The Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Hon. Nonceba Mhlauli, will hand over a Mobile Digital Library at Louwville High School in Vredenburg, West Coast, Western Cape.
The handover forms part of ongoing efforts to expand access to digital learning resources, enhance teaching and learning outcomes, and promote digital inclusion, particularly in schools with limited connectivity and infrastructure.
The Mobile Digital Library provides learners and educators with access to curriculum-aligned content through offline digital platforms, enabling interactive and technology-enabled education.
Event Details: Date: Tuesday, 24 March 2026 Time: 11:30 – 12:00 Venue: Louwville High School, Vredenburg, West Coast, Western Cape
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the handover.
Media enquiries: Mandisa Mbele, 082 580 2213 or MandisaM@presidency.gov.za
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has noted claims made by Sergeant Fannie Nkosi at the Madlanga Commission earlier today to the effect that the Deputy President met with Mr. Vusimuzi Cat Matlala or that the latter intended to meet with him.
Deputy President Mashatile categorically denies the claims. Of significance is that the Deputy President does not know the individuals referenced in the testimony and has never had any association or dealings with them. Of greater significance is that the Deputy President was out of the country at the time that Mr. Matlala purportedly met with him or intended to do so.
Deputy President Mashatile categorically rejects Sergeant Nkosi’s claims and is prepared to cooperate with the Madlanga Commission fully should the Commission require any clarity or assistance from him.
Media enquiries: Mr Keith Khoza, Acting Spokesperson to the Deputy President, on 066 195 8840
All systems go for the sixth South Africa Investment Conference
Government is ready to host the sixth edition of the South Africa Investment Conference next week, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said on Monday.
“South Africa is open, South Africa is ready, and South Africa is an investment destination of choice,” Tau said.
Addressing the media in Pretoria on the state of readiness for the conference, Tau said more than 31 countries representing international delegates are making their way to South Africa.
“Their growing interest to participate in the 6th South Africa Investment Conference is an illustration that the world sees us as a gateway to Africa, and the ideal place to invest and partner with a developing country that is shaping the world we live in.”
Tau explained that the South Africa Investment Conference was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 with the mandate to mobilise both domestic and foreign investment at scale and to translate that investment into jobs, growth, and opportunity for the nation’s people.
“The first five-year investment drive, which ran from 2018 to 2023, was an unqualified success by any measure. South Africa secured R1.56 trillion in investment pledges, surpassing the Presidency’s original target by 26%. “That achievement was not by accident, it was the product of deliberate partnerships, disciplined engagement, and a government that chose to be open for business,” Tau said. He added that 2024 was a reset moment and that 2025 was the year of implementing the diversification strategy known as the Butterly strategy.
“This strategy enabled us to explore various markets, sell South Africa to the world, and ensure that South Africa is open for business.”
Tau said the first cycle built the framework of trust and partnership, and that the new cycle is about translating pledges into implementation, which demonstrates economic growth and jobs.
“We live in a world of competing demands for capital. Every nation is making the case for why it deserves investor attention. We are making ours not with promises alone, but with proof,” he said.
The country’s ambition is grounded in three pillars, namely:
• Invest — South Africa offers compelling, high-return sectors backed by policy certainty and strategic infrastructure.
• Partner — South Africa believes in shared ownership of economic outcomes between government, business, and communities.
• Prosper — The country is committed to ensuring that investment translates into tangible prosperity for all South Africans.
Following the evidence “We are not asking investors to take a leap of faith. We are inviting them to follow the evidence,” he said. Tau said the country offers a technology sector that is primed for exponential growth, a world-class renewable energy opportunity, and an agro-processing and food security sector with vast untapped potential.
He added that the country has a stable constitutional democracy, an independent judiciary, and a regulatory environment committed to investor protection.
“South Africa is not just a destination — it is a gateway to a continent of 1.4 billion people. The opportunity is real, and it is now,” he said.
The Minister said the country is on track to host the conference on 31 March.
“We are proud to report that almost every key milestone has been met,” he said.
Mobilising sponsors to fund the conference, attracting both domestic and international investors, and mobilising the investor committee to support the project pipeline capture in the National Investment Book were among the milestones mentioned by the Minister.
