The Latest Breaking News from Cyril Ramaphosa

The South African president spoke about poverty, hope and resilience in his annual speech.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national "state of disaster" over the country's rolling power shortages. Energy provider Eskom says its ageing coal-fired power plants cannot keep up with demand and it's been imposing scheduled cuts. The blackouts are weighing on business activity and South Africa's economic growth.…

Small business owners say the scheduled power cuts are hurting their daily operations.

Cadre deployment is one of the best-known policies of the African National Congress (ANC), which has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. And many of the party’s woes over the past decade can be traced back to it.

Cannabis is being commercialised into a multibillion-dollar global industry and South Africa wants a piece of the pie. In his 2022 state of the nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of developing a hemp and cannabis sector to boost the post-COVID economy.

The judge presiding over former South African President Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial recused himself this week and said he didn’t want there to be any chance that the proceedings could be viewed as biased against Zuma

January was a busy diplomatic month for South Africa. The country hosted Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and US treasury secretary Janet Yellen. Josep Borrell, vice-president of the European Commission, was also in town.

By Carien du Plessis

Russia and China will conduct naval drills off the coast of South Africa next month in another indication of their strengthening relationships with Africa’s most developed country amid the war in Ukraine and global financial uncertainty