Story audio is generated using AI

The American ambassador to South Africa and some local conservatives are still upset that our government continues to keep Elon Musk’s Starlink out of the country. But after the trillionaire’s betrayal of Ukraine this week, even die-hard fanboys must surely have a clearer picture of what collaboration with Musk really means.

Speaking to right-wing website The Common Sense on Wednesday, US ambassador and 1970s hair pomade spokesmodel Brent Bozell said that Musk was offering to use his satellites to beam free internet into a number of South African schools, but, because of BBEEE legislation, this humanitarian gift was being denied to the little children.

This situation, he despaired, was “preposterously silly”, which, it has to be said, is quite a big call coming from someone who represents a country currently being collapsed by a former reality TV star.

I can’t tell you exactly how many schools were going to be covered under the plan — a report by The Common Sense referred to “5,000 rural schools” while Bozell mentioned only 500 — but I do know that the offer was generous, with the Common Sense quoting a monetary value of “R500m”.

Given that Musk’s various companies have a combined revenue of roughly $120bn a year, or about $328m a day, that means he was willing simply to give away an amount that would have taken him two or even three whole hours to accumulate. Who says Elon Musk doesn’t do philanthropy?

Now, there is a case to be made that BBEEE is a generally sensible principle being implemented extremely badly; that, instead of providing economic justice for the economic crime of apartheid, it has simply created a new economic elite, and that meaningful economic empowerment remains out of reach for the overwhelming majority of black South Africans the policy was intended to uplift.

We know, now, because we have evidence: he is a man who will sell you a life jacket and then remotely deflate it if he decides he’ll make more money by drowning you.

I can also understand why Bozell is so frustrated, and not just because he spent some of his youth campaigning to prop up white supremacy in South Africa, with that undeveloped part of him perhaps still struggling slightly with seeing black South Africans saying no to a white South African.

No, the real problem for Bozell is that Trump’s polling is in the golden toilet, with the Trump brand rapidly becoming as toxic as an evangelical American’s relationships with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Trumpism needs some quick wins, and it would brighten the president’s day considerably if he could announce to grumbling cult members that American capitalism has defeated the forces of socialist anarchy in the very same country where the white genocide is now getting so bad that a whopping 0.5 percent of the targeted group have applied for refugee status in the US.

In short, I can understand the positions of both Bozell and The Common Sense.

But after this week, I hope they’ll also understand why I and many other people consider Elon Musk to be about as trustworthy as big wooden horse on a beach with a sign on it in Greek reading “DEFINITELY DOES NOT CONTAIN SOLDIERS”.

We don’t yet know why Musk decided to help Russia kill Ukrainian civilians by throttling Ukraine’s Starlink network and limiting its ability to track and shoot down inbound Russian drones.

But we do know, beyond a doubt, that Musk is now not only a decisive player in geopolitics and high-end weaponry, but he is a player who has no principles except self-interest and a few garden-variety teenage incel fantasies about how white people are being victimised.

We know, now, because we have evidence: he is a man who will sell you a life jacket and then remotely deflate it if he decides he’ll make more money by drowning you.

The world has been given notice. Do business with Musk if you must. But you let him into your country at your peril, and if you trust him to run anything more important than a bath, more fool you.

Story audio is generated using AI

South Africa’s public procurement system was established on a clear constitutional mandate: state spending must be fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective.

Yet, as a damning Sunday Times investigation revealed last week, government departments and state-owned entities (SOEs) have systematically eroded these safeguards, funnelling nearly R70bn of public money through a parallel procurement system.

Between October 2023 and March 2026, officials repeatedly varied and expanded roughly 3,000 contracts far beyond their original terms, bypassing competitive bidding to pile cash onto existing contractors.

What was conceived as an emergency exception has been transformed into routine practice.

The scale of this shadow regime is staggering. At Eskom — which accounts for R41bn, or nearly 60% of the total expansions — an engineering contract for the Medupi and Kusile power stations awarded in 2006 for R114m has ballooned to R2.5bn.

At Transnet, R5.8bn bypassed competitive bidding in a single year through non-competitive awards and contract variations.

From the department of justice topping up a R26m court-recording contract to R213m, to the Road Accident Fund expanding an expired office lease four times over several years, the practice is widespread.

Particularly egregious is the routine expansion of contracts that have already expired, a practice legal experts rightly condemn as unlawful. Nearly 30 cases involved topping up lapsed contracts, sometimes more than a year after their expiration.

National Treasury explicitly acknowledges that failing to expand contracts before expiry yields irregular expenditure. Yet official justifications rarely involve genuine disasters or unforeseen emergencies.

Instead, officials cite administrative failure: unfinalised tenders, delayed evaluations or, as Sanral candidly noted in one instance, “poor planning”.

By failing to monitor repeat users or order reversals, Treasury has effectively surrendered its regulatory authority.

In hundreds of cases, no tangible explanation was offered beyond the word “expansion”.

This parallel contracting economy thrives due to a collapse in centralised oversight. National Treasury insists expansions are not normal procurement tools, yet admits there is no legal limit on how far a contract can be expanded.

Treasury treats statutory thresholds purely as reporting benchmarks, leaving institutions to approve their own variations without evaluating commercial reasonableness.

By failing to monitor repeat users or order reversals, Treasury has effectively surrendered its regulatory authority.

Without open competition, taxpayers have no guarantee that the state is paying fair prices or receiving value for money.

As procurement specialists warn, repeated contract expansions eliminate market contestability and represent massive red flags for systemic corruption and poor contract management.

This situation cannot be allowed to continue.

Government must close this back door. Hard, legally enforceable caps must be established for contract variations, and the practice of expanding expired contracts must trigger direct accountability and legal consequences.

Until integrity and genuine competition are restored to public procurement, billions of rand in public funds will continue to be diverted under the guise of administrative convenience.

Story audio is generated using AI

Video footage played in the Durban high court murder trial of musician Kiernan “AKA” Forbes has shown a man resembling one of seven accused at two establishments the rapper visited hours before he was shot dead.

The footage screened on Thursday afternoon shows the man leaving a VW Polo and entering AuthentiQ bar and restaurant in Florida, where AKA was seated with friends.

He is later seen leaving AuthentiQ, returning to the vehicle, then walking to Wish restaurant before returning to the Polo again.

While seated in the car, the man is seen with a sling bag, often used by gunmen.

Earlier, KwaZulu-Natal organised crime unit technical detective Sgt Rajen Sanders identified accused number four, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, as the man who allegedly followed rapper AKA from the airport to his hotel on the day he was murdered.

Sanders told the Durban high court on Thursday that Gwabeni was the man seen in video footage at King Shaka International Airport, following AKA.

This was hours before AKA and his celebrity friend, chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, were gunned down outside the now-defunct Wish restaurant on Florida Road in February 2023.

Gwabeni, 36, Lindokuhle Thabani Mkhwanazi, 30, Lindani Zenzele Ndimande, 35, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, 23, Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, 29, Malusi Dave, 30, and Siyabonga Gezani Ndimande, 31, pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

The second suspect who tailed AKA to the two establishments, is yet to be formally identified.

Sanders, who is an expert in CCTV and video surveillance, is giving evidence involving 17 pieces of footage collected to firm up the state’s case against the seven accused.

The court was shown CCTV footage in which Gwabeni, wearing a black and white jacket, is seen following Forbes at the airport. He was also seen driving a BMW allegedly leased from Imraan Khan, who testified via affidavit.

Further CCTV footage shows the BMW following AKA’s vehicle at the Sanral tollgate near King Shaka International Airport.

Sanders testified that after reviewing the footage with investigating officer W/O Kumarasan Pillay, they concluded the person in the video is Gwabeni.

The state also played footage showing vehicles leased by Gwabeni from Sonwabile Bani — a grey VW Polo and a white Hyundai Grand i10.

The cars were seen passing the Hilton Hotel in Umhlanga, where AKA and his crew were booked.

Bani confirmed in his testimony that the vehicles belong to him.

Gwabeni’s lawyer, Adv William Nicholson, objected to Sanders identifying his client, but judge Nomfundo Sipunzi ruled that the witness could proceed.

The court previously heard evidence that Gwabeni bought a BMW and later sold it to a mechanic who had been repairing it, to defray costs after he failed to pay for the repairs.

In earlier evidence, the state revealed that Gwabeni received R800,000 shortly after AKA was killed.

The trial continues.

Story audio is generated using AI

In the Spring of 2024 I was persuaded to spend Saturday watching high school rugby at Robertson in the Boland. Hoërskool Robertson were playing in their annual derby against Charlie Hofmeyr from Ceres and a friend suggested we drive up from Cape Town for the day.

He was putting the sons of several workers on his farm in the Koue Bokkeveld through school, he told me, and they’d be playing for some of the Charlie Hofmeyr junior teams. Platteland derbies were fun, he added. There would be balls-to-the-wall rugby and cappuccino vendors and war cries and mating rituals from horny teens.

The fixture started in 1994 and the students of both schools had been looking forward to the day for weeks. It would be quite the occasion. Why didn’t I come along?

I was happy I did because that afternoon — with the sun coming out after rain and the first buds of spring not far away — I saw Luan Giliomee for the first time. He was captaining Charlie Hofmeyr from fullback and while he was neither the biggest nor the widest on display, he was clearly the most confident and gifted. His game management and spatial perception were uncanny.

Like a hot knife through butter ⚡

Luan Giliomee with an unbelievable solo effort 🦈⚫

📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/2uvSZAKO88

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 26, 2026

In front of a crowd of about 5,000, a muddy Charlie Hofmeyr won at a canter — 29-8 — with Giliomee orchestrating it all so faultlessly he might have been using a baton. His entire rugby personality was on display: the knees up gallop from deep; the positional play; the gunslinger’s quick hands. Smart tactical kicking and bravery in the tackle.

It didn’t surprise me to hear later that Charlie Hofmeyr went through the season unbeaten. They weren’t a one-man side. They had hard-working forwards, bovine in their ability not to complain. And I seem to remember that an outside centre of Giliomee had already been given a bursary to study — and play rugby — at the University of the North West. They were by no means a one-man team, though your eye always drifted back in Giliomee’s direction.

Giliomee played Craven Week for Boland in his matric year, and was hoovered up by the Sharks Academy. His leaving school might have been greeted with relief by his parents, Louis and Aldihette, because I remember Louis telling me that while Luan was at Charlie Hofmeyr the family received 17 approaches from schools countrywide.

“There was nothing they could offer Luan that we couldn’t offer him in Ceres as a family,” said Louis, who played for a South Africa Platteland team against the All Blacks at Witbank in 1992. “We decided to keep him where he was. He went to church. He rode a bike to school. We practiced kicking in the evenings.”

The move begs a question: In this time of JP Pietersen rebuilding, why would you willingly let gold dust slip through your hands? The only explanation is the Sharks have gold bars in the cupboard.

Five months into his time in Durban, disaster. In an under-21 Currie Cup match against the Leopards, Giliomee broke his hip. He also ruptured ligaments and his ankle and knee. Despite being out for nearly four months, he mended well, so well he was able to play in last season’s under-21 Currie Cup final, where the Sharks beat the Lions 63-31.

The rest of the Giliomee story is better known. His debut try for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship (URC) in March against Munster; his selection for the Baby Boks earlier this year and his red card for playing an England player in the air in the semifinal. The red card was later overturned on review but the rescinding came too late — coach Kevin Foote had already chosen his side to play against France in the final, Alzeadon Felix getting the nod. “I’ll always feel bad leaving out Luan,” said Foote afterwards. “I know he’ll go super far in his career.”

Now Giliomee has gone from the Sharks to the Bulls, with the Bulls’ talented hooker Esethu Mnebelele heading in the opposite direction. The move begs a question: In this time of JP Pietersen rebuilding, why would you willingly let gold dust slip through your hands? The only explanation is the Sharks have gold bars in the cupboard.

Story audio is generated using AI

An Eastern Cape teacher has been dismissed after an inquiry found that he threatened to rape a Grade 11 pupil who refused to give him her cellphone number.

Onke Tikise, an educator at Holy Cross High School in the OR Tambo Inland District, was also declared unsuitable to work with children after the inquiry found him guilty of misconduct relating to the threat made in 2024.

In an award dated Tuesday, Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) commissioner Mxolisi Alex Nozigqwaba ordered his immediate dismissal and directed that the findings be referred to the South African Council for Educators (Sace) for consideration of further action.

The inquiry heard that the pupil, identified as SM, was standing with a friend near the school gate when Tikise approached her and repeatedly asked for her cellphone number.

When she refused, he allegedly asked whether she would give him permission to rape her because she would not give him her number.

SM testified that the remark left her feeling threatened and scared. She said she avoided Tikise while she was at the school because she feared he might act on the threat.

Her friend, identified as LN, corroborated her account, testifying that she was present when the incident occurred.

LN said Tikise appeared to be drunk when he approached them and asked SM for her number.

The two former pupils testified that SM was afraid to report the incident because she believed the school would not take it seriously.

SM said she was concerned that reporting the matter would have consequences for Tikise’s wife, who also teaches at the school. She also testified that she knew of other incidents involving teachers and pupils that she believed had not been properly addressed.

Tikise denied the allegations, saying he did not know SM and had never threatened her. He told the inquiry that teachers were trained to act in a parental role towards pupils and that he would not have made such remarks.

He also denied drinking at work.

Tikise’s representative argued that the pupil’s account lacked precise details about the date and occasion on which the incident occurred. The representative also questioned why the allegation had not been reported immediately.

However, Nozigqwaba found the differences in the witnesses’ recollections of the event preceding the incident were not material to their accounts of the alleged threat.

The commissioner said it was understandable that the witnesses might not remember the exact date or occasion, given that the incident occurred in 2024.

He also rejected the argument that the delay in reporting the incident undermined SM’s credibility, noting that she had explained her fears about reporting it.

The award referred to a Labour Court judgment which cautioned against dismissing sexual misconduct allegations simply because complainants delay reporting incidents or struggle to recall details clearly.

Nozigqwaba found both SM and LN to be reliable witnesses and said there was no reason to doubt their credibility.

He described Tikise’s version as a bare denial, noting that he focused on denying that he knew the pupil without providing an alternative account of what had happened.

The commissioner concluded that the evidence established, on a balance of probabilities, that Tikise had threatened SM with rape.

A separate charge of sexually harassing another pupil was withdrawn by the department of education because it could not locate the pupil to testify.

In determining the sanction, the commissioner found that Tikise’s conduct amounted to serious misconduct under the Employment of Educators Act.

He said the law required dismissal for educators found guilty of the relevant offences under section 17(1) of the act.

The award further found Tikise unsuitable to work with children under the Children’s Act and directed that the director-general of the department of social development be notified so that his details could be entered into the National Child Protection Register.

The ELRC was also ordered to refer the award to Sace within 14 days of receiving it for consideration of appropriate action.

Story audio is generated using AI

A 19-year-old Stellenbosch University student is recovering in hospital after allegedly being set alight by his former girlfriend while sleeping in his room at an off-campus student residence.

The first-year student’s housemates, who rushed to his rescue after hearing his desperate screams and discovering smoke billowing from his bedroom, now fear his injuries could prevent him from writing his upcoming examinations.

His 19-year-old former girlfriend has since been arrested and charged with attempted murder and arson.

Speaking to the Sunday Times on Thursday, a first-year student who asked to remain anonymous described the terrifying moments leading up to the incident on Sunday morning.

He said the residence, situated in Cloetesville, Stellenbosch, was divided into two sections, with nine bedrooms occupied by female students and four by male students.

What began as a quiet Sunday morning quickly turned into a nightmare when he spotted a young woman who stays in the female section allegedly attempting to slide burning paper underneath her former boyfriend’s bedroom door.

“The house was quiet when we heard repeated knocks that woke us up. I went out and saw the ex-girlfriend trying to slide a burning paper under the victim’s door. I asked her what was wrong, but she did not respond. I stopped her and went to the kitchen, where I stayed for a while,” he said.

Moments later, piercing screams shattered the silence.

“I heard him screaming, and we rushed to his room. Only three of us were in the boys’ section. As we approached his room, we saw smoke coming from inside. His door was locked, and he could not find his keys. I managed to kick the door open,” he said.

Inside the smoke-filled bedroom, they found the student standing next to a burning mattress. One side of his body had caught fire.

“There was a lot of smoke inside the room, and the mattress was burning. He had burns on the side of his body,” the housemate said. They managed to extinguish the fire.

An incident of this nature can have a significant emotional impact, not only on those directly involved, but also on their housemates and other students.

Stellenbosch University dean of students Dr Leslie van Rooi

The injured student was rushed to hospital for medical treatment.

The housemate said they suspected the former girlfriend had managed to slide burning material underneath the door, which could have ignited the student’s bedding while he was asleep.

However, the exact circumstances that caused the fire remain the subject of a police investigation.

According to the housemate, the two students were both in their first year at university and were believed to have started dating around August.

He alleged that the injured student had ended their relationship last Monday, less than a week before the incident.

The housemate said the attack had left students at the residence shaken and concerned about their safety.

They were particularly worried about their injured housemate’s academic future, with exams approaching and uncertainty over whether he would recover sufficiently to sit for his papers.

“We have been left traumatised by what happened,” he said.

Stellenbosch University confirmed that a student had been injured in an alleged arson incident at off-campus accommodation over the weekend.

“The university is deeply concerned about a serious incident reported at off-campus student accommodation over the weekend, in which a student’s room was allegedly set alight,” the institution said.

“A student was injured and is receiving treatment in hospital. SU understands that another student has been arrested in connection with the incident.”

The university said the accommodation was privately owned and was neither managed nor operated by the institution.

It said staff from its Commuter Student Communities Unit had visited the injured student in hospital and met with other students living at the premises to provide support.

The institution had also enquired about the welfare of the arrested student.

“An incident of this nature can have a significant emotional impact, not only on those directly involved, but also on their housemates and other students,” said Stellenbosch University’s dean of students, Dr Leslie van Rooi.

“The university recognises the distress this can cause, and we are making sure that affected students have access to the support they need.”

Western Cape police spokesperson Lt-Col FC van Wyk confirmed that cases of attempted murder and arson had been opened at Cloetesville police station following the incident on Lackay Street on Sunday.

He said a 19-year-old man sustained injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital.

“A 19-year-old female was arrested and appeared in the Stellenbosch magistrate’s court on Tuesday for the mentioned charges. The case was postponed to Monday next week for a bail application,” Van Wyk said.

As the criminal investigation continues, the injured student’s housemates are grappling with the trauma of witnessing the aftermath of the fire, while hoping their friend recovers in time to continue his studies.

Story audio is generated using AI

Loud music, free T-shirts, food and even transport to the polls is allowed, but protesters won’t be tolerated anywhere near voting stations.

That’s the word from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) about the state of readiness in KwaZulu-Natal ahead of the less than two-week countdown to local government elections.

IEC officials outlined preparations for November 4 at a briefing in Durban, highlighting police will guard election material stores and voting stations to “protect local government elections and prevent disruption”.

IEC KZN assistant manager Phelelani Mkhwanazi said there were 5,028 voting districts with a combination of permanent venues, tents and mobile stations for about 6-million voters.

IEC provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said storage facilities would have three security layers: the premises’ existing security, police stationed there and additional guards contracted by the commission.

She said security companies already servicing IEC provincial offices would extend their coverage to warehouses.

“Police ordinarily did not provide static warehouse guarding, leaving the commission to make its own arrangements, but a national instruction has changed that approach for these elections.”

The change followed incidents in 2024 when members of the public demanded access to stores, even wanting to count election materials.

“We are quite comfortable that we will have three layers of security at all our facilities.”

Mkhwanazi said station deployments would reflect risk assessments, with larger contingents at higher-risk venues. Presiding officers could call on police to maintain order and remove disruptive people.

KZN has been on high alert for several months following ongoing anti-migration and xenophobic attacks which last month prompted premier Thami Ntuli to call in the army.

We are quite comfortable that we will have three layers of security at all our facilities.

IEC provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga

Despite the army’s presence, Durban has continued to experience daily protests and violent flare-ups including the killing of a foreigner, who was beaten to death on Thursday in the CBD.

Asked about possible marches and people attempting to check voters’ citizenship, former IEC deputy electoral officer Mawethu Mosery warned against election day political marches and demonstrations.

He said section 75 of the Municipal Electoral Act prohibits political meetings, marches, demonstrations and other political events on voting day.

Mosery said citizenship was checked against the population register during voter registration and foreigners were not included on the roll.

Masinga said said that while training was largely complete.

She said only 66% of required materials were ready on Thursday because of the need to reprint ballot papers following the recent Constitutional Court judgment in the appeal brought by the ANC concerning the submission of candidate lists.

Mkhwanazi said the number of stations without water had fallen from 910 to 197, based on municipal commitments rather than a fresh survey.

He said municipalities, provincial departments and Eskom were helping with water, toilets and electricity.

However, rain could undo repairs to gravel access roads which are a big issue for voting stations in KZN.

He said ward boundaries posed a different risk as those living close to a voting station did not necessarily mean they were entitled to vote there.

