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The former head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), Andrea Johnson, and a former top police officer with the rank of major-general have been arrested by members of the Madlanga commission’s investigative task team.

Police spokesperson Amanda van Wyk confirmed the arrests on Friday. She did not name the pair but sources earlier disclosed that Johnson was one of those arrested.

They will face charges related to defeating the ends of justice, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm as well as contraventions of the National Prosecuting Act, Van Wyk said.

“This emanates from an incident that took place on June 26 2018, wherein the former major-general from the South African Police Service (SAPS) had allegedly assaulted a brigadier under his command. She sustained injuries and she subsequently opened an assault with intent to cause criminal bodily harm case at the Silverton Police Station.

“The investigation has so far has revealed that one of the suspects, the female suspect, a former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) employee at the time, had [allegedly] interfered with the particular case that was reported at Silverton.”

The duo is expected to appear before the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Friday afternoon.

Van Wyk said they cannot rule out further arrests in the matter as investigations continue.

TimesLIVE

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Art

Art Cologne

Art Cologne, the world’s first contemporary art fair, holds its 59th edition this year, featuring 65 galleries from around the globe. Divided into four sections — Galleries, Neumarkt, Collaborations and Art + Object — it features everything from established artists to cutting-edge experiments.

• Dates: November 5-8
• Venue: Koelnmesse, Cologne
• Tickets: From €34
• artcologne.com

Don’t miss:

• Karel Nel’s Translucent Worlds exhibition at Everard Read Joburg until November 19
• Thirza Schaap’s After The Tide solo show at Berman Contemporary in Cape Town until November 28
• Caryn Scrimgeour’s A Certain Slant of Light and Emalie Bingham’s Devotion Myths solo exhibitions at Everard Read London from November 13 to December 12
• Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi’s Figure, Ground, Raúl Rueda’s There’s A Door That I Have Closed Until The End Of The World and Simon Gush’s Nowhere Better Than This Place solo shows at Stevenson, Cape Town, until November 28
• Reverse Futures at JCAF, Joburg (by appointment only), until December 5, featuring Etel Adnan, Cave_bureau, Kate Crawford, Vladan Joler, Paula Gaetano Adi, Kamil Adam Hassim, Traci Kwaai, Ernest Mancoba, Georgia Munnik and Yinka Shonibare
• Andrzej Urbanski’s Shift — The Weight of Order and Erin Chaplin’s Behind the Curtain solo shows at Everard Read Cape Town on November 5-28

Theatre

Letters From Tomorrow

As he waits to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, former apartheid security branch officer Van Schroer quietly keeps notes while others confess the crimes of a nation. What begins as an account of the hearing slowly reveals itself to be a letter he has carried for years but never had the courage to finish. As buried truths emerge, so too does an unexpected act of grace and a chance at redemption.

• Dates: November 13-15
• Venue: Soweto Theatre
• Tickets: R100-R150
• webtickets.co.za

The Graduation of K-C

Written by Greg Homann and co-directed by Homann and Campbell Meas, The Graduation of K-C centres on a Xhosa father and Northern-Irish mother navigating identity and belonging as they prepare to celebrate their daughter’s graduation. Long-held assumptions are challenged in this witty, heartfelt exploration of love, politics and cultural inheritance.

• Dates: November 5-29
• Venue: The Market Theatre, Joburg
• Tickets: R110-R220
• webtickets.co.za

Music

Sibongile Khumalo Celebration

Music director Tshepo Mngoma, conductor Kutlwano Masote, a stellar cast of singers and the Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg have woven together a set list that revisits the legendary Sibongile Khumalo’s forays into jazz, opera, art song and indigenous music.

• Date: November 13
• Venue: The Market Theatre, Joburg
• Tickets: From R300
• webtickets.co.za

A Grand Night for Singing | UJ Dean’s Concert

A Grand Night for Singing is the University of Johannesburg’s annual Dean’s Concert in support of the Dean’s Bursary Fund. Prof Federico Freschi returns to the stage alongside acclaimed pianist Christopher Duigan and soprano Angela Gilbert. The UJ choir, led by choirmaster Sizwe Mondlane, will add the power of its collective voice to this musical celebration.

• Date: November 7
• Venue: UJ Arts Centre, Joburg
• Tickets: From R150
• quicket.co.za

Legato Choral Festival

The Legato Choral Festival honours the rich tradition of choral music, featuring outstanding ensembles from across the greater Tshwane area and showcasing musical excellence and the power of community.

• Dates: November 14&15
• Venue: South African State Theatre, Pretoria
• Tickets: R150-R180
• webtickets.co.za

Earth, Wind and Fire | Recitals at Glenshiel

Recitals at Glenshiel is hosting a rarely heard instrumental combination of trumpet, violin and piano in Earth, Wind and Wire, featuring Dieter Hendricks (violin), Richard Kingon (trumpet) and Kerryn Wisniewski (piano). The programme consists of 5 Melodies, Op 35, by Sergei Prokofiev; 7 Popular Spanish Songs, by Manuel de Falla; Trio in E-flat for Trumpet, Violin and Piano, by Eric Ewazen; and Brave Wolfe, by Mark O’Connor.

• Date: November 29
• Venue: Glenshiel, Westcliff, Joburg
• Tickets: R300
• quicket.co.za

Opera

Roméo et Juliette

Cape Town Opera presents Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, the Shakespearean tragedy filled with forbidden romance and feuding families, with Kamal Khan returning to the Artscape stage.

• Dates: November 18-29
• Venue: Artscape Theatre Centre, Cape Town
• Tickets: R180-R720
• webtickets.co.za / artscape.co.za

Christmas fairs, markets and festivals

Skeppend Christmas Market

This annual market, held at the Simonsvlei Wine Estate in Paarl, features locally handmade, one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts.

• Dates: November 27 to December 20
• Venue: Simonsvlei Wine Estate, Paarl
• skeppendsa.co.za

Glenshiel Christmas Fair

Held, as always, in the lovely Glenshiel gardens, this year’s fair features booths selling fashion, jewellery, home décor and beauty products, plus food vendors and plenty of bubbly. Ticket sales support the Order of St John’s community work.

• Dates: Until November 1
• Venue: Glenshiel Estate, Westcliff, Joburg
• Tickets: From R150
• glenshiel.org.za/tickets/

The Linden Market Festive Edition

The Linden Market always promises lovely new finds. R70 entrance.

• Dates: November 28&29
• Venue: Joburg Botanical Gardens, Emmarentia
• thelindenmarket.com

Parkview Christmas Market

Hosted by Nicarela Charity at George Hay Park, this community favourite features more than 80 stalls, a food market and kids’ zone. Think fashion, jewellery, homeware, children’s gifts and Christmas goodies.

• Dates: November 20-22
• Venue: George Hay Park, Parkview, Joburg
• nicarela.org/christmasmarket

Joburg Zoo Festival of Lights

Take a tranquil walk among life-size illuminated animals and twinkling trees, away from the animals. Also, live entertainment, food and craft markets, and all-round good vibes.

• Dates: November 26 to January 3
• Venue: Joburg Zoo, Parkview
• Tickets: From R75.
• joburgtheatre.com / webtickets.co.za

Gift Fair at The Baxter

This lifestyle event offers inspirational ideas and products, promising a celebration of unique finds.

• Dates: November 4-8
• Venue: Baxter Theatre, Rondebosch
• Tickets: R40 entry.
• thegiftfair.co.za

In the 128th episode of the Arena Sports Show, Clauiee Grace Mpanza and Mahlatse Mphahlele are joined by Pirates supporter Bongani “Chairman” Ngcobo and his Chiefs counterpart Tyhila “China” Phahlane.

Ngcobo and Phahlane are confident of their teams’ chances on Saturday in front of a sold-out Soccer City, where not only three points will be at stake but also bragging rights.

In the second segment of the bumper preview edition, we hosted former Super Eagles, Chippa United and Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, who spoke about the pressure of playing in the derby.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

A 35-year-old security guard contracted to the department of justice has appeared in court after allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl on the premises of the Sebokeng magistrate’s court in September.

The Fidelity Security guard, who was previously stationed at the court, allegedly allowed the teenager onto the premises before taking her to the children’s waiting room, where the alleged rape took place.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the accused allegedly connected with the girl on Facebook in August 2026 and began communicating with her. He allegedly misrepresented his age as 22. The two later arranged to meet at the court at 6pm on Saturday, September 5, while the accused was working the night shift.

When the teenager arrived, the guard allegedly let her into the court premises and took her to the children’s waiting room. He allegedly gave her alcohol, which she drank while he also consumed alcohol.

The NPA said that when the teenager became sleepy, the accused allegedly asked to have sexual intercourse with her. When she refused, he allegedly raped her.

At about 4am the next morning, the accused allegedly gave the teenager money to travel home. However, instead of returning to the home she shared with her mother, she went to her father’s residence.

A children’s court inquiry was subsequently instituted to determine the child’s living arrangements. It was during an interview with a social worker on October 26, as part of the inquiry, that the teenager disclosed what had allegedly happened at the court.

The social worker informed her parent of the disclosure, after which the matter was reported to the police. Following investigations, the accused was arrested on October 27 at Vereeniging magistrate’s court, where he was stationed at the time.

He appeared in the Sebokeng magistrate’s court on a charge of rape on Friday. The matter was postponed to November 6 for a bail application.

The NPA said the state intends to oppose his release on bail.

TimesLIVE

A new study shows that birds that fly long distances may experience a similar phenomenon that causes them to drift off course.

Research involving seabirds called Manx shearwaters found that crossing the Atlantic at speed can throw their internal clocks out of sync with local time, causing errors in the strategy they use to navigate their way home.

Birds can use several cues to find their way, including having the sun serve as a compass. A bird flying south sees the sun on its left at sunrise and on its right toward sunset, so it must keep adjusting its heading as the sun moves across the sky.

“Animals use an internal clock to do this, the same one that tells our bodies when to sleep, when to be active,” said Patrick Lewin, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s department of biology and one of the leaders of the study published in the journal Science.

To investigate how the birds navigate across vast stretches of open ocean, researchers analysed 20 years of GPS data from 1,045 breeding Manx shearwaters, birds that can travel as far as about 1,000km west from colonies on islands off Britain on foraging trips.

For most navigational tasks, it is thought that compass systems are used in conjunction with a map system in a kind of two-step process. In the map step, the animal determines where it is in relation to a goal, such as a home colony. Then in the compass step it uses a compass to translate that into movement

Tim Guilford, University of Oxford

Using the positions of the birds and the sun’s movement across the sky, the researchers calculated the error each bird should make if its internal clock stayed set to the time at dawn. Across 335 homing flights made out of sight of land, the headings of the birds closely matched those predicted errors.

“The process behind what we’re observing here — the mismatch between the internal clock and external time caused by longitudinal movements — is exactly the same as what causes jet lag in humans,” Lewin said.

The researchers have not yet investigated whether the clock mismatch affects the birds beyond navigation. But internal clocks influence behaviours including feeding and rest, raising the possibility that those too could be mistimed.

Shearwaters tend to hunt shortly after dawn and before dusk, when fish and other prey are closer to the surface, meaning a mistimed rest period could cost them a feeding opportunity, Lewin said.

The study also showed that birds kept using their solar compass even when another source of information was readily available. Along coastlines, where familiar land could potentially guide them, their distance from shore still shifted in the direction predicted by clock-related sun-compass errors.

A two-step process

“For most navigational tasks, it is thought that compass systems are used in conjunction with a map system in a kind of two-step process,” said Tim Guilford, a University of Oxford professor of animal behaviour who was one of the study leaders.

“In the map step, the animal determines where it is in relation to a goal, such as a home colony. Then in the compass step it uses a compass to translate that into movement.”

The birds may continue to combine these systems even in familiar areas, rather than relying entirely on one or the other.

Knowing this phenomenon is occurring is only the first step, but perhaps these birds could teach us something about how to treat or avoid jet lag

Patrick Lewin, University of Oxford

“If this only produces small deviations, there might not be strong selection against it,” Lewin said.

Another possibility is that the sun compass helps the birds determine which way to go along the linear feature, Lewin said.

Even clouds may not render the sun compass useless. Evidence suggests that birds can sense polarised light and estimate the sun’s position unless conditions are heavily overcast, Lewin said.

In people, jet lag can cause unpleasant short-term effects and has been linked to longer-term health problems in those who experience it frequently, such as airline pilots and flight attendants.

It is not yet known whether birds experience similar effects, but species such as shearwaters that regularly travel rapidly east-west may have evolved ways to cope with repeated disruption to their internal clocks, Lewin said.

“Knowing this phenomenon is occurring is only the first step, but perhaps these birds could teach us something about how to treat or avoid jet lag,” Lewin said.

Reuters

“For me the season is still very long if you look at it and ... you fight until the end. It doesn’t matter what the gap is and what the gap looks like now. Obviously three points will be very important for us in closing that gap, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Petersen said.

SOWETO DERBY | Kaizer Chiefs captain Brandon Petersen gives a sense that they’re not worried about already being eight points behind Orlando Pirates ahead of Saturday’s 186th Soweto derby at FNB Stadium (3.30pm). Our sports reporter Sihle Ndebele has more details for you. Read… pic.twitter.com/lWw9rzKFBX

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) October 30, 2026

“For me it’s fighting until the end and making sure that come the end of the season, we make sure that we give a good account of ourselves.”

Chiefs are fifth on the table with 14 points, eight behind Pirates, who are second and just a point adrift of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

I think the most important thing for me is to know that those words and negative stuff going around doesn’t define me as a person, as a footballer, because I’m much more than that.

Brandon Petersen, Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper

Pirates enjoy a game in hand over Sundowns.

Petersen was under fire a few weeks ago amid a series of costly errors that prevented Amakhosi from winning some crucial games.

The Chiefs skipper has insisted that criticism does not define him.

“I think the most important thing for me is to know that those words and negative stuff going around doesn’t define me as a person, as a footballer, because I’m much more than that,” he said.

“Secondly, it’s for me to know my worth. Like I said, it’s important to know who you are and what you stand for. When you get that right, nothing else that’s happening around you really fazes you, but it doesn’t really buckle you or it’s not really an obstacle in the road.”

Sowetan

Officers providing security for a football match in the southern Polish town of Swidnica spotted a man near a railway crossing photographing passing trains and railway infrastructure.

Police said they found thousands of photographs of key sites and transport facilities, not only in Poland, in his possession.

“The man is suspected of carrying out activities on behalf of a foreign intelligence service. All indications are that the photographs he took could have been used against the security of the state,” the police said.

Poland has repeatedly accused Russia of conducting espionage and influence operations on its territory, also using foreign nationals, while Moscow has denied such actions.

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Reuters

Cursor said the extension was not developed by Anthropic, and the maliciously modified extension was live on the marketplace from about 2.27am PT to 1.35pm PT on Thursday.

The extension attempted to collect host and user information such as hostname, username, operating system and public IP address.

It also attempted to set up remote access for the attacker; Cursor said a key step would have failed on most machines because it requires administrator rights.

Upon detection, Cursor removed the malicious version and blocked its distribution and shut down the marketplace as a precaution.

The company then rebuilt the marketplace and brought it back online, it said.

Cursor said the incident did not affect other extensions on its marketplace.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters

Finnish police said on Thursday they had launched a criminal investigation into suspected breaches of environmental law at the construction site of a planned Google data centre in northern Finland.

The project is part of a plan announced last month by Alphabet’s Google to invest $15bn in AI infrastructure in Finland, which the US company described as its largest investment in Europe.

Authorities have said Tuike Finland, a subsidiary of Alphabet’s Google, conducted forest clearing and drainage at a planned site near the town of Muhos before the environmental impact assessments required under Finnish law had been completed.

A Google spokesperson said the company would co-operate with the police investigation and continue to focus on maintaining compliance at its sites.

Drainage probe

“We are investigating whether the company’s operations have breached the Water Act and resulted in environmental damage,” detective superintendent Kari Pakanen said, adding that a guilty finding could lead to a corporate fine.

Pakanen declined to say whether any individuals could become a target of the investigation.

Preliminary information showed ambiguities and shortcomings in the drainage and water management at Tuike’s site, police said in a statement, adding that they would give an update in December but that the investigation would extend into 2027.

On October 6, Finland’s Supervisory Agency (LVV), which oversees environmental permits and assessments, ordered Google to halt preparatory measures altering the environment at Muhos as well as a separate site.

It is up to regulator LVV to decide on any permits to restart the work at the data centre sites, Pakanen said.

An LVV spokesperson said it was unclear how long it might take before the agency grants the relevant permits.

“We’ve partnered closely with the government and communities in Finland on infrastructure for over a decade and are actively responding to enquiries from LVV and other authorities,” the Google spokesperson said.

Finland’s appeal

Finland’s cool climate, low-carbon electricity and government endorsement of AI projects have contributed to making the country one of Europe’s main destinations for data centre investments in recent years.

Similar in size to Germany but with a population of less than 6-million people, Finland has had less vocal opposition to data centre buildouts than other places, including in the US.

AI data centres are among the main drivers of a projected rise of up to 40% in Finland’s electricity consumption in the coming years, if all agreed grid connection projects go ahead, grid operator Fingrid has said.

Google’s planned investments in Finland include data centres, electricity grid improvements and clean energy and battery projects to power services such as Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube.

Supporting Google’s plan, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo last month said that the deal would be a boost for the economy, downplaying concerns that it would suck up energy and push up power prices.

The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters

Passengers are “experiencing longer-than-usual queues at security screening due to operational staffing constraints associated with the ongoing taxi-related unrest,” the airport confirmed in a statement.

Looks like I’m going to be ordering a Uber eats while standing in the line to the security gates at Cape Town Airport. If you’re flying out today, be prepare to queue in a line winding all around the airport. pic.twitter.com/5SsHYppvYv

— craigbjacobs (@craigbjacobs) October 30, 2026

Officials have asked travellers to arrive four hours before international departures and three hours before domestic departures.

Flights are delayed and some travellers have complained of missed flights because of the long queues.

Hi there, Cape Town airport operations are currently being impacted by unrest in the area, which has resulted in disruptions. If you're concerned about making your flight, please send us your flight number via DM and we'll check the latest status for you. -AP

— FlySafair (@FlySafair) October 30, 2026

There should be a metro train straight from the airport to Cape Town station.

The End https://t.co/LUfRO2Wr7w

— Justine Limpitlaw (@JustineLimLaw) October 30, 2026

Hundreds of travellers are delayed at the Cape Town International Airport after staff shortages were reported amid taxi violence.

— Modiegi Mashamaite (@Didi_Mash) October 30, 2026

This is a developing story.

TimesLIVE

She faces charges relating to obstructing and defeating the ends of justice.

⚖️🚨 Former head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption Andrea Johnson was arrested around 5am on Friday. She faces charges relating to obstructing and defeating the ends of justice. Download our App, follow our WhatsApp channel and get the latest news! pic.twitter.com/vqInwQxEYR

— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) October 30, 2026

She is due to appear at the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Friday.

Johnson resigned from her job in July after coming under scrutiny at the Madlanga commission.

