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Cyril Ramaphosa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday described disparities in wealth and development within and among countries as unjust and unsustainable, calling them one of the biggest impediments to global growth as he opened the G20 Leaders' Summit here. In his address to some 40 heads of state, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gathered in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa also underscored the need to dismantle divisions based on economic status, gender, race and geography to ensure a sustainable future. "It is essential that we break down divisions of economic status, gender, race and geography. Sustainability involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, he said. The President said as a founding member of the G20, South Africa has sought to ensure that the development priorities of the Global South and the African continent find expression firmly and permanently on the agenda of the G20. This is importa
A second group of white South Africans has arrived in the United States under a refugee programme announced by the Trump administration, officials and advocacy groups said Monday. Nine people, including families and children, arrived late last week, said Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison at the Solidarity Movement, a group representing members of South Africa's white Afrikaner minority. The group travelled on a commercial flight, he said. A spokesperson for the US Embassy said in an email to The Associated Press that refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement programme's ongoing operations. An initial group of 59 white South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a chartered flight last month under the new programme announced by US President Donald Trump in February. The Trump administration fast-tracked the resettlement of white South Africans after indefinitely
US President Donald Trump will host South Africa's leader at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting that might be tense after Trump accused the country's government of being racist against white people and allowing a genocide to take place against minority white farmers. South Africa has strongly rejected the allegations and President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed for the meeting with Trump in an attempt to salvage his country's relationship with the United States, which is at its lowest point since the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994. Trump has launched a series of accusations at South Africa's Black-led government, including that it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy by supporting Iran and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Ramaphosa said he hopes to correct what he calls damaging mischaracterisations during the meeting, which is Trump's first with an African leader at the White .
President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are scheduled to meet at the White House next week following allegations by Trump and denied by South Africa that genocide is being committed against white farmers in the majority Black country. The meeting, announced Wednesday by the South African government and set for May 21, also comes after the US welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees this Monday, the start of what the Trump administration said is a larger relocation plan for minority Afrikaner farmers who Trump has claimed are being persecuted in their homeland because of their race. South Africa denies the allegations and says whites in the majority Black country are not being singled out for persecution. Ramaphosa's office said he will be in the US from Monday to Thursday of next week, and will meet with Trump on Wednesday at the White House. Ramaphosa's trip would aim to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries, his office said. Th
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday the claim that white people are being persecuted in his country is a completely false narrative. It was his latest attempt to push back against allegations made by US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and some white minority groups in South Africa. South African-born Musk, who has regularly accused South Africa's Black-led government of being anti-white, repeated a claim this weekend in a social media post that some of the country's political figures are actively promoting white genocide." Ramaphosa said in his weekly message to the nation that South Africans should not allow events beyond our shores to divide us or turn us against each other. In particular, we should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution. Ramaphosa did not mention names, but his denial was a reference to the allegations by Trump and others that South Af
The arbitrary expulsion of South Africa's Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool on Friday is "just a hiccup" in the relations between the two countries, President Cyril Ramaphosa said as the controversy around the issue raged over the weekend. Ramaphosa was speaking informally to journalists on Monday afternoon for the first time since US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool "persona non grata" in a post on the social media platform X on Friday. This was after Rasool had participated in a discussion hosted earlier on Friday by the South African NGO Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection in which Rasool made comments which angered Rubio enough to call for his repatriation even before any formal diplomatic channels were followed. In his post on Friday, Rubio referred to Rasool as a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. "South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country," Rubio added. In his academic address
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday formalizing his announcement earlier this week that he'll freeze assistance to South Africa for a law aiming to address some of the wrongs of South Africa's racist apartheid era a law the White House says amounts to discrimination against the country's white minority. As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country, the White House said in a summary of the order. The White House said Trump is also going to announce a program to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees. Trump was responding to a new law in South Africa that gives the government powers in some instances to expropriate land from people. The White House said the law blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority Afrikaners. The Expropriation Act was signed into law by South African
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to respond to threats from US counterpart Donald Trump by saying in his annual speech to the nation Thursday that his country would not be bullied." The comment by Ramaphosa was seen as a reaction to Trump's pledge to cut all funding to South Africa over a new land expropriation law although Ramaphosa did not mention Trump by name. We are witnessing the rise of nationalism and protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause, Ramaphosa said at Parliament in Cape Town. "This is the world that we, as a developing economy, must now navigate. "But we are not daunted. We will not be deterred. We are a resilient people. We will not be bullied. We will stand together as a united nation and we will speak with one voice in defence of our national interests, our sovereignty and our constitutional democracy." That part of the speech was met with applause and cheers by members of Parliament and others attending Sou
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced stringent steps to control the increasing number of child deaths due to food poisoning from illegal pesticides across the country. Across the country, there has been a rise in reported cases of food-borne illnesses and deaths. A number of people are becoming severely ill and even dying after eating contaminated food. It has been found that some of the food items would have been purchased from spaza shops and street vendors, Ramaphosa said in a nationally televised address on Thursday. His address followed national outcries and attacks in townships on spaza shops by local residents. Spaza' shops are the name given to small, informal, mostly unlicensed shops, operated by foreign nationals in townships, largely by Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Somali and Ethiopian migrants. Some have been blamed for selling expired foods, with videos widely circulating of how brand name products were also faked by printing labels and packaging them with .
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on its BRICS partners to extend assistance in the industrialisation of the countries on the African continent. He said the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACTFA) has been unlocking massive opportunities for trade, investment and industrial growth and the continent seeks partnerships that would unlock the dynamism and potential of its 1.3 billion people. "The success of ACFTA requires a substantial investment in infrastructure. We, therefore, call on fellow BRICS countries to partner with us to build the roads, ports for imports and exports, rail, energy and telecommunications networks that will enable Africa to industrialise and trade with other countries across the world," Ramaphosa said at the BRICS Business Forum in the Russian city of Kazan. Making a plea to the grouping to extend support to women-owned and small businesses, he said, "Africa is home to a population that is young, digitally connected and increasingly ...
South Africa's election has decided little, other than the African National Congress that liberated the country from apartheid in 1994 has lost its 30-year majority. It remained the biggest party, though. With no one holding a majority, South Africa's party leaders are embarking on coalition talks to form a government. South Africa has never had to do this due to the ANC's long dominance. There are four major political parties and at least eight with significant shares of the vote after last week's election. It'll be complicated. Here's a guide to some of the key figures and what might be coming next as South Africa enters uncharted territory. PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA Once a protege of Nelson Mandela, Ramaphosa (71) has now overseen the worst election result in the ANC's history. He is under pressure within his own party as well as with voters but he managed to laugh when an official made a slip on Sunday and referred to him as the "extinguished" president rather than distinguish
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on Sunday for parties to overcome their differences and find "common ground" to form the first national coalition government in the country's young democracy. South Africa announced its final election results on Sunday, confirming that no party won a majority, and unprecedented coalition talks were starting to find a way forward for Africa's most advanced economy. Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC) had already lost its 30-year majority after more than 99 per cent of votes were counted by Saturday and showed it couldn't surpass 50 per cent. The ANC received around 40 per cent of the votes in last week's election in the final count, the largest share. Without a majority it will need to agree on a coalition with another party or parties for the first time to co-govern and reelect Ramaphosa for a second term. South Africa's national elections decide how many seats each party gets in Parliament and lawmakers elect the president ...