Masinga said recruitment and training were largely finished, with mop-up sessions for staff who had missed training. Special vote teams were being prepared for home visits on November 2 and 3.

She said queue workers would be central to the redesigned workflow, directing voters to the correct service points rather than leaving some queues overloaded while others moved quickly.

She said new features on voter management devices are intended to make address checks and voter processing faster.

Tablet cameras, which previously added time to queues because they were an inadequate barcode-scanning solution, have been replaced with separate hand-held scanners, tested in by-elections.

The scanner “worked like a charm”, she said.

In addition, new apps have been developed including one with a live voting roll, the start and finish of counting and the opening and closing of voting stations.

External IT specialists had tested applications under simulated election-day traffic, replacing reliance on physical dry runs, which she said proved very successful.

The officials advised voters to SMS their ID numbers to 32810 to receive their voting station and sequence number. Knowing that number would help staff find their names faster, including on the printed roll and cut time spent in the queues.

This was expected to help speed up queues at large voting stations, such as the Durban City Hall where there are close to 9,000 registered voters. There voters would be directed by their sequence numbers on the roll rather than surname-based divisions.

Mkhwanazi said the roll would be divided into batches of 500 voters. Queue workers would direct each person to the officer handling the appropriate batch. After verification, voters could use an available service point rather than remain tied to a surname-based substation.

Mosery said: “It will make it quick for us to find your name on the voters roll because that’s your sequence number.”

He added that technology failures would not stop voting because the printed voters roll remained the legal document.

Turning to clothing rules, Mosery drew a distinction between ordinary voters and those officially observing for parties.

Ordinary voters can wear party T-shirts but party agents and candidates observing inside stations cannot display party regalia. Section 40 also bars them from attempting to influence voters inside the boundary.

“There was never an intention to restrict voters.”

Outside that boundary, Mosery said there can be T-shirt and pamphlet distribution and loud music.

“All of those things as long as they happen outside the boundary of the voting station, it’s okay.”

He said accepting refreshments or transport did not mean surrendering one’s electoral choice.

“I also always say if they give you fruit there, please enjoy the fruit.”

Parties that could afford it also transported voters, he said: “They pick them up from their homes, bring them to the station. Please enjoy the ride.”

His message was “enjoy those and keep your vote your secret.”

Story audio is generated using AI

The Springboks have made winning World Cups look almost routine. The next generation is making one thing clear and that is that South African rugby’s strength is not resting on the shoulders of its veteran champions.

It is being built again, and the United Rugby Championship is where you can see it.

The four South African clubs are backing teenagers and players barely out of their age-grade rugby. They are naming them, trusting them and asking them to deliver in a competition that tests every part of a player’s game.

The Stormers’ selection to face Scarlets is the clearest statement yet. Paul de Villiers captains a team that includes four former Junior Springbok captains in De Villiers, Riley Norton, Zachary Porthen and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. The latter at 24 is the oldest of the quartet.

Markus Muller, still 19, makes his first start at inside centre. Haashim Pead gets his first start at scrumhalf. Olly Reid, another product of the under-20 system, is on the bench. And there is Deon Fourie, 40 years old, waiting to bring his experience into the game.

That is not youth for the sake of a headline. It is a team built around trust. The Stormers have put young players in important positions and placed senior players around them who know what the level demands.

Obviously the titles matter, but what matters most is that the under 20 World Champions are being fast-tracked as senior professionals.

Fourie is the perfect counterpoint. At 40, the Stormers and Springbok utility forward continues to set a standard for professionalism and competitive hunger. His presence makes the point: age is not a barrier if you can still do the job. Nor should youth be one if you are good enough to do it.

The Sharks have been just as willing to open the door. Eighteen-year-old Zekhethelo Siyaya made his URC debut last season and impressed enough to become one of the club’s most promising young players. This season, the Sharks’ wider squad blends that emerging talent with Springboks and experienced campaigners, including the remarkable figure of Ma’a Nonu as a mentor to the young backs.

The Bulls have brought under-20 talent into the senior environment too, with Luan Giliomee earning a first start in the Champions Cup this month while established Springboks provide the experience around him.

At the Lions, under-20 world champion centre Ethan Adams has been trusted in the senior match-day mix. The four clubs are making different selections, but the direction is the same: the next wave is being given real responsibility.

That is the story behind the back-to-back Junior World Championship titles. South Africa retained the trophy in 2026, having won it in 2025.

Obviously the titles matter, but what matters most is that the under-20 World Champions are being fast-tracked as senior professionals.

The best thing about this generation is that it is not being presented as a distant promise. These players are already in the picture. They are starting, captaining, coming off the bench and competing for places.

None of the four coaches are rushing them and none are pretending that they need to play in under 20 competitions because they are yet to turn 21.

The club coaches are getting that balance right: young players are being trusted, and veterans are still setting the standard.

South African rugby is rightly proud of the back-to-back World Cup-winning Springboks. But the URC is showing that the depth of the game does not start and end with the national team. It runs through the clubs, the academies and the Junior Springboks who have learnt how to win on the biggest age-grade stage.

The Boks have set the benchmark, and there is a conveyor belt of under-20 World Champion pedigree insistent that they can match this Test benchmark.

Story audio is generated using AI

Former Moja Love presenter Julius Moloi, popularly known as Bishop Moloi, has been evicted from a rental property after allegedly accumulating R40,000 unpaid rent in Klerksdorp.

The North West Rental Housing Tribunal ruled in May that Moloi was liable for R31,000 in outstanding rent after allegedly going months without paying the monthly rental of R7,000 to his landlord, Christine Herbst.

He was evicted from the property in July, leaving behind a substantial debt including an unpaid municipal account.

The Sunday Times understands that the property, situated in Meiringspark, Klerksdorp, is next to Moloi’s house, which he had converted into a school that has since closed.

Moloi, a former presenter of the Amabishop and Child Manyonyoba television shows, did not respond to the Sunday Times’ requests for comment this week.

After ignoring text messages, he answered his phone on Thursday afternoon but said he was driving and unable to speak. Later that day, his phone rang unanswered, and he did not respond to subsequent text messages or WhatsApp messages.

The Sunday Times has seen a tribunal ruling dated May 26 and a settlement agreement between Moloi and Herbst, dated July 20, reflecting an outstanding debt of R38,987.

Under the agreement, Moloi committed to paying R2,000 a week towards the debt. However, the Sunday Times understands that he has made only one payment under the arrangement.

Moloi also allegedly left behind an outstanding municipal bill of about R21,000, adding to the amount owed.

According to information obtained by the Sunday Times, Moloi made a single payment of R18,000 in February after moving into the property in November last year.

A warrant of execution against his property, seeking to recover R41,173, was granted on July 6.

ERA Estate, the agency that arranged the rental, was attempting to attach Moloi’s assets to recover the outstanding amount.

Herbst declined to comment but confirmed that the situation had caused her financial difficulties, forcing her to find ways to keep up with her bond repayments.

Moloi previously made headlines in June 2023 after allegations emerged that he had defrauded a man of R150,000 in connection with the purported sale of an RDP house.

The allegations were that Moloi had offered the house for sale despite allegedly not having the necessary ownership documents.

The prospective buyer reportedly demanded his money back, after which Moloi made arrangements to repay the amount in monthly instalments, City Press and TimesLIVE reported at the time.

The data was published as consumers grapple with a spiralling cost of living partly due to geopolitical tensions such as the Middle East conflict, which has sent fuel prices soaring.

It shows that 45% of respondents have never accessed a mental healthcare provider, ironically partly because they cannot afford it, and also due to the stigma still attached to the ailment.

Mediclinic drew the sample for its newly launched generational health survey from residents across all generations and beyond its patient base in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Limpopo and the Western Cape.

“Much of the health data used today may not always reflect the experiences of communities in South Africa,” said Mediclinic Southern Africa CEO Braam Joubert.

“The findings support trends we see in our hospitals while also giving us a broader view of how people beyond our existing patient base experience and think about their health. This survey provides a unique local reference source and marks the start of a journey to build richer, relevant knowledge.”

The report shows that millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, as well as Gen Z respondents, who were born between 1997 and 2012 — each cohort accounting for 28% of the sample — engage more often with mental healthcare providers and are more open to receiving treatment.

Gen X respondents (born between 1965 and 1980 and also making up 28% of the sample) as well as Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964 and accounting for 16%) were the most likely to say they had never accessed a mental healthcare provider.

Broadly, all generations were susceptible to fears about the perceived stigma still attached to mental illness, said Mediclinic’s national manager of mental health, Leandri Hattingh.

While seven in 10 Gen Z respondents believe mental health should be prioritised, more than one in three expressed concerns about being judged by their friends or family. In the same vein, 32% of Gen Xers and 34% of Baby Boomers perceived mental health conditions as a sign of weakness.

The survey coincides with a recent report from debt counselling firm National Debt Advisors, which highlighted the mental health toll of living payday to payday for the breadwinners of many financially strapped South African households faced with higher transport costs due to fuel.

Electricity is also becoming more expensive after recent tariff hikes, and households must contend with higher borrowing costs after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates to tame inflation.

For millions of working South Africans, the end of the month no longer brings relief, said Sebastien Alexanderson, head of National Debt Advisors.

Instead, as living costs outstrip income, financial pressure spills from bank accounts into homes, fuelling marital conflict, disrupting children’s schooling, and driving widespread psychological burnout.

“Payday used to feel like a fresh start,” Alexanderson said.

“Now it feels like a temporary rescue that lasts two or three days before debit orders clear. When households spend 30 days doing mental math just to survive, the exhaustion is carried into homes and workplaces, hugely impacting the mental health of the entire family.”

Analysis by National Debt Advisors of 109,425 clients who have entered debt review since 2014 shows the average person earns R15,737 a month before deductions and owes R174,787, equivalent to 92.6% of annual gross income.

When households spend 30 days doing mental math just to survive, the exhaustion is carried into homes and workplaces, hugely impacting the mental health of the entire family.

Sebastien Alexanderson, head of National Debt Advisors.

The so-called black tax — the responsibility that many black salary earners face of taking care of their extended families — only adds to the pressure, with Old Mutual’s latest savings and investment monitor finding that four in 10 working South Africans support their children and their parents or other adult dependants, said Alexanderson.

This forces many into debt, he said. “When borrowing extends to family members, financial tensions can spill over into family gatherings and personal relationships, adding to the emotional strain. Unlike traditional creditors, you cannot simply block a relative’s number to escape the pressure of debt.”

The monitor, published at end-July, showed that the financial gap between South Africa’s economic classes is widening, with middle-income to affluent consumers in a stronger financial position compared with last year, while lower-income households face rising financial stress, debt reliance and insecurity.

While many people demonstrate strong intent to save, the drawdown of savings and a reliance on informal, shorter-term savings vehicles indicate that consumers are battling to effectively manage their finances, Old Mutual said.

To highlight the stress that households are under, Alexanderson also cited Stats SA’s 2025 general household survey published in May, which found that 21.5% of early school leavers aged seven to 18 cited a lack of money for fees.

Business Day

1996 — Daryll Cullinan scores 106 and Hansie Cronje 58 to help the Proteas to a 27-run victory over India in a triangular series ODI in Jaipur. The hosts got off to a good start, reaching 126/0 before South Africa’s bowlers struck to restrict them to 222/7, with Brian McMillan taking 3/32.

2002 — Lebohang Kukame scores for an under-strength Bafana Bafana team en route to a 1-1 draw with Kenya in a four nations tournament semifinal in Tanzania. But then he missed his spot kick in the ensuing shootout, effectively handing Kenya a 5-3 victory on penalties.

2005 — Allrounder Justin Kemp rescues the Proteas, coming to the crease at 117/5 and hitting 73 from 64 balls to lift them to a two-wicket victory over New Zealand in the opening ODI in Bloemfontein. South Africa reached the 250 target with three balls to spare.

2007 — The Proteas lose their last six wickets for 35 runs as they collapse to 197 en route to losing the third ODI against Pakistan in Faisalabad by six wickets. Captain Graeme Smith (48) and Justin Kemp (42) were the only South African batsmen to get beyond the teens. The hosts won the match with 11 balls to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

2009 — Mignon du Preez scores an unbeaten 70 as the South African women tie the fourth and final ODI against the West Indies at Newlands to take the series 2-1. The home side made 180/6 before enduring a nail-biter in which Alicia Smith, bowled Anisa Mohammed with the final ball to secure the tie.

2011 — Morne Morkel takes 4/22 to help the Proteas to an 80-run victory over Australia in the second ODI at St George’s Park to level the three-match series at 1-1. Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Graeme Smith and JP Duminy all made half-centuries to get South Africa to 303/6.

2011 — Dane van Niekerk top-scores with 44 as the South African women, needing 316 to win, lose the second ODI against England in Potchefstroom by 96 runs, slipping to 0-2 in the three-match series.

2013 — Imran Tahir takes 5/32 as South Africa bowl out Pakistan for 99 on the opening day of the second and final Test in Dubai.

2014 — Lizelle Lee scores 41 as the South African women are limited to 94/6 to lose the first T20 against Sri Lanka in Colombo by seven runs.

2016 — Brad Binder, already the Moto3 champion, clocks up his sixth win of the season as he triumphs in the Australian motorcycle grand prix at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria state.

2021 — Aiden Markram top-scores with 40 but the Proteas, on 118/9, lose the T20 World Cup match against Australia in Abu Dhabi by five wickets with two balls remaining.

2025 — Captain Aiden Markram scores 42 as the Proteas chase down the 68-run target to win the second and final Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi by eight wickets and draw the series 1-1.

Story audio is generated using AI

Gauteng’s public health system is buckling under the patient load, with over 20-million patient contacts recorded for the 2025/26 financial year and facilities operating beyond their official capacity.

Health MEC Faith Mazibuko told the Progressive Business Forum colloquium on Investing in Health and Wellness that provincial hospitals recorded close to 5.8-million outpatient visits and 670,807 inpatient admissions in 2025/26 across Gauteng.

“Our bed capacity also is not assisting us. For example, Bara (Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital) is registered to only accommodate 1,500 people, but currently you have beds that are almost standing at 2,000,” she said.

“I’m sure one person or the other among yourselves must have heard a complaint from a relative ... ‘I’ve been stuck here at casualty, I can’t find a bed’. It’s because our hospitals are overloaded.“

She said the four academic hospitals —Baragwanath, Charlotte Maxeke, Dr George Mukhari and Steve Biko —are the worst affected as they serve patients “throughout Africa, not only us here”.

Mazibuko said the pressure is worse at clinics as primary facilities saw 8,026,972 patients while outreach programmes reached another 8,491,700. But there are not enough hands to serve them.

We are short of almost more than 4,000 nurses. That is why the current staff of nurses that we have, they will tell you they are overworked, they are tired, they take early retirement, not that they want to retire. It’s because they are exhausted

Faith Mazibuko, Gauteng MEC for health

“We also need more nurses and more doctors. We have a lot of unemployed doctors. But because the challenge is personnel and the fiscus that is there, it makes us not to be able to employ more doctors.“

She said the shortage was visible in snaking queues. “Many of our clinics, they no longer meet the demand. They are either small, others don’t even have a waiting area. When it rains, our people are exposed to rain. When it is cold, our people are exposed to coldness.

”If you go to any clinic at any given time, the queues are long. They are snaking out of that facility.“

Mazibuko said the department procured mobile clinics under its Siyabaphilisa programme because some community members spend more than R45 just to reach a clinic, causing mothers to default on child immunisation.

“Together, these figures represent approximately 33-million healthcare service contacts in one financial year ... This figure shows the demand for public health-care services and the resources that are also required.” she said.

She appealed to business leaders at the colloquium to partner with government to build hospitals in Diepsloot and Olievenhoutbosch and to modernise ageing clinics, saying the province “does not have enough resources” and needs partners with “deep pockets”.

”The human cost of the crisis was highlighted by Prof Monique Marks, a life coach and speaker at the colloquium, who said patients “are getting lost in the system“.

“What we also have, which is hugely frustrating to clients or patients, depending on how we refer to them, I refer to them as clients because they are receiving a service from me, is that when people go particularly into hospitals, but not only into hospitals, there is no continuity of care. There is very poor follow up.” she said.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will oppose bail for a 59-year-old teacher accused of raping a nine-year-old pupil at Busisiwe Primary School in Zola, Soweto.

Kabelo Temba appeared in the Protea magistrate’s court on Thursday on a charge of rape. The case was postponed to October 29 for a formal bail application.

NPA spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said Temba allegedly raped the pupil in the school toilets on October 6.

The child allegedly disclosed the incident to her mother the same day, while the matter was reported to police on October 10.

“Temba handed himself over to police on Wednesday, October 21, before appearing in court,” Mohlatlole said.

“The state intends to oppose bail because of the seriousness of the offence and the fact that it involves a minor,” he said.

The Gauteng department of education placed the teacher on precautionary suspension following the allegations.

The suspension followed protests at the school by parents, who demanded action and raised concerns about how the allegations had been handled.

The department also initiated psychological support for the pupil.

The NPA said it takes allegations of sexual offences against children seriously and is committed to ensuring cases involving vulnerable victims are handled with sensitivity and diligence.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Crisis-ridden state airline South African Airways (SAA) is fast running out of runway after informing staff that salaries will be late for the second consecutive month.

TimesLIVE has learnt that SAA acting chief human capital officer Lourens Erasmus issued a communique to staff informing them the salaries would be staggered, with ground staff and cabin crew being paid on October 27, while executives will be paid on October 31. Pilots would be paid on October 28, while management and specialists would be paid on October 30.

“SAA apologises for any inconvenience caused and appreciates employees’ understanding.

“Employees who require a letter for submission to their bank confirming the revised salary payment date may request one from their HRBP,” the internal memo said.

This latest communique follows a similar one in September, an insider with intimate knowledge of the situation but who did not have permission to speak to the media, said.

Last month’s salaries were only paid around October 2, the source added, saying some service providers were now demanding pre-payment, and that the airline was only operational through bank credits.

“SAA is running out of money, and may soon be grounded,” the source said.

The breaking news comes as the airline continues to face substantial financial and operational headwinds, characterised by a mix of escalating operational costs, governance transitions, and a reliance on state guarantees.

According to the National Treasury’s medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) tabled on Wednesday, SAA’s fiscal exposure expanded during 2026 due to severe pressures placed on its day-to-day operations by the global jet fuel price shock.

To buffer the national carrier against these cash flow constraints, the government provided a R1bn guarantee in August to fund its immediate working capital requirements. The Treasury further noted that SAA holds an additional R223m in government guarantees related to unflown-ticket liabilities and corporate letters of credit, warning that the airline’s residual risk heavily depends on its ability to absorb these operational pressures without requesting further direct state support.

On Thursday afternoon, SAA spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini said: “South African Airways takes its responsibilities towards its employees seriously and recognises the importance of ensuring that salaries are paid timeously.

“Against this backdrop, management has fully engaged employees on this matter and explained that the measures being taken are intended to manage the sustainability of the business and its ability to continue operating,” Dlamini said.

“A majority of the employees will be paid on time ― normal pay day (October 27).

“Those who will receive their salaries later, it will be delayed by only a day or two,” he added.

He also said, as with other airlines globally, SAA is operating in a challenging and volatile aviation environment, with geopolitical developments contributing to increased operating costs, particularly fuel.

“These external pressures add to the airline’s cost base and place pressure on liquidity, requiring management to make difficult but necessary decisions to safeguard the business and ensure its long-term sustainability.”

This is a developing story.

This article has been amended to show that ground staff and crew will be paid on their normal pay day, October 27, and also to add additional comment from SAA.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Shortly after coach Abdeslam Ouaddou said there was no rift between him and Mandla Ncikazi, Orlando Pirates confirmed the assistant had left the club.

Pirates said in a statement the move follows discussions with management on Thursday morning where Ncikazi expressed his desire to take up a job as a head coach of a Premiership club, though he did not specify which one.

Ncikazi leaves the club with nine trophies he earned as part of the Pirates’ technical team where he mainly served as assistant to Jose Riveiro and Ouaddou.

“Mandla leaves with our gratitude and our blessing. His contribution to Orlando Pirates has been evident throughout his time with us,” Buccaneers chair Irvin Khoza said.

Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou on Mandla Ncikazi.

WATCH presser on #PrimeSportsWithMahlatseTV ➡️➡️➡️https://t.co/1ISyTeWvaS pic.twitter.com/Q7uIXokdVN

— Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) October 22, 2026

“We respect his wish to pursue this new opportunity and wish him success as he takes on a new responsibility.”

Speaking on Thursday at his pre-match press conference ahead of the second leg of the Champions League qualifier against Namibian side African Stars at Orlando Stadium on Friday (8pm), Ouaddou said there was no bad blood between him and Ncikazi.

Allegations of a rift between the two came after Ncikazi missed the last few matches, but Ouaddou explained it was because the assistant coach was recovering from surgery.

“The club has issued a statement saying he had surgery and he is recovering. I wish him all the best and that’s all I can say,” Ouaddou said.

“You know we read many things about this. Everything is OK in our club, the environment is OK and people must not start problems.

