For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: DA welcomes members from ActionSA; Moody’s says South Africa budget ‘confirms’ strong fiscal stance; And, more than 1 700 Africans fighting for Russia, Ukraine says

DA welcomes members from ActionSA

Soweto-based ActionSA Councillor Mandla Nyaqela and five of the party's branch chairpersons and members have defected to the Democratic Alliance and were welcomed into the blue party on Thursday by DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille.

She is confident that many more will join the party.

Speaking at a briefing in Johannesburg, Nyaqela said he had joined ActionSA with high expectations but had been “sorely disillusioned”, claiming that there was “no space for debate” in the green party.

He described ActionSA as a “top-down dictatorship”, stating that members only received instructions.

Nyaqela expressed unhappiness with a lack of internal elections in ActionSA, claiming that all positions were appointed by one or two top leaders.

Zille thanked the new recruits for their “courage, conviction and determination”.

Moody’s says South Africa budget ‘confirms’ strong fiscal stance

South Africa’s latest budget painted an encouraging picture of improving public finances, according to Moody’s Ratings, while cautioning that “meaningful” debt reduction will require stronger economic growth.

The budget “confirms South Africa’s strong fiscal performance, underpinned by broad-based revenue growth, and points to improving fiscal prospects,” said Evan Wohlmann, Vice President-Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s annual budget presentation yesterday showed debt and debt-service costs peaking this year and then declining, helped by surging precious-metals prices that have boosted government revenue. The rand and government bonds rallied.

In his speech to lawmakers in Cape Town, the minister said the world had taken note, citing S&P Global Ratings’ decision in November to grant South Africa its first upgrade in two decades.

That lifted S&P’s assessment to BB from BB-minus and also put it on a positive outlook, which South African officials said was as good as two ratings upgrades.

The move raised hope that the country is on track to restore the investment-grade rating it lost as public finances deteriorated under former President Jacob Zuma, whose tenure in office was marred by corruption scandals, mismanagement and soaring debt levels. Moody’s rates South Africa Ba2 — two notches below investment grade.

And, more than 1 700 Africans fighting for Russia, Ukraine says

More than 1 700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that Moscow was using deception to trick them into fighting.

Speaking alongside his counterpart from Ghana, Sybiha said that discussions were taking place with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the African Union regional bloc next year.

Sybiha said according to the country’s data, there are currently over 1 780 citizens from the African continent fighting in the Russian army.

The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent, he added.

Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in the armed forces.

However, reports of African men being lured into Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine's front line have become more frequent in recent months, creating tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.

Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said that many of the Africans fighting for Russia were victims of deception, lured on the dark web with the promise of ordinary jobs.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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