SA calls on US, Israel and Iran to let UN mediate peaceful resolution
The South African government has called on the US, Israel and Iran to give the UN the opportunity and space to lead in finding a peaceful resolution of the matters of dispute between them, including the inspection and verification of Iran's status of uranium enrichment and its broader nuclear capacity.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government noted the US's involvement in the Israel-Iran war with 'a great deal of anxiety'.
'It was South Africa's sincerest hope that President Donald Trump would use his influence and that of the US government to prevail on the parties to pursue a dialogue path in resolving their issues of dispute,' the presidency said in a statement.
US forces struck Iran's three main nuclear sites, Trump said late on Saturday, and he warned Tehran it would face more devastating attacks if it does not agree to peace.
Reuters reported that UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Saturday branded the US strikes on Iran as a 'dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge — and a direct threat to international peace and security.'
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IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
MKP joins escalating call for higher education Minister Nkabane to resign
Calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane have been escalated amid allegations of corruption at the Construction Sector Education and Training Authority (CETA) and claims that she misled Parliament. Image: GCIS The umKhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has joined the calls for the removal of Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane, saying she is not fit to hold the position. The party was responding to the calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Nkabane amid allegations of corruption at the Construction Sector Education and Training Authority (CETA) and claims that she misled Parliament. Nkabane is already under scrutiny for misleading the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education about the composition of the panel responsible for recommending appointments to the boards of Sector Education & Training Authorities (SETAs), which appointed ANC-aligned individuals. This week, fresh revelations emerged in reports that she ignored whistleblower reports detailing tender fraud and governance irregularities at CETA, which has a budget exceeding R20 billion. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The whistleblower, Tumiso Mphuthi, a suspended CETA senior manager, claimed that Nkabane repeatedly ignored her corruption complaints against CEO Malusi Shezi. Mphuthi alleged that Shezi rigged tenders awarding contracts to unqualified bidders, yet no investigation was launched despite her submitting evidence to multiple authorities. MKP MP, Mnqobi Msenzane, said these activities show that Nkabane was not fit for the office, adding that she has displayed a serious level of incompetence. He said the challenges at CETA were not an island, adding that they include other institutions such as the Services SETA, which date back prior to the arrival of the current CEO. Msenzane said Nkabane created chaos in all SETAs, including her attempt to appoint highly political, conflicted individuals to be board chairpersons of SETAs, and her closest friends who were board members of the Energy and Water SETA (EWSETA). 'Due to pressures exerted by MK Party MPs and other committee members, the Minister has since withdrawn the corrupt appointments. "As if nothing worse could have tragically visited the SETAs, the Minister proceeded by misleading the Portfolio Committee on the existence of the so-called Independent Panel, which the Minister must still come and answer to the Committee for her shocking transgressions.' He said Nkabane also delayed the appointments of the SETA board for two months, adding that this has placed the SETAs in disarray, there is a corporate governance breakdown that have seen Auditor General (AG) reports delayed. He said this would delay the strategic planning and directions of the SETAs, as well as mandatory grant approval. 'There will be high surpluses in revenues, spending will be less, leading to a hindrance to economic growth. Some stipends and bursaries will not be paid. As things stand, SETAs are similarly under administration currently,' he said. Nkabane's spokesperson, Camagwini Mavovana, said questions should be referred to Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, who did not respond. Meanwhile, the DA said it has also filed a complaint with the Public Protector, following the revelation that Nkabane misled Parliament. 'The DA also believes that the level of deceit and misleading of Parliament violates the Executive Members Ethics Code, for which the Public Protector has jurisdiction to investigate and make findings – and therefore the DA has reported Minister Nkabane to the Public Protector for investigation into the serious breach of the Executive Members Ethics Code in numerous counts of misleading Parliament,' the party said. Prominent academic Prof Malegapuru Makgoba has joined calls for her resignation. In an opinion piece published in the Sunday Times, former University of KwaZulu-Natal vice-chancellor and national health ombud, Makgoba said the only honourable course for Nkabane was to quit, adding that she had disgraced Ramaphosa and publicly embarrassed him, the higher education and her department. 'She brought this sector into disrepute and her continued presence in the position of Minister continues to damage this vulnerable sector, he said.
