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IOL News
3 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
City spends R28 million on foreign national accommodation as eviction plans unfold
Foreign nationals inside Wingfield tent. Image: Ian Landsberg Documents citing the eviction of foreign nationals from Wingfield Tent in Kensington and Paint the City in Bellville have revealed that its upkeep has cost state organs, including the City and the Department of Home Affairs, R28 million in maintenance since its inception. In an affidavit by Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill Lewis, revealed that it cost the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other government departments over R400 000 per month for the running cost of Wingfield Tent and over R240 000 per month for Paint the City. In the court documents shared with Cape Argus, spreadsheets, including the eviction application, details of the foreign nationals' places of residency and other particulars were clarified. 'I attach hereto FA23' an excel spreadsheet. Demonstrating the total costs that have been incurred by the DHA to date. As appears therefrom an amount of approximately R28 m has been expended by the state in accommodating the respondents,' said Hill-Lewis via his affidavit. 'The City sourced, supplied and initially paid for the rental of the tent at the Wingfield site. This was done on an expedited and urgent basis during April 2020. 'The City thereafter received a negative audit finding by the Auditor General regarding its expenditure to its expenditure at Wingfield. The expenditure was objectionable for two reasons.. 'To date an amount of over R15 million has been expended by the DHA on the cost of Wingfield alone. The current monthly spend at Wingfield is at least R424 905.00.' He suggested that rental for the Wingfield tent was R356 500.00, mobile toilets R31 500 and generator and fuel cost 36 905.00. Hill-Lewis said in Paint the City, the rental of the tent was R221 829.90 per month and mobile toilets and cleaning cost R26 946 60. 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 ✕ 'I am advised by the DHA that to date an amount of R7 million has been expended by the DHA on the costs of Paint City property and which amount continues to increase by at least R248 773.70 per month,' he stated The City in collaboration with the City, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson and Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber made an eviction application for the occupants of the tents. According to the documents, respondents (the occupants), are to be evicted within 30 days of the court's order and if they do not vacate, the Sheriff and police will be authorized to remove them and any structures they occupy. The responding parties have fifteen days to file answering affidavits after notifying their intention to oppose and failure to respond will result in the application being granted without opposition on October 8. The documents further outline that Paint the City has 340 individuals whose gender distribution are predominantly male and female individuals, with nationalities primarily from Burundi, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the site currently has 150 documented and 190 undocumented. Paint City measures approximately 29,000 m² and has a marquee tent of 960 m² while Wingfield measures 133,616 m² and has a marquee tent of 2,000 m² and both properties were initially used for emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 lockdown. The court document cites that the occupation has led to illegal taxi ranks and other unauthorised structures around the properties. Approximately 160 individuals occupy the Wingfield site, while around 200 are at Paint City and the living conditions are poor, with issues related to hygiene and safe. Earlier this month, the refugees said the plans to evict them were against their human rights and that they continued to live in squalor and that their tent was damaged, in what they believed was an attack. The DHA did not respond to Cape Argus queries. Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel. Cape Argus
The Citizen
5 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
WATCH: SA's top 6 footballers playing abroad – and what they're earning
