DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The presidential election in Zimbabwe last week that kept the governing party in power and was widely criticized as dubious is likely to isolate the country further from the United States and other Western nations. But it has also exposed Zimbabwe to increased scrutiny and pressure from a surprising place: its neighbors in southern Africa. Before President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of a second term on Saturday, the Southern African Development Community and the African Union publicly questioned the legitimacy of Zimbabwe’s elections for the first time. While Zimbabwe has chalked up criticism from the West as colonial gripes, condemnation from other leaders on the continent may not be so easily brushed off, analysts say, particularly when it comes from countries that have to absorb the effects of Zimbabwe’s economic and social turmoil. On Sunday, speaking for the first time since his victory, Mr. Mnangagwa dismissed his African critics.

Persons: Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mnangagwa Organizations: Southern African Development Community, African Union Locations: Zimbabwe, United States, Africa

☆ Incumbent Claims Victory in Zimbabwe Election Amid Fraud Accusations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We reject any result hastily assembled without proper verification,” Promise Mkwananzi, the party spokesman, wrote on Twitter shortly after the results were announced. Mr. Mugabe was removed in a coup in 2017 by Mr. Mnangagwa and his allies. The following year, Mr. Mnangagwa eked out a victory over Mr. Chamisa in an election, winning just over 50 percent of the vote. The Zimbabwean police drew global condemnation for arresting dozens of members of one of the country’s most respected election watchdogs on election night, accusing them of plotting to sow discord by releasing projected election results. The night after the raid, ZANU-PF officials offered their own election projections at a news conference, and drew no ire from the police.

Persons: “, Mnangagwa, Robert Mugabe, autocrat, Mugabe, Chamisa Organizations: Twitter, Mr, Zimbabwean, ZANU Locations: Zimbabwe, African

☆ Thousands Camp All Night to Vote, Leaving a Nation on Edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A chaotic presidential election left Zimbabweans anxiously awaiting the outcome on Thursday after thousands were forced to wait overnight to vote and the police arrested dozens of independent election observers tasked with ensuring a fair election. Voting in Zimbabwe, a nation of 16 million people in southern Africa, was supposed to run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. But many polling stations, almost exclusively in urban areas that tend to favor opposition parties, had to stay open into Thursday because their ballots were not delivered until late the previous afternoon. For many, Mr. Mnangagwa has represented a continuation of his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, running an increasingly autocratic government that has failed to reverse a long-term economic crisis and isolating Zimbabwe from the West. Mr. Chamisa has sold himself as a fresh start and has vowed to re-engage with the world, particularly with the United States and Europe.

Persons: Emmerson Mnangagwa, Nelson Chamisa, Mnangagwa, Robert Mugabe, Chamisa Organizations: ZANU, Coalition Locations: Zimbabwe, Africa, United States, Europe

☆ What to Know as Zimbabwe Elects a President
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The police have cracked down on opponents of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the incumbent, whose ZANU-PF party has governed the country since independence in 1980. Inconsistencies in voter rolls and confusion over polling sites have fueled accusations that the national electoral commission is in the party’s back pocket. Mr. Mnangagwa is poised for a big victory, they say, because he has set the country on track economically. But surveys suggest that many Zimbabweans have lost faith in their president. The clear front-runners are Mr. Mnangagwa, running in his second election, and Nelson Chamisa, who challenged Mr. Mnangagwa in 2018 and now leads a new party, Citizens Coalition for Change.

Persons: Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mnangagwa, ”, Vince Musewe, It’s, Nelson Chamisa Organizations: ZANU, The New York Times, Party, Citizens Coalition Locations: Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe’s, “

The hospital where Warren George worked as a nurse in Zimbabwe was so short of basic supplies, like plaster, that he could not make casts to treat people with broken bones. He soon sought to join the exodus of more than 4,000 nurses who have fled the southern African nation in the past two years. But the government has refused to give him and many others the documents they would need to work in, say, Britain or Canada. He says that he now earns only about $500 a month as a traveling nurse and has to pick up extra shifts on his days off to ensure his family has enough to eat. Zimbabweans are scheduled to go to the polls on Wednesday in only the second election since Robert Mugabe, the liberation leader turned strongman president, was ousted in a coup.