NCIKAZI DEPARTS TO TAKE ON HEAD COACHING ROLE

🌐 Read More : https://t.co/ri0Lhildux

⚫⚪🔴⭐#OrlandoPirates#OnceAlways pic.twitter.com/T386qiRApJ

— Orlando Pirates (@orlandopirates) October 22, 2026

“There was surgery and I wish him all the best. I read many things and we must not create problems.”

Ouaddou said preparations for the second leg, where the Buccaneers have a 1-0 advantage gained from Saturday’s first leg in neutral Gaborone, Botswana, have gone well and his team want to finish off the job and return to the group stages of the Champions League.

“We played a difficult game in Botswana under hard conditions and the players gave everything and they produced a positive result.

“At least we can say we have a second half at home where we can get through to the group stages. The most important thing was to focus on recovery of the players and we had two sessions to make tactical adjustments to what we saw in the last game.

“They are ready to come back to the Champions League and we are focused on winning this second half. We will do everything in terms of commitment and organisation to go through to the group stage for our fans.

“Last season, this was one of the targets that we did not reach and our fans deserve this competition and we are going to give everything to make them happy.”

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Citroën believes it has room to grow in South Africa as the French carmaker refreshes its line-up, expands its presence in key markets and explores whether a modern interpretation of its iconic 2CV could help attract a new generation of buyers.

Speaking to Sunday Times at the Paris Motor Show last week, Citroën CEO Xavier Chardon said the company was encouraged by recent gains in South Africa despite fierce competition from established brands and a growing influx of Chinese manufacturers.

“It’s a market where we are a challenger, but we are very happy to develop the market share,” Chardon said.

“Of course, we can do more. But last year we were close to 1% and this is a very big expansion. It’s an important market. It’s a demanding market, but we believe that we have a good future in South Africa.”

Citroën’s growth ambitions are being supported by a broad product offensive. At the Paris Motor Show, the company showcased its latest-generation C3, C3 Aircross and C5 Aircross models, while also unveiling the 2CV

Concept as a statement of its future direction.

Chardon said the refreshed range reflects the brand’s focus on affordability, accessibility and comfort, values he believes can resonate with South African buyers.

“We are accelerating. We have almost double-digit growth this year since the beginning of the year,” he said.

“What is important is that we are really pushing to bring the brand consistent with what it has been in the past. It’s a brand that’s affordable, accessible, where comfort plays a very strong role, and we want to be a popular brand.

“Today you see it with the C3 doing very well, the C3 Aircross, C5 Aircross. We have a renewed brand, and this is supporting our growth.”

The 2CV Concept drew particular attention. Inspired by the original model that helped put millions of Europeans on the road after World War 2, the concept is designed to bring affordable mobility into the electric era.

Citroën has announced a target price of about €15,000 in Europe. The concept previews a future model expected within the next two years.

Chardon described the project as more than a nostalgic exercise.

“We don’t live in a museum,” he said. “It’s interpreted to meet current customer expectations.”

“This is exactly the philosophy that we bring today. We want the 2CV to be affordable. The car will be 100% electric, and it’s typically Citroën because the car makes you smile outside and also inside.”

For South Africa, the biggest question is whether the eventual production model could make its way to local showrooms.

“Today I was very happy to meet people from South Africa who said, ‘Why not bring the new 2CV to South Africa?’” Chardon said.

“This car is iconic. I think this could be an interesting lever for future growth in South Africa.”

No local launch has been confirmed. However, Chardon said Citroën’s focus remains on finding the right balance to meet expectations in markets like South Africa.

This car is iconic. I think this could be an interesting lever for future growth in South Africa.

Citroën CEO Xavier Chardon

“I think what is important is to find the right balance between cost, affordability and offering something that answers customer needs,” he said.

“South Africa is a challenging market, but they deserve the best from Citroën.”

If the 2CV revival eventually reaches local shores, it could provide Citroën with a distinctive growth opportunity built on a familiar name, modern electric technology and the promise of affordable mobility.

Citroën, one of the brands within the Stellantis portfolio, is expected to feature prominently in the group’s plans for the South African market.

• Mochiko was a guest of Stellantis at the Paris Motor Show

Story audio is generated using AI

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) paid 94 top managers a combined R270m in remuneration packages during the 2025/26 financial year, equivalent to about R5.2m a week.

The figures are contained in the Sars 2025/26 annual report which details the tax authority’s remuneration, revenue collection and operational performance.

According to the report, top management received an average remuneration package of R2.87m per person during the year.

The figures come as Sars reported net tax revenue collections of R2.01-trillion, exceeding its revised target of R2-trillion and representing an 8.4% increase on the previous financial year.

Overall personnel expenditure reached R9.34bn while the tax authority paid R627.99m in performance rewards across its workforce.

Former Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter received a total remuneration package of R11.83m during the financial year.

The package comprised a basic salary of R8.445m, bonus payments of R3.07m, allowances of R170,000 and contributions of R141,000.

The deputy commissioner for taxpayer engagement and operations received R7.19m, while the deputy commissioner for enterprise strategy and modernisation received R6.61m.

The deputy commissioner for corporate and enterprise services received R2.62m for five months of service while the chief of staff received R4.79m.

Combined, the five executive positions accounted for R33.03m in remuneration in 2025/26. This was down slightly from R33.11m in 2024/25.

Sars appointed Johnstone Makhubu as its new commissioner, with his five-year term commencing in May this year.

Despite the substantial remuneration bill, Sars reported strong revenue collection during the financial year.

Net tax revenue reached R2.01-trillion, while gross revenue collections totalled R2.468-trillion. The authority paid R457.9bn in tax refunds.

Personal income tax remained the largest contributor to revenue, generating R793.9bn, or 39.5% of total collections.

Value-added tax contributed R500.6bn, accounting for 24.9%, while company income tax generated R349.3bn, representing 17.4% of the total.

Sars said its compliance and enforcement activities secured R319.2bn during the year, up from R304bn in the previous financial year.

The authority maintained a cost-to-net-tax-revenue ratio of 0.75%, meaning its operating costs remained below 1% of the net tax revenue collected.

Sars referred 211 cases, with a combined potential loss to the fiscus of R4.37bn, to the National Prosecuting Authority.

It also secured 135 guilty verdicts, resulting in 12 custodial sentences totalling 77 years of direct imprisonment.

In its efforts to combat illicit trade, the authority conducted 1,632 interventions, resulting in 9,766 seizures valued at R7.84bn.

The seizures included 1.4 million clothing and textile items and 188.2-million cigarette sticks.

The annual report also highlighted the authority’s digital services with its artificial intelligence assistant, Lwazi, answering more than 2.7-million taxpayer questions and receiving an 82.9% positive feedback rating.

Sars issued 5.84-million automated personal income tax assessments with only 1.47% of taxpayers choosing to amend them.

The tax authority reported a clean audit outcome from the Auditor-General of South Africa, with an unqualified audit opinion and no material findings on its financial statements and performance reporting.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

President Cyril Ramaphosa has apologised for the Bronkhorstspruit water crisis that has left many children ill and hospitalised.

Between October 7 and 18, 408 cases of gastrointestinal illness were recorded after residents were exposed to unchlorinated water from the Bronkhorstspruit water treatment works.

On Monday Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya addressed the water contamination crisis in Bronkhorstspruit, publicly admitting that the City did not communicate with the residents adequately.

Speaking during the ANC’s door-to-door campaign in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said they are dealing with the issue and challenge.

He said the national government had intervened after the City of Tshwane failed to properly treat water supplied to communities in the Bronkhorstspruit area, apologising to those who had fallen ill.

“The issue in Tshwane was not underreported. The issue of the challenge of water was reported on time and we immediately embarked on finding solutions,” he said.

WATCH | President Cyril Ramaphosa during his door-to-door campaign trail in Daveyton speaks on the water issues plaguing the metros touching especially on what has happened in Tshwane. pic.twitter.com/iOm0bJsaqq

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) October 20, 2026

“We’re very sorry that it has resulted in the challenge of illness that has affected a number of people. That’s why the minister of health has become involved — but we will be dealing with that problem because we cannot afford a situation where our people are drawn to illness because of our inability to treat water properly.”

Most patients were rehydrated and discharged within a day, while Bronkhorstspruit Hospital set up an isolation area and overflow beds to manage the influx.

Patients were also treated at surrounding facilities, including:

• local clinics;
• Steve Biko Academic Hospital; and
• Mamelodi and Wilgers hospitals.

Daily admissions peaked on October 13, when 72 cases were reported in a single day, before dropping to 16 new cases by October 18.

Ramaphosa said the water crisis in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni required national intervention.

“National now has to intervene and come up with solutions. Now, with regard to dealing with that challenge, we are invoking the work of the national water crisis committee. So the national water crisis committee is dealing with the challenge and we are hoping that in a few days we will have a solution.”

The committee was established to ensure that people across the country have access to safe drinking water, he said. “[This is] to make sure that our people have safe drinking water — not only in Tshwane, Johannesburg or Ekurhuleni but throughout the country.”

Water provision remains the responsibility of the municipality but national government had to step in because of the ongoing challenges, he added.

“It’s most unfortunate that it happens in the municipality that has been dogged with water challenges all along.”

Sowetan

Story audio is generated using AI

France has reported the first known human case of Shamonda virus in a patient who died, raising questions about the risks posed by a livestock virus that has reached Europe this year decades after first being detected in Nigeria.

What is Shamonda virus?

Shamonda is transmitted by biting midges and mainly affects cattle, though infections have also been identified in sheep, goats, horses and alpacas.

It belongs to the same group as Schmallenberg virus, which causes reproductive disorders in livestock.

Where has it spread?

First detected in cattle in Nigeria in 1965, it has since been found in parts of Africa and Asia.

First identified in Europe in late July, by October 20 cases had been reported in more than a dozen European countries including in top cattle breeders France, Germany, Spain and Ireland. France said the virus had been likely been circulating in the country since the spring.

How dangerous is it for animals?

Symptoms include fever, diarrhoea and reduced milk production.

More serious complications include abortions and severe foetal malformations. Neurological disorders have also been reported in some horses.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) says the long-term impact of the European variants remains uncertain.

What is the risk for humans?

The first documented patient was being treated for a serious illness at a hospital in Lyon and had a severely weakened immune system.

The UN’s World Health Organization said that based on current information and knowledge of the transmission of closely related viruses, this was an isolated human case and unlikely to lead to wider spread at this time.

French authorities suspect infection occurred through a midge bite in eastern France, where the virus circulated among livestock earlier this year.

They said the patient’s brain complications were very likely linked to Shamonda, although investigations into the infection and death are continuing.

What is its current status?

Shamonda is not a disease listed by the WOAH and countries are therefore not required to notify WOAH of cases under its disease-specific reporting obligations.

Nor is it listed under the European Union’s Animal Health Law framework, meaning it is not subject to EU disease-specific mandatory surveillance.

Because of this, available data may not provide a complete picture of its spread.

Reuters

WATCH ALL EPISODES

Click here to find previous episodes of Spotlight with all the movie news you need, and follow the show on Facebook for all the latest news and giveaways.

Spotlight ramps up spooky season with magic, monsters, revenge and plenty of mayhem, from a forbidden forest to DC’s latest horror film and the return of Mzansi’s funniest dating show.

How far would you go for the people you love? In the stop-motion fantasy adventure Wildwood, a young girl sets off into a mysterious forest after her baby brother is taken, facing a dangerous world of magic and monsters to bring him home. From the Oscar-nominated studio behind Coraline, the film is directed by Travis Knight and features an all-star voice cast including Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett and Awkwafina. With its handcrafted animation and fantastical creatures, Wildwood takes audiences on a magical adventure into the unknown at cinemas and IMAX.

From magical creatures to monsters seeking vengeance, DC Studios brings a chilling new horror story to the big screen with Clayface. When a rising actor’s career is destroyed after he is horribly disfigured, a miracle treatment offers the promise of a comeback, but the transformation comes at a terrifying cost. Directed by James Watkins, known for Speak No Evil and Bastille Day, the film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Clayface alongside Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan. Prepare for nightmares as Clayface arrives in cinemas and 4DX.

From revenge on the streets of Detroit to one of Hollywood’s most controversial scandals, this week brings gripping stories of crime and consequences. If you missed Motor City on the big screen, the action drama is now available on iTunes, Google TV, Prime Video and BoxOffice. Set in the 1970s, it follows a man who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and emerges from prison with revenge firmly in his sights.

The four-part docuseries OJ Unseen: Exploitation of Evil examines OJ Simpson’s controversial attempted television comeback, featuring never-before-seen footage from his hidden camera prank show. Catch it on Investigation Discovery, DStv channel 171.

Mzansi’s funniest dating show is back. Dating #NoFilter South Africa returns for a third season on Bravo, DStv channel 124, bringing more awkward dates, brutally honest reactions and laugh-out-loud commentary. Led by Jason Goliath, the hilarious lineup of comedians, actors and entertainers delivers unfiltered opinions as real singles navigate the highs, lows and cringeworthy moments of dating. With familiar faces and new additions joining the mix, Spotlight caught up with members of the cast to find out what viewers can expect from the new season.

For full interviews, breaking news, trailers and clips, visit our Spotlight Facebook page. See you at the movies.

Presenter Collette Prince is styled and dressed by Claris by Gerrit Pienaar when attending premieres and special events.

Facebook @Claris by Gerrit Pienaar/Instagram: gerritpienaardesigns.

TimesLIVE

Video courtesy of SABC.

TimesLIVE

Carrim was arrested on October 15 at OR Tambo International Airport as he was trying to board an international flight.

Stream courtesy of SABC.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Much like their parents, pets need good food and exercise to keep weight off. With that in mind, it’s important to be cognisant of what’s in their food and its quality.

The team at Pack Leader, known for their focus on pet nutrition, have put together a guide to understand your pet’s health needs.

It’s not only about how much they eat

Dogs and cats are naturally meat eaters and are designed to thrive on a diet high in animal protein, with low carbohydrates. While they can digest and use carbohydrates to limited degrees, they do not need them.

Several commercial pet foods rely heavily on carbohydrate-rich ingredients and lower-quality plant protein sources, which do not provide the same nutritional benefits as quality animal protein.

The concern is not simply how many calories a food contains, but where those calories come from and what nutritional value they provide. Diets high in rapidly digested carbohydrates and lower-quality ingredients are not compatible for supporting long-term metabolic health and weight management.

Why protein matters

When calorie intake is reduced, adequate protein becomes particularly important. It supplies the building blocks needed to maintain muscle, helps pets feel satisfied after eating and supports their overall condition while they lose excess fat.

Losing muscle alongside fat can affect strength, mobility and the body’s energy needs. A more appropriate approach to weight management is therefore to provide sufficient quality protein and essential nutrients while carefully controlling total calories and fat.

Less food should not mean less nourishment

A lower-calorie food is not automatically the best choice for weight loss if its nutritional composition does not meet the individual pet’s needs.

“Some traditional weight loss pet foods restrict calories without necessarily increasing protein from animal sources by increasing fibre bulk. This approach tricks the body into feeling full, reducing food intake, but deprives pets of the required nutrient intake their bodies need,” says chief operations officer at Pack Lead, Sonja Maricevic.

The aim should be to manage calories without compromising nutrition. This requires considering the quality of the ingredients and the amount of food appropriate for the individual animal.

Pet owners should also remember that even a good-quality diet can contribute to weight gain if portions are too large or treats and table scraps add too many extra calories. Activity levels, age, breed, health and sterilisation status can all influence a pet’s needs.

Turn the bag around

Making informed choices starts with understanding what is in the food being purchased. Rather than relying solely on packaging claims or pictures on the front of a bag, pet owners should examine the ingredients and nutritional information.

Ultimately, helping pets maintain a healthy weight is not about putting them on restrictive diets. It is about making informed choices, feeding appropriate portions, keeping treats in check, providing regular activity and, importantly, understanding whether the food in their bowl is meeting their nutritional needs.

Story audio is generated using AI

10 minute tomato pasta

Ingredients

• 300g Spar spaghetti
• 4 Spar Freshline ripe tomatoes, grated
• 1 punnet Spar Freshline mini plum tomatoes, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 3 Tbsp Spar olive oil
• pinch chilli flakes (optional)
• salt and black pepper
• handful fresh basil leaves

Method

1. Cook spaghetti according to packet instructions.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pan.
3. Add garlic and chilli flakes (if using) and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Stir in quartered mini plum tomatoes and then the grated tomatoes.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Toss drained pasta through the tomato sauce.
7. Add basil and season well.
8. Serve with lots of parmesan.

Loaf tin chicken shwarma

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken breast fillets
• 2 Tbsp Spar olive oil
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp garlic powder or 1 finely crushed garlic clove
• juice of 1 Spar Freshline lemon
• 2 tsp salt
• ¼ cup Spar double cream plain yoghurt
• 1 Spar Freshline red onion, sliced
• 1 Spar Freshline red pepper, sliced
• 1 Tbsp parsley, chopped

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Mix oil, spices, lemon juice, yoghurt and salt.
• Coat chicken thoroughly and arrange in a loaf tin with red onion and red pepper.
• Add a good drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle the parsley over the top.
• Roast for 35 to 40 minutes until golden and cooked through.
• Rest for 5 minutes then slice.
• Serve in warm toasted wraps or flatbreads with tomato and cucumber salad, lettuce, onion and tzatziki.

Smoked trout éclairs

Ingredients

For the éclairs:

• 125ml water
• 50g butter
• pinch of salt
• 75g cake flour
• 2 large eggs

For the smoked trout mousse:

• 100 g smoked trout, flaked
• 250 g Spar crème fraiche
• zest of a Spar Freshline lemon
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• black pepper and a pinch of salt

Recipes courtesy of Spar.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Global media and entertainment company Canal+ has reported a 37.5% rise in revenue for the nine months to end-September and is “well on track” to deliver its 2026 guidance.

The group said on Thursday the increased revenue of €6.41bn on a restated basis primarily reflects its increased scale after the MultiChoice acquisition.

Group revenue remained broadly flat year on year on a like-for-like basis, including nine months’s contribution from MultiChoice.

Group revenue excluding MultiChoice increased 1.3% on a restated basis to €4.65bn and by 0.8% on a like-for-like basis, supported by strong momentum in French-speaking Africa and in content production and distribution, it said.

Europe revenue decreased 1.4% on a restated basis and by 1.5% on a like-for-like basis, mainly reflecting the termination of the C8 channel in the first quarter of 2025 and the end of the distribution of DAZN in France, and the divestment of the DTH subscriber base in Hungary in 2025.

Excluding these effects, revenue in mainland France was broadly flat. The increase in DtoC Pay-TV revenue was offset by lower contribution from wholesale and the weakness of the advertising market, it said.

In the overseas territories, revenue was broadly stable. The consolidation of MC Vision in Mauritius was offset by the slight decline in the pay-TV subscriber base.

Africa and Asia revenue more than tripled to €2.6bn after the acquisition of MultiChoice. Revenue, including MultiChoice, increased 3.1% on a restated basis and 0.7% on a like-for-like basis. This reflects 10.2% like-for-like revenue growth of Africa and Asia excluding MultiChoice and a slight decline for MultiChoice, it said.

As expected, the subscriber base normalised in the third quarter after the significant boost from the Fifa World Cup in the first half.

MultiChoice Group revenue increased 0.4% on a restated basis, benefitting from a material positive currency effect. On a like-for-like basis, revenue decreased 3%, driven by lower subscription revenue in South Africa, partially offset by higher revenue in most other English-speaking countries.

In French-speaking Africa, like-for-like revenue performed well, reflecting subscriber growth supported by a compelling line-up and improved distribution efficiency.

Asia revenue maintained its growth momentum, supported by an enhanced content offering and long-term subscriptions.

CEO Maxime Saada said the group had delivered a solid performance in the first nine months of the year.

Revenue was in line with expectations, supported by strong momentum in French-speaking Africa and at StudioCanal.

“We are making good progress with the MultiChoice turnaround plan. In September, a new, simplified value proposition was launched in South Africa, providing subscribers with more content, greater choice and better value for the same price. The rollout of the new offers will continue across English- and Portuguese-speaking Africa over the coming months,” Saada said.

He said the group had further strengthened its sports offering in Africa.

“We secured exclusive rights to all Uefa men’s club competitions across more than 40 countries for 2027–2031, the group’s first major sports rights acquisition covering all our markets on the continent, and rights across Africa for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and its qualifying campaign,” Saada said.

He said the group remains well on track to achieve its 2026 synergies target and full-year guidance.

“While the group is cognisant of the macroeconomic and political backdrop, its medium-term guidance remains unchanged,” he said.

Business Day

Story audio is generated using AI

Digital services company Eltel says it faces virtual collapse and possible liquidation over an alleged R36.4m debt owed by the ANC, with deputy president Paul Mashatile cited in an urgent high court application seeking to force the party to pay for work linked to its 2019 election campaign.

In papers filed in the Johannesburg high court on Monday, Eltel director Asif Casoojee warned that the company cannot wait for the next funding cycle to recover the money, arguing that the delay threatened its continued operations.

