Foreign
South Africa’s Ramaphosa Re-Elected After Coalition Deal
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected for a second term on Friday after his humbled ANC cobbled together an unprecedented coalition government.
Lawmakers in Cape Town voted overwhelmingly to put Ramaphosa, 71, back in office for another five years after the May 29 general election that produced no outright winner.
“I accordingly declare honourable M.C. Ramaphosa duly elected President,” Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said after the votes were counted.
Last month’s election marked a historic turning point for South Africa, ending three decades of dominance by the African National Congress of the late Nelson Mandela.
The party that led the struggle to end apartheid won only 40 percent of the vote and, for the first time, lost its absolute majority in parliament.
It has now struck a deal to form what it calls a government of national unity.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said on Friday the broad coalition brings together a majority of the 18 parties that won representation in the 400-seat National Assembly.
These include the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA), the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and other smaller groups.
Ramaphosa was re-elected by fellow MPs with 283 votes in a secret ballot.
He saw off a last-minute challenge by Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), whose candidacy gained 44 votes.
Ramaphosa will be sworn in next week in Pretoria and then unveil his new cabinet.
Earlier, Zondo had opened the parliament’s first sitting, swearing in MPs in batches ahead of votes on the election of a speaker and deputy speaker.
The first post went to the ANC’s Thoko Didiza and, in a first sign the power-sharing deal was working, the second went to the DA’s Annelie Lotriet. Both are women.
Lawmakers cast their ballot one by one in a lengthy ceremony held in a Cape Town convention centre, as the parliament building is being rebuilt after a 2022 fire.
EFF members took the oath wearing red overalls and in some cases rubber boots and plastic construction worker helmets.
They declined to support the incoming administration, having refused to countenance joining an alliance with right-wing or white-led parties.
“This is not a government of national unity, this is a grand coalition between the ANC and white monopoly capital. History will judge you harshly,” Malema said after conceding defeat.
Graft-tainted former president Jacob Zuma’s new party uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), which came third in the May 29 election, has disputed the results and its MPs boycotted Friday’s sitting.
“The sitting of the national assembly today as far as we’re concerned is illegal and unconstitutional,” MK spokesman Nhlamulo Ndhlela told AFP.
A former trade unionist turned millionaire businessman, Ramaphosa will preside over a government combining radically different political views.
The ANC is a historically pan-Africanist, progressive party of the left that has overseen welfare and economic empowerment programmes for poor, black South Africans.
The largest coalition party, the DA, pushes a liberal, free-market agenda. Smaller parties that are understood to have agreed to join the government range from the left to the far right.
“At the heart of this government of national unity statement is a shared respect and defence of our constitution and the rule of law,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said.
The agreement extended to Johannesburg’s Gauteng province and KwaZulu-Natal.
Zuma’s MK won the most votes in the latter but was left empty-handed as coalition members managed to get a wafer-thin majority of 41 out of 80 provincial councillors.
Steenhuisen added that the coalition agreement included a consensus mechanism to deal “with the disagreements that will inevitably arise”.
“This is not the end of the process. And the road ahead will not be an easy one,” Steenhuisen said, explaining that the two-week deadline imposed by the constitution to form a government did not leave enough time to iron out all details.
Ramaphosa first came to power in 2018 after Zuma was forced out under the cloud of corruption allegations.
Under his watch South Africa suffered from record power cuts, the economy languished and crime remained rife. Unemployment is at almost 33 percent.
He will now have the arduous task to bridge conflicting views within government to turn around South Africa’s economic fortunes.
“Rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth” was listed as a top priority in a draft of the coalition deal.
GDP grew by only 0.6 percent in 2023 and was down 0.1 percent in the first three months of 2024.
AFP
Facebook parent company Meta is banning RT and other Russian state media networks from its platforms over claims they carried out covert operations to influence social media users.
The ban, which was announced on Monday, will globally block the accounts from Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads users over the coming days.
“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” said Meta, which already restricted activity from the accounts.
“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.”
Rossiya Segodnya runs news brands including Sputnik and Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
RT had responded to Sky News agency that Meta “censoring information flow to the rest of the world”
“Don’t worry, where they close a door, and then a window, our ‘partisans’ (or in your parlance, guerrilla fighters) will find the cracks to crawl through,” their spokesperson said.
“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West – who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” they added.
The Kremlin said Meta was “discrediting itself” by banning the networks from its platforms.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable.”
He added the move complicated prospects for Moscow normalising relations with the company.
The ban comes after the United States filed money-laundering charges earlier this month against two RT employees for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 election.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as they do covert intelligence operations.
“We’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world,” Mr Blinken said.
“Russian weaponisation of disinformation to subvert and polarise free and open societies extends to every part of the world.”
In July, the US Department of Justice shut down nearly 1,000 social media bot accounts it said were created to spread Russian disinformation in the US.
It linked the accounts to RT, a state-owned broadcaster, accusing one of their senior employees of creating the bot farm which was used to “advance the mission of the FSB and the Russian government”.
When the media company was asked for a response to those allegations, RT replied: “Farming is a beloved pastime for millions of Russians.”
Following the second assassination attempt of Former President Donald Trump in the Florida golf course ahead of the US Presidential elections, US Vice President Kamala Harris stated,‘ I am glad he is safe’. The shooting took place at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. After the news broke out, Kamala Harris shared a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and said there is no place for violence in America.
“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 15, 2024
According to the White House, both the Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have been informed about the security incident of the Former President when he was golfing on Sunday and are both “relieved to know” that Donald Trump is safe, reported CNN.
“The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team,” stated the White House.
Meanwhile, the suspect involved in Sunday’s shooting incident at Trump’s Florida Golf Course has been taken into custody, CNN reported, citing a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
“The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team,” according to a statement from the White House.
Meanwhile, a suspect, who, according to the officials, is connected to Sunday’s shooting incident at Trump’s Florida Golf Course, has been taken into custody, CNN reported, citing a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
The sheriff’s office “has stopped a vehicle and taken a suspect into custody,” the post said. According to the office, a portion of Interstate 95 close to State Route 714 in Martin County is closed. Trump is “safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” the Trump Campaign said in a statement on Sunday, CNN reported.
A man suspected of plotting to assassinate former US president Donald Trump was charged with federal gun crimes on Monday.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number at his initial court appearance.
Routh, who was arrested on Sunday after an alleged abortive bid to shoot the former president at his West Palm Beach golf course, is expected to face further charges at a later arraignment.
Routh appeared calm during the brief court hearing, answering “yes” in a soft voice to several questions from District Judge Ryon McCabe of the Southern District of Florida.
Routh was arrested on Sunday after a US Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of a rifle pointing out of shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Course.
Agents, who were deployed in a moving security bubble extending about one or two holes ahead of the former president, “engaged” an individual, the US Secret Service’s Rafael Barros said.
Support for Trump, questions for Harris in pro-fracking Pennsylvania
Trump was unharmed.
Police said Routh fled in a vehicle and was arrested shortly after.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said police recovered a “AK-47-style” rifle equipped with a scope, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera from the scene.
Routh is reported to be a self-employed affordable housing builder based in Hawaii, with an arrest record spanning decades.
He regularly posted about politics and current events on social media, including criticism of Trump, according to US media.
AFP
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