Sowetan

1. Mini Bag R399 Foschini
2. Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Collection Mughetto EDP 100ml R7,610 Edgars
3. Mostro Slides R1,499 Puma
4. MAC Squirt Plumping Gloss Stick in Like Squirt R400
5. Watch R1,299 ICE
6. Sel:ph Skin Renewing Microdose R429
7. Oversized Bag R300 The Fix
8. One Piece Swimsuit R1,590 BeachCult
9. Helix Bag R6,750 PICHULIK

Yves Blue

1. Sculptmove Sports Bra R379 H&M
2. Nike Dri-FIT cap R499 Superbalist
3. Heel Sandals R359 The Fix
4. Essie Nail Polish in Aruba Blue R142
5. Jacket R 959 Zara
6. Acqua di Parma La Riserva Fico di Amalfi EDP 100ml R4,300
7. Revolution Forever Flawless Dynamic Tranquil Eyeshadow Palette R195
8. Flip Flops R330 Havaianas
9. Fenty Beauty Hella Thicc Mascara in Blue R520

Cool Blue

1. Monogram Anniversary eLVes Louis Vuitton 100ml POR
2. Sandals R1,299 Zara
3. Bikini top R599 Mango
4. Shoulder Bag R549 Foschini
5. Metcon 10 Hydrogen Trainers R2,800 Nike
6. Fujifilm Instax Mini 13 R1,799
7. Stanley Tumbler R1,400 Woolworths
8. Headphones R999 Sony
9. Joule earrings R1,250 PICHULIK

Butter Yellow

1. Jasmin Shoulder Bag R1,499 Guess
2. Sweatshirt R739 Zara
3. Arizona EVA Sandals R1,399 Birkenstock
4. Crotchet Cardigan R1,299 Zara
5. W Hydrate Silicone Water Bottle R400 Woolworths
6. Quilted Mini Bag R449 Foschini
7. Satin Dress R679 Zara
8. Chanel Rouge Coco Hydra Gloss R905
9. Jo Malone Velvety Butternut Cologne 30ml R1,470 limited edition
10. Cadiz Bowling Bag in Light Yellow R1199 Mango

Persimmon Orange

1. Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Fuego Flush R565
2. Sol De Janeiro Cheirosa 74 Intense Perfume Mist R800
3. Jo Malone Carrot Blossom Cologne 30ml R1,470 limited edition
4. Hobo bag POR Louis Vuitton
5. Scala Bikini Top R1,090 BeachCult
6. Scala Bikini Bottom R990 Beach Cult
7. Shoulder Bag R799 Luella
8. Madrid Sandals R3,499 Birkenstock
9. Benefit Play Daze Airy Liquid Blush in Chili R640
10. NARS Powder Blush in 953 Exhibit A R865

Plum Noir

1. Arizona Sandals R1,599 Birkenstock
2. Ankle Strap Heels R799 Zara
3. Jo Malone Scarlet Beetroot Cologne 30ml R1,470 limited edition
4. Essie Nail Polish in Bordeaux R142
5. Ophelia Oval Sunglasses R199 Cotton On
6. Aldo bag R1699 Superbalist
7. Creed Oud Zarian EDP 50ml R8,820
8. LEIF Kakadu Plum Hand Balm 100ml R690
9. Bikini Bottom R499 Zara
10. Bikini Top R599 Zara

Espresso Brown

1. Fenty Eau De Parfum 75ml R2,910 ARC
2. Huda Beauty Icy Nude Blush Filter in Cocoloco R545 ARC
3. Oversized Hat R1,799 Scotch & Soda
4. Heels R1,999 Witchery
5. Broderie anglaise shirt R429 H&M
6. Broderie anglaise shorts R379 H&M
7. Flip flops R329 Havaianas
8. MAC Powder Kiss Lip & Cheek Mousse in Chestnut R580
9. Bobbi Brown Long-wear Gel Eyeliner in Chocolate Shimmer Ink R810

Stockists

1. ARC
2. BeachCult
3. Birkenstock
4. Cotton On
5. Edgars
6. Foschini
7. H&M
8. Jo Malone
9. Louis Vuitton
10. MAC Cosmetics
11. Mango
12. Nike
13. PICHULIK
14. Puma
15. Scotch & Soda
16. Sel:ph Beauty
17. Skins Cosmetics
18. Superbalist
19. The Fix
20. Woolworths
21. Zara

Sowetan

The US Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday that it will vote on November 19 on a proposal to ban China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom and other IP-enabled service providers from direct access.

For telecom firms providing Voice over Internet Protocol — technology that converts voice into digital data and transmits it over broadband connections — direct access is a much cheaper option and makes it easier to offer advanced features.

“With this decision, the FCC will be strengthening our first line of defence against bad actors and illegal robocallers,” FCC chair Brendan Carr said in a statement.

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that it firmly opposes the likely US ban and accused Washington of overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress Chinese enterprises.

“China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its own legitimate rights and interests,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a daily press conference.

More bans under consideration

The FCC also said on Thursday that it plans to bar IP-enabled service providers that use equipment from companies on the FCC’s list that pose national security risks, such as Huawei or ZTE.

The agency added that it would ban all Chinese labs from testing US electronics in December 2028 and may also revoke direct number authorisations for Chinese companies that it deems to pose national security risks.

The FCC has previously barred China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from providing ​international telecommunications services to the US.

Other measures under consideration include barring them from connecting to US networks and from ‌operating their data centres in the US.

Concerns about the potential for spying and other harms to arise from Chinese access to US telecom data and infrastructure have grown in recent years.

In late 2024, Washington said a Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage group known as Salt Typhoon stole consumers’ call records, US call data and infiltrated US telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms.

The FBI said this year that threats from Salt Typhoon are “still very much ongoing”.

In July, the FCC added California-based ​Digitalsystem Technology to a list of companies posing risks to US ‌national security, citing links to Chinese telecom firms and its ownership by a Chinese national.

China has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Reuters

Born in Tshwane and trained at the Tshwane University of Technology, the interior designer founded his design practice in 2012 and quickly rose to national prominence after winning the inaugural “Win a Home” interior-design competition on Top Billing in 2014.

Since then, Nxumalo has built a reputation for designing elegant residential, hospitality and commercial interiors that prioritise heritage, modernity and personal narrative. But it is his compassionate and unerringly optimistic perspective that makes him magnetic.

Where do we find you creatively and emotionally?

The creative industry is really trying to keep up with the current mood in Joburg, but sometimes it can be quite depressing, [so] I’m looking towards art and optimism to balance that. Last week I went to Bridge Books, and [it] was so exciting finding this gem in the middle of Joburg. So that’s where I’m at. Not only how do we not support people who are doing cool things, but also, how do we show up? How do we fight back? Fighting back against degradation is visibility.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?

Realising you are part of people’s aspirations; it’s not just about things. The most incredible moment was when I did a project in Bryanston, and the [client] phoned me and said, “You have to come to my house.” His mother had baked me cookies. I had tea with her, and she told me she had been a domestic worker, had worked very hard to take her children to school, had done it all on her own because their father had died young. And she had baked me cookies.

I still think about that moment. It goes into why I do this. As we transform spaces, people’s inner worlds are also transforming. There’s a metamorphosis, and it cannot leave me unchanged.

Your favourite destinations?

Dakar, Senegal. The entire city is based on what it means to be Senegalese. It’s so rooted in who they are. The other place is Morocco; it’s the same concept.

Where do you find your greatest power?

In immersing myself in this beautiful ecosystem of creatives who are just doing their thing. The fabricators, furniture manufacturers, fabric suppliers, artists.

What are your essential grooming products?

Chemical peels: I do level 2, a light peel. Retinol at night. Sunscreen every day. And a great haircut.

What are you reading/listening to right now?

The Gipsy Kings and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. When you’re designing a house, you’re creating a fantasy [and] music helps you feel what you want a space to look like.

What is a great gift you received recently?

A pair of Gucci pants. They’re so rich and textured that it feels like a piece of upholstery.

Your all-time favourite places to eat?

At the Dubai Mall there’s a little Lebanese restaurant overlooking the Dubai Fountain. If you sit there for an hour, you can catch three water shows. It’s like a ballet. Locally, Che Argentine Grill. They’ve got a great wine list and make really good steak.

What advice would you give your younger self?

It’s going to work out. It will always work out. And even the things that you don’t think are working out, and you really wanted them to, are working out for your good. And don’t beat yourself up about the client who didn’t call back. Focus on the one who did. Choose the people who choose you.

Your favourite clothing brands?

My friend Raheem Rawgee (of Row-G) makes the most incredible bespoke suits. I also love Mmuso Maxwell.

What is something you recently unlearned or let go of in your creative process?

For a long time I believed that if I made a mistake, it was a blemish on black designers, on young designers. In doing that, I denied myself my own humanity. I do really cool work, and I also make mistakes. It doesn’t make me unprofessional; it just makes me human.

The most challenging aspect of your work the past year?

How quickly things move and how clients have been embracing AI. There’s this saying: revolutions happen with or without your permission. So, we had to jump on it. Back in the day, interior designers were the point of contact [but] now, with Instagram and Pinterest, everything has come closer to them. So, we’re there to affirm their style, to distil it. The process has become more collaborative and more rewarding.

How do you stay creatively charged when life gets busy?

When I need to rest, I switch off my phone, go to Exclusive Books, and just look at books. Other people’s inspiration can recharge you.

Your most treasured possession?

A crocheted tablecloth I grew up with, and a picture of my father standing next to his first house in Soweto. This is a man who put himself through school by doing gardens. And there he is with three children, and he’s bought a bank-financed house. That was upward mobility. That represented optimism.

Favourite scent?

Louis Vuitton Ombre Nomade.

Your design icons?

The biggest one is David Collins. He died in 2013. Typically, when [it’s] a personality-led business, when you die, the whole thing closes, but the David Collins Studio has been able to outlive [him]. His ethos still remains. It means he did something right. He had a purpose bigger than himself.

A building everyone should visit before they die?

The Duomo in Milan.

Your top interior design tip

Lighting. As far as possible, custom-make your lighting. It can make an ordinary interior extraordinary. Modern interiors are all LEDs and downlighters, and if you create something custom, you add focus. You add soul. And wall coverings. I love rooms with wall coverings; they make a room into a hug.

Wanted

South Africa’s EV market remains small, but sales are gaining momentum as fuel prices rise to record levels, more affordable electric models enter the market and charging infrastructure expands.

According to automotive industry body Naamsa, 1,088 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold in 2025, up from 92 in 2020, but accounting for only about 0.2% of total new vehicle sales.

This year, sales of EVs and the broader new energy vehicle (NEV) market have experienced a significant growth spurt. A total of 18,945 NEVs were sold in the first eight months of 2026, already 13.4% more than the 16,703 sold during the whole of 2025.

Traditional hybrids accounted for 49.6% of NEV sales year to date, followed by plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) at 36.5% and fully electric BEVs at 13.8%. Together, rechargeable vehicles now represent just over half of NEV sales, while roughly one in every 20 new vehicles sold is electrified.

Affordable EVs broaden the market

High prices have been a key barrier to widespread EV adoption. Until recently, the cheapest EVs were priced at more than R700,000, limiting their appeal largely to affluent early adopters rather than motorists seeking to reduce running costs.

One of the biggest catalysts for the recent growth has been the arrival of electric cars priced below R400,000. Chinese EVs such as the BYD Dolphin Surf, Chery Q, Dongfeng Box and Geely E2 have similar prices to petrol hatchbacks and make electric motoring accessible to a wider audience. They have useful ranges of about 300km-400km, making them practical commuters with low running costs, as running an electric car is about a third of the cost of running a petrol or diesel car if charging at home — and even less if you plug in at work and are not charged for it.

An expanded consumer choice sees more than 50 fully electric models now available locally, spanning compact city cars, family SUVs and executive sedans. Even in the luxury segment, EVs are becoming more accessible. Mercedes-Benz recently launched the CLA 250+ Progressive at R1.2m, less than half the R2.6m price of its next-cheapest electric model, the EQS SUV.

The growing range of options allows buyers to consider electric vehicles on the basis of price and practicality, rather than treating them as expensive alternatives for environmentally conscious reasons.

Charging network expands

Improved public charging infrastructure is helping to overcome range anxiety, particularly for motorists wanting to use EVs beyond urban commuting.

A fleet of NEVs travelled from Johannesburg to Durban in October before the fifth South African Auto Week and demonstrated how the expanding network is making long-distance travel more practical. Participants travelling to Durban could choose from fast-charging stations operated by several providers, including GridCars, Rubicon and Zero Carbon Charge, rather than follow a rigid charging schedule.

“Having choices is the real sign of a maturing network,” says Hiten Parmar, executive director of The Electric Mission. “When drivers can select through various charging options because there is another one further along, range anxiety goes away.”

Charging facilities are increasingly reaching smaller towns as well as major cities, giving drivers greater flexibility on national routes.

Zero Carbon Charge is doubling the combined charging capacity of its two solar-powered, off-grid N3 hubs between Johannesburg and Durban from 360kW to 720kW. Each upgraded hub will be able to charge six vehicles simultaneously, with each receiving at least 120kW.

The hubs, launched in May with support from a R100m Development Bank of Southern Africa investment, combine solar generation with battery storage. Zero Carbon Charge also plans to expand along the N1.

Building confidence in electric mobility

Reliable information about real-world range and efficiency is another factor in encouraging adoption. Zero Carbon Charge has launched a test on the N3 to collect data on battery consumption, charging speeds and energy efficiency under South African driving conditions.

The initiative aims to help motorists and fleet operators understand how factors such as gradients, weather and driving conditions affect performance, providing a more realistic picture than manufacturers’ published range figures alone.

Meanwhile, the newly launched South African Electric Mobility Association (Saema) aims to give the industry a collective voice. Representing stakeholders across the electric mobility ecosystem, it will engage government on policies, regulations and standards to accelerate adoption.

Saema has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Norwegian EV Association, drawing on the experience of a country that leads the world in electric vehicle adoption.

South Africa’s transition will take time, with hybrids still dominating NEV sales and fully electric vehicles representing a small share of the overall market. But more affordable models and an expanding charging network are steadily removing barriers.

Business Day

A presidential panel on Tuesday found that the detainees, who were suspected of being illegal miners, had died from overcrowding, extreme heat, dehydration and neglect while being held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger state last month.

Nigeria’s government welcomed the panel’s findings, and interior minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the panel’s report had been sent to the attorney-general for immediate judicial action. He did not respond to requests for comment on when victims’ families and survivors would receive compensation.

The deaths, including of teenagers, triggered protests in Nigeria, raising new concerns about conditions in detention facilities and the treatment of suspects awaiting trial.

“What we wanted was for our children to be alive and return to us,” said Zainab Salihu, whose son was among the dead.

She said the deaths in detention had led to the deterioration of the health of her husband, who later died. Reuters was unable to verify the circumstances of her husband’s death.

“No matter how much money they give us, it will never bring our children back,” Salihu said.

Dantala Tanko, whose 25-year-old son Suleiman died in detention, is struggling to come to terms with his loss.

“Now he is gone, and this is deeply painful for me. I know he will never return,” he said after praying at his son’s grave.

Some survivors said they appreciated the investigation’s findings, but wanted accountability.

“Officers who demonstrate such disregard for human life should not remain in positions of authority. They must be held accountable, and appropriate disciplinary action should be taken,” said 25-year-old Dauda Shehu.

Abdulsalam Yakubu, 23, said government action had been slow. He said he wanted the government to return motocycles, phones, mining equipment and gold which he said had been seized during the victims’ arrest.

“We have suffered enough. We are asking for justice, the promised support, and the return of our property so that we can begin to rebuild our lives,” he told Reuters.

Reuters

Pledges include:

• safer routes to school;
• support for early childhood development (ECD) centres;
• restoring neglected libraries; and
• turning underused buildings into creative hubs.

EdDesk reviewed the 2026 election manifestos of 12 established and emerging parties, focusing on their pledges for libraries, ECDs and school-specific safety.

They are among the 546 parties contesting elections, according to the Electoral Commission. Voters will elect councillors who can influence roads, infrastructure, community safety, library services and ECD centre registration. Schooling falls outside the mandate of local authorities as it is a national and provincial responsibility.

Libraries featured most frequently, with explicit pledges identified for 10 parties. Five made specific ECD commitments, while eight identified measures directly linked to school safety. Broader general-service promises that might indirectly help children or schools were excluded from the tally, as were regional micro-ward-level candidate manifestos.

ActionSA is among the parties with commitments in all three areas. It plans to reform ECD and public education by cutting municipal red tape and boosting policing to counter infrastructure neglect. The party wants to expand ECD funding, introduce nutrition schemes and train informal operators excluded from state support. It also proposes public-private agreements to turn abandoned or seized municipal buildings into compliant spaces for community crèches.

“Buildings ought to be for creating a better life. Reclaiming hijacked and abandoned buildings and handing them to the private sector would enable this, thereby improving the lives of our people,” party leader Herman Mashaba said.

Also ticking all three boxes, the SACP proposes connecting local food production directly to school nutrition programmes to safeguard children. It advocates for ward safety audits, safer routes to school, and targeted law enforcement action against drug dens and illegal outlets operating near schools. On libraries, the party proposes developing them as community knowledge and cultural centres equipped with internet access and study space.

The EFF also gets three ticks. It has committed to building more schools, replacing pit-and-bucket toilets with flushing sanitation, establishing libraries in under-resourced schools and expanding free public Wi-Fi to promote reading.

“EFF municipalities will build, maintain, and upgrade sports facilities, libraries, parks, recreational centres, stadiums, and other community facilities, with a particular focus on townships, informal settlements, and rural communities,” said party leader Julius Malema.

The ANC promises to make every municipal library accessible, well lit, equipped with public Wi-Fi and able to offer programmes. It also pledges to improve the maintenance and accessibility of community facilities, including halls and sports grounds, within five years. The party acknowledges that neglect has left some facilities vandalised or unused. The ANC also plans to establish community safety forums in every municipality and proposes expanding public facilities to accommodate ECD services.

The DA has pledged to improve libraries through partnerships with private organisations and make school routes safer. Its main manifesto does not include ECDs, though in uMngeni in KwaZulu-Natal, it proposes supporting home-based crèches through its Day Mothers Programme. On school safety, the DA proposes a Safe Routes to School programme, including paved walkways, improved street lighting and dedicated learner transport in high-crime areas. It also calls for school resource officers at schools affected by gang violence and a National School Protection Response Team to tackle vandalism and crime.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) promises to upgrade libraries and public spaces and provide internet access for job seekers and learners. It also proposes better spatial planning to support ECD centres. Party leader Bantu Holomisa called for a nationwide review of school safety measures, including supervision audits and infrastructure upgrades. At municipal level, the UDM promises stricter by-law enforcement and community policing partnerships to improve school safety.

Build One South Africa has pledged to turn municipal libraries into digital hubs where young people can access technology and develop skills. It also plans to strengthen metro policing to tackle drugs and crime around schools. Its broader plans for school security, staff vetting and infrastructure improvements depend on its national government.

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) issued mandates for the eradication of school pit latrines in favour of flushing sewer systems. It pledged to build, upgrade, and maintain community libraries. The party commits to improving community safety.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) promises continued investment in libraries alongside programmes intended to create opportunities for young people, including bursaries, higher-education registration assistance, internships and practical training.

Its ECD commitment focuses on expanding community infrastructure, including facilities for early childhood development. “The IFP will continue to build and expand sports complexes, sports fields and community facilities, including community halls and early-childhood-development centres,” the party said.

The MK Party commits to repairing and maintaining libraries, establishing ECDs in underutilised buildings, and requiring new housing developments to demonstrate accessibility to schools.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) manifesto focused on community safety and wider municipal concerns, but did not identify explicit commitments in the three focus areas.

Tracking the Patriotic Alliance (PA) was inconclusive, as no complete 2026 manifesto could be located. Its launch manifesto in Bloemfontein on September 26 covered by-law enforcement, undocumented migration, title deeds and municipal rates.

Note: As schooling is not a local government responsibility, this review is not an exhaustive assessment of education policy. It covers three targeted, identified areas. EdDesk examined available 2026 municipal manifestos, municipal plans and launch statements. AI-assisted search and comparison tools helped with sourcing and searching.