The upcoming summit builds on the success of the previous five-year investment cycle, which concluded in March 2023, after raising R1.51 trillion, surpassing the initial R1.2 trillion target.
To date, more than R600 billion of these commitments have flowed into projects, supporting the establishment of new factories, mines, and other productive facilities across the country.
Announcing the conference during the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Cyril Ramaphosa said government was determined to build on this momentum.
The 2026 conference aims to reinforce a clear narrative to investors: credible reforms drive investor confidence, unlock deployable opportunities, and foster sustainable global partnerships.
Since its launch, the conference has drawn thousands of local and international delegates, positioning South Africa as a competitive and globally relevant investment destination. An estimated 1 250 delegates are expected to attend the 2026 edition in person. – SAnews.gov.za
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Elaine Nsoesie, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University
A new book called Urban Health in Africa explores how rapid urbanisation across the continent shapes public health and wellbeing. Drawing on diverse research and case studies, the book reframes African cities not just as sites of challenge, but as places of innovation, resilience and opportunity.
We spoke to global health researcher Elaine Nsoesie and urbanisation and wellbeing sociologist Blessing Mberu, co-editors of the book, to explore why the stories of African cities matter, and what it will take to build inclusive, healthy urban futures.
What’s one thing about urban life in Africa that you think more people should appreciate?
African cities work, but not always like cities in other regions. In the book, we quote the following text by AbdouMaliq Simone, who works on issues of spatial composition in urban regions:
In city after city, one can witness an incessant throbbing produced by the intense proximity of hundreds of activities: cooking, reciting, selling, loading and unloading, fighting, praying, relaxing, pounding, and buying, all side by side on stages too cramped, too deteriorated, too clogged with waste, history, and disparate energy, and sweat to sustain all of them. And yet they persist.
That persistence matters. Too often, discussions about African cities focus only on their problems. These include inadequate infrastructure, rapid urbanisation and informal settlements. What gets lost is their remarkable functionality and their diversity. No single city can represent the entire continent. Lagos is not Nairobi; Accra is not Dakar. Each has its own history, governance structures and contemporary challenges. Treating them all the same flattens this complexity.
Yes, these cities face serious challenges. But they’re also home to innovative urban experts, effective policy solutions and technological breakthroughs designed for their specific contexts. The question isn’t whether African cities work. It is whether we’re paying attention to how they work, documenting how they are addressing challenges related to health and learning from their solutions.
Was there a story or example that really stayed with you?
When we set out to write this book, we knew we had to start with history. You can’t understand health in African cities today without understanding how colonialism shaped the built environment and urban citizenship. We wanted readers to see how historical forces combined with rural-urban migration, population growth and policies created the urban landscapes affecting millions of lives today.
Our second goal was to map the social determinants of health – the conditions of the environments in which people are born, live, play, work and learn – shaping African cities. We focused on informal settlements and slums because they’ve become defining features of urban Africa. We examined how residents navigate daily struggles: inadequate housing, water and sanitation; air pollution; transportation; food insecurity. We didn’t want to present these as isolated problems. We wanted to show how they’re interconnected challenges that affect many communities.
One of our favourite chapters is in this section. The chapter explores how transport affects health in African cities – both the risks and the benefits. For example, the availability of transportation increases access to hospitals and schools, while vehicles also cause traffic injuries and air pollution. The authors also discuss distinctive forms of public transport that African cities share that you won’t find in most other parts of the world.
Motorcycle taxis, for example, have different names. They are called boda bodas in Kampala, okadas in Lagos. Commuter minibuses are referred to as poda-poda in Freetown, trotro in Accra, daladala in Dar es Salaam, matatu in Kenya, car rapides in Dakar, kamuny in Kampala, gbaka in Abidjan, esprit de mort in Kinshasa, candongueiros in Luanda, sotrama in Bamako, songa kidogo in Kigali.
Freetown, Sierra Leone.Getty Images
The chapter captures a major theme in the book; while these cities are different, policies that have been effective in one city can be adopted to address the needs of residents in another city.
