March 25, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines:

DA unveils election candidates, confident in selection process  

Peter de Villiers guilty of breaching GOOD constitution, dismissed from party

And, South Africa works to build US ties as lawmakers urge review

DA unveils election candidates, confident in selection process  

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said today that the party’s election candidates were not chosen based on their political allegiance or their proximity to senior politicians, but rather on their merit and performance.

The party publicly released its candidates for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, expressing confidence in the party’s selection criteria.

Steenhuisen noted that the entire candidate selection process was created to ensure that meritocracy continued to prevail in the party’s ranks, offering the best people in the country.

Steenhuisen noted that through the party’s Candidate Selection Programme, conceived and executed by DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille, the DA put the candidates through their paces on a number of different metrics.

He added that he also went through the party’s candidate selection process, noting that existing leaders are not exempt from meritocratic process and performance management.

Peter de Villiers guilty of breaching GOOD constitution, dismissed from party

Following a suspension and a disciplinary hearing, the GOOD party has decided to terminate the membership of Peter de Villiers.

The former Springboks coach was accused of sexual assault and harassment in January and suspended by the party before entering into a disciplinary process.

The party said today it had found De Villiers guilty of breaching its constitution and code of conduct.

The party said its Constitution deals comprehensively and unequivocally with gender rights and sexual misconduct.

De Villiers was a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and is replaced by GOOD deputy secretary-general Suzette Little. She will complete the term which ends with the May 29 election.

South Africa works to build US ties as lawmakers urge review

South Africa’s government moved to reaffirm ties with the US as lawmakers in Washington discuss a bill that seeks to review the bilateral relationship between the two nations amid geopolitical differences.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor met with officials in the US capital last week as the bill cleared its first key hurdle when the House Foreign Relations Committee voted to put the bill before the full 435-member House of Representatives for a vote.

John James, a Republican from Michigan, introduced the legislation in February together with Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz on February 6 after South Africa’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing the nation of genocide amid its crackdown on Hamas.

Six other lawmakers have subsequently co-sponsored the bill, which states that the South African government “has a history of siding with malign actors, including Hamas, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization and a proxy of the Iranian regime, and continues to pursue closer ties with the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.”

Pandor said in a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that she was horrified for a democracy to take such a step.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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