WeeklySA_AdminHUMANITARIAN: He has offered resettlement through the American refugee programme to “Afrikaner
descendants of early Dutch and French settlers”…
By Lehlohonolo Lehana
United States of America President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut financial assistance to South Africa, the White House said on Friday.
Trump said he was bringing in the order because of South Africa’s new land law, which he says is violating people’s rights and also because of its international court case accusing Israel of genocide.
The order escalates a dispute between the two countries nearly a week after Trump threatened to cut funding – without citing evidence – that “South Africa is confiscating land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly”.
Trump’s close adviser Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, also joined in the criticism asking on X why President Cyril Ramaphosa had “openly racist ownership laws”.
Ramaphosa – who signed into law a bill last month aimed at making it easier for the State to expropriate land in the public interest – has defended the policy. He has said the government had not confiscated any land and the policy was aimed at ironing out racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation. Ramaphosa also warned that South Africa “will not be bullied.”
Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa with most private farmland owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.
There have been continuous calls for the government to address land reform and deal with the past injustices of racial segregation. South Africa’s new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest” to do so.
This includes if the property is not being used and there is no intention to either develop or make money from it or when it poses a risk to people.
The order said the US “cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country”, and as long as it “continues these unjust and immoral practices” then the US will not provide aid or assistance.
The White House said Washington will also formulate a plan to resettle South African farmers and their families as refugees.
It said US officials will take steps to prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program for Afrikaners in South Africa, who are mostly white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers. The executive order also references South Africa’s role in bringing accusations of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The order said: “In addition, South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the ICJ, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements.”
White landowners still possessed three-quarters of South Africa’s freehold farmland. This contrasts with 4% owned by Black people who make up 80% of the population compared with about 8% for whites, according to the latest 2017 land audit.
Mirror Briefs
SOLDIERS DIE IN CRASH
Two SA National Defence Force (SANDF) members were killed and seventeen others injured when their military truck overturned on the R31 road in the Northern Cape.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Kock, said the accident occurred on Friday afternoon between Koopmansfontein and Delportshoop.
“The SANDF truck was travelling in rainy weather conditions when the accident occurred.” Kock said the truck was en route from the Lohatla Army base to Kimberley when it overturned. Nineteen soldiers were onboard.
“Two SANDF members, a male and female, died on the scene and 17 others were injured and transported to hospital for medical treatment.”
The identities of the deceased are not yet known as their next of kin had not yet been informed.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the 14 soldiers killed during combat in the Democratic Republic of Congo, were expected to arrive at the UN logistics base in Entebbe, Uganda yesterday (Sat) afternoon, according to SANDF spokesperson, Siphiwe Dlamini.
“They will arrive in Entebbe, and the bodies will be prepared for transportation by air to South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania.” – Fullview
DATE SET FOR ‘’AKA’’ TRIAL.
South African rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane’s murder case has been moved to the Durban High Court for trial from May 8 this year.. Forbes and Motsoane were shot dead in Durban’s Florida Road on February 10, 2023.
The accused, Lindokuhle Mkhwanazi, Lindani Ndimane, Siyanda Myeza, Mziwethemba Gwabeni and Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Mkhawanazi briefly appeared in the Durban Magistrate Court last week.
State prosecutor, Advocate Lawrence Gcaba, told the court that the State was ready to go to trial in the Durban High Court. Gcaba showed the court a hefty folder of documents that the State will be presenting into evidence in relation to the February 2023 murders on Florida Road in Durban. According to the State’s case, the accused conspired to kill Forbes, who they tracked from King Shaka International Airport to the now-closed Wish restaurant where the murders took place when the All Eyes on Me rapper stood outside with his entourage and friends at around 10pm
The five accused face 11 charges which include two counts of murder, five of attempted murder, two of possession of a prohibited firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Meanwhile, Siyabonga Ndimande and Malusi Ndimande – two other suspects in the murder case – are still fighting their extradition from eSwatini. – Lehlohonolo Lehana.
NSFAS PLEA TO LANDLORDS
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has urged landlords not to demand a deposit or top-up payment from NSFAS-funded students.
This comes after NSFAS received reports about some accommodation providers who require NSFAS-funded students to pay a deposit or top-up payment in order to get access to the approved private accommodation. “NSFAS reminds accommodation providers of the compulsory conditions, as provided by the Standardised Fixed-Term Lease Agreement between the private accommodation providers and NSFAS funded students,” NSFAS said in a statement.
The Standardised Fixed-Term Lease Agreement states that the rent will be paid monthly to the accommodation provider (lessor) by NSFAS, on behalf of the lessee (NSFAS funded student), in accordance with the NSFAS terms and conditions for private accommodation providers’ participation on the student accommodation portal.
“The lessor may not require or permit the lessee to pay a deposit, top-up payments, or any other forms of payment to the lessor, or any other person in connection with this agreement, including payment of rent, while awaiting payment from NSFAS. The lessor shall have no recourse against the lessee for any default in the payment of rent by NSFAS.” NSFAS explained that where the NSFAS-funded student chooses to continue occupying the leased premises, notwithstanding being defunded by NSFAS, the student will be liable for payment of rent to the lessor from the date of being defunded. – SAnews
STOP THE WAR IN DRC
The United Nations has called for efforts to prevent the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from spreading across the region. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, warned that the worst may be yet to come” as he addressed an emergency meeting of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. However, while he urged all parties to help halt the violence, the DRC and Rwanda continued to deny responsibility, instead blaming one another. The DRC has been embroiled in a crisis since March 23 Movement (M23) rebels and allied Rwandan troops seized the city of Goma last week. Thousands of people have died and many more have been displaced as they have overtaken swaths of the mineral-rich region in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in the east of the country.
The DRC had called for the meeting, asking for an urgent investigation into the widespread human rights violations that it accuses the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels of committing. “It is urgent to exert international pressure so that Rwanda ceases its support of the armed groups and withdraws from the Congolese territory as soon as possible,” Kinshasa’s Minister of Communication Patrick Muyaya said.
However, the ambassador of Rwanda to the United Nations in Geneva, James Ngango, refuted that his country is responsible for the conflict. – Fullview