These South African footballers are not just flying the national flag high, they're cashing international cheques while doing it. They've swapped taxi ranks for training grounds in Europe and stadium roars from Soweto to Minnesota. From Premier League pitches to MLS goals, here's who's making the big moves, scoring both goals and bank, and how their salaries stack up. 1. Lyle Foster: The millionaire striker Lyle Foster. Picture via Richard Huggard/Gallo Images Club: Burnley FC (England) Position: Forward Estimated Salary: R28 million per year (£1.2 million) Burnley may struggle in the English Premier League, but Lyle Foster is still Mzansi's MVP when it comes to salary. The Johannesburg-born striker became the most expensive South African player ever after his transfer from Belgian side KVC Westerlo. Now earning a cool R2.3 million a month, Foster is not only a poster boy for SA football abroad but also serious bankability. He's young, he's fast, and his bank notifications probably need a bodyguard. Salary rank: 1st Tau: The lion of Al Ahly Percy Tau. Picture: Philip Maeta/Gallo Images Club: Al Ahly (Egypt) Position: Forward Estimated Salary: R22 million per year Affectionately nicknamed The Lion of Judah, Percy Tau has roared his way from Mamelodi Sundowns to English club Brighton, and now reigns in Egyptian football royalty, Al Ahly. Despite missing out on some Premier League minutes, Tau has found his groove (and a lucrative deal) in Cairo. With CAF titles under his belt and R1.8 million hitting his account every month, Tau's not just chasing trophies, he's chasing commas. Salary rank: 2nd ALSO READ: Andile Jali joins elite 10% black farmers: Midfielder farms cattle in Gqeberha 3. Bongokuhle Hlongwane: The MLS marvel Bongokuhle Hlongwane. Picture: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images Club: Minnesota United FC (USA) Position: Forward Estimated Salary: R13.5 million per year ($750 000) Bongokuhle Hlongwane is one of the most exciting exports to Major League Soccer, where he's quickly become a fan favourite for his pace and flair. Known affectionately as 'Bongi', he's doing big things in the land of Super Bowl Sundays and oversized stadium snacks. Raking in more than R1.1 million a month, Bongi proves that you don't need Europe to live the footballer dream, you need American dollars – and a good winter jacket. Salary rank: 3rd 4. Dean Furman: The midfield mentor Dean Furman Picture via Steve Haag/Gallo Images Club: Non-league/Retired (last club: Altrincham FC, England) Position: Midfielder Estimated Salary: Previously R6 million per year Dean Furman, once Bafana Bafana's midfield general, had a solid career in the English lower leagues and PSL. While he's moved into semi-retirement, we still salute his grind, especially during his SuperSport United captaincy years. His earning power peaked back in the day, with PSL salaries of around R500 000 per month. Now, he's more about passing on wisdom than passing the ball. Salary rank: 4th (historically) 5. Olwethu Makhanya: Rising star in the MLS Olwethu Makhanya. Picture: Instagram Club: Philadelphia Union II (USA) Position: Defender Estimated Salary: R3 million per year ($160 000) Former Stellenbosch FC prodigy Olwethu Makhanya is cutting his teeth in the United States with Philadelphia Union II. Though he's not making Hollywood blockbuster cash (yet), his trajectory is promising, and he's in a league where salaries grow faster than your grandma's aloe vera plant. At around R250 000 a month, it's not bad for a 20-year-old who's just getting started. Salary rank: 5th (with star potential) 6. Shandre Campbell: The wunderkind-in-waiting Shandre Campbell. Picture: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images Club: Potential European move (linked with clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands) Position: Winger Estimated Salary: TBD (rumoured R2–R3 million deal incoming) Matsatsantsa's teen sensation, Shandre Campbell, has Europe on speed dial. Rumoured to be fielding offers from Belgian and Dutch clubs, the left-footed dynamo is poised for his big international payday. While he's still technically local, this 18-year-old is already being valued like vintage vinyl, rare, exciting, and highly collectable. Salary rank: 6th (but watch this space!) South Africa may not have a Messi or Mbappé (yet), but our boys are holding their own in some of the world's top leagues. Whether it's Premier League pounds, Egyptian pounds, or American dollars, they're proving that South African talent travels and earns well.