Mail & Guardian
an hour ago
- Mail & Guardian
Understanding the first 160 days of Senate Foreign Relations Committee on African affairs and global health policy
Is there partisan agreement on the strategic priorities for African affairs and global health policy among the majority members? A rapid review suggests that there has been a significant shift in the strategic priorities on African affairs and global health policy that have been pursued in formal engagements by the majority members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). Over the first 160 days, the formal engagements of the majority members were not as strongly aligned with the strategic priorities of countering global health threats and strengthening democratic institutions as they were with the strategic priorities of ending regional conflicts, realigning US foreign policy, promoting human rights, countering the diplomatic engagement of malign actors and countering the predatory practices of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). That is a curious finding. It means that those formal engagements were not perfectly aligned with the strategic priorities for SFRC engagement on African affairs and global health policy that were declared by the relevant subcommittee chair during the first 160 days of either the last session or the current one. In turn, that raises a number of follow-on questions of policy relevance. One is whether there is partisan agreement on the strategic priorities for African affairs and global health policy among the majority members. Another is whether there is bipartisan agreement that the promotion of human rights should be a strategic priority among the majority and minority members. Media outlets and think tanks should seek to provide answers to those questions. Strategic priorities A rapid review shows that there were significant changes in the strategic priorities for African affairs and global health policy that were declared by the respective chair of the SFRC Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy within the first 160 days of the current session versus the last one. Current session At the start of this session, the current subcommittee chair articulated six strategic priorities for engagement. In the press release following his appointment, Senator Ted Cruz A few weeks later, Cruz held Last session In the prior session, the former subcommittee chair articulated a very different set of strategic priorities for engagement. In the press release following his appointment, Senator Corey Booker Committee engagement A rapid review of the hearings, chair press releases and subcommittee chair press releases shows that there was a similar level of SFRC majority engagement on African affairs and global health policy over the first 160 days of the current session versus the last one. Committee hearings In the current session, the SFRC held two committee hearings that were specifically focused on African affairs and global health policy. The first took place on 13 May 2025. It was a In the last session, the SFRC held two committee hearings on African affairs and global health policy over the same period. The first took place on 19 April 2023. It was a Committee majority press In the current session, the SFRC majority press featured six official statements on African affairs and global health policy. The first was an official statement on the In the last session, the SFRC majority press also featured six official statements on African affairs and global health policy. The first was an official statement on Subcommittee chair press In the current session, the press for the subcommittee chair featured three official statements on African affairs and global health policy. The first was an In the last session, the press for the subcommittee chair featured five official statements on African affairs and global health policy. The first was on Analytic synthesis A synthesis of the research findings suggests that there has not been a perfect match between the formal engagements of majority members and the strategic priorities declared by the current subcommittee chair over the first 160 days of the current session. Generally speaking, those formal engagements have not been strongly aligned with at least two of the strategic priorities declared by Booker during the first 160 days of the last session (that is, countering global health threats; strengthening democratic institutions). They have been more aligned with: One of the strategic priorities declared by Booker during the first 160 days of the last session (protecting human rights). Two of the strategic priorities declared by Senator Cruz during the first 160 days of the current session (countering the diplomatic engagement of malign actors; countering the predatory practices of the CCP). Two issues that were not declared to be strategic priorities by either Senators Booker or Cruz during the first 160 days of their respective sessions (realigning US foreign policy; ending regional conflicts). That raises follow-on questions of policy relevance. One is whether the historic pursuit of nomination approvals significantly impacted the strategic priorities that were pursued on African affairs and global health policy during the first 160 days of the current session. Another is whether there was partisan collective agreement on the strategic objectives for African affairs and global health policy among the majority members during the first 160 days of the current session. Yet another is whether there was bipartisan agreement that the promotion of human rights should be a strategic priority for African affairs and global health policy among the majority and minority committee members during the first 160 days of the current session. If so, then that raises the question of why the current subcommittee chair did not declare the promotion of human rights to be a strategic priority in response to domestic political concerns. Of course, there are many others. For example, why did the current subcommittee chair not declare Beyond the synthesis, the rapid review suggests that the current organisational structures of the SFRC subcommittees and State Department bureaus may not be optimised for the achievement of the current strategic priorities for African affairs. Like last session, there are hard jurisdictional boundaries drawn between North Africa affairs and sub-Saharan Africa affairs. Those probably impede the bridging of the artificial divide that exists between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in African affairs. Moreover, there are blurred jurisdictional boundaries drawn between African affairs and global health policy. That may have made sense when countering global health threats was one of the strategic priorities