Just too many unanswered questions around Mashatile
Premium 04 August 2025
We need to talk about Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
Mashatile's sudden declaration that he lives in a sumptuous house in Constantia, Cape Town, after years of dodging disclosure of the property and its provenance must force the ANC, and SA, to confront itself and the pedigree of people it refers to as public representatives. ..
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
ANC Free State MMC to apply for bail amid fraud allegations
Fraud-accused Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality member of the mayoral committee for Social Development Pastor Mary Crockett is expected to apply for bail at the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate's Court. Image: Supplied A senior ANC ward councillor in the troubled Free State-based Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality is expected to appear before the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate's Court to face fraud charges. Member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for Social Development, Pastor Mary Crockett, is scheduled to apply for bail on Wednesday after being arrested over the weekend for fraud, following accusations that she has been selling government houses and vacant sites in the area. On Monday, Crockett made a brief appearance, but the case of fraud against the Ward 28 councillor was remanded to Wednesday, August 6, and she remains behind bars. Free State police spokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring confirmed that Crockett has been charged with fraud. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading DA councillor Ana Motaung said the party believed it would be better that she be replaced as MMC pending the outcome of the case against her. 'Only the MEC (Free State Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Saki Mokoena) can remove her as a councillor, which he won't do until there is a court finding. 'But the mayor (of Maluti-A-Phofung, Malekula Melato) has the power to replace her as MMC,' she explained. Motaung added that the mayor appointed her, and she can remove her. 'The DA will commit to monitoring the court proceedings until the matter is fully resolved.' Maluti-A-Phofung spokesperson Thabo Khessah said it is still early days for Melato to make a determination on whether or not to sack Crockett. 'MMC Crockett still has to appear in court and follow due court processes. We need to emphasise that she hasn't been found guilty of any crime. Like any other person, she's presumed innocent until proven otherwise,' he stated. ANC Thabo Mofutsanyana regional secretary Jeff Mohapi said: 'The ANC awaits a report regarding the matter of which upon a receipt of such a report, it will act accordingly.' Crockett, known internationally as HIV/Aids pastor, has featured in a number of international publications and television news channels and for a number of years has run the Pheko Ka Kopanelo Development Centre to assist orphaned children.


Mail & Guardian
2 hours ago
- Mail & Guardian
How Trump's tariffs exposed South Africa's strategic trade failures
The Trump' administration's trade tariffs have shaken the rand. Photo: File The United States' 30% tariff on South Africa — set to take effect on 1 August 2025 but pushed back seven days — is a grave blow for those diligently modelling costs, yet a distant abstraction for many South Africans who are yet to grasp its economic gravity. Regrettably, in South Africa global economic shocks typically register as background noise, their causes unexamined, their consequences only recognised when unavoidable. Before dissecting our strategic missteps, let's make these abstract forces tangible. Consider first how US President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs shook the rand's foundations in July alone. The currency exhibited heightened volatility, opening at R17.59 before plunging 2.6% to R18.04 by month-end, as markets priced in the impending tariffs. Three distinct phases can be identified: the initial 7 July drop to R17.74 (-1%) on Trump's Brics surcharge threat, a mid-month slump to R17.89 as exemption hopes faded and the final 1.5% 24 to 31 July drop when tariff implementation became certain. Let's also appreciate trade and industry in this context. The South African Revenue Service's Cumulative Trade Report for January to June 2025 revealed that SA exported R68.8 billion worth of goods to the US. Trump's tariffs will probably disproportionately target critical sectors like vehicles and transport equipment (R11.4 billion); machinery (R3.8 billion); iron and steel products (R10.9 billion); chemicals (R4.8 billion) and plastics (R644 million). Despite exempt categories, such as precious metals and iron ores, several mineral categories will suffer, including processed steel, machinery components and industrial chemicals, risking R31.5 billion in vulnerable exports. If these impacts remain abstract, consider the tangible consequences — currency depreciation and trade disruptions will send prices of basic goods soaring, devastate jobs in the auto and mining industries, deepen inequality, shutter factories at an alarming rate, fuel inflationary fires and ignite political instability as economic hardship erodes public trust. Clearly, these repercussions span economic, political and social spheres, raising pressing questions about whether the state could have taken stronger measures to mitigate the coming storm. The evidence suggests decisive action was both possible and necessary. While competent trade negotiation reflects able governance, truly strategic trade diplomacy remains an elusive art — one whose absence we feel acutely in these turbulent economic waters. A few months back, while Washington's theatrics over South Africa's land reform policies dominated headlines, the real tragedy unfolded quietly – that is, the country's mineral baiting approach to trade talks which ultimately ought to have been seen by our government as doomed from inception. Why so? Because Trump's global trade warfare primarily stems from geopolitical anxiety over dwindling US hegemony, not sound economic logic. In such a context, no mineral concessions could sway Washington. Rather than this futile approach, we should have been aggressively pursuing market diversification, accelerating regional industrial partnerships and building shock-absorbent trade architectures. Far from wishful thinking, this has been a deliberate strategic pivot by pragmatic emerging economies. For example, shortly after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, Southeast Asian states like Cambodia aggressively diversified trade partners through South-South cooperation and the 'China+1' strategy, transforming tariff threats into opportunities. These nations retain their edge as export manufacturing hubs, where labour cost advantages outweigh protectionist headwinds. Regrettably, this was a storm we might have weathered — had we possessed the strategic foresight to act early. Instead, we'll spend the coming quarters, perhaps years, paying for missed opportunities, while our trade and diplomatic machinery scrambles merely to recover lost ground. Siseko Maposa is the director of Surgetower Associates Management Consultancy. The views expressed are his own.

The Herald
2 hours ago
- The Herald
Deputy health minister Dhlomo's nephew in court over wife's 2022 death
Deputy health minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo says the death of his nephew's wife Khanyisile Dhlomo has left more questions than answers. He was speaking after his nephew, school principal Khayalethu Dhlomo, 53, made his second court appearance in the Durban magistrate's court in connection with his wife's death. The mother of two teens, who was also a school principal, was found stabbed to death at their Malvern, Joburg home on September 4 2022. At the time of her death, Khayalethu said his wife ended her own life. In a courtroom packed with ANC supporters and family from both sides, senior prosecutor Denise Perumal asked for the matter to be postponed to August 12 for bail. The state is opposed to bail.