Eltel is seeking an order compelling the ANC to pay R36.4m, comprising the outstanding principal debt and accumulated contractual interest as at the end of September.

The company is also asking the court to direct the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to withhold upcoming public funding allocations due to the ANC, up to the value of the claim, and to pay those funds into the trust account of Eltel’s attorneys.

Eltel argued that the money allocated to the ANC provided a potential source from which the outstanding debt could be recovered.

“The applicant cannot afford to wait until the end of the next funding quarter next year to seek redress,” Casoojee said in his founding affidavit.

Mashatile, cited in his former capacity as the ANC’s treasurer-general, is being asked to take administrative, financial and executive steps within his authority to ensure that the party complied with the payment demands.

The application traces the dispute to digital media, technology and campaign services that Eltel says it provided to the ANC during the 2019 national and provincial elections.

Eltel is an independently owned business. It does not have institutional resources or external investors capable of indefinitely carrying a debt of this magnitude.

Eltel director Asif Casoojee's affidavit,

Casoojee says the company committed financial resources, infrastructure and expertise to deliver the campaign, believing the party would honour its contractual obligations.

He says the company continued accommodating the ANC despite delays in payment and the growing commercial burden associated with the outstanding debt.

“(Eltel) is an independently owned business. It does not have institutional resources or external investors capable of indefinitely carrying a debt of this magnitude,” Casoojee stated.

He argued that Eltel’s decision to continue supporting the campaign was based on the expectation that the ANC would eventually settle its obligations.

The affidavit set out a series of acknowledgements and repayment undertakings which Eltel relied on to support its claim that the ANC recognised the debt over several years.

On May 30 2019, the company says, the ANC’s then CFO Bongani Mahlalela sent a formal communication attaching a signed letter acknowledging the outstanding debt and indicating when payment could be expected.

A further confirmation followed on July 23 2019, when Mahlalela allegedly wrote to Eltel confirming that the ANC owed R21.5m for services rendered during the 2019 elections.

In February 2020, the ANC allegedly issued an updated acknowledgement confirming that the principal debt had increased to R21.7m.

The papers said the party was working to raise funds to settle the amount.

A further payment protocol was allegedly signed on June 22 2020, committing the ANC to paying R8m by June 30, followed by R12m by July 31. Eltel alleges that the protocol was ignored and breached.

In September 2020, after an alleged payment of R5m, the ANC acknowledged a remaining balance of R15,478,244, including interest, and undertook to settle it by the end of that month.

The outstanding amount nevertheless remained unpaid, the company said.

The dispute continued into 2022, when Mashatile, then the ANC’s treasurer-general, allegedly acknowledged the debt and made another undertaking to pay.

In a letter dated August 15 2022, Mashatile allegedly confirmed that the ANC owed Eltel R23,665,280 and committed the party to paying R2m by the end of that month while negotiations continued over the balance.

The affidavit said the debt had also been formalised through a promissory note signed by Mashatile on March 16 2022 in his official capacity on behalf of the ANC.

According to Casoojee, the document contained an unconditional written promise to pay the outstanding amount and set out the repayment obligations.

Eltel said the ANC made an initial payment of R1m but failed to settle the remaining principal balance of R23,275,735.

The company argues that the failure to honour the promissory note made the outstanding balance immediately enforceable.

By September 30 2026, Eltel calculated the total amount due, including accumulated contractual interest, at R36,457,40.

It is also seeking further interest at 10.5% a year on the outstanding principal, as well as R2.9m in legal costs.

The company is also seeking an order directing the ANC and Mashatile to provide details of active banking accounts, investment facilities and provincial structures designated to receive public funding allocations.

The Sunday Times has established that the matter is set down for an urgent hearing in the Johannesburg high court on October 27.

The Sunday Times previously reported that Eltel obtained a default judgment against the ANC last month in connection with the debt.

The latest application seeks further relief, including orders targeting the party’s public funding allocations and specified assets, to secure payment.

Building on the success of its Business Booster campaign, the initiative is designed to support the growth of small and medium-sized tourism businesses.

Each winner receives a package valued at over R350,000 from FlySafair, including:

• 10 return domestic Business Class flights.
• A full-page feature in FlySafair’s digital InFlight magazine.
• Brand exposure on the FlySafair website.
• Visibility across the airline’s social media platforms, which reach more than 1.5-million followers.

In addition, the winners receive car hire coupons from First Car Rental and tailored business solutions from Vodacom SA.

“What stands out about these four businesses is how personal they are,” says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair.

“They take visitors into artists’ studios, onto tracking trails, through Durban’s food and street culture and into the story of Cape Town’s Robben Island.”

Gordon adds that for small businesses, a flight can open doors to new connections and opportunities for growth.

“Our hope is that these four meet new customers and partners, and that more South Africans discover what they offer,” he says.

“When businesses like these grow, so do their teams, their communities and the places they call home.”

Meet the winners

World Trackers

World Trackers is built on a partnership of three decades between Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo (pictured above).

Combining Mhlongo’s traditional tracking skills with Van den Heever’s guiding and wilderness experience, the pair offer something far beyond a traditional safari: the chance to understand the African bush through the eyes of experienced trackers.

Both are also involved in the Tracker Academy, which develops skilled trackers from disadvantaged rural communities and helps preserve traditional tracking knowledge.

The flights will allow Van den Heever and Mhlongo to travel across South Africa to meet potential clients, build relationships and expand their network.

“Winning this competition is an incredible opportunity for World Trackers to share our passion for Africa, wildlife and the ancient art of tracking with a wider audience,” they say.

Travel Bug Tours & Safaris

Travel Bug Tours & Safaris started as a small Durban tour business with a belief that tourism should do more than move people between attractions.

Today the destination management company works with local guides, artists and food businesses to show visitors the people and stories behind a place, from Big Five safaris and Drakensberg journeys to a new Durban street-art experience with local artist Kev7.

As it grows from a KwaZulu-Natal-focused operator into a broader destination management company, Travel Bug plans to use the flights to meet travel trade partners and clients in Johannesburg and Cape Town, attend industry events and develop new itineraries.

“As we grow, we want that growth to create opportunities for the guides, artists, small businesses and communities that form part of the experiences we offer,” says founder Dominic Naidoo.

Art Aid Africa

For 25 years, Art Aid Africa has connected indigenous knowledge and traditional skills with contemporary art, design, industry and new markets.

Today, it brings this experience into immersive tourism, taking visitors beyond the usual tourist trail and into the creative pulse of South Africa from cutting-edge contemporary art and street culture to independent studios, emerging designers and rural communities where heritage meets innovation.

The flights will help the Art Aid Africa team build partnerships with travel industry innovators, open up new markets and bring more visitors into direct contact with the people shaping South Africa’s contemporary cultural landscape.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster competition gives us wings to take our ideas further,” says John Anthony, Art Aid Africa’s co-founder and creative strategist.

Legacy Collection

Cape Town-based Legacy Collection turns original Robben Island prison fencing into handcrafted jewellery, art and statement pieces, each telling a story of human rights, justice and South Africa’s journey to democracy.

Founding artist and CEO Charmaine Taylor-Claasen says she will use the FlySafair flights to meet jewellery retailers, art galleries, interior designers and property developers across the country, train retail staff to share the story behind each piece, and grow Atlas + Taylor, a bespoke travel business offering private Robben Island storytelling tours.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster is the opportunity Legacy Collection has been waiting for to take our business to the next level,” says Taylor-Claasen.

“It gives me the freedom to travel across South Africa, meet retailers and build partnerships that will help grow our national footprint.”

This article was sponsored by FlySafair.

Story audio is generated using AI

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana struck a cautiously optimistic tone in his mid-term budget speech on Wednesday, saying the economy had withstood geopolitical turmoil relatively well.

This was despite a cut to the 2026 growth forecast, with Godongwana pledging to maintain the fiscal prudence that has earned South Africa favourable reviews from ratings agencies.

The mid-term budget policy statement Godongwana tabled in parliament drew mixed reaction, including a thumbs down from labour federation Cosatu.

The key ally of Godongwana’s ANC said the National Treasury had missed the opportunity to present bold interventions to promote stronger growth, tackle high unemployment and grapple with high rates of crime and corruption, as well as embattled public and municipal services.

But Godongwana argued that the economy had proved itself resilient to the Middle East war, which has sent fuel prices soaring, pushing up production costs for key sectors such as manufacturing and mining.

Read: IN FULL | Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s MTBPS speech

“South Africa is weathering the storm much better than its peers because we have been able to consistently take hard decisions over the last five years that have built our fiscal buffers and fortified our resilience,” he told legislators, even as he lowered the GDP expansion forecast for 2026 to 1.2% from the 1.6% predicted in February, still slightly higher than last year’s 1.1%.

Growth is expected to reach 1.6% in 2027, down from the 1.8% seen in February, and 2% by 2029.

“This statement recommits the government to responsible stewardship of public resources, to creating the conditions for faster and more inclusive growth, and to building a state capable of delivering on the aspirations of all South Africans.”

In its medium-term budget, the National Treasury said it would soon publish for public comment draft legislative proposals for a fiscal anchor. These will require each administration to prepare a plan setting out its fiscal objectives and targets in line with its electoral mandate. This will mean that fiscal discipline to entrench fiscal sustainability will be written into law.

The fiscal anchor will be principles based, rather than impose numerical rules as favoured by credit ratings agencies. The anchor, which the Treasury said formed part of “the most extensive reconfiguration of the public finance system since 1999”, has been in the pipeline for several years and been widely consulted on.

Godongwana said the draft law was expected to be tabled in parliament in 2027, adding that the approach adopted by the National Treasury “preserves flexibility in changing economic conditions while strengthening transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline”.

Our commitment to macroeconomic stability has reinforced economic resilience. Structural reforms in energy, rail and tourism are removing barriers to growth. More competitive electricity and transport sectors will help reduce costs for households and businesses over time.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana

In motivating for a fiscal anchor in its February budget review, the Treasury had warned that without sustainable public finances, “debt services costs will consume ever more of the economy’s available resources, eroding investment, productive capacity and living standards”.

“In my budget speech in February I said we had reached an important turning point in the public finances. I spoke of restored credibility, of renewed resilience and of a nation regaining its footing,” Godongwana said on Wednesday.

“That is as true now as it was in February, even after a turbulent year for the global economy. Our commitment to macroeconomic stability has reinforced economic resilience. Structural reforms in energy, rail and tourism are removing barriers to growth. More competitive electricity and transport sectors will help reduce costs for households and businesses over time.”

In its reaction, Cosatu said it was “extremely disappointing” that no further allocations had been made in the medium-term budget to boost public employment programmes to give hope to 12-million unemployed people.

“It is beyond shameful that despite the R13bn worth of savings in social grants, yet again there is no inflationary relief for the 8-million destitute SRD [social relief of distress] grant recipients,” the federation added.

It was referring to the Treasury saying it expected to save R13bn in social grant payments over the medium term, freeing up extra money to help combat gender-based violence and reduce child stunting.

The savings will arise due to more stringent verification of applicants for the SRD grant, which was introduced to mitigate the economic hardships caused by lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But in a move that will offer some relief to households and businesses whose budgets have come under serious strain amid steep fuel prices since April, as the US-Iran war has strangled the global oil supply, the Treasury said it would again reduce the general fuel levy by R3 per litre for diesel and R1.50/l for petrol from November 4 until December 1.

Thereafter, until January 5, the diesel levy will be reduced by R1.50/l and the petrol levy by R1/l.

“Geopolitical conflict has pushed up global oil prices and led to a sharp rise in the cost of living for businesses and households,” Godongwana said. “Because we have rebuilt fiscal buffers, the government is in a stronger position to respond, including by again providing a temporary fuel levy.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa had told journalists on Monday that the Treasury was “giving consideration” to potential interventions to ease the pressure on South Africans with petrol and diesel prices soaring nearly 50% and 72%, respectively, over the past seven months.

Unlike labour, business gave Wednesday’s policy statement a thumbs up, with Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) applauding the Treasury’s commitment to containing its debt, which has seen gross debt stabilising at 78.4% of GDP in 2025/26, below the 78.9% peak projected in February.

“That discipline is being rewarded: the rand has remained resilient, strengthening and becoming less volatile despite the sharp rise in global oil prices resulting from the war on Iran, and the ratings agencies are taking notice,” BLSA said.

“S&P upgraded South Africa in November 2025, Fitch followed in June 2026, its first upgrade in almost 21 years, and Moody’s moved to a positive outlook. BLSA expects further upgrades after these figures, which would lower borrowing costs for the government and business alike.”

The rand initially firmed after the minister’s speech, but by the JSE’s close it had given back those gains to trade flat at about R16.39/$. Bonds fared better, with the yield on the benchmark R2035 falling as much as 16 basis points to 8.575%.

Business Day

Story audio is generated using AI

Mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe says he will not apologise for his controversial remarks about alleged sex-for-jobs exploitation, insisting that he has not been told what he should apologise for.

In an interview with the SABC, Mantashe said the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), which has demanded a public apology and disciplinary action against him, had not approached him directly to explain its concerns.

“The first thing is that the Women’s League has not spoken to me and my expectation was that the Women’s League will talk to me and I would understand exactly what is it that I should apologise for. Is it Xhosa? As a language, what is it that I am apologising for?” he said.

Mantashe maintained that he did not believe his comments warranted an apology, arguing that Xhosa linguists agreed with his interpretation of the language he had used.

“No. I am not apologising for something I do not know. I don’t know what I should apologise for, but I’m expected to apologise. I’m asked by everybody to apologise but all linguists, Xhosa linguists, agree with me that there’s nothing wrong that I have said that requires an apology and that’s why I don’t know what I’m apologising for,” he said.

The controversy follows comments Mantashe made while on the campaign trail in North West this month, when he was asked about allegations that a municipal councillor in a mining town had solicited sexual favours from women seeking employment.

In a widely circulated video of the exchange, Mantashe dismissed the matter as a personal issue rather than a problem involving the ANC.

“Don’t involve me in issues of asking for a vagina. This person asked for a vagina from a person that he encountered. This can’t be an ANC issue.

“If councillors, once elected, try to use their position to sleep with people, just know that the man is behaving badly and is going around sleeping with people. That’s not an ANC thing,” he said.

The remarks sparked criticism, with the ANCWL demanding that Mantashe issue a public apology and face disciplinary action over his response to the allegations.

The league’s intervention has placed renewed focus on the party’s handling of allegations of sexual exploitation, particularly where people seeking employment may be vulnerable to those abusing positions of authority.

Mantashe’s comments also raise questions about the language used by political leaders when responding to allegations of sex-for-jobs exploitation and whether dismissing such allegations as individual misconduct adequately addresses concerns about abuse of power.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

About 27 foreign national traders in Bellville have turned to the Western Cape high court, accusing the City of Cape Town and police of failing to protect them from anti-immigration groups allegedly using intimidation and threats to drive them out of business.

The traders, supported by the Somali Association of South Africa (Sasa), want the court to stop Operation Dudula and the March and March Movement from preventing them from operating at the Bellville Trading Zone, despite holding valid municipal trading permits.

In court papers filed on Monday, the applicants accuse the city of failing to take reasonable steps to prevent what they describe as unfair discrimination and the unlawful disruption of their livelihoods.

They seek prohibitory and mandatory orders against Operation Dudula and the March and March Movement, which in the court papers they describe as “vigilante respondents”.

The applicants also want authorities to develop a coordinated plan to ensure traders can safely access their stalls without intimidation or interference.

The respondents include the City of Cape Town, the minister of police, the national commissioner and the Western Cape police commissioner, the Bellville police station commander, Operation Dudula, the March and March Movement and Siyabulela Dukumbane, cited on behalf of Operation Dudula and Concerned Citizens.

According to the founding papers, the dispute dates back to June 30, when members of the two anti-immigration movements allegedly began blocking foreign nationals from trading at the Golden Arrow Bus Terminus and Middestad Mall trading areas, collectively known as the Bellville Trading Zone.

The applicants allege that the groups launched a campaign targeting black foreign national informal traders.

“The vigilante respondents are demanding that all other non-nationals trading at the Bellville Trading Zone cease trading and leave South Africa,” the court papers state.

The traders maintain that they are legally entitled to live and work in South Africa and that the city has issued them with informal trading permits in accordance with its trading by-laws.

They argue that the blockade has deprived them of their only source of income, threatening their families’ survival.

“The traders are indigent and rely on their informal trading income to provide for their households,” the papers state.

The applicants say foreign nationals often face significant barriers to entering the formal job market, leaving informal trading as one of the few opportunities to earn a living.

Some of their trading stock and belongings were forcibly removed from their trading bays.

Abdulhakim Mumin Salih Husein, a Somali national employed by Sasa

In his founding affidavit, Abdulhakim Mumin Salih Husein, a Somali national employed by Sasa, alleges that the blockade is part of a broader anti-immigrant protest that began on June 30.

He said traders who tried to return to their stalls on July 1 were confronted by groups of people, some wearing clothing associated with Operation Dudula and the March and March Movement.

They were allegedly told they were not permitted to trade in South Africa and should leave the country.

“Some of their trading stock and belongings were forcibly removed from their trading bays,” Husein said.

He further alleges that about 13 affected traders approached the Bellville police station to report the incidents but were turned away after spending about seven hours seeking assistance.

According to his affidavit, officers allegedly told them they could not assist because the traders could not identify the alleged perpetrators by name.

No criminal cases were opened and police allegedly failed to take written statements from the complainants.

Husein said the alleged police response, coupled with the city’s failure to intervene, had left traders vulnerable to further intimidation and financial losses.

He accused the authorities of allowing private individuals to interfere with lawful economic activity based on traders’ nationality or perceived immigration status.

The applicants argue that the city has failed to enforce its informal trading by-laws and trading plan, despite issuing permits authorising the traders to operate in the designated area.

They also accuse the municipality of failing to enforce its public nuisance by-law against those allegedly obstructing access to trading spaces.

Husein said the city’s inaction had effectively prevented permit holders from exercising the rights granted to them under municipal regulations.

The traders want the court to compel the authorities to develop and implement a coordinated response to the alleged intimidation, restore safe access to the trading zone and prevent further disruptions.

They contend that the City’s failure to ensure safe and unhindered access to the Bellville Trading Zone amounts to unfair discrimination based on nationality, citizenship or refugee and asylum-seeker status.

The applicants want the court to declare the city’s alleged failure to act unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid.

The allegations against the city, police and anti-immigration movements remain claims contained in the court papers and have not been established by the court.

The City of Cape Town said it would respond to Sunday Times’ inquiry in due course. Western Cape Operation Dudula said it could not comment as it had not seen the court papers.

This is according to finance minister Enoch Godongwana, who tabled his 2026 medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) before a joint sitting of parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon.

Godongwana said National Treasury was making progress on embedding fiscal sustainability through a principle-based fiscal anchor.

“To safeguard these gains, government released draft fiscal anchor legislation for public comment in October. The legislation is expected to be tabled in parliament in 2027. The proposed legislation sets out fiscal sustainability as a standard in the Public Finance Management Act,” he said.

“Instead of a rigid numerical rule, it requires each administration to commit to its own fiscal objectives, consistent with the electoral mandate. It then reports against it at every budget and explains any material deviation to parliament.”

In our view, we are not prescribing to future administrations, because each administration will have to produce a fiscal plan.

Enoch Godongwana, finance minister

He said the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) is given new responsibility to independently report on the consistency of the fiscal framework with the administration’s fiscal plan.

“This approach preserves flexibility in changing economic conditions while strengthening transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline. Most importantly, it helps to ensure that developmental priorities and constitutional obligations are pursued at a pace that public finances can sustain.”

Briefing reporters ahead of tabling the MTBPS, Godongwana said there was broad consensus in the GNU cabinet that the fiscal anchor was positive.

“I would be misleading if I said there were issues in cabinet on the fiscal anchor, as a principle. There might have been one or two who asked whether we are trying to prescribe to future administrations. In our view, we are not prescribing to future administrations, because each administration will have to produce a fiscal plan.”

The FFC will play an advisory role in the implementation of the fiscal anchor which ultimately seeks to test the feasibility and credibility of the fiscal plan that the government presents, he said.

“In the way that we are designing the fiscal anchor, we are not designing it to say there is a supervisor. How the role of the Financial and Fiscal Commission is designed is that government will put up the fiscal plan. Its main function will be to assess the feasibility and credibility of that plan, [do its analysis], and then table that to parliament.”

National Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse said government fiscal plans will be assessed by the FFC, but it will not have any veto powers over budgets and parliament’s role and powers remain the same.

Writing such a standard into law will create a durable commitment to sound public financial management, preventing a return to the fiscal deterioration that characterised the period from the global financial crisis to the early 2020s.

MTBPS

The Treasury said in the MTBPS the government will propose a principle-based fiscal anchor into law to entrench fiscal sustainability.

“Fiscal sustainability will be defined as the ability of the state, under reasonable macroeconomic and fiscal assumptions, to meet its present and future expenditure and debt-service obligations and to manage its fiscal risks, without undermining macroeconomic stability and without requiring an unrealistically large or abrupt future correction to revenue or expenditure,” it said.

