FBI Says Trump Was Indeed Struck by Bullet During Assassination Attempt

At the Believers Summit hosted by Turning Point Action, former President Donald Trump said he took the last bandage off his ear today, for this crowd. (AP produced by Javier Arciga)

BY JILL COLVIN, ERIC TUCKER, BERNARD CONDON AND JIM MUSTIAN

10:14 PM EDT, July 26, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump’s near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president’s ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president’s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a statement.

The one-sentence statement from the FBI marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump’s injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet.

The comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political aisle amid a dearth of information following the July 13 attack.

Up until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had refused to provide information about what caused Trump’s injuries. Trump’s campaign has also declined to release medical records from the hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there available for questions.

Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump’s former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally who now represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny and is not Trump’s primary care physician.

The FBI’s apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former president’s version of events has also raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert control over once again. Trump and his supporters have for years accused federal law enforcement of being weaponized against him, something Wray has consistently denied.

Speaking at an event later Friday in West Palm Beach Florida, Trump drew boos from the crowd when he described the suggestion that he may have been struck by glass or shrapnel instead of a bullet.

“Did you see the FBI today apologized?” he asked. “It just never ends with these people. ... We accept their apology.”

Trump appeared Friday for the first time without a bandage on his right ear. Photographs and video showed no sign of continued bleeding, and no distinct holes or gashes.

Questions about the extent and nature of Trump’s wound began immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement officials declined to answer questions about his condition or the treatment he received after Trump narrowly escaped death in an attempted assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.

Those questions have persisted despite photographs showing the trace of a projectile speeding past Trump’s head as well as Trump’s teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote.

Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump recounted the scene in detail, while wearing a large gauze bandage over his right ear.

“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,’” he said.

“If I had not moved my head at that very last instant,” Trump said, “the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.”

But the first medical account of Trump’s condition didn’t come until a full week after the shooting, when Jackson released his first letter last Saturday evening. In it, he said the bullet that struck Trump had “produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.” He also revealed Trump had received a CT scan at the hospital.

Federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And Wray’s testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the issue.

“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said, before he seemed to suggest it was indeed a bullet.

“I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else,” he said.

On Thursday, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement affirming that the shooting was an “attempted assassination of former President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims.” The FBI also said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.

Jackson, who has been treating the former president since the night of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday that any suggestion Trump’s ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was reckless.

“It was a bullet wound,” said Jackson. “You can’t make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.”

In his letter Friday, Jackson insisted “there is absolutely no evidence” Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it was “wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”

He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a “Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear.”

“Having served as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 20 years in the United States Navy, including as a combat physician on the battlefield in Iraq,” he wrote, “I have treated many gunshot wounds in my career. Based on my direct observations of the injury, my relevant clinical background, and my significant experience evaluating and treating patients with similar wounds, I completely concur with the initial assessment and treatment provided by the doctors at nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.”

The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.

Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records, or allow the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.

“The media has no shame in engaging in disgusting conspiracy theories,” he said. “The facts are the facts, and to question an abhorrent assassination attempt that ultimately cost a life and injured two others is beyond the pale.”

In emails last week, he told the AP that “medical readouts” had already been provided.

“It’s sad some people still don’t believe a shooting happened,” Cheung said, “even after one person was killed and others were injured.”

Anyone who believes the conspiracies, he added, “is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, also urged Wray to correct his testimony in a letter Friday, saying the fact Trump had been hit by a bullet “was made clear in briefings my office received and should not be a point of contention.”

“As head of the FBI, you should not be creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency’s credibility with millions of Americans,” he wrote.

Trump also lashed out at Wray in a post on his Truth Social network, saying it was “No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”

“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” he wrote.

On Friday, he called Wray’s comments “so damaging to the Great People that work in the FBI.”

Jackson has encountered significant scrutiny over the years.

After administering a physical to Trump in 2018, he drew headlines for suggesting that “if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.”

He was reportedly demoted by the Navy after the Department of Defense inspector general released a scathing report on his conduct as a top White House physician that found Jackson had made “sexual and denigrating” comments about a female subordinates and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care.

Trump appointed Wray as FBI director in 2017 to replace the fired James Comey. But the then-president swiftly soured on his hire as the bureau continued its investigation into the Russian election interference.

Trump flirted openly with the idea of firing Wray as his term drew to a close, and he lashed out anew after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to recover boxes of classified documents from his presidency.

___ Colvin reported from New York.

Autopsy Confirms Sonya Massey Died from Gunshot Wound to Head, as Attorney Calls Shooting Senseless

Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff’s deputy only seconds before he shot her three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.

BY JOHN O’CONNOR AND RICK CALLAHAN

5:27 PM EDT, July 26, 2024

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Autopsy findings released Friday on Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman fatally shot in her Illinois home by a now-fired sheriff’s deputy charged in her death, confirm that she died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The report was released shortly before civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, denounced the killing by ex-sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson as senseless, unnecessary and excessive.

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon had previously disclosed initial findings on Massey’s July 6 death in Springfield and the full autopsy report released Friday confirmed those conclusions, including that her death was a homicide.

In addition to the bullet striking her just beneath her left eye, Massey had “minor blunt force injuries” to her right leg, the autopsy said.

Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct charges in Massey’s killing. He was fired last week by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and has been jailed without bond.

Crump, at his third news conference this week since the body camera video was released Monday, used an enlarged diagram from the autopsy that showed the bullet exited on her lower neck in a downward trajectory. That, he said, emphasizes the physical mismatch between Massey and the much larger Grayson, who fired on her because he said he felt threatened by a pan of hot water she was moving from her stove.

“When Sonya Massey was staring at the barrel of his gun, she stooped down, said, ‘Sorry, sir, Sorry,’ and the bullet was shot while she was in this stooped position, coming up,” Crump said. “The autopsy confirms what everybody already knows, that this was just a senseless, unnecessary, excessive use of force.”

Grayson is 6-foot-3 (191 centimeters) and 228 pounds (103 kilograms). The autopsy lists Massey at 5-foot-4 (163 centimeters) and 112 pounds (51 kilograms). Prosecutors have added that the distance between shooter and victim and a counter between them gave Grayson “distance and relative cover” from the hot water.

Authorities said Massey had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. Two deputies eventually showed up at her house in Springfield, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

The video confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water, aiming his 9mm pistol at her and threatening to shoot her in the face. He fired three times.

The unidentified deputy with Grayson then said he would get his medical kit, but Grayson said, “She done. You can go get it, but that’s a head shot. There’s nothing you can do, man.”

He later relented while the second deputy held towels to Massey’s head to try to stem the bleeding, but by the time Grayson returned with his kit, emergency medical professionals had arrived and when they told Grayson his help wasn’t needed, he threw his kit on the floor and said, “I’m not even gonna waste my med stuff then."

Massey struggled with mental illness, according to her family. Her son, 17-year-old Malachi Hill Massey, said Friday that he and his 15-year-old sister had moved in with their fathers because Sonya Massey had admitted herself to a 30-day inpatient program in St. Louis sometime during the week before her death, but returned two days later without explanation.

Malachi Massey also said that on July 5, the day before the early morning shooting, law enforcement officers whom he thought were from Sangamon County were called to the house and were there when he arrived. By then, his mother had called him to say she was driving herself to a local hospital, apparently for mental health treatment. He said he doesn’t know who called police or what help she was seeking that day.

The Associated Press has asked local law enforcement agencies for records of the July 5 call.