In addition to the social determinants of health, we had another section that addressed Africa’s unique demographic reality: these cities are young. We dedicated sections to how urban environments shape young lives, particularly around sexual and reproductive health. We also highlighted the growing epidemic of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Studies have shown an association between the rate of urbanisation in Africa and an increase in chronic diseases because of issues such as adoption of unhealthy western diets, lack of spaces to exercise, and sedentary behaviours.
To showcase how some cities are addressing the challenges related to the social determinants of health, we included case studies on air quality in Kampala, new mental health initiatives in Yaoundé, an approach to reducing school dropouts in Arusha, integrated planning transforming informal settlements in Nairobi, and digital health innovations. The case studies demonstrate that effective solutions incorporate community voices and the local context.
Your book outlines a future for urban health in Africa. What do you see?
Our final chapters make explicit what we believe must happen next. We need public health professionals, urban planners, physicians, nurses, community health workers, policy advocates and water and waste managers working together. We need educational programmes focused specifically on urban health. Most critically, we need strong local, national and regional governance to turn plans into reality.
But we also need to elevate youth voices, ideas and innovations across the continent. According to United Nations estimates, about 40% of Africans were under 15 in 2020, and nearly 60% were under 25 – the largest proportion of young people of any region worldwide.
Young people are shaping African cities and they will live with the consequences of whatever decisions are made today.
What motivated the publication of this book, and why now?
When we started this project there weren’t any books on urban health in Africa written by Africans working to address the various challenges faced by urban residents. An estimated 46% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people live in urban areas. Africa is also the continent with the fastest urbanisation rate, with 50% to 65% of the population projected to live in urban areas by 2050. Despite having urban challenges similar to those in other regions, some of the issues that cities in Africa face are unique.
We wanted to bring together researchers and practitioners with diverse expertise and deep knowledge of the challenges people face in cities. We wanted to look at these challenges, the policies that have been effective and recommendations about what must be done to improve the health of residents.
– African cities are diverse and thriving, but face many challenges. How to make them healthier – https://theconversation.com/african-cities-are-diverse-and-thriving-but-face-many-challenges-how-to-make-them-healthier-274647
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Siyabulela Christopher Fobosi, Senior Researcher, UNESCO ‘Oliver Tambo’ Chair of Human Rights, University of Fort Hare, University of Fort Hare
In many rural parts of South Africa, getting to a hospital, school or workplace depends on the condition of a gravel road. When that road collapses during rain or potholes make it impassable, the consequences are immediate: ambulances cannot reach patients, children miss school, workers lose income.
This is the reality for many communities in the Eastern Cape, one of South Africa’s poorest provinces. Here, four out of every five children live in households whose monthly income isn’t enough to meet their basic needs. In 2024, nearly 50% of children in the Eastern Cape lived in households without a single employed adult – the highest rate in the country.
A recent study in one Eastern Cape community documents that the roads are so degraded – from poorly maintained gravel to crumbling asphalt – that they actively cut residents off from healthcare, education and markets.
The problem is often described simply as a failure of service delivery. But this explanation is incomplete. My research as a sociologist with a particular interest in the transport sector suggests that the decay of rural roads reflects something deeper. It is not a breakdown, but a continuation. A regime of inequality continues to shape infrastructure development long after the end of apartheid.
The poor infrastructure is a direct legacy of apartheid’s spatial planning, which from 1948 to 1994 systematically underdeveloped rural “homelands” like the former Transkei (now in the Eastern Cape) to confine and control the Black majority.
Today’s neglected roads still physically isolate communities, restrict their access to markets and services, and demonstrate how the state, through inaction and underfunding, maintains the barriers established by its predecessor.
In my study, I drew on the 2023 inquiry conducted by the South African Human Rights Commission into the state of rural roads in the province. The inquiry was convened in response to a pattern of complaints received by the Commission from rural communities over several years. I served on the panel for this inquiry, which heard oral testimonies from affected community members and farmers, and received detailed written submissions from key stakeholders.
A key finding was that only 9% of the province’s roads are paved, compared to a national average of 25%. The inquiry found that poor road infrastructure limits people’s ability to access essential services enshrined as constitutional rights, such as healthcare, education and social support.
