South Africa Reports

🇿🇦🇮🇱🇵🇸 South African Department of International Relations & Cooperation: "The South African Government welcomes the ICC’s recent warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif of Hamas. These actions mark a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine.

South Africa reaffirms its commitment to international law and urges all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute."

https://dirco.gov.za/international-criminal-court-arrest-warrants-significant-development-on-the-situation-palestine/

Inside South Africa's 'ruthless' gang-controlled gold mines

Along with about 600 other men, Ndumiso lives and works in a small gang-controlled "town" - complete with markets and a red light district - that has grown up deep underground at a disused gold mine in South Africa. Ndumiso told the BBC that after being laid off by a big mining firm, he decided to join the gang in its underground world to become what is known as a "zama zama", an illegal miner. He digs for the precious metal and surfaces every three months or so to sell it on the black market for a huge profit, earning more than he ever did before - though the risks now are far higher.

South Africa-based Benchmark Foundation researcher David van Wyk, who has studied the industry, said there were about 6,000 abandoned mines in the country. There are tens of thousands of illegal miners in South Africa, with Mr Van Wyk saying they number about 36,000 alone in Gauteng province - the country's economic heartland, where gold was first discovered in the 19th Century.

"Some carry pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons to protect themselves from rival gangs of miners," it added. Ndumiso told the BBC that he did own a pistol, but he also paid his gang a monthly "protection fee" of about $8. Its heavily armed guards fend off threats, especially from Lesotho gangs reputed to have more lethal firepower, he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yx9gwweeeo

🇿🇦🚢 Positioning South Africa as guardian of the Cape route

The country needs more than infrastructure upgrades to capitalise on the surge in shipping along the Cape Sea Route.

The global shipping industry prioritises the relatively shorter and cost-effective route through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. However, since the Galaxy Leader hijacking a year ago today, risks from Houthi attacks off Yemen’s coast have seen the Cape Sea Route regain prominence as a major shipping transit corridor.

But despite the opportunities this presents for South Africa, the country is struggling to convert short-term gains into advantages that align with its long-term interests and international maritime goals.

Major shipping companies including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and MSC do not expect stability to return to the Red Sea soon. In September and October 2024, they began announcing new routes around the Cape of Good Hope, starting in February 2025. These routes affect tourism, safety and salvage, search and rescue, customs and economic growth, even though many vessels will bypass South African ports.

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/positioning-south-africa-as-guardian-of-the-cape-route

💰 South Africans Pull $2.8 Billion From Pensions, Beating Estimate

South Africans have withdrawn 49.6 billion rand ($2.8 billion) from retirement funds since new laws came into effect three months ago giving them early access to part of their savings.

The figure is almost double the amount the National Treasury forecast savers would tap after the implementation of a so-called two-pot pension system on Sept. 1. South Africa’s central bank has said that a high-withdrawal scenario may help boost the country’s economic growth rate by as much as 0.3 percentage points this year.

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/over-r49-5bn-in-two-pot-withdrawals-says-the-taxman/

Police ordered to end standoff with trapped South Africa miners

A South African court has ordered that a police blockade of a disused goldmine, in which hundreds of people are located illegally, be lifted.

Emergency services have been at the site, in Stilfontein, around 90 miles south-west of Johannesburg, for several days. Police have blocked food and water entering the mine to, as one government minister put it, "smoke them out".

The miners - who have been underground for a month - have so far refused to exit the mine over fears of being arrested. Among them are undocumented migrants who also fear deportation.

Police welcomed the order but said it would not stop them arresting miners who left the mine.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj71kj1jlmo

🇿🇦 Vlaams Belang: South African government tries to marginalize Afrikaner identity

In a recent committee meeting of the Flemish Parliament, Vlaams Belang MP Kristof Slagmulder expressed his deep concern about the increasing marginalisation of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in South Africa. “ Afrikaans is not just a language; it is an essential part of the identity of millions of South Africans and is also closely linked to Dutch,” he said.

Slagmulder pointed to recent policies that have seen universities and schools replace Afrikaans with English as the primary language of instruction, potentially making Afrikaans impossible as a language of instruction in the future. “This trend is worrying,” Slagmulder said. “It is a deliberate attempt to marginalize a language and culture that has been an integral part of South African society for centuries.”

Slagmulder called on the Flemish government to take concrete measures for the Afrikaans-speaking community.

“Flanders shares historical and linguistic ties with Afrikaans. It is our duty to stand up for the rights of this community and to advocate for the preservation of Afrikaans in education,” Slagmulder added, pointing out in this context that Flemish people are also confronted with a language struggle, such as the Frenchification of the Denderstreek or the Brussels periphery, and the Anglicisation of our universities.

https://www.vlaamsbelang.org/nieuws/zuid-afrikaanse-regering-probeert-afrikaner-identiteit-te-marginaliseren

🇿🇦🇮🇱 South Africa condemns Israeli minister's call to annex West Bank

South Africa has condemned a statement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that 2025 will be the “year of annexation” of the occupied West Bank.

The statement Wednesday by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation came after Smotrich said he had ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied territory.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-africa-condemns-israeli-ministers-call-to-annex-west-bank/3393354

🐅 South African tiger farms illegally smuggling body parts, says charity

The largest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, facilitating the illegal smuggling of tiger body parts, according to a report by an animal welfare charity.

Research by Four Paws, which is campaigning to shut down South Africa’s big cat industry, found 103 places in the country where tigers were kept in captivity in 2023 or 2024 or had been kept during the previous three years.

Several facilities were breeding tigers to sell their body parts to China or Vietnam for use in traditional medicine, the report said, identifying three networks it said were known or suspected to be involved.

Members of one network of “interlinked criminal syndicates” posted photos on social media advertising “tiger products”, which the report said were suspected to be tiger bone glue.

In another photo that the report included in anonymised form, network members claimed they were cooking tigers somewhere in South Africa.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/13/south-african-tiger-farms-illegally-smuggling-bones-asia-charity