___

Callahan reported from Indianapolis.

Prisoners Fight Against Working in Heat on Former Slave Plantation, Raising Hope for Change in South

In this Aug. 18, 2011 photo, prison guards ride horses that were broken by inmates as they return from farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

BY MARGIE MASON AND ROBIN MCDOWELL

9:06 AM EDT, July 25, 2024

Beneath the blazing summer sun on a former slave plantation, Lamont Gross and fellow prisoners stooped in long rows, picking vegetables by hand under the watchful eyes of armed guards on horseback. He said breaks were short and infrequent, with nothing to protect workers from the heat.

“I saw guys collapse,” Gross said of his days on the so-called farm line at Louisiana’s state penitentiary, where men work for pennies an hour or nothing at all and face punishment if they refuse. “There were dudes that got heat stroke. There were dudes with underlying conditions, older or had some sort of disability, but they had to go out there, too.”

As daily temperatures hit record highs across much of the South, a federal judge took an unusual step, challenging the treatment of mostly Black incarcerated workers in the fields.

America’s largest maximum-security prison, known as Angola, sits on 18,000 acres. It was once a patchwork of cotton fields where, historians note, even enslaved pregnant women and young children worked from dawn to dusk during the busiest and hottest harvesting months. Prisoners have toiled on the same farm lines since after emancipation often without shade, adequate work breaks or even sunscreen.

In September, several incarcerated workers along with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Voice of the Experienced filed a class-action lawsuit calling for an end to the farm line, and accusing the state of cruel and unusual punishment. But as temperatures soared in May, the men asked the court in an emergency filing to stop work during extreme heat.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month. It said correctional officials have shown “deliberate indifference” to the risks of injuries or death of incarcerated workers in sending them to the fields even when they had serious health issues, including some with heart disease, high blood pressure and histories of pre-diabetes or AIDS.

He ordered the state to quickly fix what he called “glaring deficiencies” in its heat-related policies.

Louisiana’s corrections department challenged the order, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the judge. Prison officials have already taken some steps to improve conditions, providing inmates with sunscreen and pop-up tents for shade, lawyers for the state said. And when heat alerts are issued, which is common in summer months, they have agreed to provide the men with five-minute breaks every half hour.

Earlier, the state warned that shutting down the farm line once the heat index hits 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius), as requested by plaintiffs in their emergency filing, would “open the floodgates” to cease work “in any institution across the South.”

This 1972 photo shows prisoners at the Arkansas Department of Corrections Cummins Unit on work detail in the fields in Grady, Ark. (Bruce Jackson via AP)

This 1974 photo shows prisoners at the Arkansas Department of Corrections Cummins Unit taking a water break while on work detail in the fields in Grady, Ark. (Bruce Jackson via AP)

Several other Southern states also operate sprawling penal farms on former slave plantations. Modern equipment is typically used to tend and harvest row crops that are sometimes sold on the open market and exported, even though the U.S. bans the import of goods made with prison labor overseas. But in some places, like Louisiana’s penitentiary, rudimentary tools and prisoners’ bare hands are used to harvest fruits and vegetables that feed inmates.

“If we can get similar rulings here in Arkansas, that’ll be a blessing,” said Kaleem Nazeem, an organizer at that state’s grassroots coalition decARcerate. He spent 28 years behind bars and said he was routinely sent to solitary confinement for refusing to join the rows of men forced to pick cotton, scenes he compared to ones from “Roots,” Alex Haley’s harrowing book, and later miniseries, about slavery.

“The general public doesn’t know the history of the land,” he said, “because we, as a society, have chosen to become practiced at turning our heads.”

As part of a two-year investigation, The Associated Press found some prison farms nationwide have in recent years supplied millions of dollars worth of crops — including soy, corn and wheat — to massive global companies like Tyson Foods, Louis Dreyfus, Consolidated Grain and Barge and Riceland Foods. Agricultural goods produced through prison labor end up in the supply chains of popular brands like Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Ballpark hot dogs and Pepsi, reporters found.

Though many companies did not respond to questions about their links to prison farms, others, including Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, have said they were investigating AP’s findings and had either cut ties or were considering next steps.

Prison labor is legal in the United States due to a loophole in the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery, except for people convicted of crimes.

But it’s viewed differently elsewhere. A U.N. investigator is expected to submit a report to the body’s human rights council in September calling it a form of modern-day slavery.

U.S. correctional officials, meanwhile, tout the benefits of their work programs, saying they reduce recidivism, provide skills that can be used on the outside and keep prisoners from being idle.

The issue of extreme heat has become more concerning in recent years amid the effects of global warming. The Biden administration is proposing heat index restrictions for millions of agricultural workers and others who work outside. Most prisoners, however, would be excluded from that because they are not typically covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which sets the guidelines.

Some incarcerated workers say heat is used as a form of punishment, not just in the fields but also inside facilities. Many units across the country lack air conditioning, and some prisoners resort to flooding their cells and lying on the wet floor nearly naked to try to stay cool.

“If it’s 103 outside, it may be 107 to -8 inside of your cell,” said Christopher Scott, who worked in the fields while imprisoned in Texas. “So, you work me hard for free in this heat, then you bring me back into my cell where I’m subjected for it to be even hotter?”

“A lot of times I saw men have heat strokes, heart attacks, because they just couldn’t stand the heat,” he said.

The Texas corrections department maintains that no prisoner has died from heat-related illnesses since 2012.

The class-action suit in Louisiana is scheduled to go to court in September.

One plaintiff called the farm line work “backbreaking,” saying “we had to squat and pluck grass with our fingers.” Others said they had trouble walking or standing in the heat and that drinking water was often dirty. Some said they fainted while working and were then punished for it.

Louisiana’s corrections department told the court it follows its “constitutionally appropriate” policy protecting workers from heat-related illnesses while working outside, including monitoring temperatures every two hours and providing regular rest and water breaks when a heat alert is issued.

But the judge wrote that many of the prisoners’ grievances had merit, noting that an independent expert found some were taking medications affecting their bodies’ ability to regulate temperature. And a review of sick calls by the court confirmed that some men sent to the fields without restrictions had serious health conditions.

The judge also questioned the validity of some claims made by Angola staff, including that workers could “rest whenever they like” and that shutting down the farm line would result in losses of more than $8 million annually — a figure Jackson challenged. He said that number likely referred to the overall agricultural operations, not just food picked by a small group of prisoners on the farm line.

“The Court does not doubt that inmates sent to the Farm Line work diligently,” he wrote, “but this would be a feat of Herculean proportions.”

Over 20,000 US Bombs, Missiles Sent to 'Israel' Since October: NYT

By Al Mayadeen English

25 Jul 2024 21:44

Many of these transfers were kept secret or remained partially confidential, according to NYT.

The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing data from an analysis published by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, that the US has sent "Israel" a substantial quantity of weaponry since October 7.

The shipments include over 20,000 unguided bombs, approximately 2,600 guided bombs, and 3,000 precision missiles. The US has also provided aircraft, ammunition, and air defense systems.

Many of these transfers were kept secret or remained partially confidential, the report notes.

An analysis by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in the spring found that the arms supplied up to March constituted "an enormous number and variety of weapons," which have been vital in supporting "Israel's" security apparatus.

The analysis also suggested that "it seems unlikely that Israel could attain across-the-board weapons and munitions self-sufficiency anytime soon)," with some experts believing it may never be able to do so.

