South Africa

  1. SA power sector causes severe pollution problems - report

    Image caption: South Africa is looking to move away from its reliance on coal to renewable sources of energy

    Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt suffer the highest levels of air pollution in Africa, environmental NGO Greenpeace said in a new report.

    The high air pollution levels have propelled the three countries to record most of the continent's nearly one million annual air pollution-related deaths, the report added.

    "Exposure to air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in Africa," the report added.

    South Africa has especially been singled out as the leading air polluter in Africa and one of the countries with the highest air pollution-linked health risks.

    It hosts two of the world’s largest and six of Africa's biggest nitrogen dioxide emission hotspots.

    Four of the country's thermal power stations, which are run by state power provider Eskom, are among the world's 10 largest sulphur dioxide emission points.

    The report also provides accounts detailing the challenges faced by communities that have been most hit by air pollution on the continent.

    "The pollution from coal plants like those operated by Sasol in our region has not only tarnished our health, leading to failed health assessments and chronic diseases... but it has also clouded our future, leaving us jobless as companies opt to hire from outside, citing our unfitness for work, " Fana Sibanyoni, an activist from the coal-rich Mpumalanga province.

    The region's multiple coal mines and coal-fired power stations have been linked to extreme air pollution levels.

  2. Police link prominent SA businessman to rapper's murder

    Image caption: AKA and his friend Tibz Motsoane were gunned down outside a restaurant in the coastal city of Durban in February last year

    A businessman who is a member of a powerful South African family has been linked to the murder of popular rapper AKA.

    AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, and his close friend, Tibz Motsoane, were gunned down outside a restaurant in Durban on 10 February last year.

    A statement presented to court by the investigating officer said that a company owned by businessman Sydney Mfundo Gcaba allegedly sent over 800,000 rand ($42,000; £33,000) to the bank account of one of the suspects currently on trial over the rapper's killing.

    The payment was allegedly made a day after AKA's murder.

    The prosecutor, citing phone records, also said that the suspect who received the money, Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, allegedly made a call to Mr Gcaba before the transaction was completed.

    Mr Gcaba is yet to comment on the prosecutor's statement.

    The prosecutor alleges that the money was then split equally between the seven suspects.

    Mr Gwabeni said in an affidavit that he received the funds as payment for consultation services he provided to the company.

    But the prosecutor argued that there's no evidence showing that Mr Gwabeni provided any services to the company to warrant the payment.

    Mr Gcaba is a member of the powerful Gcaba family, which owns a taxi empire and several other businesses in the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province and across South Africa.

    A motive for his alleged involvement in AKA's murder is yet to be established.

    Read more:

  3. 'Life in Soweto shanties is unbearable'

    BBC Africa Daily podcast

    Image caption: "You have to be a resilient person to survive", says 76-year-old Lala Maria Sebetlele

    Thirty years after Nelson Mandela's government took over and introduced a policy to build low cost houses in South Africa, millions of people still live in shanty towns.

    The idea behind the initiative, known as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), was to reverse the devastating legacy of apartheid.

    Although the RDP policy successfully delivered more than three million homes for the poor, factors like population growth, rapid urbanisation and internal migration have contributed to its regression.

    One of those who've been living in a Soweto shanty town since the mid-1980s, is 76-year-old Lala Maria Sebetlele.

    "We were told to patiently wait here because they will help us. But they never did. They promised to build houses, install electricity and fix roads," she tells BBC Africa Daily.

    She says life in a shanty town is "unbearable".

    "You have to be a resilient person to survive. There's no electricity. The roads are almost non-existent. On sunny days, the shack gets too hot. You can’t stay inside. When it’s cold, it gets very cold. When it’s raining, it gets flooded."

    The South African government blames the scarcity of resources, saying there are many competing priorities.

    In an attempt to help ease the accommodation burden, the University of Johannesburg has come up with an initiative of its own, using a highly sophisticated 3D printer that constructs a fully-fledged house in about 10 hours.

  4. South Africa court rejects bid to deregister Zuma's party

    Jenny Hill

    BBC News

    South Africa’s governing party African National Congress (ANC) has failed in a legal bid to stop a newly formed party which is backed by the country’s former President Jacob Zuma, from running in May’s general election.

    The ANC had argued that uMKhonto weSizwe, known as MK, had not met the criteria for official registration.

    The country’s electoral court on Tuesday morning rejected that challenge.

    The ANC – which polls predict could lose its majority when South Africans vote on 29 May – has also instigated separate legal proceedings against MK.

    Mr Zuma's new party is gaining popularity since he joined it early this year, opinion polls suggest.

    The party’s name comes from the now disbanded armed wing of the ANC, which has accused it of copyright infringement.

    Read more:

  5. South Africa 'pleased' with UN Gaza ceasefire vote

    Image caption: It is the first time the UN Security Council has called for a ceasefire since the war began in October

    South Africa has welcomed the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    In a vote on Monday, the council urged a ceasefire for the rest of the month of Ramadan - which ends in two weeks.

    South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor in a statement said her country was "pleased" with the resolution but called for a "lasting sustainable ceasefire".

    "It is now the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council to ensure that there is compliance with the resolution, which is binding on the parties," Ms Pandor added.

    The resolution, which also called for the release of all hostages, followed several failed attempts at similar measures since the 7 October attacks.

    It is the first time the council has called for a ceasefire since the war began.

    The US abstained in the vote, while the remaining 14 members voted in favour.

    Read more:

  6. SA orders German firm SAP to pay $26m earned 'corruptly'

    Image caption: The anti-graft agency says that despite the settlement, SAP could still be prosecuted

    South Africa's special tribunal has ordered German multinational company SAP to pay back 500m rand ($26m; £20m) that the firm reportedly earned through corrupt contracts.