IOL News
5 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
A nation turned upside down: How SA's system now punishes the honest, protects the powerful
Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us: 'There is no future without forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean forgetting; nor does it mean impunity.' Image: File South Africa has not collapsed. It has been inverted. What once punished wrongdoing now protects it. What once honoured the honest now humiliates them. What once upheld truth now turns it into a liability. We are now living in what can only be called the age of the unpunished where accountability is an illusion and wrongdoing is a stepping stone not a stumbling block. This national inversion plays out not only in the streets or in the headlines but deep within our governance systems. The medical aid racial profiling scandal, the collapse of oversight structures and recent internal disclosures from senior police leadership have laid bare how criminal sabotage and systemic corruption have infiltrated the state from within. These are not opposition claims; they are acknowledgements from those entrusted to lead. Corruption is not an anomaly. It has become the rule. This betrayal is not theoretical. It unfolds in three distinct ways affecting the working class, black professionals and unemployed youth differently but equally destructively. For the working class, the betrayal is material and immediate. The state that should protect their safety and dignity instead leaves them exposed to criminal syndicates and collapsing infrastructure. The 2023 Public Procurement Review found that over R28 billion in state tenders were under investigation for fraud, largely in service delivery sectors such as housing, roads and water. That is not inefficiency; it is institutional neglect. For black professionals, success itself becomes suspicious. According to a 2021 study by the South African Medical Association, black practitioners face significantly higher audit rates from medical aid administrators. Many skilled professionals report a pattern of systemic bias where regulatory scrutiny falls harder on those without legacy networks. The very mechanisms designed to ensure compliance become traps that obstruct transformation. And for the unemployed youth, of whom 8.9 million are not in education, employment or training (Statistics South Africa, 2024), the betrayal is existential. Young people are blamed for disengagement while entire sectors fail to absorb them. Corruption in skills agencies and jobs programmes has diverted billions away from future building efforts. According to the Auditor-General, more than R5.2 billion in irregular expenditure was flagged across youth-targeted initiatives between 2018 and 2022. These are not just numbers; they are broken promises. 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 ✕ What we are witnessing is not merely administrative failure but cultural amnesia paired with the death of consequence. In traditional African societies, wrongdoing was never ignored; it was confronted. But punishment was not exile. Instead, harm was brought to the centre of the community and confession was the first rite of repair. A chief who erred would step down not because he was shamed but because he was honourable. Ubuntu, the ethic that binds us to each other, demands accountability not for punishment's sake but for healing. Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us: 'There is no future without forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean forgetting; nor does it mean impunity.' Today, however, our state culture increasingly mimics an imported logic of severance. We cut off the problem, the person or the department not to heal but to distance. We shuffle portfolios, suspend officials indefinitely or quietly retire the scandal. This 'cut-off culture', a borrowed posture from Western bureaucratic systems, offers no reintegration, no learning and no transparency. It is alien to African traditions which emphasise truth-telling and restoration over cosmetic damage control. Some may argue that not all African leadership models upheld this ideal and they would be right. History offers many examples of rulers who betrayed these principles. But these exceptions should not define our norms. We cannot build national character on the lowest common denominator. Ubuntu is not a myth; it is an unclaimed inheritance. We dishonour it not by failing perfectly but by ceasing to try at all. Restoration without remorse is manipulation. True Ubuntu-based justice dignifies consequence; it does not erase it. Yet the dominant model of leadership today treats admission of wrongdoing as political suicide rather than moral courage. The result is silence, secrecy and systemic rot. The cost of corruption in South Africa is not only measured in rands and lost infrastructure; it is a theft of thenational soul. According to national estimates, South Africa loses over R186 billion annually to corruption. During the Covid-19 pandemic alone, over R2.1bn in flagged contracts were found to be fraudulent and yet few faced trial. Surveys show that 76.2% of citizens fear retaliation for reporting corruption and 48% believe most police officers are corrupt. This is not just a governance crisis; it is a breakdown of civic trust. In every sector, a new lesson is being taught. Speak out and you fall. Stay quiet and you may be next generation is internalising