Latest estimates from the Gaza Health Ministry reveal that the death toll has risen to 39,145 martyrs since October 7, while the number of injured rose to 90,257.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Congress to deliver a speech that featured several jabs at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had requested the issuance of arrest warrants against him and his Security Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in the Strip. 

Among Netanyahu's claims concerned food aid deliveries to Gaza, the protection of Palestinian civilians, and the mediated negotiations with the Palestinian Resistance, all of which Al Mayadeen has compared with information and testimonies currently available to the public. 

On the same day, massive demonstrations were held outside the Capitol building before Netanyahu's speech, with hundreds gathering, waving banners, and chanting slogans against Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

Police reportedly used pepper spray on pro-Palestinian protesters while Netanyahu spoke to Congress.

The protesters were demanding the arrest of Netanyahu for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Among their other demands is an end to the genocidal war in Gaza and a halt to all arms supplies to “Israel”, according to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the US.

Ansar Allah Chief Vows More Strikes on Tel Aviv Coming

By Al Mayadeen English

25 Jul 2024 20:19

The leader of Ansar Allah says that Yemen will not be deterred from supporting Gaza no matter the challenges and threats.

The leader of the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, Mr. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced that the Yemeni support front has launched the fifth phase of escalation through the "Yafa to Occupied Yafa" operation, in which the Yemeni armed forces targeted Tel Aviv with a Yafa drone last week.

In a speech delivered on Thursday, Sayyed al-Houthi confirmed that the Israeli occupation "was astonished by the operation and shocked due to the importance of the target that was hit and the long distance the Yemeni-made drone traveled."

He stated that the distance crossed by Yafa exceeded 2,200 km and that it managed to "penetrate all the barriers and defense that the occupation relies on, provided by" countries protecting it.

The Ansar Allah chief emphasized that targeting Tel Aviv, which includes the occupation's most vital facilities, represents "a critical point" that pains the occupation and strikes its "arrogance, and presumption," asserting that hitting it means "there is no safe place left for Israelis in occupied Palestine."

The drone operation "terrified the Israeli occupiers" residing in the area of the strike, Sayyed al-Houthi said.

Regarding Israeli leadership, officials expressed "shock" after the operation, with some even saying openly that "Israel had lost its security and that red lines had been crossed," he continued, adding that an Israeli media outlet warned that the Yafa strike exposed "a serious operational flaw and complete blindness, despite readiness on all fronts".

He added that the "occupation perceived the operation as signaling a new phase in the war, evolving into a multi-front regional conflict. It also introduced a new aerial threat that challenges the capabilities of the Israeli Air Force and the entire military, penetrating through the enemy's technologies and defenses."

Yemen strives to be a serious problem for "Israel"

Additionally, the Ansar Allah leader stated that the occupation "knows the seriousness of the Yemeni people, their armed forces, and their sincere official and popular commitment to support Gaza."

"Israeli media mentioned that the Yemenis proved by hitting Tel Aviv that they represent a serious problem for Israel," he continued, affirming: "This is what we want and strive for."

He highlighted Israeli media's discussion of "the complete shock experienced by the Israeli security establishment after the Yafa operation," adding that "greater shocks are yet to come" for the occupation.

"The occupation admitted that Yemen manufactures advanced weapons to strike the entity and acknowledged the impact of the operations on its economy."

In this context, he stressed that "it is good that the occupation views the Yemeni people and their armed forces as a very serious enemy equipped with modern weapons," affirming that this "indicates the effectiveness of what Yemen is doing."

"We want the role of our people and their armed forces to remain at this level of impact and effectiveness, with significant support for Palestine. We are continuously developing to make our capabilities more effective, more destructive, and more harmful to the enemy."

Yemen will not be deterred

The Ansar Allah leader also discussed the US media coverage of the Yafa operation, stating that the outlets considered the operation "the most dangerous attack disrupting Israel's security" since the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

British media, on the other hand, "expressed astonishment at the ability of the Yemeni drone to penetrate the defensive systems of countries and armies," he added.

Sayyed al-Houth reiterated that the Israeli aggression on Yemen's Hodeidah "will not achieve deterrence to prevent Yemeni operations supporting Gaza. And this is acknowledged.

Israelis "know from experience the determination and steadfastness of the Yemeni army, which is why they see it as an unusual enemy that does not conform to standard deterrence rules," he said.

"[Yemen's] response to the Israeli aggression is coming and inevitable," the Ansar Allah leader said.

Meanwhile, he addressed regional and global reactions to the Israeli attack on Yemen.

Sayyed al-Houthi pointed out the "significant solidarity from Iran, Hezbollah, and Resistance factions in Palestine, Iraq, and Syria," in addition to official solidarity and condemnation of the aggression by "some Arab and Islamic governments."

Regarding the operations carried out by the Yemeni armed forces in the Red Sea, he confirmed that "the United States failed to prevent them," noting that "the top commander of the US forces in the Middle East confirmed this in a secret message to the Secretary of Defense," Lloyd Austin.

The Israeli occupation "acknowledges that the war in the Gaza Strip is the main driver of support fronts," stressing that "the course of joint Yemeni operations with the Iraqi Resistance will see significant development in the upcoming phase."

The Ansar Allah leader also discussed the signing of an agreement between Palestinian factions in China, asserting that this matter "is very important for enhancing cooperation and facing the enemy, and an advanced step towards ending divisions."

More operations against Tel Aviv

Sayyed al-Houthi commented on the speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the US Congres on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's address received more standing ovations than a US President during his 55-minute speech.

"The celebration of Netanyahu is a celebration of criminality, tyranny, and genocide, indicating the level of American involvement in this genocide," the Ansar Allah leader said.

"Netanyahu's speech was troubled, showing the predicament he has reached as well as his aggression and criminality," adding that the speech "was full of lies, denying well-known major facts" that the entire world is witnessing.

On the prime minister's call for Arabs to join "Israel" against Iran, Sayyed al-Houthi questioned the reason behind the hostility toward the Islamic Republic.

"Iran does not seek to rally the Arabs against the Israeli enemy because it is in a position of strength," he mentions.

"Discussing the Abraham Alliance means asking the Arabs to cooperate with the enemy against Palestine, against themselves, and against Muslims, which is foolish talk," Sayyed al-Houthi added.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni leader commented on Netanyahu's complaints regarding the Yafa operation vowing that "more operations targeting Tel Aviv are coming, God willing."

The Resistance remains steadfast

The Ansar Allah leader addressed the difficult humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli genocide, noting that one of the crimes of the occupation this week is the repeated aggression on the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis.

He pointed out that the entity "concentrates its attacks on shelters for displaced Palestinians and areas it designates as 'safe,' which people have fled to for protection."

"The scale of Israeli criminality in Gaza is immense," he said, highlighting the testimony of Western doctors who worked in the strip, who gave testimonies of the deliberate Israeli targeting and killing of children, even with sniper rifles.

"What the occupation is doing in Gaza is criminality, tyranny, barbarity, and brutality," Sayyed al-Houthi added.

However, despite the scale of destruction and continuous bombings, the Resistance "continues to fight valiantly and steadfastly," Ansar Allah chief said.

Regarding the West Bank, the Ansar Allah leader mentioned the ongoing attacks by the occupation of cities, towns, and villages. He added that the occupation intensified its raids and desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards.

SACP Statement Following PEC Meeting of Sunday 21 July 2024

23 July 2024: The SACP Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) in Limpopo held an ordinary PEC meeting on Sunday 21st July 2024 to deliberate on the international and national political situation, on the state of the Party, the Party programme South African Struggle for Socialism, and developments related to the results of the May 2024 national and provincial elections.