Alongside the MTBPS, the government has published legislative proposals for a fiscal anchor, which create a duty for each administration to prepare a fiscal plan, in line with its electoral mandate, through which it sets its fiscal objectives and targets.

“Writing such a standard into law will create a durable commitment to sound public financial management, preventing a return to the fiscal deterioration that characterised the period from the global financial crisis to the early 2020s.

“It will formally define fiscal sustainability as the ability of the state, under reasonable macroeconomic and fiscal assumptions, to meet its present and future expenditure and debt-service obligations and to manage its fiscal risks, without undermining macroeconomic stability and without requiring an unrealistically large or abrupt future correction to revenue or expenditure.”

The MTBPS says the fiscal anchor is expected to form part of the most extensive reconfiguration of the public finance system since 1999, in line with broader efforts to strengthen state capability.

Story audio is generated using AI

Carrington Laughton, convicted a decade ago for the murder of restaurant chef Betty Ketani, wants correctional services boss Makgothi Thobakgale to face jail time unless he complies with a court order to consider whether he is fit to serve the rest of his sentence at home under correctional supervision.

Laughton was sentenced in 2016 to 30 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Ketani. His sentencing dominated headlines over a breakthrough in the 1999 cold case after the discovery of a confession letter, resulting in the discovery of Ketani’s remains and the unravelling of her murder 13 years after her death.

Laughton turned to the high court in Johannesburg seeking a court order to convert the sentence of direct imprisonment into correctional supervision.

Correctional supervision means Laughton would serve the remainder of his sentence at home under the supervision of correctional services. His application is based on provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act.

In July, his application before judge Lebogang Modiba failed on the basis that the first request had to be sent to commissioner Thobakgale or a parole board to consider whether he is fit for his sentence to be converted.

In the judgment, Modiba ordered the state to consider Laughton’s request in 30 days.

The Criminal Procedure Act provides that if a person has been sentenced by a court to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or exceeding five years but his date of release under the Correctional Services Act (1959) and the regulations “is not more than five years in the future”, the commissioner or a parole board may deem if the applicant is fit for correctional supervision.

The court, however, has the last say in the process.

The provision is interpreted to include the date on which such prisoner may be considered for placement on parole.

Laughton contended he qualified for consideration because the offences for which he was convicted were committed during May 1999, and in determining his parole eligibility and release date, the provisions of the Correctional Services Act applied. He contended the parole consideration in his circumstances was May 2026 after serving one-third of his sentence.

While Modiba dismissed Laughton’s relief for the court to convert his sentence, she ruled parole eligibility must be determined with reference to the law applicable at the time the offences were committed. The court found Laughton accordingly falls to be considered under the transitional provisions relating to the 1959 Act.

On Tuesday, Laughton turned to the high court again in a case against Thobakgale and correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald.

Other respondents include five correctional services management officials, including Ruth Magakwe of the case management committee (CMC) and Luckyboy Mathiba, chair of correctional supervision.

In court papers, Laughton’s legal representative, Paige Ferreira, argued the state is in contempt of the Modiba court order.

Modiba’s order required compliance in 30 days for consideration of her client’s request to serve the remainder of his sentence at home under supervision. Ferreira argued that did not occur.

She said that on September 11, after a CMC sitting, Laughton was informed he was not a suitable candidate for consideration of the conversion of the sentence, with the committee citing the nature of the crimes committed and that his sentence exceeds five years.

“The applicant [Laughton] asks that the respondents [correctional service officials] be ordered to comply, failing which the individual office bearers responsible be committed to prison, and that they personally bear the costs of having to bring this application,” the court papers read.

Ferreira argued that the report did not recommend her client for conversion of sentence falls short of what the court had ordered the officials to do.

“The respondents failed to deliver their report within the 30 days. Some 14 days after the period expired, a one-page letter was given to the applicant which falls dismally short of what the respondents were ordered to do in terms of the order.

“The letter does not confirm the applicant’s release date, repeats the very contention that this court had rejected and records no decision by the commissioner or any duly authorised functionary. The applicant asks that the respondents be ordered to comply.”

Ferreira argued the first reason proffered in the report for the applicant’s lack of eligibility for consideration of the conversion of his sentence, that his sentence “exceeds five years”, is not a ground for disqualification.

Another shortcoming in the report is that the law required the consideration of the conversion of the sentence to be decided by the commissioner or a parole board, but in Laughton’s case the report was signed by the CMC assistant director.

“The purported report records no decision by the person on whom the statute and the order place the decision. Section 276A(3)(a) vests that opinion in the commissioner or a parole board. The letter is signed by an assistant director of the CMC and says only that the CMC ‘cannot recommend’ the applicant,” she argued.

“The respondents’ actions have been a failure, resulting in severe prejudice to the applicant. The respondents ought to be held personally responsible for the payment of the applicant’s costs in this matter, considering their personal conduct and failure,” argued Ferreira.

The state is opposing the application.

Zane Matiwane, correctional services legal officer, argues in an affidavit that even if the court finds further steps are required to comply fully with Modiba’s order, that does not automatically establish wilful and bad faith disobedience by Thobakgale and five other officials in correctional services management in their personal capacities.

“The available records reflect the applicant’s profile, and the request was considered within the correctional services processes, including a sitting of the case management committee; correctional supervision and parole board minutes reflecting that the board considered the offender for conversion of sentence and recorded a decision that he does not qualify for conversion of sentence,” Matiwane says.

It is the state’s case that the order was complied with.

“The respondents submit that records demonstrate the applicant’s case or request was not simply ignored. Therefore, the allegations of wilful noncompliance with the court order of this honourable court are, it is contended, unfounded and without basis,” Matiwane contended.

“I am advised that before a contempt of court order can be granted, an applicant must first demonstrate the existence of the requirements for contempt.”

Matiwane described the application, which seeks an order for Thobakgale and five other correctional services officials personally to be in contempt, committing them to imprisonment or imposing fines, and directing them to pay costs, as “exceptional relief and requires a proper factual and legal basis in respect of each official”.

“The fact that an official holds a particular office does not, by itself, establish personal wilfulness and mala fides. The respondents submit the applicant has not established a sufficient basis for the collective personal sanctions sought against all the officials cited.”

The matter has been postponed to Friday.

Business Day

“I haven’t had time to kind of let it all sink in,” he said on Tuesday evening. He was in the middle of a Test after all, one he correctly feels his side can still win.

But it is the fact that he believes that which makes his career-best 179 so special, and worthy of ranking among the best Test innings by a South African player.

But where exactly?

It is worth recalling the circumstances surrounding Bavuma’s knock. The Proteas are 1-0 down in this, the first of three series on home soil this summer. The defence of their World Test Championship crown was significantly damaged by that 214-run loss against Australia in Durban, where Bavuma himself didn’t contribute with the bat, and was among the South African batters who gave their wickets away too easily.

The second Test saw South Africa in trouble at various stages; 20/2 in a short 12-overs session in the drizzle on day one when Bavuma had to survive a hat-trick ball from Scott Boland, then 40/2 midway through a tricky 30-over session on a truncated day two and then 110/6 half-an-hour after the start of the third day.

The mental fortitude required to survive, the patience needed to build partnerships and then the management of those partnerships for seventh and eighth wickets, allied to his technical skill, allowed Bavuma to dig South Africa out of those various trouble spots and push ahead to put his side in the ascendancy.

If the Proteas are able to win, Bavuma’s innings will certainly climb the ladder as one of the country’s very best.

Aiden Markram’s 136 in the fourth innings to win the World Test Championship arguably holds top spot, given its historical significance, the quality of the Australian attack and just the general shot-making seen over the course of the six and half hours he was at the crease.

Any hundred made in a final will always carry greater lustre, and Markram’s innings will be hard to top.

AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and JP Duminy all delivered innings that helped South Africa claim historic series triumphs. Smith and Duminy, made theirs to decide the series.

Smith’s 154 not out against England at Edgbaston in 2008 was a supreme display of composure and fierce concentration, that helped South Africa claim a first Test series win in the UK in 43 years.

The Birmingham venue has long been a fortress for the English with the vociferous support making it a cauldron where visiting teams have often imploded. In that Test Andrew Flintoff had delivered a fiery first innings spell against South Africa’s right-hand batters, including Jacques Kallis. He’d created havoc by bowling from an angle, which made judging the trajectory of the ball difficult because of a window above the sightscreen.

It didn’t affect Smith, nor did Monty Panesar spinning the ball out of the rough. After South Africa had slipped to 93/4 in pursuit of 281, Smith forged partnerships with De Villiers and most crucially Mark Boucher, before smashing the winning runs off Kevin Pietersen, and thrusting his arms aloft in the gloom of Birmingham.

Duminy’s 166 five months later at the Melbourne Cricket Ground saw the Proteas claim a first-ever Test series win in Australia. There are multiple reasons that innings holds such fondness for Duminy’s teammates and South African supporters.

It was his second Test, in what was then still the biggest venue in the sport. Australia had posted 394, and when Duminy arrived at the crease the Proteas were 121/4, a position which got worse by the end of the second day, when they’d lost seven wickets and were still 200 runs behind.

But on one of the most magic days in South African cricket history, Duminy and Dale Steyn shared a 180-run partnership for the ninth wicket, that unbelievably saw the Proteas claim a first innings lead.

Duminy’s driving that day was reminiscent of Brian Lara at his best and the elegance with which he dissected Australia’s attack drew praise from many Australian greats including their former captain and renowned commentator Richie Benaud.

It was an innings that turned Duminy into a star and paved the way for a decade of intense rivalry between the two countries, which saw South Africa claim a further two series wins Down Under, with Duminy playing another significant role in the 2016 success.

De Villiers’ unbeaten 126, also at St George’s Park, eight years ago saw him benefit from hard graft from Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla, who took the sting out of the same Australian attack Markram overcame at Lord’s last year.

It was a thrilling attacking innings from De Villiers, whose straight driving against a reverse-swinging ball was jaw-dropping. He hit 20 fours and one six, ripping the initiative away from the Australians, and turning what was a feisty series on its head before the drama of Cape Town. South Africa would eventually go on to win its first series against Australia on home soil in the post-isolation years.

A bit like that innings from De Villiers, the importance of Bavuma’s innings may only become clearer in the months and years ahead.

SA’s Top Four Test innings —

• Aiden Markram 136 — vs Australia, Lord’s 2025
• Graeme Smith 154* — vs England, Edgbaston 2008
• AB de Villiers 126* — vs Australia, St George’s Park 2018
• JP Duminy 166 — vs Australia, Melbourne 2008

Best of the rest -

• Hashim Amla 311 — vs England, The Oval, 2012
• Faf du Plessis 110* — vs Australia, Adelaide 2012
• Ashwell Prince 149 — vs England, Headingley, 2008
• Hashim Amla 253* — vs India, Nagpur, 2010
• Gary Kirsten 76 — vs New Zealand, Wellington, 2004
• Jacques Kallis 161 and 109* — vs India, Newlands 2011
• Temba Bavuma 179 — vs Australia, St George’s Park, 2026

A unanimous judgment this week dismissed an appeal by the social development minister, Gauteng’s social development MEC and the provincial department’s head against a scathing Johannesburg high court ruling that declared their adoption guidelines unconstitutional and ordered that the conduct of the social workers involved be reported to their professional body.

The government parties argued that the adoption procedures were defective, the mothers had not acted independently and the processes should start again. The court rejected their case. Both adoptions had already been finalised in 2023.

In her written decision on Tuesday, judge of appeal Nambitha Dambuza found that department of social development (DSD) officials had wrongly conflated two different legal processes: proceedings to protect children from circumstances such as abuse or neglect, and proceedings governing adoption.

The department treated a care-and-protection investigation as a compulsory gateway to adoption. It also relied on guidelines giving priority to biological relatives, community and culture, rather than applying the law to each child’s circumstances.

The SCA found no legal foundation for that approach, finding that the guidelines imposed additional requirements and fundamentally altered the statutory adoption process.

“The act does not set out a hierarchy of relevant factors,” Dambuza wrote.

The court rejected a blanket requirement that every adoption first pass through the separate care-and-protection process, saying that the priority for biological family or same-culture placement was not automatic.

Culture and family relationships, while relevant, could not be turned into an overriding rule that displaces the assessment of what is best for a particular child.

“There is no fixed formula,” she found.

The ruling did not do away with adoption safeguards, finding that consent requirements, subject to the act’s exceptions, remained in place and that for a child to be adopted, the prospective parents must meet the statutory requirements and the adoption must serve the child’s best interests.

The case against the DSD was laid out in the plight of two babies, identified only as B and L.

The mother of Baby B gave birth in 2018. The child’s father had disappeared and wanted nothing to do with the pregnancy. The SCA heard that Baby B was moved from hospital without his mother being informed of the application that authorised the move. The baby spent four months in a temporary care facility before being placed with the family who ultimately adopted him.

But along the way, the department’s intervention repeatedly derailed the process. The matter returned to the Children’s Court 15 times between 2018 and 2020, while officials pursued the possibility of placing the child with his biological grandparents in the name of preserving his cultural roots.

The social worker who recommended this had never met the child or his prospective adoptive parents and had not investigated their circumstances.

The department eventually refused to recommend the adoption, despite an earlier court order directing it to approve the child’s placement.

This judgment reinforces the need for an adoption system that is accessible, respects women’s rights, follows the law and places the best interests of each child at its centre.

Khuliso Managa, Women’s Legal Centre attorney

In the second case, Baby L’s mother had also chosen adoption. She feared her family would discover her pregnancy and objected to officials disclosing it to them. When told that officials intended visiting her parents, she obtained a high court order preventing disclosure.

The department nevertheless then sought to revisit the adoption recommendation it had issued, arguing that the process had been irregular and that the child should be removed and the proceedings restarted.

The two mothers jointly approached the high court in December 2020.

Johannesburg high court judge Evette Dippenaar’s judgment in November 2022 set aside the guidelines, substituted a decision recommending B’s adoption and permanently stayed the department’s attempt to review its recommendation in L’s case.

The declarations concerning the guidelines, constitutional violations and professional referral were among the matters taken on appeal. The orders resolving the disputed recommendation letters were not part of the SCA appeal.

B’s adoption was finalised on May 26 2023 and L’s on August 8 2023. Yet the government parties persisted before the SCA in arguing that the processes should begin again.

The SCA described government parties’ lack of insight and persistence in seeking the children’s removal from their families as “gravely unsettling”.

It found no evidence that the adoptive parents were unsuitable. The families were the only ones the children had known, and their interests clearly lay in remaining with them.

The high court in 2022 had found violations of the mothers’ rights to dignity, bodily and psychological integrity, and privacy. The reasoning was that a woman’s reproductive autonomy extended beyond deciding whether to terminate a pregnancy to deciding to consent to adoption.

The high court had also recognised a right not to disclose a pregnancy where there was no statutory duty to do so, while acknowledging that constitutional rights were not absolute.

The SCA upheld the earlier findings. It found no support in the act for the officials’ affront to the mothers’ independence, dignity and privacy. The mothers’ consent had never been withdrawn and the appellate court dismissed the argument that they had not acted independently.

The SCA found no basis to overturn the high court’s order that the social workers’ conduct be referred to the South African Council for Social Service Professions for it to exercise statutory oversight and afford the social workers an opportunity to respond before imposing disciplinary sanctions.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, including the costs of three counsel.

Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) attorney Khuliso Managa, who represented the mothers, said: “WLC has consistently raised concerns about adoption practices that prioritise placement with biological or extended family members without properly considering the wishes and rights of birth mothers, or the individual circumstances of the children concerned.”

She said the centre would continue to call for stronger legal protection for the rights of birth mothers to choose adoption, and to exercise that choice privately and confidentially.

“This judgment reinforces the need for an adoption system that is accessible, respects women’s rights, follows the law and places the best interests of each child at its centre,” she said.

The department of social development did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. It will be added when received.

That is because state health care in South Africa has a bad reputation, and rightly so. Severely under-resourced and under-staffed, the standards are low and care is basic at best.

Those who have no choice but to put their lives in the hands of the state healthcare system know to expect long waits and a lack of resources. Yet despite the many and substantial challenges facing the sector, there is an expectation of a baseline level of care, even if it is unacceptably rudimentary.

But in Gauteng, even this now seems to be in question. For the past month, a shortage of chronic medication at clinics has resulted in some patients having to buy medicines privately, ration their pills or find alternative ways to manage their conditions.

One woman at the Mamelodi East clinic told the Sunday Times this week that her mother and aunt had been told by nurses to split their pills in half, taking one half in the morning and saving the other for the following day.

How long will this alarming scenario continue?

The department says the shortage is due to several factors, including changes in medicine contracts, supplier delays, procurement lead times, limited supplier participation and broader pressures on the pharmaceutical supply chain. What that sounds like is a whole lot of mismanagement and poor planning.

For years, Gauteng health has evaded accountability. It has been 10 years since the Life Esidimeni disaster, in which 140 psychiatric patients died due to starvation, dehydration and gross neglect after 1,500 were moved into ill-equipped, unlicensed NGOs.

The fallout was massive and one would have thought it would have been a wake-up call for the province. Yet the controversies have continued.

More recently there have been controversies over long delays for cancer patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, controversial leadership appointments and persistent linen shortages leaving patients without basic bedding.

In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the department was rocked by massive personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement scandals, with senior officials implicated in inflating contract prices and bypassing legal bidding processes to benefit politically connected individuals.

The following year came the assassination of Babita Deokaran, a senior financial official in the department who had flagged over R850m in “toxic” and fraudulent payments originating from Tembisa Hospital.

More recently there have been controversies over long delays for cancer patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, controversial leadership appointments and persistent linen shortages leaving patients without basic bedding.

There is also a leadership vacuum. Critical senior management positions including the head of department, chief financial officer and chief operating officer have been occupied by officials in acting capacities, sometimes for years. Major facilities are critically understaffed, with Charlotte Maxeke recently reporting over 700 vacant posts, including hundreds for nurses and doctors. Widespread job freezes are frequent and burnout is high.

Despite being allocated an expanded R70.3bn budget for the 2026/27 financial year, structural issues prevent the department from translating these funds into effective healthcare delivery.

The department continues to haemorrhage public funds, accumulating billions in irregular expenditure and staggering medico-legal claims (peaking at R18bn in 2023).

What can be done? In December, Business Day reported that the National Treasury was poised to push the Gauteng health department ― along with those in KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Northern Cape ― into administration, with sources warning that several hospitals in these provinces faced a high risk of running out of medicine due to a chronic failure to pay service providers within 30 days, overspending salaries, persistently high doctor and nurse vacancies and budget overruns with neglected infrastructure maintenance.

That did not happen, but perhaps it should have. We urge Treasury to put Gauteng health, and other provinces with challenges on a similar scale, back in its sights. Only with the full oversight and scrutiny of administration can there be any hope of righting the sinking ship of health care in South Africa’s most populous province.

1988 — Harold Volbrecht knocks out Phumzile Madikane in the 11th round at Sun City in a record 19th defence of his South African welterweight title. That’s the most defences by any national champion at any weight. Volbrecht won the white South African title in 1976 and in 1978 he defeated black national champion Morris Mohloai for what was called the unified Supreme title. But racially divided titles were scrapped in 1979 and Volbrecht carried on as the South African champion until retiring in early 1989 with a points win over Canadian Dewith Frazer.

1995 — Hansie Cronje takes 4/33 as the Proteas, bowled out for 239, beat Zimbabwe by 112 runs in the second and final ODI in Harare to take the series 2-0. Jonty Rhodes scored 53 and Adrian Kuiper 50.

2000 — Nicky Boje scores 64 and Gary Kirsten 57 as the Proteas chase down the 195-run target to beat New Zealand by six wickets in the second ODI in Benoni and take a 1-0 lead in the six-match series.

2001 — Neil McKenzie hits an unbeaten 131 and Gary Kirsten 124 as the Proteas smash Kenya by 208 runs in a triangular tournament ODI at Newlands. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher made an unbeaten 51 from 20 balls as South Africa amassed 354/3. Charl Langeveldt took 4/21.

2010 — JP Duminy strikes 129 from 117 balls and AB de Villiers 109 off 99 as the Proteas amass 399/6 before thrashing Zimbabwe by 272 runs in the third and final ODI at Willowmoore Park in Benoni for a 3-0 series victory. That was South Africa’s biggest margin of victory in a limited overs international. The top contributor in the visitors’ 127 was Tatenda Taibu on 28.

2011 — Eight years after winning his first world crown, Hank McGregor finishes first in the K1 marathon over 30.1km in Singapore in 2hr 16min 11sec, one second ahead of Petr Jambor of the Czech Republic and two seconds in front of Hungary’s third-placed Mate Petrovics. McGregor’s countryman Shaun Rubenstein, himself a former world champion, was fourth (2:16:19).

2015 — AB de Villiers’ 112 from 107 balls isn’t enough as the Proteas lose the fourth ODI against India in Chennai by 35 runs. Chasing 300, too few of South Africa’s batsmen scored runs, with Quinton de Kock second-best on 43.