• This story was produced by The Education Desk, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to addressing schooling challenges in South Africa.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

President Cyril Ramaphosa ended his whirlwind two-day campaign in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday with a blunt warning to ANC councillor candidates: do not be aloof, do not look down on people, and do not steal development money once you are elected.

His blitz focused squarely on eThekwini, where polls predict the ANC is facing its toughest test in democratic South Africa and could lose the metro for the first time — ironically to the party of its former president Jacob Zuma, the MK Party. Whether his last-minute push will shift votes will only be clear after November 4.

The tour unfolded under a tight ring of security that followed him throughout, with SAPS, metro police and the presidential protection service lining his route and screening venues. Along parts of the route, MK Party supporters picketed, waving placards and chanting as his convoy passed.

In Hambanathi, where he ended, IFP supporters joined the MK Party picket, turning the roadside into a noisy display of opposition colours.

In an indirect attack on the MK Party, Ramaphosa told supporters only the ANC has the policies, capacity and experience to deliver meaningful development. He said during his campaign in KZN, many people told him they did not have jobs.

“We are working hard to grow this economy; in KZN there are many projects aimed at strengthening the infrastructure, growing the economy and creating jobs,” he said.

In his capacity as head of the government, Ramaphosa started Thursday morning in Montclair at Montclaire Lodge, identified as the first government-owned temporary emergency accommodation facility for families displaced by the 2022 floods. The Presidency said the visit was to assess progress in providing shelter and efforts to repurpose government buildings for affordable housing, with plans to refurbish 500 more units there to provide over 1,000 units for those still in temporary shelters.

From Montclair he moved to Cornubia, north of Durban, where he handed over houses to beneficiaries at one of the largest integrated human settlements in the province. The event took place in scorching heat, with residents waiting hours in the sun.

“This development represents hope for the many families who were affected by the catastrophic floods that swept through this province four years ago. In 2022, these families lost everything. Today [Thursday], they receive a permanent home they can call their own,” Ramaphosa said.

He recalled how the government had first sheltered families in mass care centres and then in cramped temporary emergency accommodation where public transport was hard to reach and pupils travelled long distances to schools before the provincial government identified Cornubia as the permanent solution.

He said another 145 houses were under construction in phase 2, which was launched on Thursday, and by mid-2027 a total of 460 permanent homes should have been completed. He said emergency accommodation must never become permanent.

After the government programme, he switched to party colours — first in Tongaat, then in Hambanathi.

In Tongaat Hall, he addressed South African Democratic Teachers Union members who came bearing a list of nine grievances about conditions in schools and communities.

Ramaphosa went through the grievances one by one and committed to solving them. He told teachers that the government will speed up the allocation of funds to schools and more teachers will be hired, along with other administrative positions, to fill vacant posts and ease the burden on teachers, before urging members to help the ANC in its final push.

Then on Hambanathi to address supporters and ANC election candidates.

“I’m saying to our candidates, the people chose you because they have trust and confidence in you. Do not disappoint them, work hard, don’t be aloof, don’t look down on them, don’t run away from them, and most importantly, don’t steal money for development.”

He told volunteers the ANC must earn back trust street by street, house by house, and that renewal would be judged not in Luthuli House but in the wards.

He ended his KZN visit with a call for discipline and unity on the ground.

“If we are united, if we are humble, if we do not steal, the people will renew our mandate. If we are arrogant, we will lose them,” he said.

TimesLIVE

No injuries or loss of life have been reported, state broadcaster BBS said.

The hot springs at Gasa Tshachu are a major tourist attraction in the northern part of the country that is nestled between India and China.

BBS reported the extent of damage from the late-night flash flood was not known because of “darkness and the strong flow” of floodwaters. Two bailey bridges — bridges built in portable, pre-fabricated sections — may have been washed away, the broadcaster reported.

Gasa Tshachu was also hit by a flash flood in 2021, when the Mochhu River changed course and swept through the area.

Kuensel, Bhutan’s national newspaper, said part of the road to Laya village where the springs are located had been washed away, making it impassable. The road has been closed for traffic indefinitely, the newspaper said.

The area had been evacuated before the flood reached the area, Kuensel reported.

In neighbouring Nepal, in a similar mountainous area about 600km to the west, a flash flood on its border with China in August killed more than 1,500 people and left more than 5,000 missing.

Reuters

The footballer was fatally shot during a home invasion in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, in October 2014.

Video courtesy of SABC.

Sowetan

The firepower demonstration featured tactical suicide attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and 600mm multiple rocket launchers, KCNA said.

The display highlighted Kim’s push to modernise North Korea’s armed forces by using drones and artificial intelligence as Pyongyang draws lessons from Russia’s war against Ukraine and other global conflicts.

It came amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas, with Seoul vowing to respond firmly to what it called North Korean breaches, and Pyongyang denouncing joint South Korea-US air defence drills.

KCNA photographs showed unmanned aerial vehicles bearing the North Korean Air Force’s emblem at the exhibition, attended by Kim.

Other images showed what appeared to be an unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into a military vehicle and exploding in a ball of flame during a weapons demonstration.

South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korea had fired around 10 projectiles, including short-range ballistic missiles.

Kim said that pursuing superiority in drone technology was “an indispensable option” given the changing nature of modern warfare, according to KCNA.

He also said using high-level AI in unmanned weapons systems should be a top priority for North Korea, KCNA reported.

Kim has repeatedly called for the development of drones and military AI. State media said Kim ordered mass production of suicide attack drones in November 2024, oversaw tests of AI-equipped versions in March 2025 and in September 2025 called AI a top priority in weapons modernisation.

Drawing lessons from Ukraine war

Since October 2024, North Korea has sent more than 16,000 personnel to Russia to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine and gained battlefield experience in drone, electronic and combined-arms warfare, according to South Korean intelligence.

North Korea is transforming its military with drones and AI, drawing lessons from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.

By showing a comprehensive display of weapons, North Korea is trying to “shut off the possibility of dialogue or negotiations” with South Korea, Lim said.

North Korean state media also displayed for the first time what analysts described as a tailless, flying-wing stealth drone.

Photographs showed racks of small suicide drones and loitering munitions similar to the US Switchblade 600, suggesting an emphasis on cheap, mass-produced weapons, potentially drawing on lessons from the Ukraine war, analysts said.

Mock targets resembling South Korean K9 howitzers, M1 Abrams-type tanks and radar vehicles suggested the weapons were intended for use against South Korean and US forces, they said.

Border tensions

South Korea will respond firmly to protect the military border despite Pyongyang’s assertion that it is conducting operations within its territory, Seoul’s national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Friday.

Separately, North Korea’s defence ministry said US and South Korean air defence drills were raising tensions on the peninsula and that there was “no limit” to its option for maintaining a strong deterrent posture, KCNA reported.

Tensions have escalated since a landmine blast inside the Demilitarised Zone seriously wounded several South Korean soldiers last month. Seoul said the blast was caused by a North Korean mine, which Pyongyang has denied.

Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, said earlier this month that North Korea would activate anti-South Korean propaganda loudspeakers along its entire border by the end of October.

Reuters

“The Algarve will host the prologue and the first special stage. Morocco, with the aim of exploring its territory in its entirety, from north to far south, will host 11 stages and a rest day in Agadir,” ASO said in a statement.

The 49th edition of the Dakar Rally, initially scheduled to run from January 1 to January 15 2027, will now take place from January 9 to January 23 2027, subject to approval by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

“The relocated 49th edition of the Dakar will meet the sporting standards that have always made it the most demanding rally-raid event,” Dakar director David Castera said. “Despite the short timeframe we have had to work with, we have designed a true Dakar.”

Dakar 2027 will feature a total distance of 7,824km, including 4,341km of special stages, from Loule-Faro to Marrakech.

ASO said on Sunday that the decision to move the race out of Saudi Arabia was “exceptional and one-off”. The 50th edition of the Dakar Rally in 2028 would return to the kingdom, which has hosted the event since 2020.

Morocco hosting the race means the Dakar Rally will return to Africa for the first time since 2008. The event started in 1978 as a race from Paris and across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, in West Africa, and has long been regarded as the world’s toughest motorsport challenge.

It was later staged in South America between 2009 and 2019 after leaving Africa for security reasons.

Reuters

The questions came swiftly. “Everyone reacted like, ‘Why did you buy a Chinese car? Are you trying to get yourself killed?’” the 48-year-old Seoul resident said. Her purchase would have been unthinkable just a few years ago in South Korea, where Chinese cars have been long dismissed as shoddy.

At around $18,500 (about R307,503), the Dolphin compact was inexpensive, well equipped and — crucially — available. Kim initially wanted a Hyundai Casper EV but was told she would have to wait more than two years for delivery.

After rapid expansion in Europe and elsewhere, BYD and other Chinese automakers are now targeting South Korea and Japan, two countries with entrenched car industries — and no shortage of sceptical consumers. They are making inroads in South Korea, but Japanese sales have been muted.

The difference is partly due to EV uptake. Roughly a quarter of the new cars sold in South Korea this year were EVs, versus 3% in Japan, according to industry data.

Chinese carmakers have proven their ability to spend years building dealer networks and adapting cars to local tastes, according to industry executives and analysts.

It is a strategy born of both confidence and necessity: China produces some of the most technologically advanced cars available anywhere at prices rivals struggle to match. But its domestic market is so saturated with brands that carmakers need to look overseas for growth and profit.

“They enter first, watch what happens and gradually adjust their strategy,” said Liao Jingnan, founder of MobyInfo, a Tokyo-based consultancy.

Reuters interviewed more than a dozen people, including company executives, dealers and EV buyers in both South Korea and Japan for this article.

South Korea breakthrough

BYD sold more than 20,000 vehicles in South Korea in the first nine months of this year, overtaking the combined sales of Toyota and its Lexus brand, according to market research firm Carisyou.

BYD has been able to take advantage of South Korea’s growing appetite for cheap EVs, said Lee Jae-il, a senior analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. Petrol prices have surged almost 10% since the US-Israeli war on Iran started, but Hyundai and Kia focus mainly on premium EVs, offering only a few for under $30,000.

“The timing has worked particularly well for BYD,” Lee said.

Geely’s Zeekr brand began taking orders for its 7X SUV in South Korea in June and plans to open up to 14 showrooms by the end of the year. Chery is expected to enter the market in 2027, according to an industry presentation reviewed by Reuters. Chery declined to comment.

Xpeng, which set up a local unit in Korea last year, is now looking to hire someone to build out its retail network, according to a job posting on LinkedIn. Xpeng declined to comment.

South Korean carmakers are worried. Jeong Dae-jin, the chairman of the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association, has called for tax incentives for Korean-made EVs.

Carmakers were “very desperate”, he said.

Japan proves tougher

Japan may end up testing the patience of Chinese automakers. Foreign brands account for only about 6% of passenger car sales, and drivers prefer hybrids, the technology championed by Toyota.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have been fraught since last year under right-wing Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has taken a harder line on China.

Some 88% of Japanese and 71% of South Koreans have an unfavourable view of China, according to a Pew Research Centre survey this year. Diplomatic strains have had no particular impact on BYD’s sales, showroom visits or customer enquiries in Japan, a spokesperson for BYD Auto Japan said.

BYD, which started selling cars in Japan in 2023, has more than 75 dealerships and plans to eventually expand to 100. It sold fewer than 4,000 cars in Japan in the first nine months of the year, just a 0.1% market share.

In July it launched a boxy EV in Japan’s “kei” minicar segment, which is dominated by domestic firms. As of September, it had only sold about 650 of them, although BYD’s overall Japanese sales have risen every year.

“It’s not the market share,” said Marc Yamada of consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. “It’s the growth.”

EMT, a startup backed by Chery, plans to launch a kei car in the first half of 2027 and three more models by 2029, chief technology officer Koji Yamamoto told Reuters. It aims to build cars locally by the 2030s, he said.

Zeekr plans to launch a luxury van in Japan, initially targeting taxi fleets and chauffeur services, said Hiroyasu Koma, CEO of folofly, Zeekr’s distributor.

One person who will not be buying a Chinese car anytime soon is Fumio Kuwabara, an early adopter who has been driving Japanese EVs since 2010. He does not trust the reliability of Chinese cars, he said.

“I feel like they’ve cut corners in places you can’t see,” he said.

Ruling party lawmaker Daishiro Yamagiwa told Reuters that Japan must consider the security risks from Chinese cars that can be controlled from outside the vehicle.

It is still unclear whether Japanese consumers will hold out or end up overcoming their wariness as South Korean Lee Seong-dong did.

“Honestly, I didn’t have a good image of Chinese cars, either,” said Lee, a content creator in Seoul, who bought a Dolphin. “Seeing the car in person and driving it changed my thinking a lot.”

Reuters

Earlier this year, Filosa introduced a group-wide efficiency and cost-cutting plan aiming to deliver a total of €6bn (R111.3bn) in cost savings by 2028.

“We firmly believe that we will exceed our initial milestone to produce €2.4bn of cost savings in 2027. We will exceed that milestone, which is very good,” he told reporters after the company posted a rise in third-quarter operating income.

Earlier on Wednesday Stellantis said it was on track to implement at least 40% of the total €6bn in run-rate efficiencies by the end of 2026.

Reuters

Hit by the loss of its decades-long dominance in China and mounting competition from Chinese competitors in Europe, Volkswagen is pressing ahead with deep cost cuts, including plans for 100,000 job reductions and the possible closure of four German plants.

Zwickau is among the sites under threat, with no vehicle production currently planned beyond 2031, casting a shadow over Wednesday’s launch of Volkswagen’s first “Circular Economy Hub” at the factory in the eastern state of Saxony.

Volkswagen said 100 workers had been retrained and would begin dismantling 4,100 vehicles a year at the site from 2027.

“For us, dismantling and recycling doesn’t mean a scrapyard; it means creating value,” said Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen’s volume brands.

‘Pilot project’ for now

The project was awarded to Zwickau in a bid to secure up to 1,000 jobs over the longer term. Volkswagen plans to invest up to €90m (R1.66bn), while the regional government has pledged €10.7m.

However, the initiative offers only limited relief for a site where about 8,000 jobs are at risk under Volkswagen’s overhaul announced in July. Production shifts are also expected to create excess capacity from mid-2026.

With support for the far-right opposition running high, Saxony’s government is under pressure to protect an auto industry linked to one in four jobs in the state.

State economy minister Dirk Panter said the new facility showed Volkswagen was working with employees and the region to find durable solutions for the sector’s future.

“The circular economy for automotive components opens up new business opportunities, creates additional value and offers long-term employment prospects,” Panter said.

However, company sources and industry observers said the recycling venture alone would not secure the plant’s future.

Henning Wilts, a circular economy researcher at Germany’s Wuppertal Institute, said the Zwickau hub remained an experiment whose commercial viability had yet to be proven.

“This is a pilot project you launch to see if it’s scalable and if it’s really an investment that will pay off quickly enough,” Wilts said, adding: “It is certainly not the answer to all the questions in the European auto industry.”

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

The proportion of vehicle tracking customers affected by theft and hijacking has fallen from about 4% in the late 1990s to 0.5% in recent years, according to historical data from vehicle recovery company Tracker.

The figures, released on Thursday, come as the company marks 30 years in South Africa. While the data points to a substantial decline in the risk faced by its customers, it does not necessarily reflect the national vehicle crime rate, as it is based on Tracker’s own customer base.

The company’s latest figures, covering January to June 2026, show that business-owned vehicles remain more vulnerable than privately owned vehicles, though the gap has narrowed. Business vehicles were 17% more likely to be targeted, compared with 48% a year earlier.

Hijacking also remains a particular concern for businesses. Nationally, business vehicles are almost twice as likely to be hijacked as stolen, according to Tracker. In the Eastern Cape, hijackings involving business vehicles were almost five times as prevalent as thefts, while in Mpumalanga they were more than eight times as common.

The pattern differs for privately owned vehicles, where theft accounted for 55% of reported incidents and hijacking for 45%. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal together accounted for 80% of all vehicle crime incidents.

However, the national picture masks regional differences. In the Eastern Cape, privately owned vehicles were twice as likely to be hijacked as stolen. Hijackings also exceeded thefts by 42% in the Western Cape, while Mpumalanga recorded more hijackings than thefts involving private vehicles.

Taken nationally, theft and hijacking were evenly split, marking a shift from recent years when hijacking became the dominant crime type as vehicle use returned to normal after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The timing of incidents also varies by crime type. Tracker’s data shows vehicle theft is most common on Saturdays between 11am and 9pm, with another concentration on Fridays between 4pm and 9pm. Hijackings peak between 4pm and midnight on Fridays.

Business hijackings follow a different pattern, occurring most frequently on weekday afternoons and evenings, between 4pm and 9pm.

Tracker COO Duma Ngcobo said the changing patterns highlighted the need for motorists and businesses to adapt their approaches to vehicle security.

For businesses, the consequences of vehicle crime extend beyond the replacement cost of a vehicle to include downtime, disrupted services and lost revenue, he said.

Tracker said it had recovered 142,253 vehicles and assisted in 21,461 arrests since its establishment. It also reported helping recover 1,154 firearms and achieving a 96% industry recovery rate in the past financial year.

Business Day

The Swedish audio-streaming giant is considering charging subscribers an additional $4-$5 a month for the service, according to the FT report. Spotify did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Here are a few more details:

• The service would let paying subscribers use AI to create their own versions of songs, such as transforming a folk song into a dance track or making one artist appear to cover another’s music, the FT report said;
• Under Spotify’s plan, royalties from fan-created remixes would flow back to original artists, and plays would count towards the original songs in Spotify’s charts, the newspaper said;
• Spotify has struck licensing deals with Universal Music Group, independent label group Merlin and French music company Believe for the remix feature, the FT said; and
• The company is still negotiating with Sony Music and Warner Music to implement the feature, according to the FT report.

Reuters

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) and Airlines for America, in separate previously unreported letters reviewed by Reuters, urged the CDC to reconsider the plan announced last week that takes effect on November 3 and is aimed at preventing entry by people exposed to Ebola.

“It is unreasonable for the US government to require all airlines serving the US market to modify their procedures to accommodate the collection of attestations from each individual (passenger and crew) flying to the US in less than two weeks,” Iata, which represents more than 370 member airlines in more than 130 countries, said in the letter dated Tuesday.

The new CDC order requires all US-bound airline passengers and crew members to file digital or paper attestations. The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Airlines for America, which represents United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, said in a separate letter to the CDC that the plan was unworkable.

“Changes to check-in systems, digital signatures, station procedures and training cannot readily be completed in the allotted time,” the group said, calling on the CDC to “reconsider a more proportionate and measured US response”.

Airlines for America said that in 2025 US customs and border protection screened about 130-million air passengers, but fewer than 25,000 of them had a connection to the DRC.

Iata also questioned why the plan only applied to air travellers. “The US government has clearly decided the risk of the importation of Ebola into the US is high enough to justify this global process. It is difficult to understand why other modes of transportation, maritime and surface, were not included in this mandate,” it said.

The CDC in May adopted rules barring foreign ‌airline passengers who had been in the DRC, the centre of the this year’s outbreak, in the three weeks before. The restrictions were extended to US citizens in July.

Airlines for America urged the CDC to exempt crew members, the US military and jumpseat travellers, calling the plan “overly stringent, costly and burdensome to Americans and the US airline industry”.

As part of the Ebola measures, the CDC since earlier this year has barred foreign nationals from the US if they were in Uganda or South Sudan in the three weeks before.

The Bundibugyo strain of the virus spread undetected for months before ​the outbreak was declared in May. It kills about half of those infected and has no approved treatment or vaccine.

The outbreak is confirmed to have killed about 4,700 people in Africa, according to the Africa CDC.

Reuters

The letter, seen by Reuters on Thursday, gave the names of 11 Ugandans confirmed dead and 16 whose bodies could not be located anywhere, including among prisoners of war.