Persons: Warren George, Robert Mugabe Locations: Zimbabwe, Britain, Canada

☆ Jacob Zuma Released After Brief Return to Prison in South Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former President Jacob Zuma of South Africa returned to prison early Friday morning to continue serving a sentence for contempt, but was released almost immediately under a program to relieve overcrowding in the country’s jails, the authorities said. With his release under the program, it is unlikely that Mr. Zuma will serve more time in prison on the contempt charge. Political opponents accused the government, run by Mr. Zuma’s political party, of giving him preferential treatment, saying it had intentionally started to roll out the overcrowding program on the day he reported to jail. Mr. Zuma had served just two months of a 15-month sentence in 2021 for defying a court order to testify before a national inquiry on corruption when he was released on medical parole by the corrections commissioner at the time, a close political ally. But last year, an appeals court ruled that Mr. Zuma’s release was unlawful and that he had to return to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence, a decision upheld by the country’s highest judicial body last month.

Persons: Jacob Zuma of, Zuma Locations: Jacob Zuma of South Africa

☆ ‘Kill the Boer’ Song Fuels Backlash in South Africa and U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Malema leads the Economic Freedom Fighters, a party that advocates taking white-owned land to give to Black South Africans. That has made his embrace of the chant all the more disturbing to some whites. Despite the words, the song should not be taken as a literal call to violence, according to Mr. Malema and veterans and historians of the anti-apartheid struggle. But the A.N.C., the liberation party that has governed South Africa since the beginning of multiracial democracy nearly 30 years ago, distanced itself from the song in 2012 — the same year it expelled Mr. Malema for his incendiary statements. The people singing those songs were not actually planning to march to Pretoria, nor did they really think that Mr. Mandela was about to be released, he said.

Persons: Donald J, Malema, Peter Mokaba, Bongani Ngqulunga, Nelson Mandela, Mandela Organizations: Trump, Economic, Fighters, Black, African National Congress, University of Johannesburg Locations: South Africa, United States, Pretoria

☆ South Africa’s President Says Putin Will Not Attend Diplomatic Summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( John Eligon | More About John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin will not attend a diplomatic summit in Johannesburg next month, South Africa’s president announced on Wednesday, a decision that allows the host nation to avoid the difficult predicament of whether to arrest the Russian leader, who is the subject of an international warrant. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa had said in a court affidavit made public on Tuesday that his country would risk war with Russia if it arrested Mr. Putin at the summit. The decision for Mr. Putin not to attend was made “by mutual agreement,” according to a statement released by Mr. Ramaphosa’s office. Russia will instead be represented by its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, the statement said. South African officials were forced to weigh that alliance against its relationship with Western partners, which has been strained lately because of South Africa’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Cyril Ramaphosa of, Mr, Sergey V, Lavrov Organizations: South Locations: Johannesburg, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Russia, Ukraine

☆ African Leaders Talk Peace in Ukraine, as Missiles Explode Overhead
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and African leaders on a peace mission to Kyiv had testy exchanges on Friday on how to end the war with Russia, hours after Russian forces fired missiles at the capital while the African heads of government were there. The African leaders spoke of hope and dialogue after talking with Mr. Zelensky, but the Ukrainian leader ruled out peace talks until Moscow withdraws its troops from occupied territory, and he called for Russia to be frozen out diplomatically. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa laid out a plan for de-escalation of fighting by both countries, a prisoner exchange, the return of children taken from Ukraine and the free flow of grain and fertilizer to world markets. But toward the end of their joint news conference, Mr. Zelensky said he did not clearly understand the “road map” mentioned by the visiting leaders, who will meet with President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Russia. “I don’t want to have any surprises because tomorrow, you’ll have conversations with the terrorist, and then this terrorist will have proposals to you,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, Cyril Ramaphosa of, Vladimir V, Putin, “, Mr Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Moscow, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, St . Petersburg

☆ U.S. Lawmakers Ask White House to Punish South Africa for Supporting Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A bipartisan group of American lawmakers has asked the Biden administration to punish South Africa for what they see as the country’s support of Russia’s war in Ukraine by moving a major trade conference scheduled to be held in South Africa this year to another country. The letter, obtained by The New York Times, centers on an annual forum for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. South Africa, one of the continent’s most developed economies, is its biggest beneficiary, exporting about $3 billion worth of goods to the United States through AGOA last year. U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests that South Africa may have helped supply Russia with arms for the war. South African officials say the country is “nonaligned” on the conflict, and deny selling weapons to Russia.

Persons: Biden Organizations: The New York Times Locations: South Africa, Ukraine, Washington, Russia, United States, AGOA, Africa

☆ Johannesburg, Where Mayors Last Just Months, or Even Only Weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( John Eligon | Lynsey Chutel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In Johannesburg over the past two years, parties in ruling coalitions have on multiple occasions fallen out with each other, leading to the creation of new alliances that install a new mayor. Mr. Manyama, 31, was furious that his party, with 91 seats on the council, agreed to a power-sharing arrangement that allowed someone from a party that holds just three seats to lead South Africa’s largest city. “We can’t trust these people anymore,” he said, referring to political leaders. For about two decades after the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africans did not have to worry about these on-again, off-again political romances because the A.N.C. But the party has recently lost hold of many major municipalities.

