KwaZulu-Natal opposition parties described Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s State of the Province Address as an “election speech”. In her speech, Dube-Ncube focused on the provincial government’s recent achievements, as well as tracing the ANC government’s achievements from around 2024 when ruling party deployees assumed key positions in the KZN provincial cabinet.
In a blow for cash-strapped consumers, there was another steep increase in the fuel price with petrol going up by R1,20 per litre while diesel increased by R1,18.
Despite promising that they would not include ANC members who have been implicated in State Capture, a number of them made it back onto their nomination lists for the 2024 elections.
Election season got into full swing with the various parties all promising they had the solution for the country’s myriad problems.
Former ANC member veteran and African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta) leader Carl Niehaus was among the top candidates on the Economic Freedom Forum (EFF) list of people headed for the National Assembly after the elections were held. Niehaus joined the Red Berets after dumping his party, Areta, which he founded after he left the ANC.
ANC leaders close to corruption accused National Assembly Speaker Nosivwe Mapisa-Nqakula of encouraging her to resign to save the party the embarrassment of defending her during a pending motion of no-confidence.
The Electoral Court overturned an IEC ban and declared former president Jacob Zuma free to stand in the 2024 elections despite his criminal conviction.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said he had dissolved the embattled National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board because of the member’s inability to carry out basic responsibilities, including the payment of student allowances.
On the campaign trail in KwaZulu-Natal, President Cyril Ramaophosa vowed there was “no turning back on the implementation of the NHI”, which he said was part of the ANC’s programme to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
What was supposed to be a Kwa-Zulu-Natal debate on Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s State of the Province Address degenerated into a mudslinging match between the ANC and the IFP. The ANC and IFP, the two dominant parties in KZN, are currently embroiled in a war of words as each one seeks to gain the upper hand ahead of next year’s general elections.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s long-awaited cabinet reshuffle proved somewhat underwhelming and did not see the materialisation of the wide-ranging reconfiguration of government that many hoped for. Instead, the president moved around ministers and dropped three – the minister of tourism Lindiwe Sisulu, sport, arts and culture Nathi Mthetwa and the minister responsible for women, youth and persons with disabilities Nkoana Malte-Mashoahane.
The Economic Freedom Front announced a national shutdown for Monday, March 20 to protest against load-shedding, sparking fears of violence and looting.
While EFF leader Julius Malema described his party’s national shut-down as the most successful in South African history, opposition parties said it only highlighted their lack of support…
Two “significant employers” have threatened to relocate their operations if the proposed tariff hikes are approved, the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business (PMCB) said. The increases ranged from seven per cent to a staggering 8546,2%.
Former US president Donald Trump was indicted over hush money payments made to a porn star during his 2016 campaign, making him the first president to face criminal charges.
Msunduzi ratepayers were in shock and confusion after they found themselves sitting with two bills in one month following the introduction of the city’s twice-month billing cycle system.
KZN Premier Nomuse-Ncube announced a full-scale investigation into the province’s school nutrition programme after an outcry over how it was being run. Several schools in the province suspended classes after service providers failed to deliver adequate food to the schools.
Hours after hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy, a shaken Congress finally certified Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory. Immediately afterwards the White House released a statement from Trump promising an “orderly transition” when Biden is sworn in to office on 20th January although he repeated his false claims that he won the November election.
It was a dark start to the year as residents living in large parts of Pietermaritzburg, Hilton and Howick West found themselves without electricity for up to seven-days. Besides causing widespread anger and frustration, the severe electricity disruptions plaguing the city also posed a threat to the local economy as industries considered pulling out and potential investors were scared away. To overhaul the entire ageing infrastructure will cost the bankrupt municipality at least R4 billion.
The alcohol sales ban was extended along with other restrictions as part of adjusted lockdown Level 3, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in an address to the nation. On the much-anticipated vaccine roll-out in the country, Ramaphosa, without giving a time frame, said “South Africa’s vaccine strategy is well underway,
Joe Biden was sworn in as the president of the United States, pledging to unite a deeply divided nation reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic. Faced with a country whose fissures have been widened by a brutal wedge over the past four years, he acknowledged the social wasteland he had inherited, but emphasised unity, conciliation and called for an end to the “uncivil war” that had ravaged the country. In an extremely rare move his predecessor, Donald Trump, chose not to attend the ceremony.
