South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bobby Moore, faced tough questions from the Nigerian government following a wave of protests and, in some cases, attacks on African country nationals living in South Africa. Earlier, Ghana had also rebuked South Africa over what it described as a slow and inadequate response to protests targeting undocumented migrants.

President Cyril Ramaphosa once again faced a political day of reckoning over the more than $500 000 hidden inside couches at his Phala Phala farm after the Constitutional Court (Concourt) reopened the door to possible impeachment.

Almost two decades after charges were brought against him for his role in the arms deal corruption case, former president Jacob Zuma continued to employ delaying tactics to avoid his day in court. Each setback is followed by another challenge, with each challenge pushing the trial further into the future.

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a counter-attack against the controversial Phala Phala report, dismissing its findings as “hearsay” and accusing the independent panel of relying on untested and potentially unlawfully obtained evidence in implicating him in a possible constitutional violation.

In the same week that the petrol price went up by R1.43 per litre, the Msunduzi Municipality pushed through steep water, electricity and sanitation tariffs – despite protests from opposition parties and residents.

In a national address, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a strong warning against vigilantism, declaring that only authorised government officials have the power to enforce immigration laws amid growing tensions over illegal immigration.

The new DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to demote the Minister of Agriculture (and his predecessor as DA leader), John Steenhuisen, to Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry. The move is seen as damage control by the DA for Steenhuisen’s mishandling of the Foot and Mouth Disease crisis.

Xenophobic fears ramped up ahead of 30^th June, the deadline anti-migrant groups set as the deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave the country. There had already been several violent incidents around the country, with a Malawian killed in Pietermaritzburg.