Roads as a system of power
Infrastructure is often seen as neutral – roads, bridges and railways that simply allow people and goods to move. But infrastructure also reflects political choices about who receives investment and who is left behind.
A snapshot of this is evident in the provincial budget for roads in the Eastern Cape. The human rights inquiry report reveals that the Eastern Cape Department of Transport receives an annual allocation of about R2.5 billion (almost US$150 million) for its road network. But the department itself estimates a capital backlog of R30.5 billion just to bring roads up to an acceptable standard.
While the annual budget allows for upgrading only about 42km of road per year (at an average cost per kilometre of R18 million, or over US$1 million), the province has over 36,000km of unpaved roads – a legacy of apartheid-era neglect.
This is not a technical failure. It is a political choice to perpetuate a system where the most vulnerable communities remain isolated.
Three decades after democracy, many of these patterns remain visible. And the effects continue to ripple through everyday life.
The everyday harm of infrastructure decay
For rural residents, road deterioration is not just an inconvenience. It produces what scholars call slow, everyday harm.
Ambulances struggle to reach remote villages, delaying medical care. School transport is disrupted when buses cannot travel on damaged roads. Farmers face difficulties transporting goods to markets. Public transport services often avoid areas where roads are impassable.
Eastern Cape road.S.C. Fobosi, Author provided (no reuse)
These impacts accumulate over time, affecting livelihoods, health and dignity.
In some cases, residents must walk long distances because vehicles cannot reach their communities. During heavy rains, entire villages can become temporarily isolated.
This situation highlights how infrastructure shapes social inequality. When roads deteriorate, the burden falls disproportionately on people who already face economic and geographic marginalisation.
Why the problem persists
Several factors contribute to the continued deterioration of rural roads.
The first is the massive historical backlog.
Second, the funding model is fundamentally inadequate. The inquiry report details that the Eastern Cape relies almost entirely on the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant. Provincial Treasury itself argued that the national funding formula, based on population, fails to account for the province’s vast geography and historical infrastructure deficit.
Third, governance and capacity issues are rife. Submissions from the Auditor General highlighted repeated financial mismanagement within the Department of Transport, including fruitless and wasteful expenditure on contracts. Municipalities, tasked with maintaining local roads, often lack the resources and the technical capacity to effectively use management systems.
Fourth, the impact of climate change is accelerating decay. The inquiry heard from multiple municipalities about how increasingly severe weather events overwhelm their ability to respond.
Finally, a lack of coordination and accountability. The report notes that despite clear legal mandates, there is often poor planning between the provincial department, the national roads agency and municipalities, leading to misaligned priorities and slow project implementation.
Urban areas and major highways receive priority funding because they are economically strategic. This is not a uniquely South African phenomenon – it is a global pattern. The World Bank estimates that 80% of the world’s poorest people reside in rural areas.
Rural roads tend to receive less consistent maintenance. When maintenance is consistently deferred, costs climb.
Meanwhile, funds that could be used for this upkeep are often tied up elsewhere. A recent Auditor-General’s report found that municipal infrastructure projects nationally face average delays of 17 to 26 months, and all South African municipalities combined spend only 4% of the total value of their assets on maintenance.
These numbers show that the deterioration of rural roads is not an accident, but the predictable outcome of political choices not to invest in marginalised communities.
Communities stepping in
Despite these challenges, rural residents are not passive victims of infrastructure neglect.
Across parts of the Eastern Cape, communities have organised to repair roads themselves. Residents fill potholes, clear drainage channels and use local materials to stabilise damaged sections of road.
Rural road, Eastern Cape.S.C. Fobosi
These efforts are often informal and rely on collective labour rather than state support. They reflect what scholars sometimes call “insurgent infrastructure” – grassroots initiatives that emerge when the state fails to maintain essential services.
While such actions demonstrate community resilience, they also highlight the scale of the problem. Road infrastructure is expensive and technically complex to maintain. Community efforts cannot substitute for sustained public investment.
Rethinking infrastructure policy
Addressing rural road deterioration requires more than occasional repairs. It demands a broader rethinking of infrastructure governance.