Heavy rain, with flooding in places, hit the northern parts of South Africa as Cyclone Eloise moved down the Mozambique Channel – with more large downpours falling in KZN later in the week. At the same time, the murky world of spies, black ops and the unauthorised spending of millions of rand took centre stage at the Zondo Enquiry as evidence concerning the activities of the secretive State Security Agency (SSA) was heard. In a related ruling, Concourt ordered former president Jacob Zuma to obey all summons issued against him by the State Capture Enquiry and appear before it – saying he does not have the right to remain silent in proceedings.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule reacted defensively in an effort to deflect questions about Jacob Zuma’s defiance of state capture saying the former president should not be suspended from the party he believes in. “Leave president Zuma alone,” he said. Magashule, himself, was granted bail of R200 000 after he was arrested on 21 charges of fraud and corruption, alternatively theft and money laundering, stemming from the Free State asbestos scandal.
Glossing over government’s plans to vaccinate the nation to beat Covid-19, President Cyril Ramaphosa focused on South Africa’s economic recovery from the pandemic in his State of the Nation Address, in a thinly populated National Assembly Chamber. Adding to the many problems the under pressure Ramaphosa faces was the news that EFF leader, Julius Malema, had travelled to Nkandla to have tea with his long time adversary, former president Jacob Zuma, as part of a plan to form a broad alliance to undermine both the president and the Zondo Commission.
The first group of KwaZulu-Natal healthcare workers got their Covid-19 jab amid an outcry from doctors over the slow pace at which government is procuring vaccine. The South African Medical Association (Sama), which initially supported government’s vaccine procurement plan, said its members were becoming disillusioned with the manner in which the entire vaccination programme was unfolding. “We are worried that the target to vaccinate 40 million people by the end of the year will not be achieved,” Sama KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Dr Zanele Bikitshe said.
Taxpayers were able to breathe a sigh of some relief as Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tabled a 2021 Budget free from substantial tax hikes aimed at bank-rolling South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination programme. The sting in the tail – for smokers and drinkers anyway – was that excise duties on tobacco and alcohol would increase on average by eight per cent – double the rate of inflation.
NOTE: In addition to my normal weekly cartoons for the Weekend Witness, I did two extra ones for the paper in February:
(1). A cartoon celebrating the 175th anniversary of The Witness, the oldest continuously published newspaper in South Africa:
(2) A farewell cartoon for editor Yves Vanderhaeghen who retired from the Witness at the end of February, 2021:
Here is another selection of my political cartoons from 2018. Besides providing a pictorial history of some of the people, ideas and events that helped shape the year they will also, hopefully, give some clues as to where we may be headed in 2019.
Our erstwhile Number One, for example, has shown little inclination to emulate his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, by fading quietly in to the background – so it almost inevitable we will be hearing a lot more about Jacob Zuma. You can take it as read, too, that Julius Malema and the EFF will continue to push the boundaries of acceptable political behaviour and that Eskom will make the news for all the wrong reasons. Likewise, SAA, SABC and all our cash-strapped, disintegrating municipalities.
There will also be more stories about corruption and the misuse of public funds.
Another opportunity to practice my craft…
Internationally, you can rely on US President Donald Trump to keep banging on about his wretched Wall with Mexico while Britain will still be foundering on the rocks of Brexit.
If nothing else they will all provide abundant material for political cartoonists to practice their art…
So watch this space…
Jacob Zuma struggles to accept his days as the President of South Africa are numbered.
New President Cyril Ramaphosa doesn’t quite complete the job.
US President Donald Trump’s twin obsessions.
The DA loses some of the moral high ground with its mishandling of the Patricia De Lille affair.
Msunduzi’s long-suffering residents face more problems with their underperforming municipality.
NHI – big on ambition, lacking in detail.
Ex-President Jacob Zuma continues to live a charmed life
Consumers feel the squeeze after a VAT hike.
Uncertainty over the land issue continues to weigh down the economy.
Service delivery fails to improve.
EFF leader, Julius Malema, gets hoisted on his own petard.
President Cyril Ramaphosa faces some big decisions…
Stidy's Eye 