Following a Central Committee directive at the beginning of the year, the PEC and all other provinces had to focus solely and exclusively on mobilizing communities and workers, students and young people in general, the religious fraternity and traditional leaders, and all other sectors of the economy for an ANC led Alliance victory in the province and nationally. We will continue to draw inspiration and lessons from the relative success of our focused campaigning, which we planned and conducted severally and jointly with our Alliance partners and the progressive movement as a whole.

INTERNATIONAL

The PEC meeting took place in the midst of interesting developments internationally, all of which tend to have direct or indirect implications for South Africa and the continent. Most remarkable are inroads made in support of the people of Palestine. The Central Committee has already released statements in respect of South Africa’s successful ICJ case and the Court’s latest declaration of Israel occupation of Palestine as a violation of International law. Similarly, the SACP will continue to mobilise and push for a much more concerted support for the peoples of Cuba, Western Sahara, Venezuela, Nicaraqua, and Swaziland, amongst others. The meeting also took time reflecting on the implications for the emergence of and rising ethno nationalist populism and right-wing political parties in Europe, as well as the recent elections in France and the UK amongst others. Developments in the USA and the incoming elections are of great interest.

The Party will monitor and study very closely attendant implications around issues such as immigration policies, diplomatic relations, BRICS, trade and investment, support for African initiatives and regional integration, regional and global peace and security, education and cultural exchanges, as well as climate change co-operations.

2024 ELECTIONS, THE GNU AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION

The PEC conveys special gratitude to the citizens of Limpopo for ensuring a 73.3% support in favour of the ANC during the May 29th elections. Our gratitude also goes to members and activists of the SACP, COSATU and SANCO across the province for the enormous efforts made in support of ANC structures and in contributing to the overwhelming victory of the ANC in the province.

The PEC reiterates congratulations to our provincial Deputy Chairperson cde Phophi Ramathuba and provincial Treasurer cde Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya for their appointments as Premier and MEC for Education respectively. Congratulations also go to the provincial Secretary cde Chuene Malebana, provincial Chairperson of COSATU and SACP PEC member cde Esther Mokoele, and all other SACP, COSATU, SANCO and ANC cdes who got deployed to the provincial EXCO, Legislature and national Parliament and Cabinet.

We call on all the deployed cdes, our members in particular, to ensure that the ANC led Alliance Manifesto is implemented, and that programmes and interventions of meaningful impact to the poor and the working class are of utmost priority.

The SACP accepts that the ANC could not win elections at a national level, resulting in the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU). However, the ANC remains the largest party with 40% and therefore the character of this GNU will depend on the strength of the working class, other motive forces and the progressive movement generally on the ground. It is the strength of these forces that will guarantee the defense of the gains of democracy and defeat the growing neo liberal faction emerging within and outside the ANC.

Whilst the SACP is strongly against neo liberalism and austerity on one hand, and on the other hand the criminal and counter revolutionary networks masquerading as revolutionaries, the PEC conveys its utmost support to the characterization of the recent developments by the Central Committee as well as the subsequent articulation by  the General Secretary made on the occasion of the Nehawu national political school.

ALLIANCE

The PEC noted that, contrary to indications of the past two years or so, the state of the Alliance in the province has deteriorated largely as a result of factors related to the elections. The provincial office bearers have been directed to attend to this matter with utmothe utmostency and to continue to put the issue of reconfiguration at the centre. In the same vein, a bilateral meeting with COSATU will be arranged to jointly reflect on the situation in the province and to develop mechanisms of strengthening the trade union movement and joint programmes in defense of the gains of the National Democratic Revolution. A special focus will also be dedicated to the unity and orientation of SANCO in the province.

VBS

The PEC meeting welcomed the recent conviction and sentencing of Mr Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the former Chairperson of the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank who was sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to 33 charges of theft, fraud, money laundering and racketeering involving about R2 billion of deposits belonging to the elderly, pensioners and other clients of the bank.

Having been in the forefront of a relentless campaign against the looting of the VBS mutual bank since 2018, the PEC commits SACP structures to continue to work together with the affected families, religious fraternity and concerned Foundations in the Vhembe region, COSATU and the ANC together with other community structure in support of the victims of this heinous crime.

The PEC reaffirmed its previous position regarding the need for those seriously implicated in the VBS matter to immediately step aside, resign or be removed from leadership and management responsibilities in government and municipalities.

Our position goes beyond calls for availability of evidence of transfer of monies (bribes) to implicated individuals or preference of charges against them. It is a principle about leaders taking responsibility and being accountable for unlawful decisions taken when they were in positions of authority in the municipalities.

The SACP continues to urge law enforcement agencies to do their work without fear or favour, and to expedite further investigations, more arrests, convictions and harsher sentences in order to bring finality on this matter.

Furthermore, the SACP calls on the Alliance and the ANC led government to look into possible relief measures for the victims of the VBS loot, whilst also taking seriously the implementation of previous resolutions on a provincial state bank, features of which may partly resemble some of the positive aspects of the VBS mutual bank and other existing development or finance institutions in the province and nationally.

The PEC meeting took note of insinuations pertaining to an alleged R3million contribution by a third party to cater for a national SACP congress in Gauteng as contained in Matodzi’s affidavit. Whilst the matter was clarified previously, the meeting has directed the provincial office bearers to continue to engage with the SACP headquarters for further interventions and solutions, should it be necessary. We have full confidence that the national leadership will continue to handle this matter with all the necessary urgency and sensitivity.

DISTRICT COUNCILS AND DISTRICT CONGRESSES

To further reflect on the overall global, national and provincial developments and to receive feedback on specific Central Committee and PEC inner organizational decisions, all districts are directed to convene district councils during the weekend of the 28th and 29th July 2024.

Deadline for all districts that are due for Congresses is 30 September 2024.

BUILDING POPULAR POWER AND WORKING-CLASS HEGEMONY IN OUR COMMUNITIES

Inspired by the remarkable success of our 2024 Elections Red Brigades who traversed the whole country mobilizing for the victory of the ANC, the Central Committee has directed that, instead of being dissolved, the Red Brigades be refocused to deal, amongst others, with backlogs and service delivery interventions in the communities. This should be done as part of a broader plan to build popular power and working-class power in the communities, so that communities are self-reliant and self-sustainable and less dependent on government.

The SACP shall prioritise the programme of building a Popular Left Front and a Powerful Socialist Movement of the Workers and the Poor to realize this overarching objective.

All our districts and branches are directed to build and rebuild strong branches and to ensure grassroots visibility and consistent support to community struggles.

PARTY DISCIPLINE AND REVOLUTIONARY MORALITY

Intrinsic in the values of communist parties throughout history are traits of high-level discipline, exemplary leadership, highest levels of sacrifice and selflessness, as well as revolutionary morality. Embedded in these values are principles of constructive criticism and self-criticism, as well as an imperative for continuous ideological training and cadreship development.

Informed by this context, the PEC has noted and condemns in the strongest terms a tendency by some former provincial leaders, notably a former provincial Secretary, who is hell- bent on attacking the SACP and its leaders through so called open letters. The PEC directs that such mischievous tendencies have to come to an immediate end and that all of our current and former leaders and members who wish to contribute to debates relevant to our national politics should do so constructively, without fear or prejudice but without being personal or motivated by ulterior motives.

