising supremacism" at home and abroad. According to the envoy, these were represented by the MAGA movement, the US domestic politics and demographic shift in US voting patterns since Trump came.The relations had turned sour after Pre...

POLITICS: SACP and some other small parties to be deregistered after missing 31 January deadline

14Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

POLITICS: SACP and some other small parties to be deregistered after missing 31 January deadline

By Thobile Jiwulane The South African Communist Party is among 192 political parties, mostly unknown, that are to be deregistered by the Electoral Commission of South Africa after they failed to confirm their existence to the Commission by the 31 January deadline. Now the parties must make representations to the IEC and state why they did not meet the deadline and why their registration should not be cancelled. They must do so by the 24 March 2025 otherwise their names would be removed from the IEC register of political parties and the SACP features prominently on the list. The SACP, an ally of the ANC, has not been contesting elections since 1994 except when it contested a by-election in Metsimaholo in the Free State on 29 November 2017 to test the electoral waters. The party me...

POLITICS: Budget choices must empower the poor and end socio-economic exclusion

11Mar

By News SANo Comments

Politics

POLITICS: Budget choices must empower the poor and end socio-economic exclusion

By Dr Khwezi Mabasa Image:FreePik The recent debates about South Africa’s fiscal budget reveal that there is no consensus on how to define and implement inclusive growth. This phrase is prevalent throughout different strategic policy documents and stakeholders use it regularly.Yet political and policy contestations about budget policy choices, especially within the Government of National Unity (GNU), highlight some fundamental divergences. There are contrasting views on the most suitable fiscal policy instruments required to transform the country’s development path. The dominant market fundamentalist perspective proposes the following measures to attain inclusive growth: decreasing public sector wages, reducing state employee numbers, privat...