Top 10 stories of the day: Ramaphosa disputes 30% tariff claim
News today includes President Cyril Ramaphosa has contested the United States' justification for imposing a 30% trade tariff on South African goods, describing the percentage as inaccurate and based on a flawed interpretation of trade data.
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town has paid its condolences to its former mayor Theresa Solomon.
Furthermore, while luxury cars linked to her name are being auctioned off by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and her once-prized football club, Royal AM, slips from her grasp, Shauwn 'MaMkhize' Mkhize continues to live life in unapologetic opulence.
Weather tomorrow: 9 July 2025
Damaging winds are expected along the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal while extremely high fire danger conditions are forecast over parts of the Northern Cape. Most provinces can expect fine, cold to cool weather, with some wind and isolated rain in parts of the Western Cape. Full weather forecast here.
Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way.
Ramaphosa disputes Trump's 30% tariff claim as 'not accurate'
President Cyril Ramaphosa has contested the United States' justification for imposing a 30% trade tariff on South African goods, describing the percentage as inaccurate and based on a flawed interpretation of trade data.
The dispute emerged after President Donald Trump announced the unilateral tariff imposition in correspondence received by South Africa on Monday.
US President Donald Trump meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on 21 May 2025. Picture: AFP
South Africa was among several countries to receive similar communications from the US administration, signalling a broader shift in American trade policy.
CONTINUE READING: Ramaphosa disputes Trump's 30% tariff claim as 'not accurate'
Inmates busted using smuggled cellphones to run scams from prison
Prisoners at Baviaanspoort Correctional Centre were recently busted for using snuck in mobile phones to actively scam members of the public from within their cells.
The scams came to light after National Commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale led a specialised raid that revealed the criminal network operating in daytime.
Inmates cellphone raid. Picture: Department of Correctional Services.
The scamming operation relied on a system of hidden mobile phones that inmates had successfully smuggled into the facility.
CONTINUE READING: Inmates busted using smuggled cellphones to run scams from prison
Former Cape Town mayor dies
The City of Cape Town has paid its condolences to its former mayor Theresa Solomon.
Solomon died on Monday.
Cape Town shoreline. Picture:She was the mayor of Cape Town from 1996 to 1998.
CONTINUE READING: Former Cape Town mayor dies
Health minister weaponising racial bias report to push NHI, says IRR
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has accused Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi of using a report into the racial bias of medical aid compliance standards to further his National Health Insurance (NHI) agenda.
The report, compiled by a panel chaired by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, concluded that medical aid schemes were unfairly discriminating against black practitioners when investigating fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) claims.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. Picture: GCIS
To reach this conclusion, the independent panel relied on an equation devised by a mathematician with a PhD from the University of Cape Town.
CONTINUE READING: Health minister weaponising racial bias report to push NHI, says IRR
While luxury cars linked to her name are being auctioned off by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and her once-prized football club, Royal AM, slips from her grasp, Shauwn 'MaMkhize' Mkhize continues to live life in unapologetic opulence.
From fur coats courtside at an NBA game to glam game-reserve getaways, the flamboyant businesswoman remains silent, despite growing scrutiny and public questions around her ties to figures named in a weekend briefing by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Shauwn Mkhize. Picture Instagram
The fall of Royal AM, once a rising force in South African football owned by MaMkhize, has sent shockwaves through the PSL.