☆ South Africa Allowed Russian Plane Under U.S. Sanctions to Land at Base
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Lynsey Chutel | John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG — South African officials allowed a cargo plane targeted by U.S. sanctions for supporting Russia’s military efforts to land at an air force base near the capital, Pretoria, last week, a move that could further increase tensions with the United States. U.S. officials previously said the plane has been known to ship weapons for Russia’s defense forces. South Africa’s Department of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday that the plane had been delivering diplomatic mail for the Russian Embassy. South African officials have declined to say precisely what was loaded on to and taken off the plane. South Africa’s decision to let the aircraft land runs counter to American efforts to isolate Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.

☆ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on a Sensitive Question: Quit the I.C.C.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on Tuesday that his party, the African National Congress, had decided “it is prudent” to withdraw from the International Criminal Court — only for representatives for him and the party to later clarify that neither was actually advocating quitting the court, at least for now. The shifting statements underscore the complexities and sensitivity of the matter at a fraught geopolitical moment, when South Africa and other countries are pushing back against a world order dominated by the United States and the West. has issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been invited to a summit in South Africa in August. South African officials have not said whether they would honor their commitment to the I.C.C. and arrest Mr. Putin, and Mr. Ramaphosa said his government was still considering what to do.

☆ What’s in Our Queue? ‘Industry’ and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What’s in Our Queue? ‘Industry’ and MoreI’m the Johannesburg bureau chief for The Times, covering southern Africa. I’m always looking to consume media and entertainment that help me understand culture and that highlight the experiences of Black people. Here’s what’s been catching my eyes and ears lately →

☆ South Africa’s Leader Wins a Crucial A.N.C. Political Battle
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the gathering, held every five years, members choose the A.N.C.’s top officials, including their president, and the party’s president typically serves as the country’s president. National elections are set for 2024, and the A.N.C. has won an outright majority of votes in every national election since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. Mr. Ramaphosa won nominations from 2,037 branches, more than double that of his closest challenger, Zweli Mkhize. But analysts cautioned not to make too much of the results because the contest could change drastically by the time the conference begins.

Oh my God.” “While watching the George Floyd trial, I noticed the differences and the importance of footage.” “This corner —” “When Stephon was murdered, we only had the officers’ footage. They handcuffed him after he was dead.” “Excessive force.” “Excessive force and lethal force after the fact of death. Anything that does not deal directly with the murder of George Floyd is irrelevant in my opinion.” “He’s 6 to 6 and a half feet tall. George Floyd is already dead.” “That’s right. I feel like it’s a bittersweet thing that’s happening watching the George Floyd trial.

Persons: ”, George Floyd, Stephon, ” “ Bro, ” “, “, Tiffany, Lora, Lora Dene King, Rodney Glen King, King, they’re, ” “ It’s, George Holliday, George Floyd’s, she’s, Wanda Johnson, I’m, Oscar Grant, ” “ Grant, Oscar, bro, Y’all, — ” “ —, let’s, God, Jesus Christ, Sequette Clark, Stephon Clark, ” “ Clark, Floyd, Chauvin wouldn’t, didn’t, “ Poppa’s, They’re, he’s, Rodney Kings, George Floyd — ”, We’re, don’t Organizations: “ Police Locations: Lora Dene, ”, Los Angeles, America

Derek Chauvin was found guilty of two counts of murder on Tuesday in the death of George Floyd, whose final breaths last May under the knee of Mr. Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, were captured on video, setting off months of protests against the police abuse of Black people. After deliberating for about 10 hours over two days following an emotional trial that lasted three weeks, the jury found Mr. Chauvin, who is white, guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Mr. Floyd, a Black man, on a street corner last year on Memorial Day. Mr. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in the coming weeks but is likely to receive far less time. The presumptive sentence for second-degree murder is 12.5 years, according to Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines, although the state has asked for a higher sentence. The verdict was read in court and broadcast live to the nation on television, as the streets around the heavily fortified courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, ringed by razor wire and guarded by National Guard soldiers, filled with people awaiting the verdict.

Persons: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Chauvin, Floyd Organizations: National Guard Locations: Minneapolis

Search resuls for: "John Eligon"

17 mentions found