First, rural infrastructure should be treated as a development priority, not a secondary concern. Reliable roads are essential for economic participation, access to services and social inclusion.
Second, government agencies need stronger coordination to ensure that road maintenance responsibilities are clearly defined and effectively implemented.
Finally, policymakers should recognise the knowledge and experience of rural communities themselves. Residents often understand the local terrain and infrastructure challenges better than distant administrators.
Beyond service delivery
If rural roads continue to deteriorate, the consequences will extend far beyond transport. They will reinforce social and economic exclusion for already marginalised communities.
Recognising infrastructure as part of a broader regime of inequality is an important step towards addressing these challenges.
– Bad rural roads in South Africa aren’t just a technical problem – they block people’s rights: report – https://theconversation.com/bad-rural-roads-in-south-africa-arent-just-a-technical-problem-they-block-peoples-rights-report-278337
Quality healthcare must be accessible to all South Africans – President
President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed government’s commitment to ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare, saying excellence in medical care must be available to all South Africans, regardless of their income or location.
In his weekly newsletter to the nation on Monday, the President pointed to the successful separation of the conjoined twins at Mankweng Hospitalas a powerful example of the capabilities within the country’s public health system.
President Ramaphosa described the complex operation as a remarkable achievement that reflects the skill, dedication and resilience of healthcare professionals in South Africa.
“This achievement is more than a medical milestone. It is proof of what our public health system is capable of. It is a reminder that South Africa possesses world-class medical expertise, not only in the private hospitals in our cities, but also in public facilities serving communities that have historically been neglected and underserved,” he said.
The President noted that the success at Mankweng underscores the impact of sustained investment in medical training and development, including subsidised education, bursaries and practical training programmes for healthcare workers.
However, he cautioned that many South Africans still face challenges in accessing quality healthcare, despite the constitutional guarantee of this right.
“Our Constitution guarantees every person the right of access to healthcare services. That right cannot depend on where you were born, how much you earn or where you live,” President Ramaphosa said.
He said bridging the gap between the constitutional promise and the lived reality of many citizens is the driving force behind the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
According to the President, the NHI is not merely a funding mechanism, but a transformative instrument aimed at ensuring that all South Africans can access quality healthcare services without financial hardship.
President Ramaphosa also highlighted the stark inequality between the public and private healthcare sectors, noting that while only about 16% of the population relies on private healthcare, significantly more resources are spent per patient in that system compared to the public sector, which serves the majority.
“These two parts of our healthcare system cannot continue to operate in parallel, as if serving two separate nations. They must work together in service of one nation,” he said.
The President called for stronger collaboration between public and private healthcare providers, academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies and communities to improve service delivery and share expertise.
He further outlined ongoing efforts to strengthen the public health system in preparation for the NHI, including upgrading facilities, expanding the community health worker programme, improving access to medicines and introducing digital systems.
President Ramaphosa said healthcare workers remain central to these efforts, emphasising the need to support and retain skilled professionals within the public sector.
“The great achievement at Mankweng Hospital has shown us what is possible. It has also reminded us of what is necessary: a health system that serves every South African with excellence, compassion and dedication. Equal access to quality health care must be the standard we set and the constitutional promise that we keep,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
Reburial of Khoi San ancestral remains opens path for healing
In the vast, arid land of the Namaqua in the Northern Cape – curtained only by rugged hills and rocky mountains – the ancestral remains of 63 Khoi and San peoples have finally come home to rest.
During a timespan lasting nearly 60 years between 1868 and 1924, the remains were removed from their homeland without consent for race-based scientific research by colonial Europeans – stripping them of the right to rest with dignity.
The remains were finally repatriated last year from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where they had been housed at the Hunterian Museum.
Delivering remarks at the solemn reburial ceremony held just outside Steinkopf in the Northern Cape, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured that the “greatest tragedy of the erasure of the indigenous peoples of southern Africa is that much of it went unacknowledged”.
He assured that the South African government, however, will not shy away from restoring the dignity of those who were discriminated against and marginalised.
“Even amidst the emergence of serious critiques on the part of these European powers in the late 1970’s, many have avoided a deeper reckoning. Some of these countries have apologised for specific atrocities, but in the main, they have fallen short of full, unqualified apologies for colonialism as a whole.