CONTINUE READING: Fur, football and forfeits: MaMkhize lives it up as netizens link her to the Mkhwanazi saga
Here are five more stories of the day:
Yesterday's News recap
READ HERE: Mkhwanazi vs Mchunu | Magaqa's killer sentenced | Travis Scott tickets still available
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
28 minutes ago
- IOL News
SA faces new foreign policy, trade challenges under Trump's administration, warns US expert
US President Donald Trump this week slapped South Africa with 30% tariffs on 'any and all South African products sent into the United States' from August 1 'to correct the unsustainable trade deficits' against the US. Image: GCIS US foreign policy expert Michael Walsh has warned that the 30% tariff imposed on South African imports by the United States was likely the first in a series of actions that will be taken against South Africa by the Trump Administration over the next year. This comes as US President Donald Trump this week slapped South Africa with 30% tariffs on 'any and all South African products sent into the United States' from August 1 'to correct the unsustainable trade deficits' against the US. Walsh - a non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an American think tank based in Pennsylvania - said on Wednesday that Trump was going to take more retaliatory actions against South Africa for misalignment with US national security and foreign policy interests before the end of the year. These actions, according to Walsh, could even include economic sanctions, travel restrictions, visa bans, and counterterrorism investigations. Walsh said the Trump Administration has made a public commitment to promoting prosperity through reciprocal trade and using economic coercion against those undermining US national security and foreign policy interests. He said the imposition of an additional ad valorem rate of duty was entirely consistent with following through on those commitments. 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 'In all likelihood, the Trump Administration is going to take more retaliatory actions against South Africa for misalignment with US national security and foreign policy interests before the end of the year,' Walsh said. 'It will not stop with the new duty, as it did not stop with the foreign assistance ban. It will continue to take such actions until US relations with South Africa mirror US relations with malicious actors. That is the reality. 'Under the Trump Administration, South Africa cannot be friends with Iran and work to undermine the world order with China and expect the US Government to give it a pass. It is not going to happen. This is not the Biden Administration. The Trump Administration is going to put South Africa in the box with adversaries and rivals.' This comes as Trump has also threatened to charge a 10% tariff on imports from BRICS countries 'pretty soon' over the bloc's 'anti-American policies of BRICS' and its persistent push to diminish the US dollar's dominance as a reserve currency. "Anybody that's in BRICS is getting a 10% charge pretty soon ... If they're a member of BRICS, they're going to have to pay a 10% tariff ... and they won't be a member long," Trump said. 'BRICS was set up to hurt us, BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar, take it off as the standard.' Walsh said what South Africans desperately needed to understand was that the Trump Administration has an internally coherent strategic stance on South Africa that marks a major departure from the last administration. He said that for the sake of the US-South Africa relations, there needs to be a moment of national reflection in South Africa and that an important lesson therefore needs to be drawn from the foreign assistance and reciprocal trade decisions. 'South Africans may want to think hard about whether their national interests are best served by having their government continue to pursue policies and partnerships that undermine US national security and foreign policy interests. If so, then South Africans should expect the Trump Administration to impose a steep price on South Africans for governmental decisions that undermine US national security and foreign policy interests,' Walsh said. 'We have entered a new era in US-South Africa relations. There is no more business as usual. The status quo is permanently out the window. That should be factored into the South African expectations around Agoa renewal and G20 participation. It should also be factored into the expectations of South African political elites about economic sanctions, travel restrictions, visa bans, and counterterrorism investigations.'
The Citizen
29 minutes ago
- The Citizen
Dialogue reflects on sacrifices made by youth of the past, and promise of youth of today
Dialogue reflects on sacrifices made by youth of the past, and promise of youth of today To mark the end of youth month on June 26, the Nelson Mandela Foundation hosted a dialogue: Born Free but Still Bound: Redefining Freedom for South African Youth, and posed the question: 'What does freedom mean to South Africa's 'born free' generation?' The panelists were the foundation's board chairperson Dr Naledi Pandor, digital activist Amahle-Imvelo Jaxa, University of Johannesburg (UJ) College of Business and Economics lecturer Marievonne Daya, and life coach Vukosi Mashele. The foundation's co-ordinator for dialogue and advocacy, Nomahlozi Ramohloki, started off by explaining that the foundation was an important space, rooted in memory and in an ongoing struggle for justice and equity to reflect, challenge, and reimagine. Read more: Youth asked: 'What does freedom mean to South Africa's 'born free' generation? Daya then took over, saying: 'As we reflect on the 31 years of democracy, we need to ask ourselves, what does freedom truly mean to youth in Diepsloot, Tembisa, Mitchells Plain, or Mthatha today? 'Freedom cannot be measured by just the fall of apartheid alone. It must be felt in our everyday lives. Through access to education, meaningful employment, safety, and dignity.' Daya added that youth day reminded us of the power the youth of 1976 had, challenging injustices and shaping society. 