    The country's anti-corruption body says that the contracts - signed between SAP and public power company Eskom - did not comply with public finance management laws, resulting in "fruitless and wasteful expenditures" for Eskom.

    The two contracts were entered between 2013 and 2016 and were valued at $58m.

    The payment order follows a settlement agreement between SAP and the anti-corruption agency Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

    The Special Tribunal last week upheld the settlement and termed the contracts "constitutionally invalid".

    SIU said on Monday that the payment was part of efforts "to recover financial losses suffered by state institutions due to negligence or corruption".

    "The settlement agreement does not absolve SAP or any implicated party from possible prosecution."

    SAP is required to remit the payment to SIU within seven days.

    In January, the company agreed to pay more than $220m to settle bribery charges involving government officials in several countries, including South Africa.

    It allegedly paid millions in fees to consultants in South Africa, despite no work being performed, and funded trips to New York for government officials, including golf outings.

  7. Nigeria charges Binance with tax evasion - reports

    Image caption: Binance is also accused of operating in Nigeria without registration

    Nigeria's tax agency is pursuing cryptocurrency company Binance for tax evasion, local reports say.

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Monday reportedly filed tax evasion charges against the company at the high court in the capital, Abuja.

    The charges include failure to pay taxes, failure to file tax returns, and aiding users of its platform to evade taxes.

    Binance is also accused of operating in the West African country without registration.

    The crypto platform told Reuters news agency that it was working with Nigerian authorities to resolve the issue.

    The lawsuit names two Binance executives currently detained in Nigeria - Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla - as defendants.

    They have been in detention since late February, when they arrived in the country to discuss the suspension of the trading platform with Nigerian authorities.

    On Monday, online newspaper Premium Times reported that Mr Anjarwalla allegedly escaped custody and fled the country last Friday. Authorities have not confirmed this report.

    Earlier this month, the Nigerian government demanded almost $10bn (£8bn) from the cryptocurrency firm as compensation for its alleged manipulation of exchange rates of the local naira currency.

  8. SA speaker says corruption probe politically motivated

    More from Stephen May, a lawyer for South Africa's Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

    As well as rejecting media reports that the speaker had handed herself in to the police, he said Ms Mapisa-Nqakula believed an investigation into her by state prosecutors' was politically motivated.

    The probe was sparked by accusations that Ms Mapisa-Nqakula had solicited bribes in return for awarding contracts when she served as defence minister.

    Mr May said Ms Mapisa-Nqakula and her team were demanding access to the prosecutors' case file in order to better understand the allegations against her.

  9. Ex-Steinhoff chief Markus Jooste dies of gunshot wound

    Will Ross

    Africa editor, BBC World Service

    Image caption: The 63-year-old former chief executive had been handed a hefty fine for accounting fraud

    The former head of the retail group that was at the centre of a huge corporate fraud case in South Africa has died, a day after he was ordered to pay $25m (£20m) as a fine.

    Police said Markus Jooste succumbed to a gunshot wound after he allegedly shot himself on Thursday outside his home.

    “The circumstances surrounding his death are being investigated,” police spokesperson André Traut told local media.

    The country's financial regulator said Jooste had played a role in the publishing of misleading financial statements about Steinhoff International Holdings.

    The retailer has suffered heavy losses, as have investors in South African pension funds, since an accounting scandal broke in 2017.

    Prior to that, Jooste had acquired billions of dollars' worth of high street retailers across Europe (including the UK-based Poundland).

    He had also been fined for insider trading in 2020.

  10. Zuma’s bid to remove arms deal prosecutor dismissed

    Image caption: This is the second time the former South African president is attempting to remove the prosecutor

    A court in South Africa has dismissed former President Jacob Zuma's bid to remove a prosecutor in a corruption case against him.

    Mr Zuma's legal team has accused state prosecutor Billy Downer of bias in the arms deal graft case.

    The former president failed to prove how Mr Downer’s continued presence as his prosecutor would violate his right to a fair trial, the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled on Wednesday.

    This is the second time Mr Zuma has tried and failed to remove Mr Downer from the arms deal trial.

    In May 2021, he unsuccessfully sought the prosecutor's removal in court.

    Mr Zuma is facing 16 charges of corruption over a multi-billion dollar arms deal, in a case that has dragged on for years as the former president challenges attempts by the prosecution to put him on trial.

    Read more on the arms deal scandal:

  11. New suspect charged in disappearance of South African girl

    Image caption: The search for Joslin Smith has transfixed South Africa since she went missing on 19 February

    A new suspect has been charged over the disappearance of a six-year-old South African girl last month.

    The search for Joslin Smith has transfixed the country since she went missing near her home in Saldanha Bay, 110km (70 Miles) north-west of Cape Town, on 19 February.

    A 32-year-old woman was on Monday charged with kidnapping and human trafficking in the Vredenburg Magistrates’ Court in the Western Cape province.

    Joslin's mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and another suspect are also in custody and face kidnapping and trafficking charges.

    Last week, the court freed a traditional healer due to a lack of evidence.

    The new suspect will be up for a bail hearing on 25 March while Ms Smith and the other suspects will be back in court on 13 May.

    Joslin is yet to be found and her whereabouts remain unknown.

    Ms Smith had previously told local publication The Daily Voice that she had not given up hope of finding her daughter.

    "My motherly instincts are telling me my daughter is still alive and in this area. We will find her, I will walk on foot to find her. I will look in every little shack, I'm going to do it by myself if I have to."

    Joslin was left in the care of Ms Smith's boyfriend before she went missing. He has denied any involvement.

    On average, a child goes missing every five hours in South Africa, but most are found.