“As democratic South Africa, we do not linger in the shadow of unspoken apologies or deferred reckonings. We will restore dignity – on our own terms.
“The return of our ancestors to their descendant communities is a vital act of restoration and restitution that goes beyond acknowledging the colonial legacy; it is also a manifestation of ubuntu – a recognition of our common humanity,” the President said on Monday.
WATCH | Reburial ceremony
Healing wounds Following their repatriation from Scotland, the remains were received in a welcoming ceremony and subsequently placed under the care of the Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town.
The remains then made their way home, up, over and through the twists and turns of N7 the national road, to be received by the Northern Cape government in an official handover ceremony from the Western Cape.
In true South African style, traditional spiritual rites were performed and a night vigil was held the day before the formal reburial ceremony at the Kinderlê-monument just outside Steinkopf in the province.
At the ceremony – where the past, present and future of the Khoi and San peoples gathered – Chairman of the National Griqua Council Barend van Wyk described to SAnews.gov.za the pain associated with the “exploitative and humiliating” illegal removals all those years ago.
“Emotionally, it’s hard. The fact that they dug up our ancestors’ remains…why did they do that to human beings? Were our people not worthy of being human that they had to be dug up?
“But we are glad today, although there is pain and hardship, that we can finally reinter them in the land of their birth,” van Wyk said.
Dionne Barley, a direct descendant of the people whose remains were taken, said the day was a moment for reflection.
“I feel very happy as somebody that is closely related to some of these people that are buried here. I feel good that they are now being buried in dignity [and] that they are not sitting in museums and that the President actually ensured that they could come back to South Africa and back to their rightful place,” Barley told SAnews.
The modern story of the indigenous people of South Africa cannot be told without the mention of Ouma Katrina Esau.
The nonagenarian is a legend not only among her people but also in South Africa – taking her place as the last remaining fluent speaker of the critically endangered N|uu language.
“I did not think I would make it here as I have been so sick. But it was my dream to be here and to be with these people, so that I can also say that I was there, even if it’s to bury their bones. I am so very thankful because God protected us. I am very glad to be here,” she said.
An act of justice The process of repatriation and reburial was jointly facilitated by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and its entities in the South African Heritage Resources Agency and Iziko Museums.
Chairperson of SA Heritage Resources Agency, Elodie Seotseng, Tlhoaele told SAnews that the process was about the restoration of respect and human dignity.
“Today, we are seeing the culmination of a process that sought to restore the human dignity of ancestors that were taken away from this land…exhumed from their graves and taken to foreign lands for scientific…academic research and for display to be consumed as objects. So, we are here to re-instil and restore that respect and human dignity to those ancestral remains in their homeland.
“This is a land and a space that is already hallowed ground. This space is a burial ground for children who were victims of clan wars, and it is already a heritage site. Just over the hill is also a burial site of casualties of war. So, it’s significant, this is hallowed ground,” she explained.
The remains are buried in individual graves – a grace not previously afforded to the peoples of this land by colonial masters.
“Each grave has been demarcated. So, it’s not a mass grave; it’s individual graves in one area. That goes back to our insistence on instilling human dignity and respect in whichever state the human being is in,” she added.
As the sun set on the Kinderlê monument where the remains now rest, President Ramaphosa emphasised that government’s work to implement the National Policy on Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects and to restore dignity for all continues.
“Through the National Policy…we will continue to forge partnerships with institutions and individuals across the world to recover ancestral human remains that were illegally taken from South Africa,” President Ramaphosa said.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has reaffirmed the provincial government’s commitment to collaborate with stakeholders to safeguard and strengthen the role of the Ingonyama Trust.
This is particularly in land management, infrastructure development, and unlocking economic opportunities in rural areas.
Ntuli was responding to the recent announcement by the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Mzwanele Nyhontso, on the dissolution of the Ingonyama Trust Board.
The Minister said the decision followed consultations with His Majesty the King, as the sole trustee of the Trust, as well as with Premier Ntuli.