'It also is a call to continue the struggle that they started for equal education, economic inclusion, safety, and dignity for all South African youth.' Giving a speech titled: Lessons from my father's cell, was Jaca, who is the daughter of Sotomela Ndukwana, a former ANC member and Robben Island detainee sentenced to 10 years in 1976 for recruiting students to the ANC's military programme. The first lesson the digital activist learnt was that freedom without dignity is not freedom. She explained that her father believed that being legally free, but not economically free, was no better than being in chains. 'That's the painful irony of us as this 'born free' generation. Yes, we are free to vote, but how many of us are registered to vote when the time comes? Yes, we are free to speak our minds, but who listens when unemployment is almost at 45%?' She further questioned how we were free when gender-based violence and femicide (GBV+F) continued to be a shadow that followed us home, and when trust in political leadership was at an all-time low. Jaca noted that many of us, young, brilliant but disillusioned, were tuning out instead of rising, and this was not apathy, but exhaustion. 'We are tired of carrying the hope on our backs while those in power carry corruption on theirs. We are a generation that is expected to thrive with no tools, told to 'hustle' our way out of systemic failure.' The second lesson she learnt was that the youth are the architects of every revolution, noting that, from Soweto in 1976, to fees must fall, to the young organisers who fed communities during lockdown, our history was not short of youthful courage. What the youth lacked was power and support. 'We are structurally being disempowered, shut out of policy making, underfunded, tokenised, and, most times, ignored. Nelson Mandela once said: 'With such youth, we can be sure that the ideals we celebrate today will never be extinguished', and yet there is only smoke where there was once a flame.' The good news is that the ideals are not extinguished, they are in exile, waiting for a generation brave enough to relight the match. She added that she believed the current generation could do it, but belief must be backed by action. 'It's time to stop waiting to be included in broken systems, and to start building better ones. So, when I was asked to be on this panel, and the question was: 'What does freedom mean to today's youth in South Africa and has democratic transition delivered its promise for young people?', I think the simple answer is no. 'Freedom is hollow if you have no job, it is hollow if your school does not prepare you for adulthood, because there are no resources to educate, and if you fear walking at night.' Pandor concluded by saying that June 1955 and 1976 were epic moments in the historic struggle of the people of South Africa against apartheid. 'June 1955 was the adoption of the Freedom Charter, and in 1976, the young people of South Africa rose in protest.' She explained that the societal problems described by various analysts were largely poverty, poor quality education, and the absence of diverse skills offerings in post-school education. 'Young people need to probe further and argue in public through organisations. Our youth has the potential to take up these challenges, and, I believe, can resolve them.' Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration! Have a story idea? We'd love to hear from you – join our WhatsApp group and share your thoughts! At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
43 minutes ago
- IOL News
SAPS in Crisis: Makashule Gana says South Africans want to hear from President Ramaphosa
Makashule Gana, RISE Mzansi's National Assembly whip said South Africans want to hear from President Cyril Ramaphosa. Image: Elmond Jiyane, GCIS RISE Mzansi has welcomed the announcement by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, which mandates the portfolio committees on police, justice and constitutional development, and the joint standing committee on intelligence to probe the serious allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Makashule Gana, RISE Mzansi's National Assembly whip and member of the portfolio committee on police said his party has also noted comments made by the national commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola, in which he stated that he is ready to brief President Cyril Ramaphosa on the scandal. Makashule Gana, RISE Mzansi's National Assembly whip and member of the portfolio committee on police. Image: Timothy Bernard/Independent Media 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 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. Next Stay Close ✕ 'President Ramaphosa needs to act diligently and urgently to bring stability to the SAPS and the justice, peace and security cluster as a whole. One such step would be establishing a commission of inquiry headed by a retired judge to probe the serious allegations by Lieutenant-General Mkhwanazi,' said Gana. He said the commission of inquiry must have clear terms of reference and timelines. 'President Ramaphosa has built a reputation as someone who takes his time to act. This cannot be one of those instances, while the country's police service is at war with itself, and the state's safety and security is in question,' said Gana. 'President Ramaphosa stated that he will deal with this matter on his return from his official international duties. Today is that day. South Africans want to hear from the president. On Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made damning allegations against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, deputy national police commissioner, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya and other high-placed individuals. Mkhwanazi stirred the hornet's nest when he made the explosive revelations, stating that investigations have unearthed a crime syndicate involving underworld figures, politicians, prosecutors, judges, and senior police officers. Earlier this week, IOL reported that Ramaphosa has described the allegations made by Mkhwanazi against Mchunu as a "serious national security concern" and urged all parties involved to exercise "restraint and discipline." 'This is a matter of grave national security concern that is receiving the highest priority attention. It is vital that the integrity of the country's security services is safeguarded and that the rule of law is affirmed.' 'All parties to this matter are called upon to exercise discipline and restraint. The trading of accusations and counter-accusations threatens to undermine public confidence and sow confusion. Furthermore, these actions damage the unity and focus of the police,' he said. IOL News