2016 — Masabata Klaas takes 3/32 as the South African women bowl out New Zealand for 130 on their way to winning the sixth ODI in Paarl by five wickets.

2017 — Faf du Plessis scores 91 off 67 balls at Buffalo Park in East London as the Proteas beat Bangladesh by 200 runs in the third ODI for a 3-0 series victory. Quinton de Kock made 73 and Aiden Markram 66 to help push the South Africa total to 369/6.

2019 — Theunis de Bruyn’s 30 is the highest score in South Africa’s second innings as they are bowled out for 133 to lose the third and final Test against India in Ranchi by an innings and 202 runs, suffering a 0-3 series whitewash. South Africa failed to bowl out India once during the series.

2024 — Kyle Verreynne, resuming on 18, scores 114 to lift South Africa to 308 for a first-innings lead of 202 in the first Test over Bangladesh in Mirpur.

Russia has deepened a crackdown on European companies in response to Europe’s support for Ukraine, while largely sparing US firms as Moscow courts business ties with Washington, Russian officials and US business people said.

Of 20 foreign-owned firms that Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed under temporary administration since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president in January 2025, only three were linked to the US, with the remainder controlled by European companies, a Reuters analysis of official data shows.

A person close to Russian financial regulators said that while business negotiations were under way with Washington, it was not in Moscow’s interest to take as tough a line on US firms as the Kremlin was adopting towards those from Europe.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday for talks aimed at resolving the war in Ukraine. Russian news agencies reported Putin told Witkoff he was interested in restoring economic ties with the US.

Ukraine and its allies have voiced concerns that the US is backing away from Kyiv, and Trump has criticised Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries even as European leaders have lined up behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia, citing Europe’s wartime support for Ukraine and involvement in “direct battlefield hostilities”, has since last month taken control of local units of Swiss food group Nestlé and retailers Auchan and Metro.

Last week it seized control of the local assets of four smaller companies from France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.

“Their country of origin was one of the factors taken into account in making the decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that these countries were involved in “illegal expropriations of Russian property”.

The EU has measures in place to respond. We can sanction those profiting from forced expropriations.

European Commission

Nestlé, which said in September it would take steps to protect its rights in Russia, declined to comment further. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Switzerland’s state secretariat for economic affairs said that the available information supported the perception that more European than US firms were being hit.

The Kremlin declined to comment on how it was treating US and European companies in Russia, while the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

‘We have Trump’

Russia’s relations with the Trump administration, meanwhile, have warmed. The US announced a deal this month to buy Russian diesel and other deals, including on gas, have been discussed at meetings in recent months. Trump signed an executive order on Saturday waiving key sanctions and tariffs on Russian goods.

Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, a US-educated investment banker who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and has pushed in talks for the return and expansion of US firms, hailed the move as a “historic moment”.

Trump’s envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner have used the prospect of multibillion-dollar deals with Russia as an incentive to push Putin towards a peaceful settlement since the start of talks in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in February 2025.

Dmitriev said last week Russia and the US would soon announce new joint initiatives that could move ahead before the war ends. The US has previously signalled that deals are unlikely while the conflict continues.

One person familiar with the situation said that some Russian officials who do not support peace efforts could yet push for the Kremlin’s actions to include more US companies.

The RDIF’s only current partnership with a US company is a joint investment with New York-listed Titan International in a tyre factory in Volgograd.

Another person familiar with the situation said Dmitriev has in private highlighted this as an example of a thriving US business in Russia.

Titan did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s commitment to economic cooperation with Russia and ongoing talks have helped to protect the interests of US companies, two US business people in Moscow said.

American Chamber of Commerce Russia president Robert Agee said in December last year that European firms in Russia were less optimistic than American ones, citing European policy. The chamber estimates there are some 300 US firms left in Russia.

“We have Trump and they don’t, and our hopes are linked to him,” Agee told Russian media last year. Agee and the chamber declined to comment further for this story.

Russia did target some mid-sized US firms during its property redistribution drive after the start of the war. One report estimated Moscow seized more than $50bn worth of private property from both Russian and foreign owners.

The European Commission in Brussels declined to comment on the number of EU firms being targeted relative to US ones, but said the recent asset seizures were without due process and amounted to “forced expropriation in all but name”.

“This follows a clear pattern of economic retaliation,” a Commission spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the moves showed that “Russia is not a safe environment for business”.

“The EU has measures in place to respond. We can sanction those profiting from forced expropriations,” they added.

Reuters

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana made the announcement in his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) speech, in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

In terms of the relief, the fuel levy will be reduced by R3 per litre for diesel and R1.50 per litre for petrol from November 4 until December 1. Thereafter, the relief will continue at a lower amount until January 5 — the diesel levy will be reduced by R1.50 per litre and the petrol levy by R1 per litre.

Read: IN FULL | Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s MTBPS speech

The Treasury said the intervention would help ease cost-of-living pressures without compromising the sustainability of the budget.

“Geopolitical conflict has pushed up global oil prices and led to a sharp rise in the cost of living for businesses and households,” Godongwana said. “Because we have rebuilt fiscal buffers, government is in a stronger position to respond, including by providing temporary fuel levy again.”

The price of Brent crude oil has risen to more than $100 a barrel and petrol and diesel prices in South Africa have soared by nearly 50% and 72%, respectively, since domestic prices started rising as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. This caused ripple effects throughout the economy and contributed to a spike in the cost of living.

Read: Ghost worker audit flags more than 4,000 fictitious government employees

Petrol and diesel prices rose to R30.28 and R33.29 per litre in October, with further increases expected in November, prompting calls for immediate relief.

The R10bn for the fuel levy relief is not new money. Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse explained during a media question-and-answer session before Godongwana’s speech that it arose from a revenue overrun in the 2025/26 fiscal year.

This was allocated in the Second Special Appropriation Bill to the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF’s) Equalisation Fund, to stabilise basic fuel price volatility linked to international market pressures and to cushion consumers.

Read: Tax windfall boosts South Africa’s fiscal outlook

Pieterse said the CEF would surrender the R10bn to the National Revenue Fund for fuel levy relief, which he said was positive for households, consumption and inflation.

He stressed that this would not affect the fiscal framework. Future relief might be considered, he said, as long as it was fiscally neutral and did not affect the fiscal framework and fiscal targets. It would be difficult to consider if it compromised fiscal targets and the fiscal trajectory.

Read: Treasury warns of fiscal risks posed by provincial health departments

The R10bn allocated to the CEF has not yet been used as the Second Special Appropriation Bill still has to be adopted by the National Assembly. The allocation has so far earned nearly R342m in interest.

The envisaged R10bn fuel levy relief will be in addition to the estimated R17.2bn relief (it actually materialised to relief of about R22bn-23bn) granted in April, May and June, which took the form of temporary cuts to the general fuel levy of up to R3.00/l for petrol and a final total of R3.93/l for diesel.

The relief measure was designed to be fiscally neutral, being funded through a combination of higher-than-expected tax revenue and underspending. It was not expected to have an effect on the fiscal framework adopted by parliament following the 2026 budget.

Business Day

Story audio is generated using AI

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the much-anticipated medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) speech on Wednesday, in which he outlined the National Treasury’s plan to ensure fiscal discipline across government departments.

Godongwana also said he will not hesitate to withhold funds again from municipalities that continue to misuse public money or breach their commitments.

The finance minister responded to the cost of living crisis by allocating R10bn for temporary fuel levy relief.

Read Godongwana’s full speech below:

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

International relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola has criticised ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba over his now-deleted comments about the commemoration of former Mozambican president Samora Machel, saying they reveal the type of politics advanced by him and his party.

“Your comments are deeply disturbing,” Lamola said in a tweet on Tuesday.

This comes after Lamola attended the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Machel’s death at the Samora Machel Memorial in Mbuzini, Mpumalanga, on Monday.

“President Machel died in South Africa coming from a meeting in Lusaka which concerned itself about the liberation of the oppressed people in South Africa and elsewhere. This is deeply revealing of the type of politics you and your party advance,” he said.

Lamola said South Africans should recognise the sacrifices made by neighbouring countries during the struggle against apartheid.

“Peace-loving South Africans know that the cost of freedom was borne not only by South Africans; the front-line states like Mozambique also paid the ultimate price for our freedom,” he said.

The minister’s remarks followed a now-deleted post by Mashaba, who was responding to a video featuring Machel’s daughter, Josina Machel, speaking about the importance of preserving her father’s legacy four decades after his death.

“Africa’s sense of entitlement to South Africa is unbelievable. Samora Machel was the president of Mozambique, not South Africa. Honour his sacrifices in his own country, but do not hold South Africa at gunpoint and demand that we honour him,” Mashaba wrote.

In the video, Josina said the anniversary was an emotional moment that also provided an opportunity to recognise the sacrifices made by those who fought for liberation and ensure their legacy was passed on to future generations.

“This is a site that needs to be kept and be known because my father and the three others that died here died because of the liberation of South Africa,” she said.

She explained that her father and his delegation had travelled to Zambia to discuss regional issues, particularly preparations for South Africa’s liberation.

“Samora is a hero, not just for Mozambique but should be considered a hero who lost his last breath, his last drop of blood in South African soil to represent how Africans have fought for deliberation, which they always said until South Africa is free, none of us as Africans are free,” she said.

Machel, a prominent liberation struggle leader and the founding president of independent Mozambique, died on October 19 1986 when the aircraft carrying him and members of his delegation crashed in the Lebombo Mountains near Mbuzini, close to South Africa’s borders with Mozambique and Eswatini.

Thirty-four other people, including Cuban doctors and the ambassadors of Zambia and the then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), also died in the crash.

The Samora Machel Memorial was unveiled in 1999 by former president Nelson Mandela to honour those who died and commemorate solidarity between the peoples of Southern Africa.

“We honour the legacy of President Machel and memorialise all those who perished alongside him. We also celebrate the ideals they championed: freedom, human dignity, solidarity and the right of all people to determine their own future,” Mandela said at the time.

Addressing Monday’s commemoration, Lamola said South Africa and Mozambique had a responsibility to ensure younger generations understood the sacrifices that made their freedom possible.

He also spoke about the pledge made after Machel’s death that the monument at Mbuzini would symbolise the shared suffering of Southern Africa’s people and affirm their common destiny of liberty, peace and social progress.

The commemoration was attended by Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, First Lady Gueta Chapo, Machel’s widow Graça Machel, survivors of the crash, and families of those who died alongside government leaders and representatives from both countries.

TimesLIVE

Godongwana is under immense pressure as South Africans wait in anticipation of whether the National Treasury will offer some reprieve as the cost of living has hit most households.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

The father of a four-year-old girl dubbed “Baby Nikita” has pleaded guilty to her murder.

The father and the mother appeared in the high court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Before the court proceedings started, the mother kept her eyes closed and palms together as if she was praying.

While the father pleaded guilty, the mother pleaded not guilty.

The father faces charges including murder, rape and child abuse, while the mother faces charges of failing to report the alleged abuse and sexual offences.

According to the indictment read out in court, Baby Nikita was allegedly assaulted, bitten and drowned in a bath at the family’s home on August 6 2025. She died at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital on August 11 2025.

The indictment also contains two charges of rape relating to the four-year-old, with the state alleging that an unknown object was inserted into her private parts.

The two accused face further charges of child abuse and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm relating to Baby Nikita and her sibling.

The father also faces charges of assaulting a police sergeant and resisting arrest.

The mother faces a separate charge of failing to report a sexual offence allegedly committed against the child, which the state says she knew about.

During proceedings, the charges against both accused were read out in court before they were asked whether they understood the allegations.

The matter is expected to proceed with the mother still facing the charges against her.

Her defence team indicated they were ready to proceed with the trial.

Proceedings were postponed to Thursday to allow the father’s lawyer time to bring a statement in court regarding the guilty plea.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

By Samia Nakhoul

Israel’s election next week may change its leader, but not its strategy: Iran will remain its chief adversary, military force will continue to be its preferred tool and Palestinian statehood a distant prospect, regional policymakers and analysts say.

That is because the strategic assumptions underpinning Israeli policy were hardened by the October 7 2023 attacks on southern Israeli communities by Palestinian militant group Hamas and by the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

If anything, Israel could toughen its security policy, the analysts said, as victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the backing of far-right coalition partners could embolden him to step up the war with Iran, tighten Israel’s grip on the occupied West Bank and push diplomacy further to the margins.

Israel’s security doctrine now rests on three pillars: breaking Iran, holding buffer zones beyond its borders and using force to deter enemies.

The real divide is one of degree rather than direction — how aggressively Israel fights its wars, how far it expands Jewish settlements in the West Bank and whether any leader opts for diplomacy, the analysts said.

From Tehran to Riyadh, Tuesday’s election is not seen as a potential turning point but as a test of whether the Middle East is settling into a long confrontation, where wars ebb and flow while the underlying conflicts are unresolved.

“If Netanyahu is elected, he’ll do whatever he thinks he wants to do,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser to Netanyahu. “Expansion of the settlements will continue. The wars against Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah will continue.”

”What you see now is what you’ll see after the election, maybe even more aggressively," he said. “As long as Iran is in such a situation, it’s a waste of time talking about Palestine.”

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel must prioritise “prevention and offence over containment and defence”, including pre-emptive strikes to thwart emerging threats, while establishing Israel as a regional power and maximising its independence in armaments.

Why the course is unlikely to change

The election pits Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and its ultranationalist allies against an opposition led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party.

Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib sees no prospect of a fundamental shift in policy towards the Palestinians, with Israeli political parties competing to project harder-line positions as public opinion moves further to the right.

“The substance of the policy remains the same: no to a Palestinian state and yes to further settlement expansion. On this, they are all in agreement,” he said.

A government led by Netanyahu’s opponents might seek to repair Israel’s international standing by curbing some settler violence or pursuing settlement expansion with less fanfare. But such changes would be a shift in style rather than substance, al-Khatib said.

The substance of the policy remains the same: No to a Palestinian state and yes to further settlement expansion. On this, they are all in agreement.

Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib

Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center said Israel’s security establishment and much of its political class share a common strategic outlook, centred on confronting Iran, maintaining “forward defence” and preserving military deterrence, reducing the scope for big policy shifts.

Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, who has conducted research in the West Bank, said growing settler violence, mounting Palestinian frustration and the absence of a “political horizon” had created combustible conditions, where even a minor trigger could spark a wider uprising.

‘Venomous octopus’

Some regional policymakers ask whether Israel’s confrontation with Iran has become the organising principle of Middle East security, regardless of who wins the election.

US President Donald Trump’s praise of Netanyahu as a “great warrior prime minister” has reinforced expectations that the Israeli leader will try to finish the campaign against Tehran if he retains power.

Netanyahu has made clear his ambitions extend beyond containing Iran to toppling its clerical rulers.

“Completing the task means toppling the terrorist regime in Iran, the head of the venomous octopus,” he said in a speech this week.

But military and political analysts question whether anything short of a US-Israeli ground invasion would force Tehran to abandon what it views as its core security interests in what it sees as an existential fight. After surviving months of war, Iran may be betting it can outlast its opponents while continuing to exert pressure through regional allies.

“This is a quagmire,” Young said. “The Iranians can outlast Trump.”

Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza have been weakened, but the broader network of Iran-aligned groups has survived and the conflict could strengthen Tehran’s determination to pursue a nuclear deterrent, the analysts said.

For all the alarm Netanyahu causes in the Arab world, some Gulf leaders still see him as the Israeli politician most likely to keep Iran under pressure.

This creates a dilemma for them. They oppose what they view as his expansionist policies but want Iranian influence curbed.

“Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon are damaging,” said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Center. “As for Iran, a settlement is needed before the conflict escalates further. If Iran’s role is not curbed, the region could be heading toward 50 years of Iranian hegemony.”

Reuters

Monique Pereira, spa manager at Steenberg Spa, says making time for yourself amid the demands of everyday life requires intention.

Whether it is working mothers who feel they come second to others or feeling overwhelmed with too many tasks at work, she advises people to start with small, realistic changes rather than waiting for life to become less demanding.

Here are eight mental wellbeing tips she believes can help you cope with the stress:

Start with something manageable

Identify one small adjustment that feels achievable, whether it is taking a proper lunch break, going for a short walk or setting aside a few minutes to unwind.

Pereira encouraged people to start with something manageable and enjoyable. The intention is to find practices that fit their lives and to which they want to return.

Find ways to move that you enjoy

Physical activity can support mental wellbeing, but it does not have to involve an intensive exercise programme. The WHO recommends adults undertake 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week.

Regular physical activity is associated with improved mental health and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Starting with a short walk and building gradually can make movement easier to sustain.

Give sleep the attention it deserves

Rest is often sacrificed when there is too much to do, yet sleep plays an important role in our ability to manage emotions, concentrate and cope with everyday pressures.

A consistent bedtime, a calmer night routine and less screen time before bed can support better sleep and help maintain energy for the day ahead.

Eat regularly and stay hydrated

Making time for balanced, regular meals and drinking enough water can help support energy and concentration throughout the day.

Small changes can make this easier, such as preparing lunch in advance, keeping water nearby or taking a proper break to eat rather than working through it.

Make time to be outdoors

Spending time in nature can provide a welcome break from daily pressures and an opportunity to bring attention back to the present. This could mean walking in a park, sitting in the garden or taking a few minutes outside between tasks.

A May research briefing in Nature Human Behaviour, drawing on a global analysis of more than 3,800 studies involving more than 10-million people, highlighted evidence linking contact with nature to reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, and greater relaxation.

Make room for connection

Relationships can provide valuable opportunities for support, perspective and belonging. Connection does not always have to mean conversation. It is equally important to recognise when we need quiet or time to ourselves.

Paying attention to what feels restorative, rather than following a prescribed routine, can help us make choices that better suit our needs.

Create small pauses in your day

Try stepping away from a screen, taking a few slow breaths, spending a few minutes in silence or writing thoughts occupying your mind.

Setting boundaries around work and electronic notifications can also help protect time for rest and personal activities.

Recognise when you need more support

Self-care can support wellbeing, but persistent changes in mood, sleep or daily functioning warrant professional support. A GP or mental health professional can help identify the right care.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

On October 21 2026, “Afrika” commemorates 40 years since the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights entered into force on October 21 1986, a date now observed across the continent as African Human Rights Day.

Is it a holiday or day to reflect? Be that as it may, the African Charter remains the cornerstone of Africa’s human and people’s rights system and the normative foundation of the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).

As South Africans and Africans, the anniversary invites difficult but necessary questions which this telegram will pose without fear or favour.

Marking 30 years since South Africa acceded to the African Charter in 1996, what has been our value, contribution and presence within the African human and people’s rights project?

Human and people’s rights promise

South Africa emerged from apartheid carrying immense moral authority. The democratic constitution of 1996 embodied many of the values championed by the African Charter: human dignity, equality, freedom, social justice and non-discrimination.

When South Africa acceded to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on July 9 1996, it signalled not merely a legal commitment but a continental obligation to help build an Africa founded on human rights, democracy and peoples’ development.

In many respects, South Africa has added value.

The country’s constitutional jurisprudence is frequently cited as a model for the protection of dignity, equality and socioeconomic rights. South Africa has supported continental peace initiatives and democratic transitions in several Afrikan states, including Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Burundi.

It has ratified key African human rights instruments and participated in the reporting processes of the African human rights system and failures to report on time and implement concluding observations.

Through institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission, the country has contributed to the broader culture of rights accountability in Africa.

These are achievements that deserve recognition, yet more can be done.

The African contradictions

Yet the African Charter requires more than constitutional symbolism and people’s enjoyment of constitutional rights.

Today, 40 years after the charter came into force, Africa faces persistent challenges of conflict over natural resources, health data protection, access to clean water and sanitation, poverty, inequality, unemployment, corruption, Afrophobia, state violence, environmental injustice and restrictions on civil liberties. South Africa is not immune from these realities.

The question therefore is not whether South Africa possesses progressive laws, but whether those laws have translated into lived human dignity and real freedom.

For many African communities, the answer remains uncertain and problematic.

Millions continue to confront structural poverty despite constitutional guarantees. Informal settlements expand while socioeconomic inequalities remain among the highest in the world. Rural communities continue to struggle for equitable access to land, water, development and public services.

Human and people’s rights implications

The recent Bronkhorstspruit human rights situation raises concerns regarding:

• The right to water (section 27 of the Constitution).
• The right to health, because contaminated water exposed residents to disease.
• The right to dignity (section 10 of the constitution), as communities could not safely drink, cook, bathe, or wash using municipal water.
• Children’s rights (section 28 of the constitution), given that most affected persons were young children.

The Bronkhorstspruit water crisis is not merely a municipal service delivery failure. It is a human rights challenge that engages the constitutional rights to water, health, dignity and children’s welfare, and South Africa’s obligations under African and international human rights law.

The African Charter recognises not only individual rights but also peoples’ rights, including the right to development, culture, self-determination and participation in decisions affecting their lives.

Measured against this broader vision, South Africa’s record remains unfinished.