Ntuli confirmed that he had been consulted and used the engagements to underscore the strategic importance of the Trust as a cornerstone of the province’s rural economy and a critical instrument in advancing inclusive development.
“The Ingonyama Trust remains central to the socio-economic development of our rural communities. It is intrinsically linked to the 7th Administration’s commitment to inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction, and the building of sustainable livelihoods,” Ntuli said.
He reiterated the provincial government’s readiness to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to ensure the Trust’s objectives are preserved and strengthened, particularly in relation to effective land management, infrastructure development, and the unlocking of economic opportunities within Trust-held land.
“We remain committed, as a government, to supporting initiatives that empower rural communities, improve land administration systems, and accelerate development in areas under the jurisdiction of the Trust,” the Premier said.
Ntuli also called for calm and constructive engagement during the transition period, stressing the importance of cooperative governance in addressing land, development, and traditional leadership matters with the sensitivity and respect they deserve.
“KwaZulu-Natal remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the interests of its people, particularly those in rural areas, while working in partnership with national government and traditional institutions,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
A formal investigation into the circumstances around the Ekapa Minerals Joint Shaft Mine in Kimberley, which resulted in the loss of the lives of five miners, is to get underway.
“The department will initiate a formal investigation in line with the Mine Health and Safety Act into the circumstances surrounding the accident,” the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources said on Monday.
This, as Minister Gwede Mantashe paid a visit to the mine in the Northern Cape following the retrieval of the last of the bodies that were trapped in a mud rush incident.
The mud rush accident occurred on 17 February.
“The first body was recovered on 9 March 2026, while the remaining bodies were recovered on 22 and 23 March 2026. During the visit, Minister Mantashe, accompanied by the Chief Inspector of Mines, David Msiza, and other senior officials from the department, received a comprehensive briefing from mine management and rescue personnel on the efforts that led to the successful retrieval of the bodies,” the department said.
Mantashe extended his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.
“Minister Mantashe commended the rescue operation, including support received from the mining sector and Minerals Council South Africa for their due diligence during the rescue operation, as well as for deploying its senior team to support the rescue mission,” said the department.
President Ramaphosa urges unity as SADC marks Liberation Day
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on Southern African nations to remain united and vigilant in safeguarding their hard-won freedom, as the region commemorates Southern Africa Liberation Day.
In a statement on Monday, President Ramaphosa – in his capacity as Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – paid tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid.
“Through their unwavering commitment and resilience, many freedom fighters and ordinary citizens made immense sacrifices in the fight against colonial rule and apartheid, laying the foundation for the peace, dignity, and sovereignty we uphold today,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa also reflected on the historic Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola, describing it as a turning point in the liberation of Southern Africa. He acknowledged the role played by Cuba in supporting regional liberation movements against apartheid forces. The President said the battle contributed significantly to Namibia’s independence in 1990 and paved the way for South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.
While describing Liberation Day as a key milestone, President Ramaphosa stressed that it should not be treated as a symbolic ritual, but rather as an opportunity for reflection on the region’s progress in achieving self-determination, economic control and dignity.
He reiterated the importance of preserving liberation history, highlighting a 2018 SADC resolution to integrate the history of Southern Africa’s liberation into school curricula across member states.
President Ramaphosa further encouraged the naming of heritage sites, monuments and institutions after fallen heroes and heroines, saying this would preserve their legacy and inspire future generations. Amid an increasingly uncertain global environment, the President urged SADC member states to remain focused and united in advancing regional integration and development.
“The liberation we commemorate will remain incomplete as long as some of our fellow Africans continue to yearn for self-determination,” he said, expressing solidarity with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. President Ramaphosa emphasised that peace and dialogue must remain central to sustaining freedom and building a more just and equitable world.
“As with the SADC Founders and many who fought tirelessly for our liberation, we reaffirm that it is neither the colour of our skin, nor the size of our military arsenals, nor the magnitude of our national budgets that should determine our humanity or the sustainability of the human race as a whole.
“May dialogue and peace be our most righteous armour to safeguard the freedom we continue to enjoy and work collectively toward a more just and equitable world,” he said.
He concluded by wishing the SADC region a peaceful and reflective Liberation Day. – SAnews.gov.za