South African Communist Pary, Limpopo Province

Provincial Secretary: Dr Chuene Malebana

Enquiries:

Provincial Spokesperson and PEC member, Charley Nkadimeng [074 462 8633]

Defend Communities To End Crime and Violence.

Fight the Rising Cost of Living.

Land. Food. Work.

Limpopo facebook: Limpopo Provinc SACP

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

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SACP Welcomes the International Court of Justice's Declaration of Israeli Occupation of Palestine as a Violation of International Law

The SACP calls on the United Nations to reverse the apartheid settler state’s occupation of Palestine and stop its genocide on Palestinian people

Sunday, 21 July 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the ground-breaking decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declaring the continued occupation of Palestine as a violation of international law. The ICJ resoundingly denounced the Israeli settler state’s Palestine colonisation and occupation manoeuvres and declared that its continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful.

“We call on the United Nations to take immediate practical decisive measures to reverse the apartheid Israeli settler state occupation of Palestine, hold its leaders to account and stop its ongoing genocide on Palestinian people”, said SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila from Johannesburg on Saturday, 20 July 2024.

The ICJ’s ground-breaking declaration came at the time when the United States-backed apartheid Israeli settler state has unabatedly intensified its occupation of Palestine, genocide on the Palestinian people, violation of the human rights of Palestinian people and expansion of its aggression against other states in the Middle East, unleashing destruction and terror, violating the progressive thrust of international law.

“The SACP condemns these and other atrocious acts by the apartheid Israeli settler state in the strongest terms possible”, said the Mapaila.  

Delivering its verdict on Friday, 19 July 2024, at The Hague, the World Court, as the ICJ is sometimes called, stated unambiguously that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, were established and are being maintained in violation of international law.

The ICJ’s advisory opinion was premised on the United Nations General Assembly’s 30 December 2022 Resolution 77/247 requesting the ICJ to decide “On the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.

The ICJ further stated that Israel’s illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. In these territories, the ICJ pronounced further, Israel has imposed policies and practices to fragment and frustrate the ability of the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination, and over large swathes has unjustifiably extended Israeli sovereignty in violation of international law.

Accordingly, the ICJ declared that Israel is under an obligation to end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible, cease immediately all new settlement activities, and evacuate all Israeli settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Having declared as illegal the Israeli regime’s occupation of, and operations in Palestine, the ICJ further called upon the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council to consider the modalities and further action required to halt, as rapidly as possible, the unlawful presence of the Israeli settler state in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

This ICJ’s advisory opinion follows its 26 January 2024 decision, duly welcomed and applauded by the peace-loving people of the world, that there was plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in violation of the Genocide Convention. That ruling followed the genocide case brought by South Africa against the apartheid Israeli state. At that time, the genocidal apartheid Israeli regime’s machinery had murdered over 26,000 people in Gaza since 7 October 2023, about one per cent of the population. Thus far, the apartheid Israeli settler state has killed over 38,919 Palestinians in Gaza, with 89,622 more wounded. The merciless Israeli apartheid regime has further killed about 600 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October 2023. Considering those unaccounted and missing, the number of Palestinians that the apartheid Israeli settler state has killed in committing the genocide is considered to be greater than the approximated 40,000.  

In addition, in the West Bank, the apartheid Israeli settler repressive state and genocide machinery has left at least 5,350 Palestinians injured, including those it has paralysed, and has detained over 9,655, subjecting many of them to gross abuse, severe beatings, threats against their families, phycological harm and trauma. The apartheid Israeli settler state has destroyed Palestinian homes and essential social and economic infrastructure networks, including hospitals, clinics, other healthcare centres, and schools, higher learning institutions, places of worship and more.

The SACP calls for continued working-class unity and activism across the globe as well as practical action from all justice and peace-loving people to pile more pressure on apartheid Israel and support the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions campaign. This campaign should be intensified to boycott all Israeli produced goods and services and to sever international trade and investment ties with the apartheid settler state.

As the SACP, we will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their fight against the occupation of their land, as well as defend and support their rights to national sovereignty and self-determination.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

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SACP Statement of Condolences on the Death of Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary

Saturday, 20 July 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to the family of Comrade Nguyễn Phú Trọng (80). The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (PCV), President from 2018 to 2021 and author of the book, Renewal in Việt Nam: Theory and Reality, breathed his last on Friday, 19 July 2024.

The SACP sends its sincere message of condolences to the Communist Party and people of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at large for the loss. Nguyễn Phú Trọng’s death also affects the world communist movement, to which the SACP expresses its solidarity and comradely message of condolences.

The heroic people of Vietnam proved that, no matter how big the monster, a united people can be victorious. Under the leadership of their Communist Party, the united people of Vietnam emerged victorious, cementing national unity, safeguarding their national independence and embarking on a reconstruction and development mission that saw Vietnam advance from strides to strides, including industrialisation. This is the historic victory that the people of Vietnam achieved in their protracted War Against the Americans to Save the Nation. The Vietnamese people’s revolutionary war started in the mid-1950s and ended in the mid-1970s against capture and control by the imperialist monster, the United States, and its allies and surrogates. As a direct fruit of their heroic victory, the people of Vietnam determine their own, sovereign policies, including a nationally chosen development path.

With over 55 years of active membership in the Communist Party of Vietnam, Trọng leaves behind a legacy of hard work, discipline and dedication to the working-class struggle for socialism and a peaceful world order. As part of the heroic people of Vietnam, he contributed immensely to the achievement, building and strengthening of Vietnam’s independence, characterised by the right to national sovereignty and self-determination.

Throughout his activism, Comrade Trọng diligently applied himself to further developing Marxism-Leninism in a rapidly changing world, based on the conditions obtaining in Vietnam. He was able to make a sterling contribution for the rebuilding of Vietnam following the heinous imperialist war imposed by the United States on his country. From this devastation, he and his comrades, working hand-in-glove with the people, succeeded in improving the people’s quality of life. They raised life expectancy from a low baseline of about 40 years in 1960 to about 78 years through practical measures. These measures included reducing child mortality rates, rapidly developing Vietnam’s productive forces and economy generally, expanding access to childhood and adult education linked with economic development, and radically improving the nation’s healthcare system to make quality healthcare available and accessible to all. These and other revolutionary development measures were successful within a short space of time due to the fact that the Communist Party of Vietnam placed the interests of the people first, before all else.

In memory of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, the SACP calls for the strengthening of working-class unity across the world in the cause for socialism.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

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SACP Expresses its Solidarity with People's Republic of China Against Imperialist Interference and Provocation by the United States

Thursday, 18 July 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) pledges solidarity with the People’s Republic of China and the entire population of peace-loving Chinese people in their strong opposition to the United States-led imperialist foreign interference in China’s domestic and sovereign affairs.

The Pepple’s Republic of China and the Chinese people strictly reserve their right to safeguard their national independence and unity of China, guided by the internationally recognised policy of One China.

On Saturday, 13 June 2024, China’s highest legislature, the National People’s Congress, expressed firm opposition to and strong condemnation of the passage and signing into law of the so-called “Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act” by the United States. The supreme organ of state power in China made it clear that the act by the United States “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs”.

Xizang has been an integral part of the indivisible territory of China since ancient times, and Xizang affairs are entirely China’s internal affairs, said the Chinese National People’s Congress. The Chinese National People’s Congress further declared that “any forces attempting to obstruct people in Xizang from pursuing a happier and better life will end in vain, and their attempt to contain and suppress China through messing up Xizang is doomed to failure”.

