Sholain

Proudly South African. Mum. Wife. Journalist. Academic. 🔥

[Unisa @unisa]

🎉 Congratulations to Gwen Ncube, host on Unisa Radio, on being named Runner-Up in the 2025 NPC-UNISA Journalist of the Year Awards in the Campus Radio category.

Your dedication to quality journalism and impactful storytelling continues to make the Unisa community proud. 👏🏽🏆

#Unisa150andBeyond

[Media Helping Media @helpingmedia]

Post-truth distortion - how social #media creates a fundamental problem for #journalists. As public engagement increases, distance from the original source grows until connection to the facts is lost. #journalism

https://t.co/lAfMCfr18Y

[Sholain @sholain]

@NPClub1 @Unisa #JournalismMatters #JOTY2025NPC #Newsmaker2025

[Sholain @sholain]

@npclub @unisa #joty #newsmaker2025

[Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ @shanaka86]

JUST IN: The White House just blamed an intern for the worst information warfare defeat of the 21st century.

Here is the sequence. Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted on social media that a US Navy-escorted oil tanker had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz. The claim was false. No escort had occurred. The White House confirmed this. Wright deleted the post. The administration blamed a “low-level staffer” for the inaccurate publication.

Before the deletion, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf screenshotted it and posted fifteen words that have now been seen by over one million people: “An oil tanker crossed Strait of Hormuz escorted by US Navy ships? Maybe on PlayStation!”

Twenty-one thousand likes. 4,700 retweets. One million views. The most engaged Iranian government post of the war. And it was accurate. The escort did not happen. The American post that claimed it did was retracted. The Iranian post that mocked it stands.

A low-level staffer published a claim about the most strategically sensitive waterway on Earth from a cabinet secretary’s official account during the most intense military campaign since 2003, and nobody in the chain of command reviewed it before publication. That is not a staffing error. That is an institutional failure in a government prosecuting a war where information moves faster than corrections.

The oil market moved on the claim before it was deleted. WTI crashed from $119.50 to $87 on a cascade of de-escalation signals that included escort announcements. The escort that was announced did not happen. The price that moved on it did. The correction that followed has not reversed the price. The market is now trading at a level partially determined by a social media post that no longer exists, authored by a person the White House will not name, published from an account belonging to a secretary who apparently did not approve it.

Meanwhile, the physical Strait remains unchanged. Seven hundred tankers queued. Visible transits: 2 to 3 per day. Seven P&I clubs withdrawn. Zero reinstated. A few dozen Iranian mines confirmed in the water by US intelligence, with 80 to 90% of mine-laying vessels still intact. The 31 autonomous IRGC commands continue firing. The Supreme Leader is a cardboard cutout at his own rally. The IEA just proposed the largest emergency reserve release in history because the Strait the staffer claimed was open is not open.

Iran did not hack an American account. Iran did not plant disinformation. Iran waited for America to publish its own false claim, watched America delete it, and then broadcast the deletion to the world. The information warfare victory cost Iran nothing. A screenshot and fifteen words.

The United States has three carrier strike groups, eleven heavy bombers, and the most powerful military in human history deployed to reopen a strait that a low-level staffer accidentally admitted is still closed. The staffer’s crime was not posting inaccurate information. It was posting the aspiration before the achievement. The escort was supposed to happen. It has not. And now the world knows it has not because Washington told them first and Tehran made sure they remembered.

PlayStation. One deleted post. One unnamed staffer. And the Strait is still closed.

https://t.co/eMrt5qYYst

[Reuters Africa @ReutersAfrica]

South African anti-apartheid activist Mosiuoa Lekota, who broke away from the African National Congress to found a new political party, died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, his party said in a statement. He was 77 years old. https://t.co/ei0FOG3fs9

[Socratic Experience @socraticexp]

If your child becomes a reader, about 80% of the educational job is already done. That's our honest assessment, based on many of us working in education for over three decades. Everything else is secondary. Most parents think science education is important. Yes, it is. But if you can't read the biology textbook, you're not going to learn biology.

Reading is the meta-skill that enables all other skills. History requires reading. Science requires reading. Even math increasingly requires reading as it becomes more sophisticated. The child who reads voraciously will figure out everything else. The child who doesn't will struggle with everything.

