Sunday Independent Sunday, August 30, 2020

NATIONALIST State ‘rewarding immigrants’ SA First president accuses Department of Home Affairs of ‘selling documents’ to foreigners PIET MAHASHA RAMPEDI Reuters SOUTH African First (SAF) president Mario Khumalo, whose political party is behind the put South Africa first hashtag, says the government has failed to enforce the country’s immigration laws, give locals access to business spaces and punish corporates which flout labour policies. Accusing the state of rewarding illegal immigrants with jobs and business rather than deporting them, Khumalo said the ANC government has put the security of the country and its people at risk. The businessman, who registered SAF as a political party in December 2016, also rejected accusations that his organisation was xenophobic. On Friday, Khumalo said the critics of his movement were using xenophobia as a label…

NEC Growing calls for Ramaphosa to step aside SIFISO MAHLANGU, BONGANI HANS and SIYABONGA MKHWANAZI PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is to be hauled before the ANC’s Integrity Commission after he agreed yesterday to be subjected to it. This follows calls by some party members at the National Executive Committee with party MP Bongani Bongo calling on him to face the commission. ANC sources said yesterday after Bongo called on Ramaphosa to face the commission the president agreed. Ramaphosa was this weekend facing growing calls from the NEC to step down from the party. The fight at the NEC was about the CR17 campaign through which Ramaphosa clinched the top job of the party. CR17 has been the subject of court processes where calls have been made for him to unseal the…

EDITORIAL NO HARM IN PRIORITISING OUR OWN LAST week we ran two articles shining the spotlight on the employment of foreign nationals ahead of suitably qualified locals and before the ink had dried on the paper, we were labelled as xenophobic. Nothing could be further from the truth. With the benefit of hindsight, we can never forget the bloodletting that led to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, with the media fuelling the fires “othering” people and referring to them as Inyenzi, cockroaches. Our responsibility forbids us from engaging in this recklessness, even remotely. The fact of the matter is that, at 30.1% – as at March 2020, the country’s unemployment rate is too high. It is even more astronomic if we use the expanded definition of unemployment to include…

POLITICS Noise over Gumede’s salary Enraged opposition parties say the ANC is ‘less caring about taxpayers’ money’ BONGANI HANS bongani.hans@inl.co.za NQOBILE MBONAMBI African News Agency (ANA) THE KwaZulu-Natal ANC’s decision to instruct Zandile Gumede to step aside as member of provincial legislature with a full monthly salary of R100000 has sparked more noise from opposition parties. The ANC provincial executive committee on Friday announced that it had asked the former eThekwini mayor to step aside from the provincial legislature and eThekwini regional task team activities. It also said that she and provincial deputy chairperson Mike Mabuyakhulu, who had also been asked to step aside, would be subjected to the provincial integrity commission. The DA and IFP were enraged by the ANC’s announcement that Gumede would continue drawing a salary as…

COLLABORATION Detailing pain, success in book Collection of stories set to inspire women on the brink of giving up on life LESEGO MAKGATHO lesego.makgatho@inl.co.za The book is available on Amazon. FOR many women in South Africa, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown arrived like a tsunami, barrelling down upon unsuspecting mothers, wives and sisters who may well have been barely maintaining a precarious balance before that wall came crashing down. Although certain forms of financial assistance have been tabled, there are women who fall between the cracks, and they are very near-drowning. The Woman of Stature Foundation wanted to throw these women a lifeline, and so patrons, members and directors of the organisation – those who may once have been The Forgotten Women – compiled a selection of stories…

CULTURE Rapper iFani goes East for spicy travel reality series AMANDA MALIBA amanda.maliba@inl.co.za AFTER years of being under the radar, hip hop artist iFani makes his return with a TV debut on a travel reality series, Amah Knows Best. The Iingoma Ezimnandi hit-maker takes viewers through his China voyage documenting his exploration of the food and culture, while also quenching his long-standing yearning to travel. iFani, real name Mzayifani Mzondeleli Boltina, jets off on a journey of self-exploration and learns how to cook Chinese food from the kung fu masters of the kitchen – the amah, meaning grandmothers in Chinese. And as one whose grandmother holds a special place in his heart, having raised him from a young age, iFani pays tribute to his own “amah” through the series, just…