NATO imperialist aggression strongly condemned

In the same vein, the SACP strongly condemns the United States’ provocation of China. This provocation is both direct and, among others, through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO has become a military-political-economic weapon of imperialist aggression, war and expansionism.

The US-dominated NATO provoked the war in Ukraine, initially targeting Russia but ultimately aiming at China. It is now increasingly turning its attention and aggression to its ultimate target towards totalitarian control of all global regions economically, politically, ideologically and through militarism. NATO has heavily been investing in perpetuating the war in Ukraine since provoking it and doing everything possible to prevent a peaceful diplomatic resolution, aside from pretensions.

It is absurd that NATO emerged from its recent summit with a statement on Thursday, 11 July 2024, accusing China, among others, of so-called “enabling” the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the fact is that China has not even taken part in that war. Unlike NATO, China is still not participating in that war. All China seeks, like South Africa, is a peaceful diplomatic resolution.

NATO’s notorious modus operandi includes fabricating a sense of false insecurity and presenting it as real security concerns posed by other countries, such as China. The US-dominated NATO then uses this propaganda as the basis for its imperialist expansion and aggression against targeted nations, including Russia and Iran. This was the context in which NATO leaders met with leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the European Union to “address” the fabricated “security challenges.”

As part of the world’s working-class revolutionary movement, the SACP will continue to mobilise against NATO’s imperialist machinations on all platforms. We stand for world peace and call on the global working class, including those in NATO states, to intensify the just struggle to end imperialism and its wars.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

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SACP Calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to Sign the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill into Law

Thursday, 18 July 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, also known as the BELA Bill, into law as an Act of Parliament.

On 17 May 2024, the National Assembly passed the long-awaited Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill by an overwhelming majority of 223 votes against a mere 78. This expresses the support for the BELA Bill not only in the basic education sector but, most importantly, across different sectors of our society at large. The parliamentary vote for the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill paved the way for President Cyril Ramaphosa to consider and sign it into law. Right-wing parties like the DA and its ilk, which formed part of the tiny minority of 78 votes who opposed the Bill, must not be allowed to manipulate any part of the executive authority in any way to further their anti-transformation agendas.  

The Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, as the department underlined prior to the vote in parliament, essentially seeks to strengthen governance in schools by tightening certain sections of the South African Schools Act of 1996, to address the challenges against access to and the provision, governance and administration of basic education, and to continue with the transformation of our education system to ensure social justice, social cohesion and success.

The challenges that the BELA Bill seeks to address include those that stem from and reflect the continuation of apartheid segregation or perpetuation of its legacy in basic education. Some school governing bodies exploited their role in school language policy determination. Instead of enabling and widening access, their conduct was prohibitive and discriminatory, involving racial gatekeeping, depriving learners discriminated against, who are mainly Africans, of admission, of their right to basic education. Some of the challenges were addressed in court judgments.

For example, in the case of MEC for Education in Gauteng Province and Other v Governing Body of Rivonia Primary School and Others, the court correctly concluded that:

“Section 29 of the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to a basic education. That is the promise. In reality, a radically unequal distribution of resources ‒ related to a history of systematic discrimination ‒ still makes this constitutional guarantee inaccessible for large numbers of South Africans. The impact of this painful legacy was recognised by this Court in Ermelo as follows:

“Apartheid has left us with many scars. The worst of these must be the vast discrepancy in access to public and private resources. The cardinal fault line of our past oppression ran along race, class and gender. It authorised a hierarchy of privilege and disadvantage. Unequal access to opportunity prevailed in every domain. Access to private or public education was no exception. While much remedial work has been done since the advent of constitutional democracy, sadly, deep social disparities and resultant social inequity are still with us.”

To address the challenges it seeks to address and continue with the transformation of our basic education system, the BELA Bill has clauses ranging from the introduction of Grade R to learner attendance to make education compulsory, a Code of Conduct for learners, provisions for home education to move with the times, abolishment of corporal punishment and initiations, improving language policy determination to further open the doors of learning and teaching, ensuring a fair admission policy, and criminalisation of rights-violating school disruption.

In line with the purpose of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, the Bill proposes the intervention of the Head of Basic Education Department on the development of language and admission policy. This does not seek to take away the powers of school governing bodies to determine such policies but to ensure compliance with the country’s constitution and national legislations. These two policies, language and admission, have been abused to derail access to schools for learners discriminated against based on language and race and class factors, such as inability of learners from poor families to pay fees. This abuse must STOP!

The outcome of the May 2024 elections must never be abused or interpreted as a call to reverse the progress we have made since the democratic breakthrough, including in the last five years. Instead, it should be seen as a loud call by the people to accelerate transformation through the implementation of the legislation and policies passed since the dawn of democracy, not to reverse them. As part of the working class, the SACP will not allow anyone or organisation to take us back to the pre-1994 era in the name of what is purported to be the message of the people through the outcome of 2024 elections or elite pacts.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

Twitter: SACP1921

Ramaphosa Appoints Mandisa Maya as South Africa's New Chief Justice

The appointment follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's consultation with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the leaders of political parties at the National Assembly.

Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya (left) with President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) following her appointment as Chief Juctice with effect from 1 September 2024. Picture: GCIS

JOHANNESBURG - Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya has officially been appointed as the head of the judiciary, making her the first woman to take up the position of Chief Justice in the country's history.

Maya will take over from the incumbent, Raymond Zondo, in September.

The appointment follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's consultation with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the leaders of political parties at the National Assembly.

Spokesperson in the Presidency, Vincent Magwenya, said that Maya's experience and her leadership qualities made her the best pick for the judiciary’s top job.

"President Ramaphosa appreciates the confidence expressed by the Judicial Service Commission and leaders of political parties in the suitability of the incoming Chief Justice, who can draw inspiration and support from the confidence expressed in her."

ANCYL Welcomes Kodwa's Decision to Resign as a Member of Parliament

The former sport, arts and culture minister is facing charges linked to nearly R1.7 million, which he is alleged to have received through kickbacks from his co-accused and former EOH boss, Jehan Mackay.

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has welcomed Zizi Kodwa’s resignation as a member of Parliament, with its president, Collen Malatji, saying the former minister did the right thing.

Kodwa tendered his resignation with immediate effect on Wednesday following an outcry from some quarters of society over his decision to return to Parliament after being charged for corruption.

The former sport, arts and culture minister is facing charges linked to nearly R1.7 million, which he is alleged to have received through kickbacks from his co-accused and former EOH boss, Jehan Mackay.

Malatji said that Kodwa should not have returned to Parliament after being slapped with corruption charges.

"He has stepped aside as a leader of the ANC and its structures until he has cleared his name and I think Parliament is another form where he is deployed by the ANC, and I think he did well by accepting the advice of those who advised him to step aside. We are saying he must go clear his name and if found not guilty, he can still come back and serve."

Palestinian Factions Blast Netanyahu, US for Deceptive Congress Speech

By Al Mayadeen English

Multiple Palestinian factions have released statements criticizing the US for hosting Netanyahu in the Congress on Wednesday.

Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, blasted Netanyahu's speech before the United States Congress, describing it as "a criminal's speech filled with lies and a mockery of the [peoples'] intelligence."

Another senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Netanyahu's speech addressing the US Congress is evidence that he does not want to conclude a ceasefire deal.

"Netanyahu's speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the Resistance to cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza," Abu Zuhri said in an interview.

On his part, a spokesman for the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, responded to Netanyahu by saying that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) "is the sole representative of the Palestinian people and it decides who governs them."

