Siyahleba: Slow death of the EFF Speak or keep forever silent
The EFF this weekend celebrated its 12th anniversary in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. But if they were honest with themselves, they would really be commemorating their slow death.
The party's support dropped in the national elections last year and has since been on a precipitous decline. By-election after by-election has seen their support drop alarmingly.
READ: Siyahleba: African beggars | Who appointed you? God? | Did they just say unity? | HOT & NOT
On Wednesday, the party obtained a woeful 1% in a ward by-election in Kimberley in the Northern Cape, which was won by the ANC with 43% of the vote. In Emfuleni, Gauteng, the party obtained a mere 8% support in a ward won by the ANC with 38%.
Party leader Julius Malema should be honest with his supporters on their way to their cemetery.
Confusion much?
Jacob Zuma's MK Party has spent weeks and months articulating its opposition to this year's budget. But when it came to the crunch, when it had an opportunity, it chose to vote in support of the budget in the National Assembly.
This positive vote was such a surprise to the chairperson of the session, Cedric Frolick, that he actually gave the party a second chance to state its vote, and it repeated its support for the budget.
It was only much later that its chief whip, Colleen Makhubele, said:
We have changed our minds.
Makhubele later pleaded for understanding, saying she made a mistake because she was a new chief whip. But what was shocking was that each time she announced the wrong vote, she was supported by the entire MK Party caucus, meaning the entire caucus got it wrong.
What is going on in that party? We know they are not going to last, but there is no need to rush the process. The voters will pronounce.
Speak or keep forever silent
It was shade o'clock at the EFF presser when commander-in-chief Julius Malema turned to deputy president Godrich Gardee and said:
Say something because you are going to leave here and form a party and say you were never given a chance to speak...
The two burst out laughing, loud and unbothered. But the message? Sharp and unmistakable.
Shots were flying straight at former deputy president Floyd 'silent but plotting' Shivambu.
Malema kept the heat coming: 'We didn't know he wanted to speak. Were we supposed to smell it?' Yho! Not Julius dragging Floyd like expired cologne.
Next time, comrades, don't whisper ambitions, spray them. Maybe we'll catch the scent.
HOT
South African sprint phenomenon Bayanda Walaza again led the medal charge for the country on the international stage. This week, the 19-year-old clinched the 100m and 200m titles at the World University Games in Germany. Walaza's double contributed to the six gold medals that Team SA hauled at the multisport event, which ends today.
In total, South Africa won 16 medals, including three silver and seven bronze – ranking the country seventh on the medal table at the time of publication.
NOT
How ridiculous Kenny Kunene sounded when he tried to explain why he was found at the house of the man suspected of being the mastermind behind the murder of musician DJ Sumbody.
Kunene was found at Katiso 'TK' Molefe's house in Sandton this week as the SA Police Service Political Killings Task Team and the Gauteng Organised Crime Detectives pounced on the suspect, along with three others at various locations in Gauteng.
When he realised what was happening, Kunene, in trying to distance himself from Molefe, said he was at the house to help a journalist friend of his to report on the arrest. But he failed to say which journalist he was referring to – mainly because there was none.
It's a good thing that his friend and leader in the Patriotic Alliance Gayton McKenzie advised him to resign his position as councillor in the City of Johannesburg.
But the smell of scandal lingers. The arrests follow in the wake of Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's revelation that some top government officials are closely connected to criminal syndicates.
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Lesotho's Prime Minister Samuel Matekane said in June that the huge tariff, combined with the halt of US aid to the nation of just over 2 million people, 'have crippled industries that previously sustained thousands of jobs.' Trump has described Lesotho, a landlocked nation surrounded by South Africa, as a country 'nobody has ever heard of' – even though trade between the US and Lesotho totaled over $240 million last year, mostly in textiles. Before the tariffs, Lesotho benefited from a US trade agreement that allowed it and other eligible sub-Saharan countries to export goods to the US duty-free. Authorities in Lesotho have declared a two-year national state of disaster over the tariffs, as the country braces for their impact, with the textile industry already grappling with massive job losses. Thousands of roles are also threatened in Lesotho's richer neighbor, South Africa, where citrus growers said they were gripped with 'great anxiety' ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline. 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Alternating US with China 'could be risky,' he said, 'especially for some nascent industries within the (African) countries.' 'If they're not protected, Chinese products will flood and outcompete them as many African countries are price sensitive markets,' he warned. China has imposed some imbalanced trade deals of its own in Africa with trade deficits skewed in its favor, according to the China-Global South Project (CGSP), an organization monitoring China's engagement with developing countries. Additionally, the bulk of Beijing's exports to Africa comprise mainly manufactured products, while the continent's exports to China are commonly raw materials. South Africa's Ramaphosa advocated for balanced trade with China when he met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing last year. Letswalo advised that, while Africa leans on China for trade, it must also seek domestic alternatives. 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Who are the winners and losers of Trump's tariffs?