Uganda’s embassy said it had received the information from Russia’s foreign ministry through a “note verbale”, a diplomatic communication.

An official at Uganda’s foreign ministry confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

Russia’s embassy in Kampala did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reports of African men being lured to Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine’s front lines have become frequent, triggering anger in countries like Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.

Ukraine said last year that more than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries were fighting alongside Russian forces on its territory, with some recruited through deception.

Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in Ukraine.

Reuters

Tech companies and publishers have been involved in a growing number of cases under litigation over content published on social media or used for AI training.

Under European Union law, print media are allowed to seek payment for the digital use of their content, and France has sought to strictly enforce the EU rules.

A previous agreement between Meta and press associations determining the amount due expired in 2024, and the two sides have since failed to agree. French media have received no payment since 2025.

The associations, in turn, reached out to France’s competition authority, which issued two interim measures against Meta in July.

They required the company to resume talks with media groups, provide them with information about the revenue of its social media platforms and the use of protected content and not to degrade the manner of displaying content from the press.

Meta appealed those decisions in August, which the court rejected on Thursday.

“The court concluded that Meta’s practices, specifically regarding the methods used to determine the amounts payable as ‘neighbouring rights’ to press publishers, may constitute an abuse of a dominant position, which is prohibited under both European and French competition law,” the court said in a statement.

A Meta spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the ruling. “We are assessing next steps but will continue to comply with the interim measures and negotiate in good faith, and hope the publishers will do the same,” the spokesperson said.

DVP, which is one of the media associations and which includes the French newspapers Le Monde and Les Echos, issued a statement welcoming the decision.

“DVP will continue to doggedly defend its members’ interests with the Competition Authority and through negotiations with Meta,” said DVP board chairman Jean-Marie Cavada.

Reuters

Retired South African Police Service (SAPS) Col Louis Bester is being cross-examined.

Video courtesy of SABC.

Sowetan

Homba, who fought her way to the top three alongside contenders Nehemiah Tjatji and Karen Mthethwa, was announced as the newest face of SABC 3’s lifestyle show on Thursday evening at Le Manoir Boutique Hotel in Northcliff, Johannesburg.

“Top Billing is such an iconic part of South African television. It was one of those shows that made you feel like you could experience the world through your screen. I didn’t take the traditional route into presenting, so to be given the opportunity to step onto a platform that I grew up watching is an incredible full-circle moment,” Homba said.

The media personality’s win follows the comeback season of Top Billing after nearly seven years off air.

Since throwing her hat in the ring for the competition, Homba, a top five finalist in Miss South Africa 2023, captured the hearts of many from the moment she submitted her original online audition.

The sport scientist, biokineticist, digital content creator and sports broadcaster became an audience favourite as she showcased her infectious energy, natural confidence and authentic personality.

I didn’t take the traditional route into presenting, so to be given the opportunity to step onto a platform that I grew up watching is an incredible full-circle moment

Homba Mazaleni

“Homba’s distinct blend of biokinetics, sports expertise and passion for storytelling makes her a valuable addition to the Top Billing presenter ensemble. Leveraging her voice and talents, together with our partners, Lucky Fish, we look forward to bringing Top Billing fans bespoke features and exclusive stories over the coming months. We are committed to nurturing her talent across the wider SABC network and ecosystem. We wish her an extraordinary and memorable journey ahead,” Sane Zondi, S3 head of channel, said.

Hailing from the Eastern Cape, Homba’s journey to television has been anything but conventional. Her early passion for sport developed into an impressive academic and professional career.

She earned a degree in human movement science from Nelson Mandela University and pursued postgraduate studies in sport science and biokinetics.

Her work in biokinetics and sports rehabilitation gave her an understanding of human performance, movement and recovery. But alongside her scientific career, Homba was developing another passion — storytelling.

Through digital content creation, athlete interviews and sports broadcasting, she began building a platform that brought together her knowledge of sport, her love of people and her natural ability to connect with audiences.

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

Vuyo Zungula says financial management, service delivery and a clear five-year programme of action must be at the centre of any coalition agreement as the ATM positions itself for a potentially hung Johannesburg council.

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) will not commit to supporting a coalition government in Johannesburg without a written agreement setting out how the city will be governed and holding its political leaders accountable, its mayoral candidate, Vuyo Zungula, says.

With no party expected to secure an outright majority in the City of Johannesburg, Zungula said the ATM was open to discussions after the November 4 local government elections, but would not be swayed by political promises without a clear plan for addressing the city’s problems.

The party has yet to decide whether it would support a coalition led by the ANC or the DA, with Zungula saying its immediate focus was on the policies and commitments that would guide the next administration.

“The emphasis has always been there must be a coalition arrangement, an agreement, a coalition agreement, which then informs how we work,” he said.

Zungula, who has built a profile in parliament through his persistent questioning of President Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal, said the ATM’s experience in coalition governments had taught it the importance of written agreements.

He cited the party’s previous participation in Joburg’s coalition administration, where an ATM representative served as a member of the mayoral committee for about 16 months before being recalled for what he described as political reasons.

The party has also held a mayoral committee position in Mogale City, where ATM councillor Danny Molefi Thupane was appointed to the human settlements and rural development portfolio in the DA-led administration in 2021. Thupane later became the municipality’s mayor in April 2023 after the removal of DA mayor Tyrone Gray.

Zungula said the absence of enforceable coalition agreements made it difficult to ensure accountability and continuity in government.

He said the ATM had raised similar concerns during discussions with the ANC about the formation of the national government of national unity in 2024.

“It’s not a case of hearing a politician or a party making a promise, because we’ve been in these spaces before. We know how, when parties want to force to get a mayor or to run a coalition, they’ll sell anything,” he said.

“But in the absence of a written agreement or a written programme which we could use to hold them accountable, it would be stupid for us to actually take the word of a politician.”

The ATM’s proposed conditions for Johannesburg include improving the city’s financial management, strengthening its institutional capacity, addressing the non-compliance of spaza shops and tackling hijacked buildings.

Zungula said the party wants financial management to be prioritised because the city needs to address the underlying problems contributing to its governance and service delivery challenges.

We are just really agitating at a policy level, or at a political level. What must the city do differently so that the residents of Joburg do not suffer the way they have been suffering?

Vuyo Zungula, ATM's mayoral candidate for Johannesburg

He said a coalition agreement would also have to contain a programme of action setting out what the incoming administration intended to achieve during its five-year term.

For residents, he said, the immediate priority was getting the basics right, including reliable water and electricity supply, functioning streetlights, maintained roads and improved safety.

“The mandate is basically to get Joburg to work, focusing on the basics,” Zungula said.

He said residents were prepared to wait for more complex problems to be resolved if the city could demonstrate that it was addressing essential services and delivering on its commitments.

The ATM’s position comes as smaller parties prepare to negotiate their influence in councils where the larger political parties fall short of a majority.

In the 2021 local government elections, the ATM secured about 0.62% of the total votes across all ballots nationally, according to the Electoral Commission’s results. Despite its relatively small electoral support, the party has participated in coalition arrangements that have given it opportunities to hold executive positions in municipalities.

Zungula’s Johannesburg candidacy represents a shift from his high-profile parliamentary role to a direct contest for executive power in one of the country’s most politically contested metros.

He has been a prominent voice in parliamentary efforts to hold Ramaphosa accountable over the Phala Phala farm scandal, which followed the theft of foreign currency from the president’s Limpopo property.

Zungula participated in the parliamentary process examining whether there were grounds to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president.

Asked why the ATM had chosen to field him in Johannesburg despite his parliamentary profile, Zungula said the decision followed the party’s candidate selection process, which involved consultations with community structures and other local formations.

He said the party’s Johannesburg regional executive had reported that those consulted wanted him to contest the metro.

Rather than focusing on which party it might support after the election, Zungula said the ATM was concentrating on what it believed a future administration needed to do differently.

“We are just really agitating at a policy level, or at a political level. What must the city do differently so that the residents of Joburg do not suffer the way they have been suffering?” he said.

The party’s final position on coalition negotiations will be determined after the election, he said, when the results establish the balance of power in the council.

Story audio is generated using AI

Cast your mind back a few years. South African teams are in the midst of another infinite season of Super Rugby. Flights to Perth, trips to Dunedin, the most southerly rugby-playing outpost in the world. Jet lag, wear and tear, grumpiness from the four quadrants.

Long faces in the land of the long white cloud.

Now we’re playing up north, against the Irish and the Welsh mainly, sometimes against the English and French. It’s a whole new ball game. No time differences, no lag. And rugby is different there, too. The Irish don’t see the sun. They look fragile, as though they’ve grown up in a Petrie dish, or in a saucer in cotton wool. Don’t let first impressions mislead you.

Take Sam Prendergast, the Leinster flyhalf. He looks like a matchstick. That he’s got the best hands in Europe tends to get overlooked. Question: how do you play rugby against a praying mantis? Answer: don’t be seduced by his apparent fragility and the fact that coach Andy Farrell left him out of the British and Irish Lions squad for their tour of Australia last year; play against him with intelligence and care.

The Irish and their club sides, Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster, don’t only bring differences of body type and philosophy — they bring different ways of playing. The Irish are canny, they disrupt, they counter-ruck with the glee of rampaging political zealots.

Sam Prendergast haciendo cosas de Sam Prendergast... pic.twitter.com/EqzPtGUNEk

— Javier Señarís Senra (@RutgerBlume) October 12, 2026

Their approach to attacking rugby is more sophisticated than the South Africans: they flood their attack with deep-lying dummy runners, or they play fast and flat around the fringes. You have to be on point, otherwise they’ll score points against you, big ones.

“We tend to defend well in local derbies because we understand the opposition’s attack,” says John Dobson, the coach of the Stormers, who will encounter the trickiness a Irish combination when they meet Ulster in their United Rugby Championship clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

“The Northern Hemisphere sides attack in a more sophisticated way: they stack the blindside and bring it back if they can’t get through there and, because they’re slick, they compromise your line speed when they do.”

Dobson was talking just after the Stormers had been spooked by a Scarlets side full of attacking brio at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday and was slightly wide-eyed himself. Before two late Yaqueen Ahmed tries the score was locked at 40-40 and with a difference set of circumstances the young Welsh visitors might just have burgled a famous win.

“We missed Ruhan [Nel, outside centre and skipper] because he brings such defensive organisation to us. Hopefully he’ll be fit for our game against Ulster.”

Beautiful offload from Antoine Frisch and a great finish from Craig Casey.

Will surely be a try of the season contender. pic.twitter.com/tHO6QnzAmP

— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) November 26, 2023

Monday morning saw Nel on the physio’s table at the Stormers’ High-Performance Centre in Bellville. Later that morning he was on the field, testing out his calf strain. He felt at the time he’d likely be ready to play against Ulster on Saturday afternoon and was subsequently named in the Stormers’ starting line-up, his first competitive rugby for three weeks.

With Stuart McCloskey in front of him, a big player who gives off major attacking vibes, the Stormers need all the ballast in the centre they can muster. Nel brings a steady hand to the tiller with his experience and calm.

The Irish don’t only bring a structured attacking game, they bring character. Take the combative Craig Casey, the Munster scrumhalf. Casey’s the kind of guy who would walk into a pub in a strange town and pick an argument with the resident dog. He’s pugnacious, which is a possibly more acceptable way of saying he’s something else, also beginning with “p”.

Good on him. With Casey Munster have done well to fill the hole left by Connor Murray so comprehensively. When it comes to the Irish side, who the Springboks play in Dublin on November 21, Casey is snapping at incumbent Jamison Gibson-Park’s heels.

It’s going to be a grand afternoon out at Lansdowne Road as Ireland and South Africa continue their long dialogue. Sometimes it’s turgid; sometimes sublime. But it’s always different, and so captivating in the best way.

Stewart, knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to drama, died at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement on his X account.

“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday [Wednesday] at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife, Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia,” it said.

Stewart became an actor at age 18 and gained acclaim on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company beginning in the 1960s. But it was not until after he was hired at age 47 for Star Trek: The Next Generation — a TV series that ran from 1987 to 1994 as a sequel to the original 1960s Star Trek — that he gained mainstream fame, acting into his 80s.

“Make it so,” his character Picard often said, instructing a subordinate to carry out a command or sometimes deploying the similar catch phrase “Engage”.

It was a role he had debated taking after his long-time friend and fellow Shakespearean Ian McKellen advised him to spurn Star Trek and remain in theatre. Stewart did take the role and became a fan favourite and an indispensable part of a lucrative sci-fi franchise, playing Picard not only in 176 episodes over seven seasons of that series but also in several Star Trek films and in the later streaming series Star Trek: Picard that began airing in 2020 when he was 79.

“As the seven seasons of TNG (The Next Generation) went by, the distinction between Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart became thinner and thinner, until it was impossible for me to know where he left off and I began. So much of what I believed and felt went into that show,” Stewart told the Guardian newspaper in 2022.

Stewart also initially baulked at being cast as the wheelchair-using mutant Professor X in the X-Men movies, based on the popular Marvel comic book character.

“I said, ‘Look, I know this isn’t science fiction, but it’s fantasy, and I’ve done that.’ But they persuaded me that it wouldn’t be like Star Trek, so I did it. And yet again I was proved wrong,” Stewart told the Guardian.

He became a critical part of another big-money franchise, starting with the first entry X-Men in 2000, and followed by several more.

Acting was a safe space

Stewart was born on July 13 1940, in the English town of Mirfield in Yorkshire. He was raised in poverty, with a father who he said returned from World War 2 an alcoholic who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and physically abused Stewart’s mother. Stewart recalled putting his body between his father and mother to try to protect her.

As a child, Stewart said, acting became a “safe space” after a schoolteacher introduced him to Shakespeare — specifically The Merchant of Venice — during a class when he was 12. He started losing his hair at age 17 and was bald by 19. He was embarrassed at the time, but eventually embraced it.

Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, presented a hopeful vision of the future, with humankind venturing into the cosmos in spaceships exceeding the speed of light and encountering alien races. The enduring popularity of the original series and the success of spinoff films prompted Roddenberry to create The Next Generation sequel series.

The Picard character was the opposite of the swashbuckling and sometimes unintentionally buffoonish Captain James T Kirk, played by William Shatner, of the original series — envisioned as more cerebral and disciplined, though sometimes coming across as stuffy, humourless, or self-important.

Stewart recalled being a bit too serious towards his cast mates early on.

“I tell the story of calling a meeting of my principal fellow cast members and telling them that I thought we were not disciplined enough, that we should not be fooling around on the set as much as we were but taking everything seriously,” Stewart told the New Yorker in 2023.

“And one of the cast members said, ‘Oh, come on, Patrick, we’ve got to have some fun.’ And I thumped the chair and said, ‘We are not here to have fun’ — which they have never let me forget. They taught me so much about loosening up and being freer,” Stewart added.

Stewart also felt the series improved as it went along, faulting his own portrayal of Picard in the first two seasons.

“I found it lacking intimacy. It was very authoritative, but there were few other qualities in him,” Stewart said, adding that his work got better in subsequent seasons.

In fact, the finest work for the entire cast may have been the two-part, time-bending series finale.

He became Sir Patrick Stewart when he was knighted by the queen at Buckingham Palace in 2010. He told reporters that his heroes were British actors Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Alec Guinness, who also had been knighted, adding that being “in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me”.

Stewart was married three times and had two children. His third marriage, in 2013, was to American musician Sunny Ozell.

Reuters

The Briton started the campaign as the favourite but has been eclipsed by 20-year-old Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, who is set to clinch the title in Mexico City this weekend.

“I’ve probably learnt more about myself this year than I would have liked, in all honesty,” Russell said on Thursday, acknowledging that Antonelli, who will be Italy’s first champion in 73 years, had been performing at a higher level.

“But I remind myself I’m 28 years old. I see Lewis [Hamilton] still competing extremely well at 41 and Fernando [Alonso] at 44. Lewis won the majority of his titles in his 30s, and this year is absolutely not going to define my career as a whole.”

Ferrari’s Hamilton is third in the standings, one point behind Russell.

While Antonelli has won nine of 18 grands prix this season, Russell has three to his credit and his season has been characterised by misfortune, with highs one weekend and lows the next.

He said also that his natural driving style had been hampered by “a few factors” involving the new era of power units and higher tyre pressures, especially on the rear of the car.

“It’s not going to break me. If anything, it’s going to make me stronger. I’ve been pretty proud of my resilience and how I’ve bounced back from very tough moments,” he said.

“Through my lowest points of this season, I’ve generally bounced back really strong. Then I had another bad race after the good one.

“But I’ve been racing more years of my life than I haven’t, and I’ve had more successful years than relative failures. Unfortunately, this year for me has come at maybe the time when I needed it most [to be at the highest level], but it’s by no means the end of my journey. I’ve still got a good 12 to 15 years left in me.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has expressed his confidence in Russell bouncing back, saying the current car did not suit the driver, but next year would be a fresh start.

Reuters

The hackers behind the raid were from North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis. The attackers targeted Binance wallets on 10 blockchains and shifted most of the funds in about 20 minutes, TRM Labs said in a statement.

Binance said it worked with partners to freeze the affected assets with about $3bn located so far. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3bn, and its co-founder Yi He said the exchange would cover “all hacking losses”.

Binance said its deposits were unaffected and it expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours.

It’s the biggest hack in history.

Aravind Srinivasan, head of GSR’s OTC business

TRM said several features of the attack matched earlier heists linked to North Korea, including a 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had attributed to Pyongyang.

“We make this judgment with high confidence,” it said in a statement.

North Korea’s mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The incident could be the world’s biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.

“It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR’s systematic OTC business.

Markets reacted immediately in Asian trading on Friday.

Bitcoin dropped more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178. BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5% over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko.

Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8% while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6% in extended US trading.

Hacked laptop

An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorised withdrawals, Binance said.

“The incident stems from multiple factors. Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer which may be the entry point of the incident,” Binance said.

Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.

It’s becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them.

Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance

“It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong.

Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335-million registered users globally and had about $162.8bn in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report.

“User funds remain safe,” Binance said in a statement.

Binance has secure asset fund

Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches, according to its website.

“It’s becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them,” said Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a payments and stablecoin infrastructure company.

“My view is that users will move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges, [it is] becoming too risky to park your money somewhere that couldn’t cover a hack of meaningful size.”

Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57bn in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800m.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, said on Thursday it had worked with cryptocurrency custodian BitGo to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack. Binance’s Yi said $27m in stablecoins and about $2m worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.

Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly $200m in funds, Yi said. Jack McDonald, senior vice-president of stablecoins at Ripple, said the company was closely monitoring reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and was freezing affected funds and coordinating with relevant parties.

Incident adds to crypto thefts

Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated that billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor.

The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year attackers stole $2.9b worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs. In September cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $350m in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry’s vulnerability to hackers.

Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.

Binance.US, a separate cryptocurrency exchange, said it was not affected by the security incident.

Coinbase said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.

In an unrelated incident earlier on Thursday, prediction market operator Polymarket temporarily halted trading after a security incident involving a third-party provider. It later resumed trading and said it would fully reimburse affected traders.

Reuters

The world’s No 2 palm oil producer is expected to deliver about 19.8-million to 20-million metric tons in 2027, analysts said, which is about 15% above production in 2016, when a strong El Niño curbed yields, but just below this year’s expected near-record output of 20.28-million tons.

“We’re looking at a shortfall in production next year, no question about it, but nowhere near as dramatic a shortfall as implied by many people,” said Julian McGill, managing director of agricultural commodities advisory firm Glenauk Economics.

Still, a steeper decline in top producer Indonesia will leave a supply deficit in the world’s most widely used edible oil.