for African affairs. However, it makes less sense now that countering global health threats has been downgraded as a strategic priority for African affairs. Research limitations The scope of the rapid review was exploratory in nature. As one would expect, it follows that there are several important limitations that merit consideration. First, the rapid review only critically examined a subset of the formal engagements on African affairs and global health policy by the majority members. Missing formal engagements include draft legislation and staff delegations. Their inclusion could have a significant impact on the research findings. There was draft legislation on African affairs and staff delegations to African countries during the first 160 days of the current session. Second, the rapid review did not critically examine informal engagements on African affairs and global health policy by the majority members. Missing informal engagements included social media posts. Their inclusion could have a significant impact on the research findings. There were majority leadership posts on African affairs on social media during the first 160 days of the current session. Moreover, social media was a major platform for engagement. As evidence, the SFRC Chairman's recent Third, the rapid review only critically examined one period of time. That could have had a significant impact on the research findings. There were intervening events that took place over the first 160 days of the current session. One was a There is therefore a clear and present opportunity to improve the general knowledge about the engagement of the SFRC on African affairs and global health policy by way of future research that is designed to address these research limitations. Michael Walsh is a visiting scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Ambassador (Ret) Charles Ray is a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Africa Programme at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
Tech-fueled misinformation distorts Iran-Israel fighting
Smoke billows following an explosion in central Tehran. Image: Atta Kenare / AFP AI deepfakes, video game footage passed off as real combat, and chatbot-generated falsehoods -- such tech-enabled misinformation is distorting the Israel-Iran conflict, fueling a war of narratives across social media. The information warfare unfolding alongside ground combat sparked by Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and military leadership underscores a digital crisis in the age of rapidly advancing AI tools that have blurred the lines between truth and fabrication. The surge in wartime misinformation has exposed an urgent need for stronger detection tools, experts say, as major tech platforms have largely weakened safeguards by scaling back content moderation and reducing reliance on human fact-checkers. After Iran struck Israel with barrages of missiles last week, AI-generated videos falsely claimed to show damage inflicted on Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport. The videos were widely shared across Facebook, Instagram and X. Using a reverse image search, AFP's fact-checkers found that the clips were originally posted by a TikTok account that produces AI-generated content. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ There has been a "surge in generative AI misinformation, specifically related to the Iran-Israel conflict," Ken Jon Miyachi, founder of the Austin-based firm BitMindAI, told AFP. "These tools are being leveraged to manipulate public perception, often amplifying divisive or misleading narratives with unprecedented scale and sophistication." 'Photo-realism' GetReal Security, a US company focused on detecting manipulated media including AI deepfakes, also identified a wave of fabricated videos related to the Israel-Iran conflict. The company linked the visually compelling videos -- depicting apocalyptic scenes of war-damaged Israeli aircraft and buildings as well as Iranian missiles mounted on a trailer -- to Google's Veo 3 AI generator, known for hyper-realistic visuals. The Veo watermark is visible at the bottom of an online video posted by the news outlet Tehran Times, which claims to show "the moment an Iranian missile" struck Tel Aviv. "It is no surprise that as generative-AI tools continue to improve in photo-realism, they are being misused to spread misinformation and sow confusion," said Hany Farid, the co-founder of GetReal Security and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Farid offered one tip to spot such deepfakes: the Veo 3 videos were normally eight seconds in length or a combination of clips of a similar duration. "This eight-second limit obviously doesn't prove a video is fake, but should be a good reason to give you pause and fact-check before you re-share," he said. The falsehoods are not confined to social media. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard has identified 51 websites that have advanced more than a dozen false claims -- ranging from AI-generated photos purporting to show mass destruction in Tel Aviv to fabricated reports of Iran capturing Israeli pilots. Sources spreading these false narratives include Iranian military-linked Telegram channels and state media sources affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, NewsGuard said. 'Control the narrative' "We're seeing a flood of false claims and ordinary Iranians appear to be the core targeted audience," McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP. Sadeghi described Iranian citizens as "trapped in a sealed information environment," where state media outlets dominate in a chaotic attempt to "control the narrative." Iran itself claimed to be a victim of tech manipulation, with local media reporting that Israel briefly hacked a state television broadcast, airing footage of women's protests and urging people to take to the streets. Adding to the information chaos were online clips lifted from war-themed video games. AFP's fact-checkers identified one such clip posted on X, which falsely claimed to show an Israeli jet being shot down by Iran. The footage bore striking similarities to the military simulation game Arma 3. Israel's military has rejected Iranian media reports claiming its fighter jets were downed over Iran as "fake news." Chatbots such as xAI's Grok, which online users are increasingly turning to for instant fact-checking, falsely identified some of the manipulated visuals as real, researchers said. "This highlights a broader crisis in today's online information landscape: the erosion of trust in digital content," BitMindAI's Miyachi said. "There is an urgent need for better detection tools, media literacy, and platform accountability to safeguard the integrity of public discourse." AFP