Rastafaris in South Afrika and Afrika

As African Human Rights Day marks 40 years of the charter, one important question remains largely absent from mainstream human and people’s rights discourse:

Have Rastafari communities experienced the full protection of human and people’s rights promised by the constitution and the African Charter?

For decades Rastafari communities in Southern Africa have raised concerns regarding cultural recognition, religious freedom, access to traditional sacramental practices of holy bread, educational accommodation and equal treatment before the law.

While legal advances have occurred, many Rastafari still experience marginalisation within social, educational and governmental institutions.

The African Charter protects freedom of conscience, religion, culture and human dignity. Its promise cannot be fulfilled selectively. Human rights are tested not by how states treat the majority, but by how they protect minorities whose beliefs challenge dominant social norms.

South Africa’s continental responsibility

South Africa’s greatest contribution should not be measured solely by diplomatic statements or treaty ratifications by our departments of international relations and co-operation and justice and constitutional development.

Its true and ethical contribution should be measured by whether it advances human dignity over political expediency and favouritism; social justice over inequality; Afrikan solidarity over xenophobia; development that benefits people rather than “tsotsistocratic” elites; freedom of conscience for all communities, including indigenous and Rastafari peoples; accountability for state and non-state human rights violations.

These principles reflect the spirit of the Afrikan Charter itself.

From commemoration to accountability

As Africa marks 40 years of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, celebration alone is insufficient. The anniversary must become a moment of continental self-examination. South Africa has undoubtedly contributed to the Afrikan human rights project.

Yet our presence cannot be judged only by the strength of our constitution or the prestige of our democratic transition. It must be judged by whether ordinary Afrikans, the poor, women, youth, migrants, indigenous peoples and Rastafari communities, experience justice in their daily lives.

The question remains open.

Three decades after joining the African Charter system and 40 years after its entry into force, has South Africa fully realised the charter’s vision of human dignity, equality, development and peoples’ rights? Or are we still travellers on a road whose destination remains unfinished?

As Afrikans reflect on October 21 1986 to October 21 2026, perhaps that is the most important question of all.

Aluta continua. Human and people’s rights continua. Afrikan dignity continua.

• Ras advocate Sipho Mantula is a researcher at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs and a Rastafari intellectual soul rebel.

The spelling of “African” has been kept as “Afrikan” at times at the request of the author.

TimesLIVE

ANC Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye said Chikane was not among the candidates excluded because the party failed to press the submission button before the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s deadline in August. However, he could still be nominated for mayor.

“No, he is not part of those who were excluded due to the failure to press the button,” the secretary said in response to questions about whether Chikane would return to the campaign trail after the Constitutional Court’s ruling in the ANC’s favour over candidate-list submissions.

“However, if the NOBs [ANC’s national office bearers] decide on him being a mayoral candidate, he can still be added to the list after the first council meeting,” Manganye said.

The first council meeting could elect a speaker, after which another meeting could be convened to elect the mayor once the list had been amended.

The ANC faces a difficult contest in Johannesburg, where it trails the DA by 13.2 percentage points, according to an eNCA MarkData poll released in October.

The survey put the DA at 35% of the intended votes compared with 21.8% for the ANC, followed by the MK Party at 12.5%, the EFF at 11.9% and ActionSA at 10.3%.

The poll also found widespread dissatisfaction with the city’s management, with 76.6% of respondents identifying the ANC as mainly responsible for poor municipal services.

In a separate question on preferred mayoral candidates, DA candidate Helen Zille led with 30.6%, followed by ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on 23.4% and incumbent mayor Dada Morero on 15%. Chikane was not among the candidates in that mayoral-preference question.

Chikane was shortlisted by the ANC alongside incumbent Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero and ANC Johannesburg regional chair Loyiso Masuku as one of three possible candidates for the party’s mayoral nomination. He has been less visible on the public campaign trail than Morero and Masuku, while his absence from the final candidate list has raised questions about an intervention by the party’s national leadership.

The list places Masuku first on the ANC’s Johannesburg proportional-representation list, with Morero fourth. Chikane does not appear on the certified list. Masuku’s position reinforces her standing in the regional leadership contest, but the order of the list does not automatically determine who the ANC will nominate as mayor.

There is a precedent for the party selecting a mayoral candidate not at the top of its list. In 2021, Masuku also topped the ANC’s Johannesburg proportional-representation list, but the party nominated the late Mpho Moerane, second on the list.

Meanwhile, the ANC is seeking to resolve candidate-list problems ahead of the November 4 elections. The Constitutional Court ruled in October in a case concerning the party’s submission of candidate lists in six municipalities.

IEC CONFIRMS INCLUSION OF ANC CANDIDATES IN THE SIX AFFECTED MUNICIPALITIES.#VoteANC2026 pic.twitter.com/U6WHFkJSCv

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 18, 2026

The ANC has subsequently welcomed confirmation from the IEC that the inclusion of 181 ANC candidates in those municipalities has been finalised.

In a letter dated October 18, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo confirmed that verification had been completed, no voters’ roll exceptions had been identified for the candidates and the ANC was not required to submit further documents. The IEC also confirmed that the candidates would appear on the ballot sheets.

The six municipalities affected by the ruling are Ngquza Hill, Port St Johns, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the IEC had accepted the candidates’ names already held in its system without requiring further action from the party.

“There is no action or log-in the ANC had to do or is expected to perform,” Mbalula said in the party’s statement. “The names will now appear on the ballots as well.”

The ruling and the IEC’s subsequent confirmation concern candidates in the six affected municipalities.

Business Day

Story audio is generated using AI

Beaded sticks, colourful swirls, Soul City’s Sister Bettina and 400 plates tell the story of South Africa’s battle against HIV and TB in an exhibition which opened at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Titled Zero is Greater, it brings together seven artists tracing the country’s journey from the darkest days of both epidemics to one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programmes.

A collaboration between the Gates Foundation and Constitution Hill, with advocacy group Global Health Strategies brought on as communications partner, the exhibition confronts the human cost of HIV and TB.

The idea came from the Gates Foundation’s Erin Cote, who finds creative ways to tell stories that reflect its mission.

“We wanted to bring the HIV story to life in a different way, that brings in the TB story too,” Cote told the Sunday Times.

An open call attracted 60 proposals, from which seven artists were selected.

For multidisciplinary artist Lazi Mathebula, a rewarding moment came when a security guard recognised the character at the heart of his work.

“When I was bringing my piece on site, a security guard asked me, ‘Hey, is that Sister Bettina?’ and I was so happy, because that is what I wanted. My aim was to create something that is relatable and accessible,” he said.

Growing up in Alexandra, Mathebula watched Soul City and volunteered at his local clinic, helping with HIV awareness and supporting patients taking medication.

The television drama brought health and social issues into people’s homes. Its fictional nurse, Sister Bettina, played by Lillian Dube, became a familiar face in the fight against HIV stigma.

That legacy anchors Mathebula’s triptych.

“I wanted my work to be accessible, the character to be identifiable and the message clear, red ribbons included.”

For interdisciplinary artist Serai Lobelo, the epidemic exposed a deeper question: who gets access to dignity, and at what cost?

His installation recalls families ostracising relatives living with Aids.

“My concept was drawn from the height of the pandemic when families would not engage with them or even feed them. They’d put them in a back room and leave a plate of food outside the door. If they returned to find the plate still there, it was a sign that the person had lost their battle,” he said.

Lobelo turned that ritual into an installation featuring a door and 400 plates, colour-coded with references to beetroot, garlic and blood platelets. They tell a story of maso (deaths), manyalo (weddings) and mekete (celebrations).

For mixed-media artist Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, researching the crisis was overwhelming. It brought to mind World War Z, Max Brooks’s novel about a zombie pandemic, and the helplessness of facing an enemy that cannot be negotiated with.

Kekere-Ekun channelled that panic into giant canvases of swirling colour. White represents drowning, while other colours push back, illustrating overcoming.

Multidisciplinary artist Siyababa created a dragon made of beaded sticks, confronting a woman armed with a stick. Organisers limited the work to 10m. Its four parts represent four stages of illness, but the work is also personal.

“I remember the days of HIV stigma, when people were not included by society. It reminded me of my own sister, who contracted HIV later in life,” he said.

He named it Imbuku kaMaglela, after his clan name, and dedicated it to his sister, who inspired the woman confronting the dragon.

“She’s beautiful, strong and a celebration of life,” he said.

Running until November 13, the exhibition invites policymakers, scientists, activists and communities to reflect on advances in treatment, the gaps that remain and what it will take to reach zero deaths.

Story audio is generated using AI

South Africa’s trade authorities have imposed a 5% tariff on imports of newsprint, in rolls or sheets, to save the domestic print industry from extinction.

The decision follows a request by JSE-listed multinational paper and pulp producer Sappi, whose margins and those of its peers were being eroded by cheaper imports.

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) on Tuesday said it had, after an investigation, decided to raise the duty on imports from free of duty to 5% and will review it after three years so it can weigh the effectiveness of the duty on industry, downstream users and the broader value chain.

“The applicant submitted, among others, that sustained financial losses arising from declining global newsprint demand, global overcapacity and increasing low-priced imports threaten the viability of Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill (PM2), necessitating tariff protection to safeguard employment and preserve domestic newsprint manufacturing capacity,” Itac said.

“During its deliberations the commission found that declining global newsprint demand, persistent excess capacity and increased low-priced imports had weakened the domestic newsprint industry’s operational and financial performance.

“This was reflected in declining production and sales volumes, capacity utilisation and market share, alongside a significant price disadvantage against imports and consistently declining profitability over the investigation period.”

Sappi’s newsprint primarily serves the media and publishing industry, as well as the advertising and retail industries.

In retail and commercial advertising, Sappi’s newsprint products are used extensively to produce high-volume advertising inserts, circulars and promotional flyers distributed alongside newspapers or directly to consumers.

Itac said in the report that the domestic newsprint industry’s input and operational costs showed a sustained upward trend, driven by rising production-related expenses, particularly pulp and energy cost pressures.

The report notes that import volumes increased on average by 13% in 2021-25, with Canada emerging as the leading source of imports at 47.2% in 2024/25, followed by Brazil at 19.8% and Norway at 18.3%.

“The domestic industry’s production decreased by about 11.7% over the period, while the capacity utilisation declined from 68.5% in 2021/22 to 46.1% in 2024/25, reflecting sustained underutilisation of installed capacity,” the report says.

“The domestic industry’s market share for the domestic producer declined from 60.8% in 2021/22 to 51.1% in 2024/25, indicating a significant increase in import penetration and substitution of domestic output.

“A significant price disadvantage emerged in the domestic newsprint relative to comparable imported newsprint, reflecting intensified import competition and declining import prices.”

Sappi told Itac its Ngodwana Mill is the only operational newsprint facility in South Africa and across the Southern African Customs Union, the world’s oldest customs union.

Prolonged decline

The newsprint market has been in prolonged decline, driven primarily by digital migration, which has reduced demand for paper publications.

Despite this trend, newsprint remains an important medium in developing countries such as South Africa, where electronic connectivity is not universal.

Manufactured using virgin wood fibre, Sappi newsprint is a preferred grade among local newspaper printers. It has the required strength and runnability for demanding cold- and heat-set converting used in the manufacture of newspapers and advertising inserts.

South Africa’s print industry has been battered by a migration to digital platforms and rising costs of print, which has seen numerous magazines and newspapers shut down or move online.

Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill has an annual production capacity of more than 570,000 tonnes, comprising product categories including dissolving wood pulp, kraft linerboard, newsprint and uncoated flexible packaging.

The mill’s newsprint capacity is 110,000 tonnes, representing about 20% of the mill’s overall capacity.

The annual contribution of Ngodwana Mill to Mpumalanga’s GDP was R9.9bn in 2025, supporting 1,500 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs.

Sappi said that without appropriate tariff intervention, the continued influx of low-priced imports will further erode the viability of locally produced newsprint.

Beyond the newsprint industry, the influx of cheaper imports has also hurt the carton board industry.

Packaging manufacturer Mpact earlier this year issued retrenchment notices to workers at its carton board business, which has been overwhelmed by cheaper imports and the strengthening rand, with nearly 400 jobs on the line.

Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau last month instructed Itac to undertake a sector-wide paper and paper products industry investigation and recommend appropriate trade policy instruments that can drive the industry towards sustainability and resilience.

The reason advanced by the minister was that the South African pulp and paper industry is under tremendous strain, particularly in the uncoated paper, newsprint, packaging and tissue segments.

In the past seven years, the broader industry has invested R33bn in the economy.

Business Day

They are seeking an order to compel the officials to convene an ordinary meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) within 14 days and for the union’s national congress to continue as planned from November 30 to December 4.

In court papers dated October 14, which Business Day has seen, the Numsa regional chairs, including Andile Bloko (Eastern Cape), Andile Nqilingwane (Johannesburg) and Junior Gusha (Sedibeng), claim that the officials, including Jim, treasurer Mphumzi Maqungo and president Andrew Chirwa, had breached and failed to comply with the Numsa constitution in that no ordinary meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) had been convened since its meeting of February 12-15 this year.

The regional leaders say the “special meetings” the office-bearers had convened for particular purposes “do not discharge the obligation to convene the meetings of the NEC in line with the constitution”.

They are seeking an order to compel the officials to convene an ordinary meeting of the NEC within 14 days and for Jim to issue a notice within three days of the order, “failing which any applicant or member of the NEC is authorised to issue same”.

No meeting

Business Day reported last month that there had not been an NEC meeting in 18 months. That led to the regional leaders representing the majority of the NEC threatening to convene the meeting themselves or approach the courts to do so after accusing the national leaders of ignoring their demand.

The regional leaders were unhappy that some regions had not held their regional congresses yet ahead of the union’s national congress next month.

In his answering affidavit, Numsa president Andrew Chirwa said the union opposed the application, which the union deemed frivolous and an abuse of the court process, and that the meeting of the central committee — the highest decision making body in between congresses — will take place on October 23-25 to deal with all outstanding issues as demanded by the regional leaders.

In a letter to delegates of the central committee, Jim gave a notice for the continuation of the adjourned central committee meeting of August 27, saying it would be reconvened on October 23-25.

The agenda includes items dealing with the four remaining regional congresses, the union’s finances, and the upcoming 12th national congress, among others.

In his answering affidavit, Chirwa said the court application and the relief sought were opposed by Numsa.

“Numsa is preparing for its national congress scheduled for November 30-December4. That process includes elections to national leadership and is politically contested. It also requires completion of outstanding regional congresses, resolution of material electoral disputes and proper accreditation of delegates,” Chirwa stated.

Agenda items

He said some of the issues raised by the disgruntled regional leaders were part of the agenda of the coming central committee meeting.

“The applicants profess to act in the interests of the union’s members. They nevertheless require the union to expend members’ resources defending proceedings concerning matters already placed before its constitutional structures for consideration,” Chirwa said.

“The forthcoming central committee meeting and its relevant business were known to them. In these circumstances, the respondents submit that the institution and pursuit of this application impose avoidable expense upon the very members whose interests the applicants claim to advance.

“The source of the applicants’ litigation funding is not known to the respondents. The union invites the applicants to disclose to this court and the union’s members whether these proceedings are funded personally, from union resources, or by a third party. No improper funding is alleged without evidence. However, if union resources are being used, that would justify a cost order against each of the applicants.”

Business Day reported in January that a resolution by Numsa’s central committee calling for a return to Cosatu had triggered deep divisions within its top leadership and regional structures.

Analysts said the resolution, which Jim was said to be championing, in effect marked the end of his credibility in the union movement and could also “mark the beginning of the end of his long period as general secretary of the country’s largest union”.

Business Day

Story audio is generated using AI

A meal costing R130 at one restaurant and R79 at another across the street was enough to make University of Cape Town (UCT) student Dylan Steiner question how much people were paying to eat out.

The 20-year-old first-year business science student wondered why diners had to guess whether a restaurant meal was worth the money. That moment inspired him to develop ‘Bites’, a free food discovery app that lets users compare menu prices, browse food photos, read reviews and find affordable places to eat.

“I was like, there’s no way I didn’t know that this is nearly half the price across the road,” said Steiner.

“That’s when it clicked in my head that I should be able to create an app where people can upload prices and then more easily compare, so they never have to go to an expensive restaurant again.”

For Steiner, the idea is particularly relevant to students and young people who want to enjoy eating out without stretching their budgets.

“The core question Bites is trying to answer is: if you order this, are you getting scammed? Is it worth it or not?” he said.

Turning the idea into a working app has taken more than just time behind a computer. Steiner has personally visited about 700 restaurants in Cape Town, photographing menus and recording prices to build a database that diners can use before choosing where to eat.

The process also gave him an opportunity to explore the city while introducing restaurant owners and staff to his project. To make the work more manageable, he developed software to help upload and organise the menus, allowing him to build the database more efficiently.

But collecting the information is only one part of the challenge. Menu prices change, and an app designed to help people make informed choices needs to keep up.

Steiner said restaurants would be able to update their menus and prices while users could submit photographs if they found differences between listed prices and those displayed at a restaurant.

The app also has a system designed to identify unusual prices. Prices submitted by multiple users can be compared, while figures that appear far outside the norm may be flagged or excluded to reduce the risk of misleading information.

Bites also allows users to consider reviews, ratings and photographs, helping them look beyond the cheapest price to judge whether a meal offers good value for money.

I think it’s worth it if I can get South Africans and students more affordable restaurants and make eating out cheaper and more accessible for everyone.

Dylan Steiner, University of Cape Town student

An inexpensive meal is not necessarily a bargain if the portion is too small or the quality disappoints.

Steiner did not have a background in software development when he started building Bites. Instead, he used artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help write much of the code behind the app.

He focused on the design, features and user experience, refining the product over several months until it matched what he had imagined.

“The hardest part was more my vision and how I wanted the app to look and feel,” he said.

“Enacting that vision was the most difficult part, and it took many months of refining to get it done.”

Balancing the project with university has also required commitment. Steiner spends about five hours a day working on the app alongside his studies.

His motivation comes partly from seeing the financial pressures students face and how difficult it can be to find good restaurants that fit within a limited budget.

“I think it’s worth it if I can get South Africans and students more affordable restaurants and make eating out cheaper and more accessible for everyone,” he said.

Bites is free to download and use and Steiner intends to keep it that way.

His longer-term business model could involve subscription fees for restaurants wanting verified profiles, with additional features that would allow businesses to promote deals, monitor reviews and access information about how customers interact with their offerings.

Since launching in Cape Town, the app has recorded more than 2,000 downloads.

Steiner said his immediate priority was to grow its user community and establish that the model works before expanding into other cities.

Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria are among the possible next destinations. If the concept succeeds, he hopes to take Bites to international food destinations such as New York, London and Barcelona.

Ultimately, he wants the app to become a go-to resource for people deciding where to eat, whether they are searching for an affordable lunch, looking for a new restaurant or comparing prices in their neighbourhood.

Steiner hopes his experience will encourage other young people to pursue ideas they might otherwise dismiss because they lack technical skills or experience. He believes advances in AI have made it easier for people without traditional software development backgrounds to start building their own products.

“I think the technology in 2026 is so advanced that if you really think you have an idea that can succeed, just try your best to get it done.”

The question of whether a controversial DA billboard bearing the words “stop the water tanker mafia”, with the faces of eThekwini’s top three municipal officials displayed across it, was defamatory was argued in the Durban high court on Tuesday.

When the DA refused to remove the billboard it unveiled two weeks ago, eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba, municipal manager Musa Mbhele and technical services director Ednick Msweli threatened legal action.

However, the outdoor advertising company removed the billboard three days after it was erected to “protect our business and our landlord’s interests, and maintain a neutral position”.

DA mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said when he unveiled the billboard on the busy N2 highway, the party wanted to start a conversation about who was responsible for the city’s failure to fix water infrastructure and its reliance on water tankers to supply suburbs.

The billboard read: “You can stop the water tanker mafia. Vote DA for water in your taps.” Alongside the words are pictures of Xaba, Mbhele and Msweli.

Hoosen said the water crisis has worsened under the three, with about 13,000 active water leaks at any given time. He said the city loses an estimated 21-billion litres of water a month.

In a letter to the DA, the officials’ attorney, Hiresen Govender, demanded its removal and an apology, saying it falsely links his clients to organised crime.

Hoosen rejected that interpretation.

“The billboard does not allege that these individuals are members of a mafia,” he said.

Last week, eThekwini municipality said the three officials were seeking an interdict against related online videos, posts and statements and the case was adjourned until Tuesday.

“The DA’s statement imputes criminality, corruption, dishonesty and financial self-enrichment. It is defamatory of each of us, it is false and causing harm,” Xaba said in the municipal statement.

Arguing for the DA in the Durban high court, the party’s advocate said the billboard criticised the officials’ responsibility for the water crisis rather than accusing them of dishonesty or complicity.

“They are accountable for failing to repair the system that has made it increasingly dependent on tankers. If they did their jobs, we would not be at the mercy of a water tanker mafia in the city.”

“Again, I submit to the court that this is clearly about responsibility and failure. It does not impute dishonesty and complicity,” he said.