El Niño weather has brought dryness to much of Asia and is expected to intensify in the coming months, hitting global food production, which has kept palm prices elevated despite Malaysia’s stocks hitting unprecedented levels in September.

As a historical reference for the potential impact on production in 2027, plantation analysts at Malaysian banks have cited the strong 2015/2016 El Niño, which led to a 13.2% drop in Malaysia’s crude palm oil output in 2016.

Better rains

McGill said Malaysia has recorded far fewer months with rainfall below 100mm than during 2015-16’s strong El Niño, while parts of Indonesia’s Central and South Kalimantan are approaching the dryness seen that year.

“For Indonesia, we expect a decline of around 2-million metric tons compared to 2026 while Malaysia will see a much more modest decline of less than 0.5-million metric tons,” he said.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) estimated production to reach 53.7-million tons this year and has forecast output will drop to 51.7-million tons in 2027.

“We have been seeing rains almost every day in Malaysia across all the growing areas,” Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad, CEO of Malaysia’s SD Guthrie, one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, told Reuters.

“However, for the first time ever, we are seeing forest fires happening in Papua New Guinea and in Irian Jaya. So you will probably see Indonesia suffer a lot more potentially than Malaysia.”

Production in Peninsular Malaysia will likely be less affected than Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo in 2027, when trees will face the full impact of the dry spell, said MR Chandran, chair of agritech firm IRGA.

However, production in Sabah and Sarawak is expected to rise sharply in October after dry August weather accelerated fruit ripening through September, he said.

Chandran estimated Malaysia’s palm oil production in 2027 at 20-million tons.

Malaysia’s weather agency has forecast El Niño to peak between March and May 2027 with maximum temperatures expected to exceed the local record of 40.1°C set in 1998.

Reuters

Ricciardo raised the prospect on Wednesday on Formula One’s Beyond The Grid podcast, saying he could consider a one-off return to racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans rather than a full-season comeback.

Asked about a preferred teammate, the Australian named Verstappen, who he raced with at Red Bull from 2016 to 2018, as a leading candidate.

“He’s a smart man to choose me in the car,” Verstappen told reporters on Thursday at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The Dutchman added, however, that his Formula One commitments and projects away from the championship left little space in his calendar for endurance racing.

“If I want to do it, I want to do it properly, with really good prep,” Verstappen said. “At the moment I cannot do that. I don’t have the time, the free time, to dedicate to a Le Mans project.

“If we do something like that, it needs to be proper. It needs to be for a chance to win,” he added. “To have a chance to win against people who do it the whole season, you need to be prepared really well.”

For now, Verstappen’s attention is on a demanding weekend at the high altitude of Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“With the altitude, normally we have the wings to compensate a little bit for that, but now you basically just run one wing,” he said. “So there will be a lot less downforce on the car, which I think will already be quite challenging.”

Reuters

Formula One announced this month a 10-year agreement for Rwanda to host an African Grand Prix, a race that would be the continent’s first since 1993 and something seven-time world champion Hamilton has actively campaigned for.

Asked whether he could still be on the grid by then, the Ferrari driver said he remained fully committed.

“Firstly, you’ve never had anybody like me here in 70 years,” Hamilton told reporters ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix on Thursday. “I feel that I’m built differently.

“Did you see my reaction in the last race? My reaction is faster than some of the youngest people here. There are lots of tools that you can utilise to continue to keep yourself and your mind sharp.

“I love what I’m doing still now. I’m still all in, and I will be for the foreseeable future ... at 41 I can compete with a 20-year-old. Time will tell if I’m here in the thirties but we’ll see.”

The Briton also made clear he would not continue if his performance declined.

You’ve never had anybody like me [in Formula One] in 70 years

Lewis Hamilton

“I never want to overstay my welcome in the sense of still not having a performance. I don’t want to be driving around when my reactions have dropped off, my driving has dropped off and my pace has dropped off.”

Hamilton said, however, that his immediate priority was using the final five races of the season as a “test bench” for next year’s Ferrari, while helping the team secure second place in the constructors’ championship.

“I think winning the championship is the only thing any of us really care about. Maybe some people care about the other positions.”

Hamilton is third in the drivers’ standings on 241 points, one behind Mercedes’ George Russell.

“My sole focus is making sure we secure second in the constructors’ championship, because I think the team deserves it.”

Hamilton said he was working with Ferrari’s aerodynamic and vehicle-dynamics departments to retain the strengths of the current chassis while addressing shortcomings, particularly in straight-line performance.

“If we could have matched those guys on the straights, we would have been fighting for a step further ahead. But that could happen next year. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Reuters

Double world champion Alonso, whose Aston Martin team are second from last overall and one place behind Williams, said after last weekend’s US Grand Prix that there was “a very low level of driving and lack of talent” in the bottom third of the grid.

The comments came after a collision with Albon when the Thai tried to overtake at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, where Alonso finished 16th and Albon 17th.

“I still feel the same,” Alonso told reporters before the Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. “I think we all know which ones felt hit by that comment. So that tells you everything.

“I don’t feel that all the incidents on lap one, all the touches, all the front wings that fly around — all these kinds of things — are necessary, especially if you are fighting for nothing at the back of the grid.

“It’s not only Austin, unfortunately. I’ve been unlucky to be in that area of the race throughout the whole season, and I see things from the car that I cannot comment on here.”

Strong level up and down the grid

Albon, speaking in a later press conference, disagreed.

“It’s not nice to hear those comments in many ways. You’re racing someone that you looked up to, but at the same time, I don’t agree. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

“I think the level is strong up and down the grid. I think 10 or 15 years ago, the back half of the grid wasn’t the way it is now. We don’t have pay drivers [those who pay for their seats] anymore. Hopefully, we don’t cross paths in the race this weekend.”

Teammate Sainz, a previous winner in Mexico with Ferrari, also felt the current grid was the strongest it has been in recent years and said he rated Albon very highly and enjoyed racing with him.

“I would say I’ve never been in the last third of the grid until this year,” added the Spaniard. “It’s definitely not enjoyable. Not so much because of the quality of the racing. It’s because you tend to fight people who have very little to lose because the best result you’re going to achieve is P20 anyway.

“So there are sometimes incidents or things that would never happen at the top of the grid just because you have a lot more to lose. I think in general none of us in the last third of the grid deserve to be fighting for the positions we are fighting for.

“We all have plenty of talent to be fighting for podiums, top fives, and wins.”

The bottom team, Cadillac, have past race winners in Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, and every driver in the bottom four teams, with the exception of Brazilian youngster Gabriel Bortoleto at Audi, has stood on the podium at some point in their Formula One careers.

Reuters

The 36-year-old, who returned to the sport this season after a year away following his departure from Red Bull at the end of 2024, said his children were the main reason behind his decision to limit his career to three more years.

“I love this, and it is my passion, and I could easily stay another 10 years because I really enjoy what I do,” Perez told reporters.

“But I am also getting to an age where my children, who are the most important thing, will be at important stages of their lives, and I want to spend much more time with them. I am clear that these last three years will be my last contract.”

Rather than pursue a seat that could offer more immediate success, Perez said the chance to help build a team from the ground up was the most compelling challenge of his final years in the sport.

“There is nothing more motivating at this moment than creating something new with such an important brand as Cadillac,” he said.

The American team have struggled in their debut season, sitting last in the constructors’ standings without a point after 18 rounds.

Perez said he was eager to help transform the team over the coming months but less optimistic about its chances of scoring a first point at his home race, saying they “need a miracle”.

Despite Cadillac’s struggles, the Mexican remains a huge draw in his country. On Wednesday, an estimated 100,000 fans turned out for a show run in Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma, while thousands more are expected to fill the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with noise and colour this weekend.

“It’s crazy to make it to 300 [races], but also that it happens in Mexico,” Perez said. “When you look at the results, we are the last team, but the hype here is like when I was fighting for victories.”

Reuters

The Benguela railway in Angola will join the Tanzania-Zambia Railway line to Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam, linking the Lobito corridor on the Atlantic coast with the central corridor on the Indian Ocean coast.

Hassan gave no date for completion of the initiative in comments to reporters on Thursday.

In 2025 China signed a $1.4bn (R23.27bn) pact with Zambia and Tanzania to modernise the Tazara railway, which it had financed in the 1970s to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports.

This week Italian construction firm Webuild said it had won a tender to build a section of the Zambia Lobito Railway Corridor. Tazara has been widely seen as a counterweight to the US- and EU-backed Lobito Corridor, a route from Angola through Zambia to the DRC.

Angola has also invited Tanzania to invest in an oil refinery, with state energy firm Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation assessing the viability of a partnership in the Lobito oil refinery project, Hassan said.

Tanzania has not said whether it will take up an equity stake in a refinery being built in Kenya by Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote.

East African governments have been offered a 30% stake, and Rwanda and Kenya have so far committed to buying shares.

Tanzania and Uganda are discussing plans to jointly build another refinery in Tanzania’s port of Tanga.

Reuters

A rise in oil and gas prices to multiyear highs caused by disruption linked to the US-Israeli war with Iran has generated huge amounts of cash for the industry, which has been reporting results this week.

But the price rises have also increased inflation for everyone, sharpening the appetite for scale to justify production in the mature North Sea Basin, which the British government views as a secure, domestic supply source.

Oil and gas mergers and acquisitions involving a UK target or buyer have reached $19.6bn (R325.73bn) year-to-date, exceeding the $16.5bn for all of 2025, according to LSEG data. That makes 2026 the strongest year for activity since at least 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to a previous energy crisis.

Among the analysts and bankers who spoke to Reuters, James McCormack of investment bank and research firm Cavendish said the pool of potential buyers was relatively small, but that did not preclude more deals.

He described the UK North Sea as “an increasingly concentrated market when it comes to credible buyers with the balance sheet, tax capacity and decommissioning capability to execute material deals”.

As relative costs are especially high in ageing oil and gas fields, Cavendish, in a report published in September, said the pressure was on for mergers.

Companies that can offer diversification, liquidity and development capital are attracting premium valuations, while sub-scale operators face growing pressure to merge, seek capital in deeper markets or accept takeover approaches

James McCormack, Cavendish

“Companies that can offer diversification, liquidity and development capital are attracting premium valuations, while sub-scale operators face growing pressure to merge, seek capital in deeper markets or accept takeover approaches,” it said.

Alexander Franke, an energy consultant at Oliver Wyman, also predicted the need to contain costs would drive more activity, with the caveat that the pace would depend on the oil price outlook.

Any unexpected fall in energy prices could deter buyers, while sustained rises could boost cash flow and funding for acquisitions.

UK tax rate adds to case for deals

British taxes are a further incentive to maximise efficiency, the bankers and analysts said.

An energy profits levy, introduced by the previous Conservative government and increased under the current Labour government, has pushed the headline tax rate on UK upstream oil and gas activities to 78%.

“There’s been a lot of tax-driven consolidation in recent years,” Greig Aitken, director of corporate research at Wood Mackenzie, said.

Others also highlighted the advantage of scale in the tax context.

“There’s still a rationale for two UK North Sea players to combine so that the enlarged company can take advantage of the tax credits as well as operational synergies,” Tony White of advisory firm MKI said.

Shifting strategy could make investors pause

Apart from the unpredictability of energy prices, investment decisions are complicated by the uncertainty of government policy.

The British government has said it remains committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but it approved earlier this month the development of the Jackdaw North Sea gas field.

In its autumn budget statement on Wednesday, it reiterated its long-term commitment to keeping oil and gas in the energy mix, though it did not announce any new measures for the oil and gas industry.

The decision on Jackdaw followed years of debate as environmental campaigners said there was no justification for investment in fossil fuel production, while others said the project would provide jobs and a domestic source of natural gas at a less environmental cost than imported supplies.

BP’s North Sea sale

The biggest oil companies for years have been withdrawing from the ageing North Sea to focus on bigger prospects elsewhere.

Shell has opted to manage its remaining North Sea exposure through partnerships and joint ventures, including the creation of Adura with Norway’s Equinor.

BP, the last major with a significant North Sea focus, in July announced plans to sell its oil and gas fields in the basin as part of a portfolio overhaul to improve profitability.

Analysts have estimated the sale could raise $2bn and trigger another wave of consolidation.

“Most likely the buyer is another North Sea consolidator. Value will be driven by infrastructure and tax synergies rather than by reserves alone,” Cavendish’s McCormack said, naming UK companies EnQuest, Neo Next+ and Ithaca as possible buyers.

The next round of bidding will be in December, one person with knowledge of the process said. BP had no further comment.

Amjad Bseisu, CEO of EnQuest, has said he is interested in the assets. The company had no further comment.

Ithaca declined to comment, while Neo Next+ did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Start of a broader consolidation cycle

UK-listed companies have drawn rival bids, including from international would-be buyers. London-listed Genel Energy in September raised its offer to $436m for Britain’s Capricorn Energy, outbidding Norway’s DNO.

Israel’s Ratio Petroleum outbid Serica Energy with a sweetened $196m offer for Pharos Energy in August. Serica said it continues to evaluate acquisition opportunities in the UK North Sea and international markets.

This month Gulf Keystone Petroleum and ShaMaran Petroleum announced a $601m all-share merger, while Ithaca Energy has agreed to buy three offshore oil assets from Canada’s Suncor for C$1.2bn (R14.27bn).

Even Pharos CEO Katherine Roe, a former investment banker, said she was surprised by the bidding war for the company.

She said rising costs and limited diversification left smaller producers more exposed to political, operational and energy price risks, but that consolidation can improve efficiency and investor returns.

“To receive a cash bid at a 30% premium with liquidity in a way that’s just not achievable on a daily basis is the best outcome for shareholders,” Roe said.

Reuters

In contrast, partly cloudy and cool conditions are expected in places over the eastern parts, with morning drizzle possible along the eastern Drakensberg. Isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers are also expected over the eastern parts of the country.

The weather service noted that the country is currently in the spring season, when weather conditions can change from day to day.

“The seasonal forecast, influenced by the developing El Niño weather pattern, indicates that parts of the country are likely to receive below-normal rainfall and experience above-normal temperatures. However, showers and thundershowers may still occur in some areas,” said Saws senior forecaster Tokelo Chiloane.

Chiloane said on Sunday, ahead of the special voting days, partly cloudy and warm to hot conditions are expected across much of the country.

“It will be very hot in places over the Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo and the Lowveld of Mpumalanga. Isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers are expected over most parts of the country, while scattered showers and thundershowers are forecast over parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga,” she said.

Similar weather conditions are expected to persist on Monday and Tuesday, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers possible over several parts of the country.

Voters have been encouraged to plan their journeys accordingly, particularly in areas where afternoon thunderstorms are expected.

Saws has advised voters, election officials and the public to take note of the expected weather conditions when planning their activities.

Members of the public have also been encouraged to stay hydrated and take precautions against heat exposure, particularly in areas expecting very hot conditions.

“Carry umbrellas or raincoats where showers and thundershowers are expected. Allow sufficient time for travel and exercise caution on wet roads, especially during periods of reduced visibility. Monitor official Saws weather forecasts, warnings and advisories for updates on changing weather conditions,” Chiloane said.

The weather service said it will continue to monitor weather developments throughout the voting period and will issue severe weather warnings and advisories when necessary.

TimesLIVE

Among the nations that have received messages urging them to keep public statements in check are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not clear if the messages, which were delivered in bilateral meetings, were conveyed to other European governments.

The US requests come as the Trump administration restarts an effort to press for a negotiated end to the full-scale war in Ukraine, now well into its fifth year. The latest push has blended incentives for Russia — including sanctions relief — with pressure on Ukraine to halt its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

Asked for a comment, a Pentagon official said: “Private conversations among allies are just that, so we will not comment on these allegations.”

Among the comments that have drawn US officials’ attention are suggestions by European leaders that Russia is cornered and resorting to increasingly desperate measures as its invasion of Ukraine slows to a crawl, one of the people said.

Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a key figure in an ongoing review of US troop levels in Europe, was one of the US officials delivering the message, the people said. Reuters could not determine what other officials were involved.

None of the people, who include three European officials and a US official, suggested the advice was communicated in a confrontational manner.

Europe should avoid ‘poking’ Russia

The US messages reflect a debate within Nato regarding how to publicly address the threat of an increasingly assertive Russia.

Some Western officials have argued that emphasising the threat posed by Moscow could play into the hands of the Kremlin, which they say seeks to sow fear and undermine support for Ukraine.

Others argue European governments must be transparent to show their electorates that sacrifice and resources are needed to keep Moscow at bay. That is especially true as Russia appears to accelerate a covert campaign of sabotage throughout the continent.

Russia has denied that it is pursuing such a campaign.

One of the people familiar said Colby told a Baltic official recently that there should be no “poking” directed at the Russians.

The person said Colby pointed to Europeans publicly suggesting that Russia was “cornered like a rat” as an example of unhelpful rhetoric.

It was not clear what specific statement Colby was referring to. However, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal referred to Putin as a “rat in a corner” in late September, suggesting the Russian leader was resorting to sabotage efforts in Europe as Russia had become increasingly bogged down in Ukraine.

“We are helping you. The Americans are there,” said a separate European official, describing the Pentagon’s recent private messaging. “Just don’t be loud. Don’t make noise.”

In a separate recent meeting, the Pentagon urged an Estonian delegation to be “measured” in its communications, according to a person briefed on the encounter, though the person did not say Pentagon officials complained about any specific statement.

The defence ministries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia did not respond to requests for comment, while Nato declined to comment.

Moscow tests Europe’s resolve

One of the European officials said the Pentagon’s advice, while cordial, was baffling, given that intelligence services in the Baltic states have in recent months consistently played down the probability of Russia testing Nato’s mutual defence provisions.

Other Nato intelligence services, by contrast, have publicly warned that Russia could dramatically ramp up its sabotage campaign in the near future.

The Pentagon messages to Nato officials come at a fraught time for European security.

Moscow has recently intensified its campaign of deniable attacks on Nato countries, Western intelligence officials have said.

On Wednesday, German prosecutors said two Belarusians were arrested for allegedly planning to set ​fire to a building or critical infrastructure facility ⁠in the Nuremberg area. In September, the German government blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport, allegations Moscow has denied.

At the same time, US officials have been discussing potential business deals with Russia as part of the Trump administration’s push for peace in Ukraine. Those efforts have drawn mixed reactions from European officials, many of whom are pushing for the Kremlin’s continued economic isolation.

Pentagon planners, meanwhile, are reviewing Washington’s force posture in Europe, a process that could see a sharp drawdown in America’s troop presence on the continent.

US officials have said European Nato members need to assume more responsibility for their own defence, particularly as the US focuses on threats in the Middle East, Latin America and East Asia.

Reuters

Medical schemes must enable access to care and build efficient and cost-effective networks. Providers must coordinate care. Members must actively engage with the tools and resources available to them. Sustainable healthcare is ultimately a shared responsibility.

Patients should be able to focus on getting better, not on navigating a complicated system of referrals, providers, tariffs and benefit rules. Yet for many South Africans, accessing private healthcare too often feels as challenging as the illness itself.

This complexity is not simply an inconvenience; it carries a real cost. When healthcare providers operate independently rather than as part of a coordinated system, the result is unnecessary expenditure, fragmented care, poorer health outcomes and a frustrating experience for patients.

Every rand lost to duplication and inefficiency is a rand that could have funded care.

Why healthcare feels so complicated

South Africa’s private healthcare system offers excellent clinical expertise, but it remains highly fragmented.

GPs, specialists, hospitals and pharmacies often operate independently, leaving members to coordinate their own care. The result can be duplicated tests, unnecessary referrals, inconsistent treatment and higher healthcare costs.

Fragmented care also creates opportunities for fraud, waste and abuse, placing additional pressure on the sustainability of private healthcare.