this code. And when truth becomes a career risk and integrity is punished, the long-term cost is not only institutional decay; it is moral disintegration. Understanding how we got here is critical if we are to chart a path forward. South Africa's institutional crisis is not only about leadership personalities. It is about system design. Inherited colonial architectures were repurposed for post-1994 governance without reengineering the logic of power. As Frantz Fanon warned, colonial mimicry allows the oppressor's tools to be adopted by the formerly oppressed, producing new elites with old appetites. Mahmood Mamdani described the post-colonial African state as 'bifurcated': liberal in language, authoritarianin instinct. We adopted the language of rights and democracy but embedded them in bureaucracies allergic to transparency and allergic to remorse. Seen through the lens of risk governance, this is not merely a political flaw; it is a structural vulnerability. What we lack is not awareness of risk but the systems to manage it. Whistleblower protections exist on paper but are routinely violated. Ethics committees are undermined by internal loyalties. Audit findings are tabled but never resolved. And where risk detection mechanisms are present, they are often neutered by political interests. Professor Pali Lehohla once remarked: 'Institutions do not fail all at once. They collapse incrementally, when truth is first ignored, then tolerated and finally institutionalised as normal.' That is where we stand today. As Morena Mohlomi once warned King Moshoeshoe, 'You are a leader because you are a servant to the people. Once you forget to serve, you lose the right to lead.' We are losing that right, and with it, the soul of the nation. This is a call to the honest, to the South Africans who still believe integrity matters not as a slogan but as a survival principle. Restoring public trust will not begin with national conferences or anti-corruption week slogans. It will begin with institutional courage and public visibility. That means public confessions by those who have erred. It means resignations with remorse not resistance. It means truth-and-reconciliation with consequence. We must reimagine leadership as stewardship not entitlement. We must move from secrecy to transparency, from shame to truth, from denial to repair. Cultural restoration is not about nostalgia; it is about reintroducing accountability as a moral norm not a political calculation. We can no longer afford to outsource integrity to the next administration, or the next election cycle, or the next commission of inquiry. Those who remain honest must step forward and hold the line not only in courtrooms but in boardrooms, classrooms and living rooms. South Africa's fight is not only against corruption. It is against forgetting. Against forgetting who we are, whatwe inherited and what we owe to those who still believe in a country worth saving. This is the moment to flip the nation right-side up. Not for spectacle. Not for revenge. But for restoration. Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. Image: Supplied Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. *** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL. BUSINESS REPORT
TimesLIVE
11-07-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Creecy approaches banks to seek easier debt repayment deals for taxi industry
The transport department says it has approached banks and Toyota to request easier repayment options for taxi owners on their vehicle loans to curb violence over routes. This was revealed by minister Barbara Creecy on Thursday, who said the root cause of taxi violence was indebted taxi operators who wanted to pocket more money by taking over routes illegally. She said the taxi industry was struggling to be profitable. 'An operator will make R15,000 to R16,000 a month on an average route. Of course there are more profitable routes. You are earning R16,000 but you have a liability of R28,000, so the question is how do you fill the hole. And that is where the problem begins because you would want to operate on what you regard as a more profitable route,' she said. Creecy said some operators have resorted to moonlighting as scholar transport operators to close the financial gap. Her department was working with Toyota and the banks to find a way to de-risk the loans, she said. 'I am not saying these financial practices justify irregular practices — they don't. But I am saying that what we have undertaken is to look at de-risking the loans.' The industry has been marred by violence recently, with shootings and killings in Katlehong, Soweto and Mpumalanga where even buses have been torched. In the latest incident, Sowetan sister publication TimesLIVE reported that Western Cape detectives were investigating four murders and three attempted murders after a shooting at a taxi rank in Mfuleni last month.
eNCA
10-07-2025
- Business
- eNCA
Illicit cigarettes flood local market
JOHANNESBURG - The Tobacco Transformation Alliance says the entire South African tobacco industry is in jeopardy because of criminal networks. READ: Legal tobacco trade going up in smoke It says the expansion of the illicit sector is endangering the last remaining jobs in the industry and causing the government to lose out on tax revenue of approximately R28 billion annually? Francois van der Merve from the South African Tobaco Transformation Alliance discussed this with eNCA.
