Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is a South African businessman and politician who, since 2018, has served as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa, as well as president of the African National Congress (ANC) since 2017. Previously an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and businessman, Ramaphosa served as secretary general to ANC president Nelson Mandela, deputy president to President Jacob Zuma, and chairman of the National Planning Commission from 2014 to 2018.
Daily Maverick is a South African daily online publication and weekly print newspaper, with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Its readership is spread across South Africa and the world, with approximately 8 million readers per month. It was founded in 2009 by Branko Brkic, who is also the Editor-in-Chief of the publication, and Styli Charalambous, the Chief Executive Officer. The slogan of Daily Maverick is Defend Truth.
Corruption in South Africa includes the improper use of public resources for private ends, including bribery and improper favouritism. The 2017 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index assigned South Africa a score of 43 out of 100, ranking South Africa 71 out of 180 countries; a high score and a low ranking signals that the country's public sector is perceived to be honest. There was a marginal improvement by 2021, when South Africa received a score of 44, ranking it 70 out of 180 countries. Nonetheless, this remains below its score of 45 in 2016. Countries with scores below 50 are believed to have serious corruption problems.
The Congress of the People (COPE) is a South African political party formed in 2008 by former members of the African National Congress (ANC). The party was founded by former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George to contest the 2009 general election. The party was announced following a national convention held in Sandton on 1 November 2008, and was founded at a congress held in Bloemfontein on 16 December 2008. The name echoes the 1955 Congress of the People at which the Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC and other parties, a name strongly contested by the ANC in a legal move dismissed by the Pretoria High Court.
Yasmin "Jessie" Duarte was a South African politician and acting secretary-general of the African National Congress. A longtime anti-apartheid activist, she served variously as a special assistant to Nelson Mandela, a member of the provincial cabinet (MEC) for Gauteng, as ambassador to Mozambique, and as spokesperson for the ANC, before assuming her post as Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC in 2012, until her death on 17 July 2022.
Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi is the Minister of Home Affairs in the Cabinet of South Africa. He was previously the Minister of Health from 2009 to 2019. He was a MEC in Limpopo province for agriculture, environment, and education.
Vivian Reddy is a South African Indian of South Indian descent and the founder of the Edison Group. Reddy is the son of a teacher and the youngest of nine children. He was chosen as South Africa's first representative to the Boy Scouts Jamboree in Japan. It was there that he met his inspiration Neil Armstrong. Born in Durban, he has created a business empire with interests in energy, casinos, healthcare, financial services and property development. As at July 2017, a forensic report links Reddy's Edison group to "irregular" Johannesburg City Power deals.
Elias Sekgobelo "Ace" Magashule is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who was Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC) until his suspension on 3 May 2021. He served as the Premier of the Free State, one of South Africa's nine provinces, from 2009 until 2018, and is known to be influential in the ANC of his home province.
Thandi Modise is a South African politician and former anti-Apartheid guerilla. She is currently serving as Minister of Defence & Military Veterans. She served as Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces from 2014 to 2019 and as Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2019 to 2021.
Pieter-Louis Myburgh is a South African investigative journalist.
The 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 16 to 20 December 2017 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng. At the conference, the ANC elected its National Executive Committee (NEC) and other top internal leaders. Often referred to as the Nasrec Conference, it was held during the centenary of the birth of former ANC President Oliver Tambo and was convened under the theme, "Remember Tambo: Towards Unity, Renewal and Radical Socioeconomic Transformation."
Bongani Thomas Bongo is a South African politician, whose ANC membership is currently suspended along with the party's secretary-general Ace Magashule. Bongo is the former Minister of State Security, a position to which he was appointed on 17 October 2017 by President Jacob Zuma until he was relieved from the post on 28 February 2018. He was the only appointment that had not been a cabinet minister before. He is also the elected President of the University of Limpopo's Alumni and Convocation Association. As the Minister of State Security, Bongo headed the State Security Agency of South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 2018 in South Africa.
The Vrede Dairy Project is a dairy project established in 2012 on Krynaauwslust Farm, near the town of Vrede, Free State Province, South Africa. The dairy was established as a public-private partnership with Estina, a Black Economic Empowerment company, as part of the Free State provincial government's agricultural project, Mohoma-Mobung. Estina was given the land under a free 99 year lease.
Sefora Hixsonia "Sisi" Ntombela is a South African politician who is the 6th Premier of the Free State and a Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature. She previously served as the Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements. She was also the Free State MEC for Social Development. Ntombela is the Deputy President of the African National Congress Women's League and the treasurer of the Free State ANC.
The 2019 service delivery protests refers to a series of protests and civil disturbances taking place across urban areas of South Africa related to poor service delivery that started in Alexandra on 3 April 2019.
Gadija Brown is a South African politician and banker who is a member of the Free State Provincial Legislature for the African National Congress (ANC) and the provincial Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance.
Thabo Nelson Mmutle is a South African Member of Parliament for the African National Congress. He first became an MP at the 2019 general election. Mmutle is a former member of the national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress Youth League.
Malambule Samuel Mashinini is a South African politician and trade union leader who has been a member of the Free State Provincial Legislature since 2014. A member of the African National Congress, he was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature in May 2014. He was then appointed as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. A year later, he became the MEC for Economic and Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs. Mashinini was appointed MEC for Police, Roads & Transport in October 2016. He was dismissed in October 2021.
The Security Branch of the South African Police, established in 1947 as the Special Branch, was the security police apparatus of the apartheid state in South Africa. From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was one of the three main state entities responsible for intelligence gathering, the others being the Bureau for State Security and the Military Intelligence division of the South African Defence Force. In 1987, at its peak, the Security Branch accounted for only thirteen percent of police personnel, but it wielded great influence as the "elite" service of the police.