One of the most effective ways to address this challenge is through well-designed healthcare networks.

Unfortunately, healthcare networks are often misunderstood, with many people viewing them as a way of limiting choice.

In reality, they are designed to improve access to quality care, strengthen coordination between healthcare providers and make healthcare more affordable for members, so that healthcare functions as one connected journey rather than a series of disconnected appointments.

Building stronger healthcare networks

A healthcare network brings together general practitioners, specialists, hospitals and pharmacies that meet agreed quality standards and contracted tariffs.

For members, this means better access to healthcare providers close to home, greater certainty about what their medical scheme covers and fewer unexpected copayments, and ideally improvement in coordination of care, which results in better health outcomes rather than simply more consultations or procedures.

A key part of making this work is strengthening primary healthcare.

Over time, private healthcare has become increasingly specialist- and hospital-centred, yet many conditions can be diagnosed, treated and managed effectively through a trusted GP.

In excess of 95% of Medshield Medical Scheme members have access to a network GP within a 10km radius of where they live

Dr Wayne Riback, Medshield's chief medical officer

The challenge is that South Africa faces a shortage of doctors, with an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 private GPs serving approximately 9-million medical scheme beneficiaries.

Medical schemes therefore use geographic mapping to identify where members have limited access to GPs and expand provider networks accordingly. At Medshield Medical Scheme, in excess of 95% of members have access to a network GP within a 10km radius of where they live.

Members also have an important role to play. Most medical schemes provide provider locators through websites, member portals, mobile apps and dedicated call centres, making it easier to identify network providers before healthcare is needed.

Understanding these resources before illness strikes makes the healthcare journey significantly easier.

Coordinating care for better outcomes

Ideally, members should be able to consult a network GP who refers them to a network specialist practising at a network hospital, with prescriptions dispensed through a network pharmacy. This creates a more seamless healthcare journey while helping members avoid unnecessary out-of-pocket expenses.

Healthcare providers are equally central to making this work. Medical schemes increasingly encourage GPs and specialists to refer patients within established networks wherever appropriate.

Provider directories and digital tools make it easier for healthcare professionals to identify network specialists, hospitals and pharmacies, supporting continuity of care.

Achieving this level of coordination is not always straightforward. While South Africa has a shortage of GPs, the shortage of specialists is even more pronounced. This becomes even more dire in certain specialised disciplines, with relatively few practitioners nationally, and many concentrated in major metropolitan areas.

Expanding comprehensive provider networks therefore requires ongoing collaboration, sustainable reimbursement models and long-term partnerships with healthcare professionals.

This is also where managed care plays a critical role. It is often viewed simply as a system of authorisations and clinical approvals, but its purpose is much broader.

When integrated with healthcare networks, managed care helps coordinate treatment, supports evidence-based medicine and encourages the appropriate, clinically justified and cost-effective use of healthcare resources.

For members living with chronic conditions such as diabetes, a coordinated managed care programme can help:

• Improve medication adherence.
• Monitor disease progression more effectively.
• Identify complications earlier.
• Achieve better long-term health outcomes.

Successful managed care therefore delivers benefits beyond cost containment. Members stay healthier for longer, benefits remain available when they are needed most, and fewer unnecessary interventions and avoidable hospital admissions support both better patient outcomes and the long-term sustainability of private healthcare.

The future is coordinated healthcare

There is still work to do. Provider networks must continue expanding, more healthcare professionals need to participate, and members need greater awareness of the tools available to them.

Ultimately, every member wants the same thing: access to quality healthcare close to home, confidence that they will receive the right care when they need it, and protection from unnecessary financial surprises.

That is what an optimised healthcare network is designed to achieve. It is not about restricting choice, but about creating a healthcare system that is more connected, more sustainable and better equipped to deliver improved health outcomes.

When healthcare providers, clinicians and medical schemes work as one coordinated ecosystem, people experience what healthcare was always meant to provide: confidence, certainty and care delivered at exactly the moment it matters most.

Simplicity in healthcare is not a luxury. It is the mark of a system designed around the patient. That is the standard to which South African private healthcare should hold itself.

With eight plans tailored to different needs and life stages, Medshield Medical Scheme members have access to established networks of GPs, specialists, pharmacies and hospitals. Visit the Medshield website for more information.

This article was sponsored by Medshield Medical Scheme.

The figures were disclosed in a written reply to a parliamentary question by ATM MP Vuyo Zungula.

According to the department, expenditure on foreign nationals eligible for social assistance accounted for less than 1% of the total social assistance budget for 2025/2026. Payments were distributed across various grant types, including the care dependency grant, child support grant, disability grant, foster child grant, grant-in-aid, and old age grant.

A total of R1.12bn was spent on permanent residents. The old-age grant and child support grant accounted for the largest shares, receiving R931.5m and R134.5m, respectively.

Expenditure on refugees totalled R150.8m. The child support grant and old age grant topped the list, costing the department R105.8m and R32.7m, respectively.

An additional R10.6m in social relief of distress (SRD) grants was paid to qualifying foreign nationals, including holders of special Angolan dispensation permits, Lesotho exemption permits, Zimbabwean exemption permits, and valid asylum seeker permits. This represented just 0.03% of the total SRD grant budget.

The department said SRD grant assistance is strictly limited to qualifying individuals between the ages of 18 and 60 who have insufficient financial means. Eligible groups include South African citizens, permanent residents, recognised refugees, special dispensation/exemption permit holders, and asylum seekers with valid section 22 permits under the Refugees Act.

To qualify, recipients must be registered on either the department of home affairs database or Sassa’s social grant system with a valid unique identification number. Furthermore, they must not reside in a government-funded institution or unreasonably refuse employment or educational opportunities.

The department emphasised that it is constitutionally obligated to ensure access to social security for all eligible residents.

“In terms of regulation 2(e) of the social assistance regulations, a person qualifies for a social grant if he or she is a South African citizen, a permanent resident, or a refugee residing in the Republic of South Africa,” the department said.

“Accordingly, Sassa is legally mandated to provide social assistance to qualifying South African citizens, permanent residents, and recognised refugees residing in South Africa who meet the prescribed eligibility criteria.”

The department reiterated that social assistance is strictly unavailable to anyone unlawfully present in the country.

“Sassa does not provide social grants or SRD benefits to illegal immigrants or any person unlawfully present in the republic. The agency’s eligibility verification processes, including verification against department of home affairs records, are designed to ensure compliance with the legislative framework governing social assistance.”

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Thursday set aside a Western Cape High Court judgment that found the Drakenstein municipality in breach of its constitutional and statutory obligations to provide emergency housing.

The SCA upheld the municipality’s appeal, dismissing declaratory orders and supervisory requirements imposed on the local authority by the high court.

The SCA found that the high court had wrongly shifted the burden of proof onto the state. The high court had required the municipality to disprove unreasonableness without first requiring the applicants to set out a clear factual basis for their claims.

The appeal arose from eviction proceedings brought by Green Willows Properties 2 in the Drakenstein magistrate’s court against Eric Lolo and his daughter Bernice Fransman, who live on Farm Langkloof Roses in Drakenstein.

In 2006, Lolo registered on the housing waiting list.

Green Willows brought eviction proceedings in 2015 after Lolo’s right to occupy his home was terminated following his retrenchment in 2013.

The eviction proceedings, brought in terms of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, are still pending in the magistrate’s court.

The municipality was cited in the proceedings as the authority responsible for providing emergency housing to people evicted from their homes.

In its response, the municipality accepted its responsibility to provide housing and presented evidence of its efforts and the difficulties it faced in providing different types of housing in Drakenstein.

The municipality said it could not provide Lolo and Fransman with emergency accommodation at the time and could not say with certainty when accommodation would be available. It said, however, that arrangements could be made to provide such housing.

It explained that about 19,500 people were seeking accommodation in Drakenstein at the time, far exceeding availability. It had created between 400 and 800 formal “housing opportunities” a year with funding received from the Western Cape provincial government.

In response to the municipality’s report in the eviction proceedings, Lolo and Fransman applied to the high court for 10 declaratory orders stating that the municipality had breached its obligations to provide emergency and formal housing to the community, particularly people evicted from farms in the municipal area.

In their high court application, Lolo and Fransman contended that the municipality had no emergency housing policy. They also sought a declarator that the municipality must use its resources to meet its emergency housing obligations instead of relying on allocations from the province.

The municipality argued in both courts that Lolo and Fransman had not made out a proper case for the relief they sought.

The high court granted the orders Lolo and Fransman sought but also granted the municipality leave to appeal to the SCA.

Judge of Appeal Nambitha Dambuza said municipalities were required, as part of their integrated development plans, to set out housing delivery goals and land designation planning obligations under the Housing Act.

She said municipalities cannot escape responsibility for emergency housing by pointing to the roles of provincial and national government.

“With regard to the approach to determination of reasonableness of the measures put in place by a municipality, the basic principle that an applicant in motion proceedings must make out a proper case for the relief he or she seeks must apply,” Dambuza said.

She said the onus on the state was to set out the measures it had put in place to discharge its obligations under the Housing Act.

Dambuza said Lolo and Fransman were unaware when they launched the high court proceedings that the municipality had an emergency housing policy.

“Mr Lolo asserted that the municipality did not have an emergency housing policy. That this was incorrect was brought to the respondents’ attention in the municipality’s answering affidavit.”

Dambuza said the appeal record detailed extensive, documented efforts by the municipality to roll out formal housing and emergency options.

She said the municipality’s housing plans included the Vlakkeland project, a 2,500-unit development designed to include 500 emergency housing opportunities.

The SCA made no costs order against Lolo and Fransman in either court.

TimesLIVE

Motsepe announced at the Caf strategy conference in Cabo Verde earlier in the month the exco would be reassessing and reconsidering the decision it took last year for the tournament to take place every four years.

Caf said the reassessment and reconsideration was necessitated by the realisation that the proposed new Africa Nations League Pan-African competition, which was supposed to replace the current Afcon and take place every two years, would require several years to be in position.

“The decision by the Caf exco that the Afcon should take place every two years was based on advancing, protecting and promoting the interest of African football and Caf’s 54 member associations, as well as the interest of African players employed by football clubs outside Africa,” said Motsepe.

The Caf exco’s decision is in the best interest of African football and Caf 54 member associations and will also contribute significantly to the development and growth of football in Africa.

Caf president Patrice Motsepe

“We were also concerned by the several years required before the proposed new Africa Nations League Pan-African competition (which was supposed to be identical to the current Afcon and take place every two years) could make the substantial financial and football development contributions for African football and Caf competitions to be globally competitive and self-supporting.

“The next Afcon will take place in 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and I am confident that it will be very successful. The subsequent Afcon’s thereafter will take place in 2028, 2031 and 2033.

“The forthcoming Fifa World Cup will take place in 2030, and in accordance with the Fifa tradition, the final tournament of the Afcon and other confederations’ national team competitions may not take place during the year of the Fifa World Cup.

“The Afcon competition is also about celebrating African football and Africa’s rich and diverse cultures, customs and traditions and bringing people together from Africa’s 54 countries, the African diaspora, and throughout the world.

“The Caf Exco’s decision is in the best interest of African football and Caf 54 member associations and will also contribute significantly to the development and growth of football in Africa.”

TimesLIVE

Story audio is generated using AI

As political parties prepare and ask residents for their votes, some people in Kensington, Johannesburg, say they have lost faith in government, with an unreliable water supply adding to their frustration before the elections.

Residents told TimesLIVE on Thursday they have been without water for days, forcing them to store it in buckets and bottles for whenever their taps run dry.

For Abel Mabooi, the ongoing water problems have left him with little hope that things will change, though he still intends to vote.

“We have not had water for a couple of days now. These days we experience problems with water. Sometimes we have it; sometimes we do not.”

He questioned why politicians competed for leadership positions but failed to deliver basic services to the people who voted for them.

“I wish they would come together and think about the people and not about filling their pockets.”

Mabooi said residents hoped the elections would bring meaningful changes to their community.

In the meantime, they have had to find ways to cope with the unreliable water supply, including filling buckets and bottles whenever water is available.

“We have to make sure that we fill our buckets and bottles with water because it is not guaranteed. We just hope that our votes will make a difference,” he said.

For 42-year-old Nomsa Khumalo, who also lives in Kensington, the decision to vote comes with little confidence that things will improve.

Khumalo said she was looking forward to casting her vote next week but did not want to raise her expectations about the outcomes.

“Even when they say casting your vote will make a difference in better results and change, it is unbelievable now.”

Khumalo said if circumstances allowed, she would consider moving to her marital home in Giyani, Limpopo, where she said she did not experience the same water problems.

“I have a borehole water pump there. Life is easier than here, where there are a lot of service delivery issues involving a basic need like water.”

However, she said finding work remained a major consideration, making it difficult to leave Johannesburg.

“The problem is that I have to work, and you know how the crisis of unemployment is,” she said.

Kensington ward councillor Carlos da Rocha said the water situation in the area had become increasingly unstable over the past two weeks.

Residents had experienced a pattern in which the water supply returned before disappearing again.

“The problem is that there is no water management system in place that is fair for everybody. It is unpredictable. We never know when residents can have water,” Da Rocha said.

Reservoirs had to be closed at night to allow them to fill before being reopened in the morning in an attempt to distribute water to residents.

However, this had not resolved the problem because the amount of water flowing into the reservoirs had also decreased.

Da Rocha suggested that an operational system allowing residents to receive water every two days could give households an opportunity to store enough water to get through periods when their taps were dry.

Engineers would need to determine the most effective way to manage the supply and ensure that water reached affected communities.

The problem extended beyond Kensington, with residents across Johannesburg struggling to access water.

He also questioned whether water tankers could adequately meet the demand.

“There is no way they have got enough water tankers to supply water to the residents,” he said.

TimesLIVE has approached Johannesburg Water for comment. Their comment will be added once received.

TimesLIVE

Neither man is on the ballot, but Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former president Barack Obama took prominent roles on the campaign trail on Wednesday, with less than a week to go before congressional races that could shift the balance of power in Washington.

While Trump has been on a weeks-long blitz that has underlined Republican concerns about losing control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency, Obama had kept a relatively low public profile until the past week, during which he has delivered blistering speeches criticising Trump.

Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are being contested next Tuesday. Nonpartisan analysts generally favour the Democrats’ chances of capturing a majority in the House, with the contest for the Senate seen as very close.

On Wednesday, Obama appeared in Morrow, Georgia, near Atlanta, where he urged voters to support Democratic senator Jon Ossoff, who faces a challenge from Representative Mike Collins, a Republican.

While delivering the standard Democratic critique of Trump for imposing tariffs and going to war in Iran, Obama also said America’s values were on the ballot, as he recalled the vision of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr, who is buried in Atlanta.

“There is a moral component to the choices we face right now,” Obama said. “We are not going to fix the system that’s broken; we’re not going to unrig our economy, so long as we’ve got a culture where anything goes, where people in the highest offices of the land think it’s OK to lie and cheat and bully, if we continue to have a culture where money is deemed the only measure of our worth.”

Trump’s public approval rating has fallen to a near record low, with Americans increasingly sour on the high cost of living and the Iran war, but he remains an animating force in the party and has campaigned hard to increase Republican turnout.

Americans have been voting for weeks, with 40-million ballots already cast, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. A total of 45.9-million Americans voted early in the last midterm elections in 2022.

Addressing a rally inside a modest college gymnasium in the Ohio town of Chillicothe, the president appeared with Senator Jon Husted of Ohio as he faces a challenge from Democratic former Senator Sherrod Brown.

Trump attacked Brown for supporting immigration policies the president said had overwhelmed Springfield, Ohio, with Haitian migrants. “The town went to hell,” he said.

Trump spread false claims during the 2024 presidential campaign that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating cats and dogs, allegations local officials repeatedly said were untrue.

Trump faces protesters

Enthusiastic crowds have cheered Trump at rallies throughout the campaign, but hundreds of protesters lined his motorcade route in rural Chillicothe, raising banners that read, “Republican against Trump”, “Grab them by the ballot” and “GOP: Guardians of paedophiles”.

During the rally, protesters interrupted Trump several times, including at least one who shouted about deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I threw Jeffrey Epstein the hell out of Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said in response.

Trump and Epstein socialised in the 1990s and early 2000s, but Trump has said they later had a falling out and that he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Justice department releases from the Epstein files have included references to Trump, as well as many other prominent figures. The department has cautioned that some materials contain allegations that were unverified or uncorroborated.

Protesters have interrupted Trump at virtually all his recent rallies. He typically accuses them of being paid protesters as they are carted off by security.

In Cleveland on Saturday, Obama poked fun at Trump’s taste in interior decorating, saying, “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” referring to a chain of casual dining restaurants.

Trump defended his White House decor and said Obama left the property deteriorated.

“The White House, I think, is the number one symbol of our country, and we can’t have a White House with broken windows, with broken stone that hasn’t been painted in 30 years,” Trump said in Ohio.

Tight races

Democrats will need to pick up seats in traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Ohio, Iowa or Alaska to overcome the current 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate.

The New York Times reported that aides to Mary Peltola, the Senate Democratic nominee in Alaska, worked with the campaign’s lawyers and senior staff at Senate Democrats’ campaign arm to recruit two candidates who are on the ballot and could syphon votes from incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.

Representatives for Peltola did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be criminally prosecuted for what she did,” Trump told reporters before departing for Ohio.

In Michigan, where Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are locked in a tight race for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic senator Gary Peters, both campaigns are relying on high-profile allies to energise supporters and boost turnout.

Rogers spent the day campaigning with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on a four-stop bus tour culminating in Imlay City, a small community northeast of Detroit.

El-Sayed, meanwhile, was scheduled to join Peters and fellow Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin for an evening canvassing rally in Downriver, southwest of Detroit.

Reuters

Story audio is generated using AI

More than a dozen officials from the South African Revenue Service (Sars) spent less than half an hour on a search and seizure operation in the office of City of Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi on Thursday morning.

The officials, clad in Sars-branded clothing, descended on Tshwane House, requesting access to Mnisi’s office for their operation.

Mnisi’s laptop and his mobile phone were among the personal gadgets that were confiscated during the raid before the officials left Tshwane House with the CFO apparently going to his residential property.

“There were about 14 officials from Sars that conducted the raid which was done within 30 minutes,” an insider said.

The operation was swift and limited to Mnisi’s office, according to an eyewitness.

Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo could only confirm the raid and would not comment any further.

Mnisi came under the spotlight earlier this year when it emerged that he owned multiple luxury vehicles.

His fleet of luxury vehicles included two Porsches, including a 2023 Porsche 911 Turbo worth R6m, two Range Rovers and two BMWs, among others.

The Sars raid comes barely three months after he returned to office after he was slapped with a warning following a suspension after his testimony at the Madlanga commission of inquiry earlier this year.

Sars declined to share any details about its operation.

“Given the Chapter 6 provisions of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 on the prohibition of disclosure of confidential taxpayer information, Sars would neither confirm nor deny that it conducted operations against the taxpayer [Mnisi],” said Sars spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko on Thursday afternoon.

Mnisi could not be reached telephonically for comment on Thursday.

Earlier this year, a forensic report commissioned by the City of Tshwane stopped short of finding Mnisi guilty of financial misconduct, despite identifying procurement irregularities and recommending disciplinary action against him.

The report follows allegations that emerged during testimony before the Madlanga commission of inquiry into political interference, criminality and corruption, where he appeared in March.

While investigators identified several breaches of municipal rules and procurement processes, they found no evidence of impropriety by Mnisi, whose sanction was a final warning, a move which the Democratic Alliance opposed.

The report found that Mnisi failed to declare directorships in companies and his role as a trustee and beneficiary of the Mnisi Family Trust during the 2024/25 financial year.