[eNCA @eNCA]

How should schools and universities regulate the use of AI tools to ensure academic integrity? #DStv403 #DStv194
#TheSouthAfricanMorning

[The Presidency 🇿🇦 @PresidencyZA]

🇿🇦2026 STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS: A Nation that Works for All

This Thursday, 12 February 2026 at 7 pm, President @CyrilRamaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Cape Town City Hall.

This important event brings together key stakeholders from across the nation to hear the President outline the government's programme of action and policy priorities for the year ahead.

During his address, the President will:

• Highlight achievements and progress made since the last SONA;

• Flag challenges and outline interventions to address them;

• Set out the government's key policy priorities and deliverables for the year ahead

The President’s State of the Nation Address will be carried live across major broadcast channels and on all @PresidencyZA platforms.

#SONA2026
#AWorkingNation

[UNISA Music Foundation @unisamusicfound]

🎉 Winners | 7th Unisa International Voice Competition

🏆 First Prizes
🎶 Classical: Molly Dzangare
🎷 Jazz: Maria del Mar Vilaseca

🎷 Jazz
🥈 Daniella Rossouw
🥉 Rorisang Sechele

🎶 Classical
🥈 Khayakazi Madlala
🥉 Lwazi Dlamini

Celebrating excellence in vocal artistry.

[News24 🇿🇦 @News24]

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy wants to amend section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act to ban any level of alcohol consumption by drivers.

https://t.co/TzTEE9Q3r6

[News24 🇿🇦 @News24]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday declared a state of an emergency over what his goverment called an "extremely serious military aggression" by the United States on the capital Caracas.

https://t.co/PoQ2gWecOH

[The Conversation Africa @TC_Africa]

Choosing a career? In a fast-changing job market, listen to your inner self https://t.co/Xg8jS9uCgk

[News24 🇿🇦 @News24]

Australia banned young teenagers from social media on Wednesday, 10 December, launching a world-first crackdown designed to unglue children from addictive scrolling on the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
https://t.co/yUgCOZ57g0

[Newzroom Afrika @Newzroom405]

[BREAKING NEWS] US President Donald Trump says South Africa won’t be invited to attend the 2026 G20 Summit. He also announced that all payments and subsidies from the US to SA will be stopped with immediate effect. #Newzroom405

[The Presidency 🇿🇦 @PresidencyZA]

PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA NOTES US STATEMENT ON SOUTH AFRICA’S G20 PARTICIPATION

President @CyrilRamaphosa has noted the regrettable statement by President Donald Trump on South Africa’s participation in the 2026 G20 meetings.

The G20 South Africa 2025 Leaders’ Summit attended by several Heads of State and Goverment, was hailed by all those who attended the summit as one of the most successful summits.

The summit produced a declaration that affirmed the indisputable strength and value of multilateralism in response to the most pressing challenges facing the world.

As the United States was not present at the summit, instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

As one of the founding members of the G20, South Africa has always valued the spirit of consensus, collaboration and partnership that defines the G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

In keeping with this approach, the United States was expected to participate in all the meetings of the G20 during South Africa’s Presidency but unfortunately, it elected not to attend the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg out of its own volition.

We are however pleased that US entities such as businesses and civil society organisations participated in large numbers in G20 related activities such as the B20 and the G20 Social. South Africa values their participation.

South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right. Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members. South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms. South Africa respects the sovereignty of all countries and will never insult or demean another country or its standing and worthiness in the community of nations.

South Africa will continue to participate as a full, active and constructive member of the G20. We call on members of the G20 to reaffirm its continued operation in the spirit of multilateralism, based on consensus, with all members participating on an equal footing in all of its structures.

It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President Ramaphosa and his administration to reset the diplomatic relationship with the US, President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.

ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

[SABC News @SABCNews]

HEALTH MATTERS | The South African Depression and Anxiety Group has introduced free online mental health support groups, providing safe spaces for people to share their experiences and receive support. Project Manager Krystle Kemp shares details.

[The Presidency 🇿🇦 @PresidencyZA]

FAMILY PHOTO: G20 Leaders’s Summit

📍 Johannesburg, South Africa

#G20SouthAfrica 🇿🇦

[EWN Reporter @ewnreporter]

JUST IN: Malusi Gigaba, ANC NEC member, is scheduled to appear before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today.

It’s understood the charges are linked to state capture-related corruption that allegedly occurred during his tenure as minister of public enterprises @JusstAlpha

[eNCA @eNCA]

Trump declines invitation to G20 Summit in SA

https://t.co/8Byd1yhmfs