However, the advocate representing the three officials reportedly said: “All we are saying is that, construed objectively, a reasonable reader who passes by that billboard in a matter of seconds would understand that you are conveying that the applicants are the mafia, complicit with the mafia or associated with the mafia.”

At the time provincial ANC spokesperson Sifiso Sonjica said the party welcomed Xaba’s decision to consider legal action against the DA over the “billboard spreading unsubstantiated claims about him and city officials”.

Xaba is top of the ANC’s list of 106 candidates for proportional representation in the November elections.

“The ANC is also concerned about the amount of disinformation and negative campaigning that borders on breaking the electoral code, including the disinformation code,” Sonjica said. “We are urging all political parties to adhere to these important codes.”

It is the same code the ANC in KZN is using to call for electoral sanctions against opposition parties it accused this week of destroying campaign materials.

The ANC alleges that a MK Party ward 41 candidate damaged its campaign materials in KwaMashu with family members, and they have video evidence.

It also accused a FF+ candidate and her son of removing ANC materials in Ray Nkonyeni municipality.

Neither the MKP or the FF+ candidate responded to queries about the alleged sabotage.

Sonjica said the ANC wants investigations and the referral of persistent offenders to the Electoral Court for possible disqualification.

“This is brazen political hooliganism that demonstrates a profound contempt for the rule of law and our constitutional democracy,” he said.

The ANC said it has also received reports of posters being removed elsewhere in the province, describing the incidents as coordinated attempts to undermine campaigning and intimidate voters.

“In response, the ANC has formally opened criminal charges with the police and demands immediate arrests to establish an unyielding deterrent against electoral criminality,” Sonjica said.

KZN spokesperson Lt-Col Paul Magwaza confirmed that Margate police has opened a case under the Electoral Act over the removal of a political party’s campaign posters at Munro Avenue in Margate Extension 2 on October 15.

“It is alleged that two suspects unknown to the complainant were seen removing posters and loading them into the vehicle,” Magwaza said.

Police didn’t have information on the KwaMashu incident.

The ANC wants the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to investigate, pursue financial penalties and forfeiture of electoral deposits, and refer persistent offenders to the Electoral Court for potential disqualification.

It also wants the provincial political liaison committee to intervene, warning that intolerance could trigger wider instability.

“Ultimately, the ANC remains focused on securing a decisive victory at the polls, and no amount of intimidation and desperate acts of sabotage will distract from this mission,” he said.

Thabani Ngwira of the IEC in KZN said: “I’ve verified with [the] Manager Electoral Operations, nothing has been reported to the commission at the provincial level. However, now that a criminal case has been reported, that is the correct procedure to follow.”

What makes the perfect Dating #NoFilter Romance?

Two people who have had bad luck in love so they really need something to go right. They show up with full optimism and they are completely two opposite sides of a coin. They are the type of people who if you saw them, you’d never imagine them together.

Then out of nowhere, maybe due to a collection of similar experiences or similar memories, you find two people who come together in perfect harmony. And leave me with many jokes about them.

Do you have a moment you thought was the funniest this season and why?

The best moments for me came from watching most of the men buckle under the pressure of a woman.

What is your ultimate red flag for a suitor?

My ultimate flag is a material girl. Growing up, our mothers told us to be aware of fair-weather friends. Friends who will only be at your side when times are good and will be nowhere to be found when times are bad.

You’re looking for the same thing in a partner. Gents, we’re looking for the same thing in a wife. Someone who is going to show up on our biggest days when we collecting our trophies and making that money. But also be there on our worst days where we’ve dropped the ball, failed miserably and on the streets of our own accord.

The type of woman who will stay there with you when you can admit to the mistake and admit to the victory. That’s who you want, somebody who can be with you in both places. Not just a nice times person.

Everyone is judged on what they eat on a first date. Any dishes you think are a big no-no?

On a first date, I don’t think there’s rules about what you eat, but what you eat must match the occasion and the rest of the date. For goodness sake, don’t pick her up in a luxury German vehicle, take her to a beautiful area such as Sandton and then pull into the McDonalds drive-through. Get your life together.

TOOLZ HADEBE

What makes the perfect Dating #NoFilter romance?

Definitely some flirtation and an activity that would allow for physical touch, such as painting or clay making. This is a first date so the setting should allow for romance.

Do you have a moment you thought was the funniest this season and why?

This season the dates have been wild, to say the least. By no means am I a prude, but I was on the floor laughing at the candidness of the couples and surprised by the stories they shared on the first date.

What is your ultimate red flag for a suitor?

I have so many. Being non-reciprocal. Ask me questions, don’t just speak about yourself. Be single and available. Yes, this still needs to be mentioned. Not making an effort. We are all busy but it’s very easy to communicate. Over sharing. Tthere is more than enough time to get to know each other.

Everyone is judged on what they eat on a first date. Any dishes you think are a big no-no?

Ribs. No-one should be smacking their lips, biting into ribs with sauce all over their mouth. Anything with heavy garlic, unless you don’t want a kiss.

ROSETTE NCWANA

What makes the perfect Dating #NoFilter romance?

Chemistry, good conversation, a sense of humour and genuine effort.

Do you have a moment you thought was the funniest this season and why?

Some of the funniest moments are when our guests are so honest that they forget the cameras are there.

What is your ultimate red flag for a suitor?

Inconsistency. If your words and actions don’t match, that’s a red flag for me. I appreciate a man who knows what he wants and makes the effort to show it.

Everyone is judged on what they eat on a first date. Any dishes you think are a big no-no?

I’d avoid anything too messy. You want to enjoy the food and the conversation without worrying about what’s happening on your plate.

Dating #NoFilter South Africa season 3 is showing on Bravo Africa (DStv 124) on Sundays at 7pm.

TimesLIVE

While progress has been made in stabilising debt and driving structural reforms to the economy, the cost of living shocks triggered by the US war with Iran, among other things, are amplifying calls for the National Treasury to provide more than just a balanced budget amid the financial squeeze on businesses and households.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) is calling for a decisive shift from spending restraint towards a coordinated set of macroeconomic policies that seek to create decent jobs, rebuild industrial capacity and strengthen public services provision.

“During the period of fiscal consolidation between 2013 and 2025, South Africa’s economy only grew by an annual average of 0.9%, while unemployment rose from 36.1% in early 2013 to 43.8% in 2026. These consistently poor outcomes demand a reassessment of South Africa’s fiscal strategy,” the IEJ said.

The IEJ said while the National Treasury will claim in the MTBPS that its fiscal strategy of ever-increasing primary surpluses is yielding results, the IEJ’s briefing note showed otherwise.

“In narrow terms, borrowing costs have hardly fallen, and the debt-to-GDP ratio is unlikely to have stabilised by the target date of 2027/28.”

The IEJ said National Treasury’s fiscal approach was underpinned by weak economic growth, hampered by the prevailing fiscal policy strategy and made more difficult in the current external environment of recurring crises.

IEJ researcher Liso Mdutyana said the fiscal strategy to achieve debt stabilisation through fiscal consolidation is insufficiently geared towards achieving sustainable and inclusive growth through structural transformation.

“Achieving a primary surplus is a fiscal milestone, but it is not a measure of whether people’s lives are improving. A budget strategy must be judged by whether it advances structural transformation, creates decent jobs and care infrastructure, strengthens public services, responds to climate catastrophes and builds sustainable productive capacities.”

The IEJ challenged the Treasury to table an MTBPS which strengthens resilience and policy coordination, supports industrial development, rebuilds public services, care infrastructure and mobilises resources more fairly.

Aside from concerns that elevated AI-related valuations might prove unsustainable, 2026 looked set to be a strong year for investors. Fast-forward to October and it feels like we are in a different world

Hugh Hacking, Momentum Corporate

Matthew Parks, parliamentary coordinator for Cosatu, said MTBPS interventions must include rebuilding the state, stabilising local government, ramping up the fight against crime, a stimulus package for jobs and growth, strategic support for state-owned enterprises, price shock relief for workers and adjusting the Social Relief of Distress Grant for value lost to five years of no inflationary increases.

“This MTBPS cannot be business as usual, nor can we afford to continue to normalise the abnormal. Government must signal a bold shift to stimulate growth, rebuild public and municipal services, provide relief to workers and the poor, and give hope to the nation.

“It is time to end tried and failed neo-liberal austerity policies that have crippled growth. We must now invest to grow the economy and tackle unemployment. It is time for bold action,” Parks said.

Hugh Hacking, executive head of structured investments and annuities at Momentum Corporate, said that following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East at the end of February, fuel prices jumped to record levels and investment markets have come under renewed pressure.

“Rising fuel prices have fed through to inflation, which in turn has led to two repo rate increases since the budget speech. As we head towards the MTBPS and the upcoming local elections, it’s worth reassessing your investment and retirement strategy to make sure it remains appropriate.”

Hacking said the February budget speech brought plenty of good news, with improving fiscal conditions and projected real GDP growth of 1.6% for 2026. The JSE peaked at around 129,000 points in February and inflation was right on target at just over 3%.

“Aside from concerns that elevated AI-related valuations might prove unsustainable, 2026 looked set to be a strong year for investors. Fast-forward to October and it feels like we are in a different world.”

Hacking said fuel prices have risen to record highs, placing consumers and businesses under significant pressure and contributing to higher inflation, with headline consumer price index reaching 4.4% in August.

“In response, the Reserve Bank has raised the repo rate to 7.25%, adding further pressure, while GDP growth projections are now down to 1%. However, amid the negativity around fuel prices, it’s easy to overlook some positive developments. We expect the finance minister to announce a tax windfall, driven by higher metals prices and improved tax collection.”

Hacking said he expected the minister to announce a so-called “fiscal anchor”, a legal framework that limits the government’s ability to add excessively to the debt burden, and added that a stronger fiscal position will be welcomed by credit rating agencies.

Story audio is generated using AI

South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced that he will gift a share of his aerospace company, SpaceX, to every child in America next year.

Musk, the world’s richest person, made the announcement on X on Monday.

“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,” Musk posted. “This will be the first of many.”

The news follows a major financial and operational milestone for SpaceX, which recently projected $1-trillion (R16.4-trillion) in revenue by 2030. SpaceEx’s market capitalisation after a record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in June 2026 was nearly $2-trillion, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

According to official SEC regulatory filings, Musk owns 6.42-billion total shares of SpaceX, representing a 48.4% beneficial equity stake in the company.

With about 72 to 73-million children under the age of 18 in the US and SpaceX stock reportedly valued between $146 and $148 per share currently, the total cost of the giveaway is estimated to be between $10.5bn and $10.7bn.

Though Musk has not yet provided further operational details, US President Donald Trump publicly thanked him for the initiative.

“A big thank you to our legendary friend, Elon Musk, for his incredible generosity in giving SpaceX stock to millions of American children through Trump Accounts,” Trump wrote.

“This is exactly what was envisioned when we created Trump Accounts — bringing together the great private sector, Elon, and so many more, to invest in our children, by far our greatest and most important asset, and give every American child a piece of the American Dream. Thank you, Elon!”

Trump Accounts are tax-deferred, custodial investment accounts created for US citizen children younger than 18. They were established under the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act and launched in July this year.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Consumers are changing their spending habits as rising costs squeeze household budgets, with new research by Trade Intelligence showing that the impact extends beyond the cost of filling up a vehicle.

The market researcher found that 92% of forecourt shoppers surveyed had changed their broader spending habits in response to financial pressure. Shoppers were also slightly more likely to reduce spending on non-fuel items than to cut their fuel spending alone, it said.

“This is forcing forecourt retailers to rethink their product mixes, promotional strategies and pricing structures to capture value-conscious shoppers,” said Trade Intelligence research and advisory lead Caroline Short.

The findings come as inland petrol prices have crossed R30 a litre for the first time. Since October 7, motorists have been paying R30.25/l for 95 unleaded petrol and R29.88/l for 93 petrol in Gauteng and other inland areas. The increases were R3.33/l and R3.12/l, respectively.

The price of 95 petrol inland has risen from R21.12/l in November 2025 to R30.25/l, an increase of about 43%. Compared with January, when it cost R20.75/l, motorists are now paying R9.50/l more.

The latest increases reflect higher international oil and refined fuel prices amid renewed US-Iran tension, uncertainty over oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and increased shipping costs. The government’s October fuel price announcement said the average Brent crude oil price had increased from $87.89 to $101 a barrel during the period under review.

Trade Intelligence estimates that the forecourt convenience retail channel was worth R42bn in 2025. It found that 57% of forecourt shoppers visited these stores at least once a week, showing their role in everyday shopping, Short said.

However, forecourt stores are competing with supermarkets, fast-food outlets and delivery apps for the money consumers have left to spend.

The research finds 51% of surveyed forecourt shoppers say there is “virtually nothing they would not buy at a forecourt store”. Yet a gap remains between the products shoppers consider buying and what they ultimately purchase, Short said. The survey does not establish how much of that gap is caused by fuel prices or other financial pressure.

“Forecourt shoppers spend very little time in-store, so ranges must be tightly curated around fast-moving, high-margin categories.”

Stores are also looking at quick meal options, takeaway food and coffee to attract customers beyond those stopping to refuel.

“Future channel growth will depend on both macro and micro elements, such as high-level supplier-retailer collaboration and tailoring product assortments to capture both quick stopovers and destination shoppers,” Short said.

Business Day

A fact-finding mission was led in September by Zakhele Dlamini, president of the Southern African Confederation of Athletics (Saca) and vice-president of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).

A letter signed by World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon, addressed to ASA and its executive board, said the ruling body has received the report from the mission.

“The report identifies serious deficiencies in the governance and functioning of ASA, including divisions within the executive board, difficulties in collective decision-making, uncertainty regarding the authority of elected officials and the validity of certain decisions, and conflicts of interest arising from overlapping responsibilities at national and provincial levels,” the letter stated.

“These difficulties have contributed to institutional instability and are considered to have affected ASA’s ability to discharge its constitutional obligations and responsibilities effectively, including towards its athletes.

World Athletics expects ASA to respect the findings of its independent disciplinary panel and implement its decision dated October 6 2026 without delay.

World Athletics

“World Athletics also acknowledges receipt of the findings of the independent disciplinary panel chaired by retired judge Basheer Waglay, dated October 6 2026, concerning the disciplinary proceedings against ASA president Mr James Moloi. We note the panel unanimously found Mr Moloi guilty of two charges relating to the misuse of ASA funds and determined his removal as pesident and as a member of the executive board was the appropriate sanction.

“World Athletics expects ASA to respect the findings of its independent disciplinary panel and implement its decision dated October 6 2026 without delay.”

World Athletics said it is “particularly concerned these issues reflect structural weaknesses in ASA’s governance framework, rather than isolated incidents or disagreements between individuals, and thus require a comprehensive and lasting solution”.

“Under articles 9 and 17 of the World Athletics constitution, member federations are required to comply with their obligations under the constitution and applicable rules and regulations. Furthermore, article 12 provides for World Athletics to take steps to address governance difficulties within a member federation, including, where appropriate, through the involvement of the relevant area association.

“Following consideration of the Saca president’s report and a review of ASA’s existing and proposed constitutional arrangements, World Athletics and CAA consider that a comprehensive revision of ASA’s constitution is necessary to restore effective, transparent and accountable governance.”

World Athletics noted the draft constitution “recently prepared by ASA introduces several improvements”, but stressed it “does not yet adequately address certain fundamental governance principles”.

These included:

• ASA’s council, acting as its general assembly, is clearly established as the supreme decision-making body, with voting rights reserved for duly accredited representatives of its constituent members. Members of the executive board, commissions or other appointed bodies must not receive additional voting rights by virtue of holding those positions.
• No individual may exercise multiple votes or represent more than one constituency at the same meeting. Clear rules must prevent multiple representations and address conflicts of interest arising from individuals holding overlapping positions at national and provincial levels.
• The respective powers and responsibilities of the council, executive board, president, commissions and administration are clearly defined, ensuring an appropriate separation between governance, oversight and day-to-day management.
• Electoral, disciplinary, vetting and financial oversight mechanisms are sufficiently independent, with transparent appointment procedures and appropriate safeguards against interference.
• Appropriate provisions are established concerning term limits, gender balance, athlete representation, transparency, financial accountability and the conduct of elected officials.
• The constitution must reflect South Africa’s current administrative and territorial organisation.

World Athletics said such principles “are essential to ensuring ASA’s governance arrangements serve the interests of the federation and its members as a whole, and the sport of athletics in South Africa, rather than those of individual office holders”.

Within one month of this letter, ASA must provide World Athletics and CAA with a detailed timetable for the constitutional revision and adoption process

World Athletics

“World Athletics and CAA have therefore established a roadmap requiring ASA to finalise and formally adopt a revised constitution within six months of the date of this letter. ASA is expected to work closely with World Athletics and CAA throughout this process, submit the revised constitutional provisions for review before adoption, and ensure the ASA council is convened within the prescribed timeframe to consider and vote on the proposed amendments.

“Within one month of this letter, ASA must provide World Athletics and CAA with a detailed timetable for the constitutional revision and adoption process. Following the adoption of the new constitution, fresh elections must be organised in accordance with its provisions, within a further period of three months.”

World Athletics and CAA nominated Dlamini “as an independent observer to the adoption of the new ASA constitution and fresh elections”.

“World Athletics recognises the adoption of constitutional amendments ultimately rests with ASA’s council. However, this responsibility must be exercised in the best interests of South African athletics.”

It made clear “failure to adopt a satisfactory revised ASA constitution within the prescribed six-month period, or any deliberate obstruction of the agreed roadmap, would result in the matter being referred to the World Athletics council for consideration of sanctions under article 13 of World Athletics’ constitution”.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

A forensic pathologist has found no clear evidence that Anele Tembe was strangled before her fatal fall from a Cape Town hotel, despite identifying injuries on the front of her neck.

The pathologist, who was the seventh witness to testify at the Cape Town regional court on Tuesday, told the inquest that a post-mortem examination found no fractures to Tembe’s hyoid bone or thyroid cartilage, or evidence of fingertip bruising typically associated with strangulation.

Tembe, 22, was engaged to the late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town on April 11 2021.

The pathologist, who requested not to be filmed or recorded, said a bloodless neck dissection revealed no clear evidence of strangulation, though two areas of injury were identified on the front of Tembe’s neck.

She explained that the injuries could have resulted from suction, friction or compression and that she believed Tembe may have sustained them during the fall.

“I have noted that this could have been suction, friction or compression of the neck,” she told the court.

She said the injuries involved underlying muscles, including the platysma, a thin muscle extending from the jaw towards the collarbone.

“It could be possible that the wound could be caused during the fall. I did not see the entire trajectory of the fall,” she said.

The pathologist also revealed that tree branches and leaves were found in Tembe’s hair and on her body, suggesting she may have struck a tree during her descent.

“What I did note at the time was that there were parts of the tree, even branches and leaves in her hair and her body,” she said.

She attributed Tembe’s death to multiple blunt-force injuries sustained in the fall.

Her testimony followed evidence from a toxicologist who told the court that cocaine and its breakdown products, along with substances associated with antidepressant and antipsychotic medication, were detected in Tembe’s body.

Among the substances identified were cocaethylene and norcocaine, detected in samples taken from her stomach, blood and eye.

Cocaethylene is formed when cocaine and alcohol are consumed together.

The court also heard evidence about Tembe’s level of intoxication and whether it could have affected her physical abilities before the fall.

The pathologist testified that Tembe’s blood alcohol concentration placed her in a category associated with euphoria or being under the influence of alcohol, rather than severe intoxication.

“In my opinion, she would likely be able to climb over a balcony. She was not stuporous or comatose with that level of blood alcohol,” she said.

However, she cautioned that the effects of alcohol vary according to an individual’s tolerance and that she did not have information about Tembe’s drinking history.

She also explained that cocaine is a stimulant that can alter a person’s level of consciousness.

“When alcohol and cocaine are ingested at the same time, there is a compound formed called cocaethylene, which was also detected in her samples,” she testified.

She said the concentrations of certain cocaine metabolites were consistent with use in the hours before death.

The pathologist’s evidence concluded two days of testimony during which seven witnesses, including senior police officials, forensic experts, a district surgeon and a toxicologist, gave evidence about the circumstances surrounding Tembe’s death.

On Monday, the court heard that a footprint believed to belong to Tembe had been identified on the outside edge of the hotel balcony, with its positioning suggesting that she had been facing towards the room.

A forensic engineering expert also testified that mathematical calculations and experimental testing indicated that Tembe’s fall lasted between 2.3 and 2.6 seconds.

The expert presented evidence concerning the trajectory of her fall and the distance of approximately 5.1 metres between the building and where her body landed.

On Tuesday, a district surgeon testified that Forbes had multiple fresh scratch marks and bruises on his body when he was medically examined shortly after Tembe’s death.

The doctor described Forbes as stressed and agitated during the examination, making it difficult to establish a full account of how his injuries had been sustained.

Five years after Tembe’s death, the central question of whether she jumped, fell accidentally or was pushed remains unresolved.

The inquest has been postponed to November 17.