Investigators also concluded that he failed to disclose his relationship with Ngaphesheya Construction and Projects, amounting to a breach of clause 5A of Schedule 2 of the Code of Conduct for Municipal Staff Members and clause 15(2)(e) of the City’s Supply Chain Management Policy.

Mnisi was further found to have taken no action against director of performance management Victor Kgopa, who chaired a bid evaluation committee, despite concerns that his conduct could be viewed as compromising the integrity of the procurement process.

On the issue of unpaid invoices, the report found that Mnisi failed to refer Tshwane Metro Police Department deputy commissioner Umashi Dlamini to the chief of police after Dlamini shared Gubi 585’s invoice with disgraced former police officer, Fannie Nkosi.

He was also found to have failed to prevent Nkosi from becoming involved in the city’s internal affairs.

The Buccaneers thumped Milford FC 3-0 in their Carling Knockout Cup last 16 match and Amakhosi returned to winning ways to beat TS Galaxy by the same scoreline at FNB Stadium, the venue of Bucs’ home Betway Premiership derby on Saturday (3.30pm).

Pirates are classified as favourites because of their recent strong record. They have won seven matches and lost one of their last eight in all competitions, with coach Abdeslam Ouaddou’s young Bucs also possessing the Premiership title.

“Being favourites doesn’t give you the guarantee that you are going to win the match because football is open and we know Chiefs is a big club,” Ouaddou said on Thursday.

“We are also a big club and among three of the biggest teams in Africa. We must bring the fighting spirit to the table and represent our fans very well.”

Pirates captain Nkosinathi Sibisi says recent results doesn't count in Soweto derby.

WATCH more on #PrimeSportsWithMahlatseTV ➡️➡️➡️https://t.co/44VuwptVFI pic.twitter.com/uhMGrTRC8k

— Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) October 29, 2026

Chiefs, on the other hand, have been inconsistent over the same period with two wins, as many draws and four defeats in their last six games ― which also included Friday’s blow of being booted out of the Caf Confederation Cup in the final stage before the group phase ― but they usually rise to the occasion in the Soweto derby.

One of the issues that has kept under-pressure Chiefs coach Fernando Da Cruz up at night was not putting away enough goals, but striker Wandile Duba found his scoring touch by netting a hat-trick against Galaxy.

One of the debates that has dominated the derby build-up is which side is under more pressure given their contrasting recent results.

Ouaddou and Da Cruz said their players cannot escape pressure in a big game and they asked them not to be overwhelmed by the weight of expectation.

“When you are in sports, you need to have positive pressure to bring happiness to yourself and those around you,” Ouaddou said. “I told my players pressure must not stop them from doing good things and showing their capacity to play.

“This is not only the biggest derby in South Africa but one of the biggest in the world. We have to give everything on the field by being physical and playing entertaining football. We will have to play with high intensity and try to reach a level.

“When you are going to play high-level football against Chiefs, it is important to have mental comfort and be able to express yourself on the pitch. If you allow bad pressure to stop you from playing, you will encounter problems.”

Chiefs midfielder Mfundo Vilakazi on showboating.

WATCH more on #PrimeSportsWithMahlatseTV ➡️➡️➡️https://t.co/yLZ8fHQnVY pic.twitter.com/NbPG22D3Mm

— Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) October 29, 2026

Da Cruz agreed with his Pirates counterpart, adding that the Chiefs players have to find a way of managing the expectations for the huge occasion at the packed, 94,000-seat 2010 World Cup final venue.

“I cannot answer for the opponents [about which team is under more pressure], but for our players it will be positive pressure. The players must manage it so they are able to play a good game with intensity and commitment.”

Da Cruz said the win over Galaxy has boosted his team. “We are going into this game with confidence because we won our last game and didn’t concede. When you keep a clean sheet, it helps with confidence, but there is always a reason to improve the team even when we win.

“Orlando Pirates have more experienced players in their squad. Some of them have played international competitions with the club or Bafana Bafana. Experience does not only come from age but from how many times you have played matches of consequence.

“But we also have young players who are used to playing in the derby and they will be ready to play on Saturday.”

Da Cruz said Amakhosi will try to throw off any form of underdog mentality by attempting to impose themselves on the game.

“We want to play a good game in front of our fans. We know it is going to be an emotional game with lots of passion around the field, but the most important thing is to be focused on how we want to play the game.”

In the last derby, the match turned physical with Chiefs midfielder Siphesihle Ndlovu dishing out unsporting tackles. Pirates captain Nkosinathi Sibisi expects a competitive but clean game.

“We were caught by their level of physicality and I think some of their challenges were over the top and not fair. I don’t think as Pirates we should be judged by such things. As Pirates, we just want to play football.

“If a team comes with a different approach it is on them; we will just try to create as many chances as possible and score as many goals as we we can.”

Story audio is generated using AI

When Zolani Zondani set off on his 1,071km walk from Gqeberha to Johannesburg, some people mocked him and called him names.

Fifteen days later, with his sneakers wearing thin and strangers helping him along the way, he is less than 200km from his destination.

The journey has tested his physical and emotional endurance, but Zondani is determined to finish what he started: raising awareness about men’s mental health and substance abuse and encouraging men to seek help before they reach breaking point.

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked South Africa among the 10 countries with the highest suicide rates globally, at 23.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

The country recorded an estimated 13,774 suicide deaths that year, the third-highest figure in Africa. Men accounted for the vast majority, with 10,861 deaths compared with 2,913 among women.

Speaking to the Sunday Times during a break after leaving Kroonstad in the early hours of the morning, Zondani said the walk was deeply personal, shaped by childhood experiences, bereavement and the loss of his brother to substance abuse.

We live in a society where men are often expected to be strong, provide, endure pain in silence and carry their struggles without asking for help. Unfortunately, many suffer silently because they fear being judged, misunderstood or perceived as weak.

Zolani Zondani

“Growing up without a father figure, losing my mother and losing my brother to substance abuse taught me that some of the battles men face are not always visible,” he said.

“We live in a society where men are often expected to be strong, provide, endure pain in silence and carry their struggles without asking for help. Unfortunately, many suffer silently because they fear being judged, misunderstood or perceived as weak.”

This is not his first long-distance walk for the cause. In October 2025, he walked about 700km from Gqeberha to Cape Town to raise awareness about men’s mental health and substance abuse.

That journey showed him that his mission was bigger than himself.

“Along the way, I encountered ordinary South Africans who offered me food, accommodation, encouragement and stories of their own struggles. Those encounters reminded me that humanity still exists in the people we often overlook, and that sometimes a simple act of kindness can give someone the strength to keep going,” he said.

His latest walk is a continuation of that mission through Broski Brotherhood NPC, a non-profit organisation he founded to create safe spaces where men can speak openly about their struggles and seek help without shame.

“I want us to move beyond talking about men’s mental health only when another life has been lost. We need to act before someone reaches the point where they feel ending their life is their only escape,” he said.

The journey is also a personal challenge, pushing him beyond the limits he had placed on himself and turning his convictions into action.

It has not been without hardship. Zondani has endured blistering heat, thirst, dry winds and the constant danger of sharing busy roads with cars and trucks. He has also had to contend with doubt and a lack of support from some of the people he expected to stand behind him.

“There have been moments when I had to confront not only the road ahead of me but also the battles within me. I have questioned how much further I could go and whether the sacrifices I was making would eventually make a difference,” he said.

“Yet whenever I found myself close to giving up, I had to remind myself of where I come from, the life I have lived and the experiences that shaped me into the man I am today.”

His feet began blistering early in the journey, which he attributed to the heat, a new pair of sneakers and the pace at which he was walking. He has since adjusted his pace and the way he positions his toes to prevent further blisters.

He has worn the same pair of sneakers throughout the journey, and they are now nearing the end of their life.

“I was hoping that the right people with influence could help me, even Adidas, since the sneakers are from there. Now they are on their final stretch because they are wearing out,” he said.

One of his toughest challenges was the 98km stretch from Cradock to Middelburg, the longest distance he had covered in a single day.

The experience has exceeded my expectations. People have shown me Ubuntu, and men have also shown up throughout the journey by admitting that they need help and a safe space because they are really suffering.

Zolani Zondani

Walking under the scorching sun and through dry winds, he relied on the support of two men who accompanied him and the generosity of motorists along the N2, who gave him water, drinks and energy bars.

Messages of encouragement and prayers also helped him push through.

Despite having undertaken a similar journey before, Zondani said the response to this walk had exceeded his expectations. Beyond the practical assistance, he has been encouraged by men who have opened up about their struggles and acknowledged their need for support.

“The experience has exceeded my expectations. People have shown me Ubuntu, and men have also shown up throughout the journey by admitting that they need help and a safe space because they are really suffering,” he said.

For Zondani, those conversations are as important as the kilometres he has covered. He hopes the walk will encourage men to recognise that asking for help is not a sign of weakness and that emotional struggles should not have to be faced alone.

“Every kilometre represents a call for understanding, brotherhood and a society where men feel seen, heard, supported and valued,” he said.

“Ultimately, my destination is Johannesburg, but my mission goes far beyond reaching a city. I am walking towards a future where men are free from the burden of suffering in silence, where asking for help is recognised as courage, and where brotherhood becomes more than a word, it becomes a support system that restores hope and saves lives.”

We often hear people telling the youth to keep trying, update their CVs, apply for another job, learn a new skill, start a business, think positively and never give up, but what does that advice actually mean when you have been rejected so many times that you begin to question your own worth, when you have to weigh up spending money on transport for an interview or feeding your family, when nobody in your household is employed and when the future feels less like an opportunity waiting to happen and more like a door that remains firmly shut no matter how hard you knock?

For millions of young South Africans, this is not simply a question of motivation or resilience, but the reality of trying to build a life while carrying the emotional weight of poverty, unemployment and social exclusion, often in circumstances where the very things that might help them move forward, including financial security, supportive relationships and access to opportunities, are the things they lack most.

Mental health does not exist in a vacuum. Our emotional wellbeing is shaped by whether we have enough to eat, whether we have a safe place to sleep, whether we feel connected to other people and whether we can imagine a future in which our lives might actually improve. This is why any serious conversation about the mental health of young people must also confront the material conditions that leave so many anxious, isolated and struggling to find their place in society.

More than 3.5-million young South Africans aged 15 to 24 are not in employment, education or training, a group commonly described in policy discussions as NEET. But that acronym does little to capture the daily reality of young people who watch their peers graduate, find jobs, earn money and move forward while they remain at home, often financially dependent on families who are themselves struggling to make ends meet.

There is the frustration of sending out applications and receiving nothing in return, the shame of asking parents and extended family for money they do not have, the anxiety of wondering where the next opportunity will come from and the loneliness of watching life unfold around you while feeling that yours has been put on hold and when these experiences become part of everyday life. In this context, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the economic hardship of being unemployed from the emotional toll of feeling unwanted, left behind or as though you have somehow failed.

Research by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (Saldru) at the University of Cape Town helps explain why youth unemployment and mental health cannot be treated as separate problems, with a study tracking young people over a decade, found that those who remained outside employment, education and training were six percentage points more likely to be depressed than peers who were never NEET, and eight percentage points more likely to report being less happy than they had been a decade earlier.

Among young people without matric, those who were already classified as depressed in 2008 were also more likely to have spent more than five years outside employment, education and training, pointing to a relationship in which prolonged exclusion and poor mental health can reinforce one another, making it harder for young people to regain their footing the longer they remain disconnected from opportunities.

Importantly, the study developed a multidimensional vulnerability index and found that poor mental health contributes approximately 16% to the vulnerability. Further, multidimensional vulnerability predicts later NEET status.

This is where our public conversation often falls short, because we continue to talk about unemployment as though it is primarily a matter of skills, qualifications or young people not doing enough to help themselves, while mental health is frequently framed as an individual problem that can be addressed by encouraging people to seek therapy, exercise more, practise self-care or develop a more positive attitude, without adequately considering the social and economic realities shaping their distress.

Of course, looking after ourselves and seeking professional help when we need it matters, but what happens when the source of your anxiety is not simply a negative thought but the very real possibility that there will be no food on the table, or when the stress you are experiencing comes from being unable to afford transport to an interview, contribute to your household or see any realistic prospect of becoming financially independent despite years of trying?

These findings challenge us to look beyond the familiar explanations for youth unemployment and ask what happens when economic exclusion becomes a lived experience that affects a young person’s confidence, relationships, sense of purpose and belief in their own future, because the consequences are not confined to a CV that remains empty or a qualification that never translates into work, but can extend into how people understand themselves and whether they believe their efforts will ever make a difference.

Opportunities matter, but so does the emotional and social support that helps people reach them, navigate setbacks and remain in education or work when the inevitable difficulties arise, rather than becoming disconnected all over again.

There is, however, reason to believe that practical, community-based support can help young people begin to break this cycle, as demonstrated by the Basic Package of Support (BPS), implemented by Saldru and the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Development in Africa as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which recognises that connecting young people to jobs and training is important but may not be enough when they are also dealing with distress, isolation, grief or difficult circumstances at home.

Since 2021, more than 5,000 young people have enrolled in the programme across Atlantis, Cato Manor and Orange Farm, where peer mobilisers and youth coaches work with participants to understand their circumstances, develop practical action plans and connect them to opportunities and services, including education, learnerships, psychosocial support, grants and childcare.

The need for this kind of support was particularly evident during the 2022–23 pilot, when nearly three-quarters of participants reported moderate or high psychological distress at intake and almost four in ten screened positive for a possible anxiety disorder. The study found that after just three coaching sessions, the proportion screening positive for a possible anxiety disorder fell from 40% to 25%, the share experiencing high psychological distress dropped from 18% to 5%, and the proportion who described themselves as thriving almost doubled from 11% to 22%.

Further, an initial analysis of a six-month study comparing 460 young people who received coaching with a matched group of 170 who did not found that psychological distress fell further among those coached, while life satisfaction improved almost twice as much.

Coached participants were also more likely to be in education or participating in a learnership or internship.

What stands out in the accounts of participants is that the value of the programme extends beyond being referred to an opportunity, because young people repeatedly describe the importance of having someone who listens without judgment, helps them navigate setbacks and reminds them that a rejection or a difficult period does not have to define the rest of their lives, particularly when they have spent years feeling that they must figure everything out on their own.

One young woman from Orange Farm described the relief of being able to speak to her coach without fear of being exposed or judged, while another participant from Atlantis spoke about how the support helped her recognise that she had a purpose to live, reminding us that being seen and heard is not a substitute for material opportunities or professional mental health care, but can be an important part of helping someone find the strength and support to pursue both.

This is what we risk overlooking when we reduce youth development to targets, training numbers and employment statistics. Opportunities matter, but so does the emotional and social support that helps people reach them, navigate setbacks and remain in education or work when the inevitable difficulties arise, rather than becoming disconnected all over again.

None of this means youth coaches can replace psychologists, psychiatrists or other specialist mental health services, and young people experiencing serious distress must have access to appropriate professional care. But it does remind us that support must extend beyond the clinic, just as youth employment programmes must look beyond skills training and job matching to the circumstances that determine whether young people can access opportunities and sustain them.

As Mental Health Awareness Month draws to a close, we need to move beyond telling young people to be resilient while leaving them to navigate poverty, unemployment and social exclusion largely on their own. Resilience cannot create jobs, put food on the table or guarantee a roof over someone’s head, and we should be careful not to turn it into another expectation placed on young people who are already carrying more than their fair share.

If we want young South Africans to build meaningful futures, we must invest in decent work, accessible education, social protection and mental health services, while strengthening the community networks that help people feel supported rather than forgotten. Because we cannot meaningfully address the mental health of young people without confronting the conditions that make so many of them struggle, and we cannot expect them to believe in a future that society has done too little to make possible.

Oliver Meth is a strategic communications consultant at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg

Lauren Graham is a professor and SARCHi chair on welfare & social development at University of Johannesburg

Ariane De Lannoy is a professor and deputy director at the Southern Africa Labour and development research unit at University of Cape Town

You expect hyperbole, of course, especially from party selling very little beyond revolutionary rhetoric. Honesty is all well and good, but “Victory Or Death” sounds so much better than more accurate promises like “Small Incremental Wins Or Fractionally Slower Growth For Julius Malema’s Personal Wealth”.

It’s also not as if any EFF voters will take the slogan at face value. I’ve written before about how most South African voters seem so easily satisfied by nothing but vibes from their parties, and the EFF faithful will understand that this slogan, too, is more of the same; that their party is not going to win anything close to a victory, and that nobody will have to face literal death.

Indeed, if we were having a general election next week, an event dictated almost entirely by vibes, I’d have to admit that the EFF’s slogan was pretty good, the sort of rousing, meaningless pap that ends critical thought even as it galvanises the faithful.

The trouble, however, is that we are not having a general election next week: we are have a local government election. And the fact that we’re still awash in vibes and ideological rhetoric and grand narratives about vague futures and ill-defined identities shows the extent to which we still don’t understand what we’re about to do on Wednesday.

It goes without saying that your vote is your business. Well, except if you vote ANC in Johannesburg: then it’s the whole country’s business because you’re actively trying to plunge the republic into collapse.

When we vote next week, we are not voting for vibes. We are not declaring our allegiance to a party and its broader ambitions for the country, or getting into lockstep behind a collective identity.

What we are doing is hiring the people who will fix a broken water pipe the same day it breaks, working into the night, after hours, to get the job done.

We’re hiring the people who have shown a willingness and an ability to keep streetlights on, or collect garbage regularly, or promote and support community centres and services.

We’re hiring the people who listen, yes, but then act, and act professionally, quickly, legally and on budget.

In short, we are voting in our own, very focused self-interest. We are voting for what we want, where we live, far away from the corridors of political power; for what is owed to us as taxpayers who employ everyone in all those parties.

It goes without saying that your vote is your business. Well, except if you vote ANC in Johannesburg: then it’s the whole country’s business because you’re actively trying to plunge the republic into collapse. But as you decide how you’ll vote on Wednesday, I’d like to close by urging you to visit ballotbox.co.za, which has revealed which of the candidates in your ward are also running in other wards.

To be clear, running in multiple wards is entirely legal, which is why a staggering 50% of all candidates contesting next week’s election are standing in multiple races.

Still, I think voters can benefit from knowing whether the person claiming to want to represent their neighbourhood is saying the same thing to people on the other side of the city. There’s a part of me that respects the hustle of the two candidates who are standing in a whopping 135 wards, but as a voter I’m not overwhelmed with confidence that they care about my ward, or, indeed, know where it is …

Story audio is generated using AI

It is difficult to blame South Africans for losing faith in politicians. After years of broken promises, corruption and municipalities that struggle to deliver even the most basic services, many people are asking themselves what the point of voting is.

Why vote when the taps are dry, the rubbish is piling up and the roads are falling apart? Why trust politicians who suddenly remember their communities when an election is around the corner, only to disappear once the votes have been counted?

These are fair questions. And political parties should be worried that so many people are asking them.

But as South Africans prepare to head to the polls on November 4, there is another question worth considering: what happens when we give up on voting altogether?

The frustration is understandable. But not voting will not make those problems disappear.

Staying away from the ballot box might feel like a way of punishing politicians who have let us down. For some, it is a deliberate decision to reject a political system they no longer trust. For others, it comes from the belief that their vote will make little difference to the problems they face every day.

The frustration is understandable. But not voting will not make those problems disappear.

Local government has a direct impact on people’s lives. It determines whether communities receive reliable services, whether municipal money is spent properly and whether those entrusted with running our towns and cities are doing their jobs.

The people elected to municipal councils will make decisions that affect residents long after the election posters have been taken down.

If we are unhappy with how our municipalities are being run, elections give us an opportunity to say so. We can vote out parties that have failed us and give others a chance to prove that they can do better.

