Author: newsnote correspondent

South Africa has been named host nation of the next two editions of the World Rugby U20 Championship – in 2023 and 2024. This will be the first time South Africa hosts the event since 2012, when the Junior Springboks beat New Zealand in the final at Newlands. This year’s event is scheduled for 24 June to 14 July and will take place over five match days in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Wellington. The teams will be based in Cape Town. Meanwhile, World Rugby also confirmed that Kenya will host the second-tier World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament. The two tournaments return for the…

Judge Nkosinathi Chili has taken the reins from Judge Piet Koen in former President Jacob Zuma’s arms deal corruption case. Koen this morning recused himself from the matter. This is because of Zuma’s looming application for the removal of lead prosecutor, State Advocate Billy Downer. The application, which has yet to be formally filed, is premised on the fact that the former president has now instituted a private prosecution against Downer over allegations that he leaked confidential medical information to the press. Zuma raised the same allegations in his failed special plea, which was also aimed at getting Downer off…

Local authorities in South Africa’s Eastern Cape region said that gunmen opened fire at a birthday celebration, leaving eight people dead and three more injured. The shooting on Sunday is the most recent in a string of shootings that have brought attention to the nation’s issues with violent crime and the increasingly common usage of lethal firearms.A spokeswoman for the South African police agency stated in a statement that the incident was carried out late on Sunday in Kwazakele, Gqeberha, by two guys. Three ladies and four men out of the seven victims perished at the spot. Two ladies and…

According to Julius Malema, the EFF will shut down the country on March 20 to protest the lack of electricity and Cyril Ramaphosa’s resignation. He addressed the media after the plenary in Johannesburg on Sunday. Malema said that the reason for the march is the rising cost of living and poverty, high levels of corruption and lack of service delivery, among others. He also said that the economy will come to a halt and there will be no schooling. Meanwhile, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has requested a meeting with President Ramaphosa over the energy crisis. Earlier this month, Winde…

In light of the recent 18.65% electricity tariff increase granted by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government was considering additional mechanisms to deal with rising electricity costs. This will put more pressure on already cash-strapped South Africans. Earlier this week, Ramaphosa appealed to the energy regulator to delay the price hike by modifying the period over which the tariffs will increase. On Monday (30 January), the president wrote in his weekly letter to the public that it is important to affirm the independence of the body and the legal process it follows.…

South Africans have lost confidence in the governing party because of high unemployment, corruption, poor service delivery, and failing state institutions. In the lead-up to the hotly contested 2024 general elections, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa admits the party will face a difficult election campaign. In the previous national and local elections, the party’s support dwindled. It’s believed that South Africans have lost confidence in the governing party due to low employment, corruption, poor service delivery, and failing state institutions. At the opening of the ANC’s two-day lekgotla, Ramaphosa urged party leaders to fight hard to retain power. He vowed the…

The stand-off between Eskom and the National Treasury over funding for diesel has ended with an agreement that government will support Eskom borrowing from commercial banks, should it be unable to reprioritise its own resources. Eskom said in December that it had ran out of funds to purchase further fuel after spending R12 billion, exceeding its yearly budget by more than 100%, with four months left in the fiscal year.Eskom can only feasibly burn up to R2.5 billion of feedstock every month due to logistical limitations on the amount of fuel it can transport to the open-cycle gas turbine units.…

When people think about artificial intelligence (AI), they may have visions of the future. But AI is already here. At its base, it is the recreation of aspects of human intelligence in computerised form. Like human intelligence, it has wide application. Voice-operated personal assistants like Siri, self-driving cars, and text and image generators all use AI. It also curates our social media feeds. It helps companies to detect fraud and hire employees. It’s used to manage livestock, enhance crop yields and aid medical diagnoses. Alongside its growing power and its potential, AI raises moral and ethical questions. The technology has already been at the centre of multiple scandals: the infringement of laws and rights, as well…

This weekend’s lekgotla of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) will focus on the timing and method for transferring state-owned businesses (SOEs) from the department of public enterprises (DPE) to their line ministries. The proposed change would put the power company under the supervision of the department of mining and energy, in accordance with a resolution adopted by the party’s national conference in December in response to Eskom’s electricity generating issue. The conclusions of the ANC lekgotla will subsequently be used to inform a comparable two-day cabinet meeting that will be held by President Cyril Ramaphosa the following week. At…

Deputy President David Mabuza appears to be on his way out of the government, paving the way for his ANC counterpart, Paul Mashatile, to make his much anticipated move This week, a number of reputable ANC sources said that Mabuza, who was rejected for a second term at the party’s conference in December, had delivered a letter of resignation to the president on Monday. Despite Cyril Ramaphosa accepting the resignation, they said Mabuza still needs to legally resign as a member of parliament before quitting the position he has held in government since February 2018. While the minister in the…