The penguins have been offered some relief. The people of Switzerland, Laos and Syria, not so much. This is the unlikely jumble of winners and losers of President Donald Trump's finalized list of tariffs, which governments, markets and businesses across the globe were scrambling to make sense of Friday. Some countries, such as Canada and South Africa, reacted with grave disappointment, warning that Trump's executive order could prompt job losses globally and rising costs for Americans. For others, the damage was not as bad as expected, with some able to thrash out deals before his deadline, and others hopeful of striking one in the future. The president had already drawn confusion and alarm when first unveiling his tariff list in April. Many analysts questioned, for example, why he was imposing a 10% levy on Heard and McDonald — two Antarctic outposts populated solely by penguins — or slapping a colossal 50% rate on the impoverished southern African nation of Lesotho. This week's finalized list elicited reprieve but also dismay— often with little or no explanation. The harshest import taxes were slapped on Syria (41%), Laos and Myanmar (40%), three relatively poor nations with, at best, modest trading relationships with Washington. And Iraq, Serbia (both 35%) and Algeria (30%) also found themselves subject to Trump's executive pen. (Brazil faces its own separate 50% tariff as punishment for what Trump says is a "witch hunt" against its former president and his right-wing ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of plotting a coup.) Elsewhere Thursday, Lesotho's 50% rate was slashed to 15% — but not before huge damage was already wrought. The initial tariff saw American buyers pausing orders, thousands of people losing their jobs and the government declaring a state of disaster. Meanwhile the Heard and McDonald Islands and its flightless bird inhabitants dodged the tariff Trump threatened to impose on Australia, which owns the islands, and remained at the 10% rate first announced in April. It is 'hard to tell if there is any logic' to deciphering why some countries have been hit so hard while others were spared, said David Henig, a trade expert at the European Center for International Political Economy, a think tank based in Brussels. Without a detailed explanation from the White House, Henig told NBC News, the calculations were most likely based on the previous formula Washington used that placed the biggest tariffs on the countries with the biggest trade surpluses. In announcing the tariffs Thursday, Trump said these surpluses 'constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States.' (Many economists disagree that the U.S. trade deficit is inherently a bad thing, and his tariffs are the subject of an ongoing legal fight that is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.) While the international uproar over Lesotho meant it was given a reprieve, other nations may have seen their tariffs maintained or even increased because 'they weren't the most obviously unfairly treated developing countries,' Henig said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on its rationale. It's not only developing or obscure places feeling the heat of Trump's taxes. Switzerland — one of the richest nations in terms of gross domestic product per capita — awoke Friday to find that it had been slapped with a colossal 39% rate, which its government noted with 'great regret.' This could spell trouble for Swiss chocolate and luxury watches, for which the U.S. is the largest market, with shares for Watches of Switzerland Group PLC tumbling 8.5% following the news Friday. India also caught the eye as an American ally hit with a large 25% tariff but dismissed any suggestion of a rift, with Goods Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal saying the world's most populous nation was 'confident that the relationship will continue to move forward.' In Southeast Asia, meanwhile, where exports to the U.S. have been increasing as manufacturers shift production from China, the reaction was generally relief. Thailand and Cambodia, which just agreed to a ceasefire after a five-day border conflict that killed more than 40 people, welcomed their 19% rate as 'win-win' and 'great news,' while Malaysia described its own rate as a 'positive outcome.' Cambodia had been threatened with 49%. The consistency creates a level playing field for Southeast Asian governments — with Indonesia and the Philippines on the same rate, and 20% for Vietnam — after they had worried Trump's tariffs might favor some countries over others. Taiwan, a tech hub that has a large trade surplus with the U.S., was hit with a 20% rate, lower than the 32% threatened in April but higher than the 15% negotiated by Japan, South Korea and the European Union. President Lai Ching-te said Friday that the 20% rate was 'temporary' and that his government expected to negotiate a lower number. Still up in the air are the final tariff rates between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies, who rattled global markets this spring as they imposed spiraling tit-for-tat levies before both sides agreed to put most on pause until Aug. 12. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after meeting with Chinese trade officials this week that a potential extension of that pause could not be confirmed until Trump signed off on it. 'China's position on tariffs is consistent and clear,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily press briefing Friday. 'There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars.' Alexander Smith reported from London and Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong. This article was originally published on Sign in to access your portfolio