The remarks come as a direct response to a section in Netanyahu's speech which he dedicated to outlining his vision for governance in the Gaza Strip. 

Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), said in a statement posted by the movement on Telegram that Netanyahu's speech aimed to garner sympathy from Washington after losing international support.

Abu Shahin confirmed that "it is clear that Netanyahu does not want to stop the genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip," and that "the day after the war in Gaza is a Palestinian matter and Netanyahu's plans will fail" in the face of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their Resistance.

The Palestinian al-Mujahideen Movement also released a statement, strongly condemning Netanyahu's reception in the US Congress, stressing that "hosting the war criminal Netanyahu in Congress confirms the involvement and deep entanglement of the American administration in the genocidal war [on Gaza]."

Meanwhile, the movement praised the stances of those who opposed Netanyahu's visit and protested the speech, stating that "the American administration insists on continuing to violate international laws and encourages genocidal criminals by hosting the Nazi killer Netanyahu to deliver a speech full of lies and slanders and continues to supply the entity with weapons and provide it with international [political] cover."

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said that Netanyahu's fabrications and lies constitute a blatant condemnation of all American claims of upholding democracy and human rights, and "the false American peace project dubbed the two-state solution."

The front called on the political leadership of the PA and Arab states normalizing relations with "Israel" to draw lessons from the Netanayhu's address to Congress, which it saw as "reflecting the stark truths about the nature of the Israeli fascist project."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also lambasted the US Congress and Netanyahu's speech, and commended US lawmakers who boycotted the address. 

"The reception of the war criminal Netanyahu by the US Congress, who is primarily responsible for the Zionist genocide in Gaza, confirms that America is the main sponsor of terrorism and the Zionist genocide in Gaza and that it is directly involved in unprecedented crimes against the Palestinian people," the statement read. 

The front also pointed to Netanayhu's attempts to invoke the Holocaust as justification for the Israeli war crimes in Gaza, saying that it was an "attempt to portray a victim narrative and justify the war crimes committed by the Zionist genocide regime against the Palestinian people."

‘Arrest the Child Killer’: Mass Anti-Netanyahu Rally Outside Congress

By Al Mayadeen English

24 Jul 2024 20:09

Massive demonstrations continue in Washington against Netanyahu's visit amid the ongoing Israeli war of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s visit to the United States of America and his anticipated speech before Congress have prompted massive demonstrations against the Israeli Prime Minister and the ongoing Israeli war of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters flocked to the area just outside the Capitol building before Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of the US Congress.

Hundreds of demonstrators have thus far gathered, waving banners and chanting slogans against Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

Police used pepper spray on some of the thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered outside the US Capitol on Wednesday while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress.

The protesters are demanding the arrest of Netanyahu for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Among their other demands is an end to the genocidal war in Gaza and a halt to all arms supplies to “Israel”, according to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the US.

Activists even dyed multiple fountains around Capitol Hill with red and projections cast demanding the arrest of Netanyahu.

Washington is witnessing unprecedented security measures ahead of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, expected at 21:00 (al-Quds time), as the police blocked the streets last night and erected roadblocks nearby, amid heavy deployment of the Capitol Police in case the demonstrations get out of control.

Meanwhile, the US House Speaker threatened to arrest whosoever obstructs the speech, amid reports that about 80 members of the House of Representatives and at least 6 members of the Senate will not attend.

At night, hundreds demonstrated near the hotel where Netanyahu and his accompanying delegation were staying and hung banners saying, “Stop Netanyahu” on it. In the morning, protesters also demonstrated outside the hotel and chanted over a loudspeaker: “We are here to arrest you, Netanyahu is a war criminal.”

Moreover, more than 200 pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested after they gathered in a Congress building to protest Netanyahu's expected speech.

This comes after activists stormed Congress ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in protest of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Inside the US Capitol building, a group named "Jews Say Stop Arming Israel" gathered at the Cannon Rotunda in protest of Netanyahu's visit.

Over 400 American Jews protested at the Capitol building on the day after Netanyahu’s arrival and refused to leave, chanting “Arms embargo now," "Stop arming Israel," and other chants protesting the genocide in Gaza.

There have also been calls for a mass demonstration on Wednesday in rejection of the Israeli Prime minister's address.

Kenyan President Appoints Opposition Ministers to His Cabinet Amid Political Unrest

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

8:05 AM EDT, July 24, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s president on Wednesday incorporated the opposition in his new Cabinet, appointing four ministers from the main opposition party in a bid to form a broad-based government that would address governance issues raised in deadly protests.

President William Ruto on Wednesday appointed the minority leader in parliament and opposition leader Raila Odinga’s party chairman in his new Cabinet despite a split in the opposition coalition that saw other parties distance themselves from government talks.

The weeks of turmoil in East Africa’s economic hub have led to dozens of deaths, the firing of most Cabinet members and calls for Ruto’s resignation. Protests began with Kenyans’ rejecting a proposed bill to impose more taxes as millions in the country barely get by amid rising prices.

The president on Wednesday lauded political parties for “their willingness to set aside partisan positions and interests in order to join a visionary partnership for the radical transformation of Kenya is a historic gesture of their patriotism.”

Odinga, who earlier called for talks to calm the unrest, on Tuesday denied allegations that he had been bribed to join Ruto in forming a broad-based government. He expressed his support to protesters adding that there would only be dialogue after the president adheres to the demands from demonstrators.

His party’s secretary general in a statement on Tuesday said there was no ongoing negotiations to join the Ruto administration and that any member seeking minister position should know they were in contravention to the party’s position.

The opposition coalition do not lead the protests, which are led by young people who use social media to mobilize. But it has been in support of demonstrators, stating that the bad governance issues being raised were in line with the opposition’s proposals to the government during previous opposition-led protests.

Ruto has promised to make changes in his government that would include cracking down on corrupt officials and those displaying opulence amidst the cost-of-living crisis.

An activist Hanifa Aden wrote on X after the Cabinet appointments, “we are the new opposition.”

At least 50 people have died and 413 others have been injured in the protests since June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

Experts Say a Twice-yearly Injection That Offers 100% Protection Against HIV is ‘Stunning’

A study has shown that twice-yearly injections of a drug used to treat AIDS have been 100% effective in preventing new HIV infections in young women. The new injections could be especially important for the fight against HIV in parts of the developing world, like in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the locations for the trial. South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world. (AP video: Wesley Fester; Production: Sebabatso Mosamo)

BY MARIA CHENG AND GERALD IMRAY

10:28 AM EDT, July 24, 2024

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS were 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to study results published Wednesday.

There were no infections in the young women and girls that got the shots in a study of about 5,000 in South Africa and Uganda, researchers reported. In a group given daily prevention pills, roughly 2% ended up catching HIV from infected sex partners.

“To see this level of protection is stunning,” said Salim Abdool Karim of the injections. He is director of an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa, who was not part of the research.

The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV. The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection.

The results in women were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed at an AIDS conference in Munich. Gilead paid for the study and some of the researchers are company employees. Because of the surprisingly encouraging results, the study was stopped early and all participants were offered the shots, also known as lenacapavir.

While there are other ways to prevent HIV infection, like condoms or daily pills, consistent use has been a problem in Africa. In the new study, only about 30% of participants given Gilead’s Truvada or Descovy prevention pills actually took them — and that figure dropped over time.

The prospect of a twice-a-year shot is “quite revolutionary news” for our patients, said Thandeka Nkosi, who helped run the Gilead research at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa. “It gives participants a choice and it just eliminates the whole stigma around taking pills” to prevent HIV.

Experts working to stop the spread of AIDS are excited about the Sunlenca shots but are concerned Gilead hasn’t yet agreed on an affordable price for those who need them the most. The company said it would pursue a “voluntary licensing program,” suggesting that only a select number of generic producers would be allowed to make them.

“Gilead has a tool that could change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the Geneva-based U.N. AIDS agency.

She said her organization urged Gilead to share Sunlenca’s patent with a U.N.-backed program that negotiates broad contracts allowing generic drugmakers to make cheap versions of drugs for poorer countries worldwide. As an HIV treatment, the drug costs more than $40,000 a year in the U.S., although what individuals pay varies.

Dr. Helen Bygrave of Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that the injections could “reverse the epidemic if it is made available in the countries with the highest rate of new infections.” She urged Gilead to publish a price for Sunlenca that would be affordable for all countries.

In a statement last month, Gilead said it was too early to say how much Sunlenca would cost for prevention in poorer countries. Dr. Jared Baeten, Gilead’s senior vice president of clinical development, said the company was already talking to generics manufacturers and understood how “deeply important it is that we move at speed.”

Another HIV prevention shot, Apretude, which is given every two months, is approved in some countries, including in Africa. It sells for about $180 per patient per year, which is still too pricey for most developing countries.

Byanyima said the people who need long-lasting protection the most include women and girls who are victims of domestic violence and gay men in countries where same-sex relationships are criminalized. According to UNAIDS, 46% of new HIV infections globally in 2022 were in women and girls, who were three times more likely to get HIV than males in Africa.

Byanyima compared the news about Sunlenca to the discovery decades ago of AIDS drugs that could turn HIV infection from a death sentence into a chronic illness. Back then, South African President Nelson Mandela suspended patents to allow wider access to the drugs; the price later dropped from about $10,000 per patient per year to about $50.

Olwethu Kemele, a health worker at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, predicted the shots could boost the number of people coming in for HIV prevention and slow the virus’ spread. She said young women often hide the pills to avoid questions from boyfriends and family members. “It makes it hard for the girls to continue,” she said.

In a report on the state of the global epidemic released this week, UNAIDS said that fewer people were infected with HIV in 2023 than at any point since the late 1980s. Globally, HIV infects about 1.3 million people every year and kills more than 600,000, mainly in Africa. While significant progress has been made in Africa, HIV infections are rising in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

In other research presented at the AIDS conference, Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool and colleagues estimated that once production of Sunlenca is expanded to treat 10 million people, the price should fall to about $40 per treatment. He said it was critical that health authorities get access to Sunlenca as soon as possible.

“This is about as close as you can get to an HIV vaccine,” he said.

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Cheng reported from London.

Farmers in Africa Say Their Soil is Dying and Chemical Fertilizers Are in Part to Blame

A number of farmers in Kenya are turning to specialist soil scientists in order to combat increasingly acidic soil which they blame on chemical fertilizers. With a decline in production due to poor soil, experts are advising a return to traditional agricultural practices to redress the balance. (AP Video by Desmond Tiro, Production by Luke Garratt)

BY  EVELYNE MUSAMBI

5:46 AM EDT, July 24, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — When Benson Wanjala started farming in his western Kenya village two and a half decades ago, his 10-acre farm could produce a bountiful harvest of 200 bags of maize. That has dwindled to 30. He says his once fertile soil has become a nearly lifeless field that no longer earns him a living.

Like many other farmers, he blames acidifying fertilizers pushed in Kenya and other African countries in recent years. He said he started using the fertilizers to boost his yield and it worked — until it didn’t. Kenya’s government first introduced a fertilizer subsidy in 2008, making chemical fertilizers more accessible for smaller-scale farmers.

About 63% of arable land in Kenya is now acidic, according to the agriculture ministry, which has been recording a decline in production of staples such as maize and leading exports of horticulture and tea. The production of maize declined by 4% to 44 million tons in 2022, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, which didn’t say why.

The agriculture ministry didn’t respond to questions, especially after a scandal over fake fertilizer in April. The fertilizer was found to be quarry dirt in misleadingly labelled bags that were distributed to farmers through a national subsidy program. President William Ruto said about 7,000 farmers bought the fake fertilizer and would be compensated with the correct product.

Problems with soil health are growing as the African continent struggles to feed itself. Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land but has spent about $60 billion annually to import food, according to the African Development Bank. The spending is estimated to jump to $110 billion by 2025 due to increased demand and changing consumption habits.

In May, Kenya hosted an Africa-wide soil health summit to discuss declining production, climate change and other issues that have increased food security concerns. Agriculture is a key part of the economy in Kenya, making up more than a quarter of the GDP.

At the summit, Stephen Muchiri, executive director of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, advocated for a return to traditional farming practices to replenish lifeless soils, including planting a variety of crops and doing as little as possible to disturb the land.

“Inorganic fertilizers were never meant to be the foundation of crop production,” he said, later adding that because of “commercially inclined farming, our soils are now poor, acidic, and low in biomass resources, and without life!”

He said farmers should rotate crops on their land and source compost material from livestock such as goats: “There must be some kind of transition and adaptation for our soils to revert back to fertility.”

Experts say soil acidity causes land degradation by decreasing the availability of plant and essential nutrients, making soil more vulnerable to structure decline and erosion.

The program coordinator for the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, Bridget Mugambe, advised the phasing out of chemical fertilizers.

“Soil health goes beyond the quick fixes provided by chemical fertilizers. In fact, chemical fertilizers have extensively damaged our soils in Africa. We need to think of our soils in a more holistic way,” she said.

The soil health summit by the African Union — which in 2006 recommended that members use more chemical fertilizers — adopted a 10-year plan that calls for increased investment to produce both organic and chemical fertilizers locally and triple their use for increased production.

During the summit, AU commissioner for agriculture Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko asserted that the continent was “losing over $4 billion worth of soil nutrients each year.”

Kenya heavily relies on imported fertilizer due to low local production. The main supplier is the European Union, followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s Kenya manager, John Macharia, said Kenya’s recent fertilizer scandal should not discourage farmers.

“It’s still imperative that we are able to work with the government to actually ensure that we have the right fertilizers coming to our stores,” Macharia said. He recommended both chemical and organic ones as long as they address the specific issue in the soil, and said soil analysis would guide farmers.

Declining soil quality is a food security concern across Africa.

In Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, about 70% of soils are acidic, according to the government. The government in the past introduced chemical fertilizers in an attempt to strengthen soils, but wrong usage caused a decline in organic matter.

“Before the introduction of mineral fertilizers, our forefathers had the knowledge and understanding that if you add organic manure, the soil becomes fertile, and crops perform better,” said Wonder Ngezimana, a crop science associate professor at Zimbabwe’s Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. “That has been a traditional norm in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa where people scavenge for any kind of organic matter to add to the soil.”

That includes animal manure, grass, leaves and twigs, crop residue, ash and compost. But many farmers in Zimbabwe no longer have cattle because of recent drought, Ngezimana said: “Farmers are struggling to maintain soil health because they can’t generate enough quantities of organic matter.”

AGRA recommended that farmers test their soil’s acidity and apply lime to reverse high acidity.

But farmers say both are limited and costly. Soil testing services are available in government agricultural agencies, public universities and private organizations at prices ranging from $20 to $40.

Wanjala, the farmer, said he cannot even find the money cattle for manure, and barely for seeds.

“I cannot afford more expenses,” he said.

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Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe contributed to this report.