Of course, voting is not a magic solution. A party that wins an election can still disappoint its supporters. Promises made on the campaign trail do not always translate into better services. And changing the people in charge does not automatically fix a broken municipality.

That is why voting must go hand in hand with holding elected leaders accountable. Politicians should not be allowed to treat public support as a blank cheque, and voters should demand answers when promises are broken.

Political parties also need to understand that they cannot blame voter apathy without confronting what has caused it. People will not suddenly regain faith in democracy because politicians tell them to vote. Trust must be earned.

South Africans have every right to be angry and disappointed. But abandoning the ballot box risks handing more power to those who do turn up to vote.

Our politicians may have given us plenty of reasons to lose faith in them. We should not allow their failures to make us give up our own power.

“As it happens, October is pain awareness month,” says Parker, who pauses, before adding, “or is it September?”

It is in September, and Parker, who is on sabbatical (and not the working kind), is more keenly aware that tomorrow is the 20^th anniversary of her marriage to whale expert Ken Findlay, who is at work in an office on the lower level of their mountain eyrie.

“I’m exhausted. We may go around in circles,” she warns, looking relaxed and comfortable in a strelitzia-print T-shirt, her freckled arms testifying to a life spent as much outdoors as in.

Parker’s need to rest will not surprise those who know her. For years, above and beyond her formal responsibilities at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she is the director of the pain management unit in the department of anaesthesia and perioperative medicine and works at the Groote Schuur Hospital Chronic Pain Management Clinic, she has been connected with (if not central to) much of the work that has been undertaken to improve South Africa’s pain response.

“In pain circles she’s known as the matriarch,” Parker’s long-time colleague (and director of UCT’s African pain research initiative) Tory Madden told me, in advance of my visit.

Parker has served two consecutive terms as president of PainSA, which strives to improve all aspects of pain management in Southern Africa, and she sits on the council of PainSA’s mother body, the International Association for the Study of Pain.

With others, Parker has been working on an advocacy document called the national pain strategy, which she describes as “a map of all the things that contribute to pain not being managed properly, with recommendations on how to address those issues”.

Pain is everywhere in the healthcare system. The most common reason why people seek out medical care is pain. Pain is a problem after having a baby, an accident, an operation, and when we’re dying. People living with chronic conditions like HIV, TB, cancer, diabetes and arthritis frequently experience pain. Lower back pain is the world’s single biggest cause of disability, and so it goes.

“Unfortunately,” says Parker, “because it’s everywhere and a problem for everyone, it ends up being no one’s responsibility.”

What are the issues with pain, exactly? Parker has outlined them thousands of times over the years, but apparently without any dimming of her passion for the subject.

“Pain is divided into two broad types: acute and chronic. Acute pain is short and intense, the type you would experience after surgery. Chronic pain lasts more than three to six months, sometimes longer, after an initial injury has healed. South Africa isn’t doing very well at managing either, but we’re particularly bad at chronic pain. There are so many issues, and they exist at every level,” says Parker, who lists them from the bottom up.

“It isn’t taught, which means too few healthcare professionals understand it [pain], and that means they’re unable to treat it. Even when they do understand, the resources needed to help — the pain medicines, the rehabilitation platforms — are often not available,” she says, stressing that good pain management “is about so much more than pills”.

“It requires an understanding of the whole human being, starting with their social reality, their psychology, and only then focusing on the biological aspect. Having an interdisciplinary team work to address all the areas that may be influencing a patient’s pain is the best approach. At the minimum this should include the person with pain, their family or support person, a prescriber (commonly an anaesthetist), a nurse, a physiotherapist or occupational therapist, a psychologist and a psychiatrist. For different conditions, other medical specialists can be included,” says Parker.

In the chronic pain clinic at Groote Schuur, Parker and her colleagues listen to people’s stories.

“We hear about the childhood trauma: the father that abused, the uncle that raped, the mother who didn’t believe the story. Often the patient is now having to care for these same people while trying to control the son who smokes tik and steals his brother’s laptop in the middle of the night. And they hear the gunshots in the street, and the bullet that came through the wall is still lodged in their leg. I am not making any of this up. And they say, ‘I have pain all over.’ Well, I’m not surprised.”

The person behind the pain

Earlier this year I attended a panel discussion chaired by Parker at UCT, titled “How can I find the right person for persistent pain? Navigating the health care system in South Africa”. One of the panellists was Huyaam Samuels, a doctoral candidate and person living with chronic pain, who has been treated by Parker and other members of the multi-disciplinary pain team at Groote Schuur for the past 10 years.

“When I first met Professor Parker she bombarded me with questions. She wants to understand the person behind the pain. Her approach challenges conventional thinking and recognises that effective pain management involves more than symptom relief; it also requires understanding how pain affects a person’s daily life, functioning and independence,” said Samuels, who had been on pain medication for eight years by this time. Parker suggested she come off the drugs, and start doing some exercise. Samuels resisted initially but started following this advice three years later.

“She gave me the time to come to terms with it. When I eventually took their advice the result was incredible.”

Parker smiles broadly when I recall these inputs. Today she is an acclaimed teacher (in 2019 she received UCT’s distinguished teacher award), academic researcher, and author, but for most of her career she has been a hands-on healer.

A life on the move

We’ve vaulted over her life story. After a pause for coffee (“I hope you’re ok with instant”) Parker obligingly goes back in time.

“I’m Brazilian — a Carioca [native of Rio de Janeiro],” she starts.

“My mother was South African of English descent, and my father was Zimbabwean, also of English descent. They met and married in Rhodesia, and when the government made its Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, they were like, ‘This is not gonna go well.’ So my father was offered a transfer, and that’s how I spent the first 10 years of my life as a Brazilian beach kid.”

After some thought she adds, “My father finished matric and went to work in a factory. My mother did her O-levels and went to secretarial school, but there was never any question of their children not being able to do what they wanted. Dad worked for British American Tobacco. He made cigarettes but it wasn’t all bad. All that tobacco money led to my sister being a vet. My brother’s a psychiatrist, and I work in physio and pain management.”

Parker’s parents moved back to southern Africa in 1978 to be nearer to the family, initially settling in Johannesburg.

“I hated it. I attended an all-girls school [Brescia House], and it wasn’t a good fit for me. I also didn’t fit in with conservative white South Africa. Not everyone in our world was pro-apartheid — there was lots of handwringing over PW Botha’s Rubicon speech and that sort of thing — but nobody was sticking their necks out to do anything. I found growing up as a privileged white girl in apartheid South Africa very distressing. It made me into an outsider.”

Parker says she was conscientised by her mother’s voluntary social work, and trips she made with her brother — then studying medicine at Wits — to Alexandra.

“When I was 15 I tagged along whenever he went to vaccinate kids. Often he’d spend more time patching up people who’d had the shit kicked out of them by the cops, and were too scared to go to hospital,” recalls Parker, who at this point knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life.

“One: get the hell out of Joburg. Two: become a physio. I was always really sporty. Gymnastics, swimming, diving, hockey, squash, tennis, riding horses — we did everything in those days. Sport was how we played as a family. And camping!” says Parker, recalling how the family used to camp on the beaches of Rio’s Cabo Frio before it became a surfing mecca.

“I was six weeks old the first time we went, and there was nothing there. Mum’s joke was that she just needed enough fresh water to wash her boobs and my bum.”

Journey to pain

Parker studied physiotherapy at UCT, at the Sports Science Institute, and after graduating “shared a house with mates in London, and locumed”.

During a stint of work on a cruise ship, on a Saturday morning docked somewhere in the Caribbean, Parker walked past a newspaper stand and read that Chris Hani had been assassinated.

The memory brings instant tears to her eyes.

“Sjoh,” she says, taking a moment.

“I remember sitting on the pavement on the side of the road, just thinking, is this it? I think that was the first time I recognised that I am African. Up until that point I was like, ‘I could live anywhere,’ but it suddenly felt so weird to be so far away, hanging out with a bunch of people who had no fucking idea why I was upset, joking that I was a communist and that sort of thing. So I came back to Cape Town in 1993, back into boring old private practice.”

Parker’s memories of the Cape were good. She’d been a serious rower at university, and took it up again. Her clients were mostly sports people, and included the U21 provincial rugby team, which gave rise to the most humiliating moment in her life.

“The U21s were playing the curtain raiser for Springbok vs. Scotland at Newlands. One of my guys went down the other side of the field, so I ran across. I don’t remember what the injury was, but I must have opened my bag and forgotten to close it, because as I was sprinting back the whole stadium erupted in laughter, and of course I’d left a trail of bandages and scissors as I ran. The whole thing was on the big screen,” says Parker, who went out with the teams that night, carried from bar to bar by Scottish lock Doddie Weir, “who said you’ve done enough running today!”

Parker started her own practice but was mainly interested in rowing.

“My practice was in Grassy Park, and I rented a little house on the shoreline of Zeekoevlei, owned by the yacht club. All of my working life was built around my training. I had dreams of getting to the Sydney Olympics, in the lightweight sculls,” she says, joking that she was “starving all the time, trying to make the weight — not a genius move”.

When she realised she wouldn’t qualify, Parker “packed it all in” and travelled to the US, working in Arkansas and Michigan when Medicaid, the government-sponsored health insurance, was still fully reimbursing healthcare providers for services rendered.

“When the [Medicaid] bubble popped I couldn’t get work anymore, but I still had the visa, so I did a season in Vail, Colorado, as an optician’s technician,” says Parker, who took away from her American sojourn “a firm belief that there are two things that should never be privatised: education and health”.

“That was the first time I heard people speaking about the business of health care, and it made me feel nauseous. Like, how can you talk about the business of people suffering?” says Parker, who understood perfectly well how the US later came to be grappling with an opioid crisis.

News of her father’s death (“he smoked himself off the planet”) led Parker to return to South Africa, but finding no opportunities outside of private practice she took a job in Hereford on the border of Wales and England, “doing something that I never pictured myself doing, which was rheumatology”.

It was here that Parker truly began her journey in pain.

Lessons from tough Welsh farmers

“When people have rheumatoid disease attacking their own bodies — rheumatoid arthritis is the classic — the joints get hot and red and swollen, and you end up with joint deformities. I was working there before the modern drugs came in, so people had fingers that drifted off in weird directions, and elbows that bent in ways they shouldn’t.

“It’s a nasty, nasty disease, but a lot of my patients were Welsh farmers, and they were just getting on with their lives. They’d call and say, ‘I’ve had a bit of a flare up,’ and that usually meant their knee was swollen like a football, and we’d treat them and they would carry on with their lives,” says Parker, who had other patients come in with much milder disease, “and they were in agony, wracked with pain their lives falling apart”.

Wanting to understand this apparent contradiction better, Parker enrolled for a master’s in pain (“Sounds like it involves whips and chains, doesn’t it?” she quips) at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, returning to South Africa in 2004 with the aim of getting an academic job, teaching pain management.

“It just appealed to all of my base motivations of why I went into health in the first place: the belief that human beings are valuable, and deserve to be cared for and respected in every aspect of who they are, no matter what their background is or what they’ve done. There’s just an inherent value in life,” she says, though conceding her mission to get hired by a university proved so difficult she “almost became a horse physio”.

In 2005 Parker found work as a lecturer in physiotherapy at UCT, where she set about secretly subverting the curriculum, “integrating pain into absolutely everything that I taught”.

“At the time, pain simply wasn’t taught in South Africa, we were seriously behind,” she says.

After discovering there was a chronic pain clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital, run by the department of anaesthetics, Parker stepped in, “and pretty quickly started doing things that directly led to where I am now”.

In Hereford she had run a six-week self-management programme for people with rheumatoid arthritis, and adjusted it for people living with chronic pain, “including exercise, education, mindfulness — all of the known evidence-based self-management strategies for people with chronic pain that we know make a difference”.

She used to run the course with the fourth-year physiotherapy students, so that they would learn how to do it themselves, and was able to show that the approach was effective.

Parker’s doctoral thesis, which focused on pain in people living with HIV, was described by the university as a world first.

“A bit like my rheumatoid arthritis patients, people living with HIV are at increased risk of developing chronic pain but it’s not related to viral load, to opportunistic infections, or to their treatments. So what is it, and what should we do about it?” explains Parker, who developed and tested a peer-led exercise and education intervention (“Because who the hell am I to tell someone living in pain in Khayelitsha as an HIV-positive person that they should do some exercise and some deep breathing?”) and was able to show that it made a difference.

Parker was supervised by the late professor of psychiatry Dan Stein, and ended up with a degree “not in pain and HIV but in pain and behaviour change strategies”, looking at self-management strategies for people with pain, and how those change our physiology — how the body’s organs and cells function.

“One of the nuggets that I teach to students and health professionals is that the morphine our brain manufactures is 30 times stronger than oral morphine. So go for a run. Go for a walk. Have a laugh. Do some breathing. Get a hug. All of these things give you your own morphine. They aren’t just nice things to do, they’re medicine,” says Parker, making an example out of something we all know: the broken bone that traditionally ends up clad in plaster of Paris.

“Say it’s your dominant arm that is immobilised for six weeks, what happens is that the map of that hand in your brain shrinks, and the map of your non-dominant hand enlarges. When you take the cast off and start to move it again, that map should once again become bigger but for some people it doesn’t, and then they end up with complex regional pain syndrome, which is appalling, agonising pain,” says Parker, adding that a healthcare professional who doesn’t understand the complex ways pain shows up in the body might dismiss a patient’s complaints.

“Understanding the physiology is important, and not just for the clinician. The person living with that pain needs that information, too, so that they understand why we’re trying to treat them the way we are, and that it’s not about fixing their arm, or spine, it’s about their central nervous system — the very core of who they are as human beings — and what we need to do to rewire that.”

‘A gobby little shit’

Parker joined PainSA in 2010, “when it was still pretty small and very doctor-led, and still quite focused on medicines and drugs”.

At that year’s congress in the Drakensberg, she “met her people”, and was soon asked to stand for council, “because I’m a gobby little shit”.

The awareness of pain in South Africa was expanding, and PainSA played a key role in this, conducting outreach and education activities.

In the same year, Parker met Beverly Bolton, a physiotherapist based in Gqeberha, who had done her masters in pain through Sydney University.

“We realised we were on the same frequency, and soon afterwards put together and ran a two-day course we called ‘Principles of Pain’, which we’re still teaching. We offered it to working physiotherapists initially but within a few years realised that everybody needed this.”

Parker and Bolton formed the Train Pain Academy, which today runs a range of two-day courses on pain management for practitioners, via Zoom.

“It’s probably why I’m tired at the moment. I have my day job, then I do Train Pain Academy, then I do PainSA then, then it’s International Association for the Study of Pain, and I still go out trail running. This is me,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.

This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.

While the proceedings are separate, the charge of Zuma-Sambudla’s “we see you” social media campaign and March and March’s “abahambe (foreigners must leave)” bring the relationship between political mobilisation and violence before the Durban high court, in a city still carrying the memories of 354 deaths and an estimated R50bn in damage.

Police minister Firoz Cachalia and KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi filed an urgent interdict against March and March, founder Ngobese-Zuma, her husband Xolani and other respondents after weeks of tensions around the home affairs refugee reception centre on Che Guevara Road.

The urgency they claim is based on intelligence around an alleged threat to burn down the centre alongside fears of retaliation after the killing of a foreign national in the Durban CBD last week.

March and March spokesperson Sandile Dube accused the police minister of using the movement as a “scapegoat for policing failures” and relying on rumours to justify the interdict.

He dismissed intelligence about a possible arson attack on Durban’s home affairs refugee reception centre as false, arguing that members working at the site would have known about such plans.

He told the Sunday Times March and March opposed looting and infrastructure destruction, which diverted money from services into repairs. Home affairs was an important institution, he said, questioning why any threat against it should be associated with the movement.

Dube blamed inadequate patrol vehicles and failures in sector policing on police management, arguing that deploying soldiers would not resolve those shortcomings. He also accused government of consulting people who did not represent March and March rather than engaging its leadership.

Cachalia and Mkhwanazi want to prevent Ngobese-Zuma and the respondents from convening, organising, directing or mobilising marches or protest convoys in affected areas, including the refugee reception centre.

They also seek prohibitions on assault and harassment, looting, arson, damage to property and attacks on home affairs premises. The proposed relief covers blocking entrances and using intimidation to deny access to buildings.

But moments after posting news about the interdict on Facebook, Ngobese-Zuma said: “FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER 2026 🇿🇦🇿🇦 DBN HIGH COURT.”

“After our court appearance… WE WILL MARCH‼️ in a democratic country where people died for us to be liberated, we will never succumb to dictatorship tactics… NEVER.”

The Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign ― a coalition of about 190 civic organisations ― described the centre as having been blockaded for weeks and called for the camp to be shut down.

It welcomed the police legal action, saying: “The Constitution extends its protection to all persons within our borders, and this application protects both South African citizens and foreign nationals.”

It alleged that the camp had become a staging point for violent marches and attacks.

The Durban CBD 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.

Despite the army’s presence, Durban has continued to experience daily protests and violent flare-ups.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said four men appeared in court in connection with the attacks on foreign nationals in the city.

These included the assault of a foreign national in the Durban CBD and the murder of a foreign national who was allegedly beaten to death in the CBD on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was on campaign duty in KwaZulu-Natal, addressed the uncertainty facing businesses at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 170th anniversary dinner.

“There are those who are exploiting public sentiment around illegal migration to stir up communities and to provide cover for criminality.

“We understand that this has created uncertainty for business, for whom the memories of 2021 are still fresh.”

He confirmed he extended the army deployment who were due to leave at the end of October.

“While these incidents have been isolated, we are taking no chances. I have authorised the deployment of the South African National Defence Force in the province until the end of November.”

Ramaphosa’s address also records the chamber’s concern about business closures, particularly among small and medium enterprises. It says research commissioned with the Human Sciences Research Council is intended to establish what is driving those closures, rather than attributing them all to the unrest.

Meanwhile Zuma-Sambudla, a former MKP MP, faces one count of incitement to commit terrorism and two counts of incitement to commit public violence, arising from social media posts during that unrest. She has pleaded not guilty.

In April social media expert Emma Sadleir testified about her posts using the words “We see you” alongside scenes from KwaZulu-Natal. Her evidence that the posts encouraged violence is contested by the defence.

This week her legal representative Adv Dali Mpofu challenged investigating officer Bheki Nazo’s credibility and put it to him that the prosecution was a political plot to tarnish his client and her father, former president Jacob Zuma.

Nazo rejected this.

On Thursday the judge heard arguments for and against Mpofu’s discharge application and adjourned the matter to study the submissions.

1998 — Jacques Kallis scores an unbeaten 113 as the Proteas, on 240/7, smash Sri Lanka by 92 runs on Duckworth-Lewis in Dhaka to advance to the Champions Trophy final. Steve Elworthy and Pat Symcox took three wickets each.

1999 — The Springboks’ World Cup campaign ends in heartbreak as they lose a try-less semifinal to Australia 27-21 after extra time at Twickenham. South African flyhalf Jannie de Beer had slotted two penalties in the final minutes of regulation time for South Africa to draw the match 18-18. But two penalties and a drop by the Aussies to a single De Beer penalty condemned the Boks to the third-place play-off. Australia went on to win the title.

1999 — Captain Hansie Cronje scores an unbeaten 60 on the second day of a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein to depose Gary Kirsten as the country’s top-scorer in the five-day format, lifting his career tally to 3,525. He added four more runs the next day. Kirsten had claimed the mark in the previous Test in March.

2005 — Herschelle Gibbs scores 81 to help the Proteas to a four-wicket win over New Zealand at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, giving the home side an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-ODI series. South Africa reached the 244 target with four deliveries remaining, aided by a late flurry from Justin Kemp, who scored 30 not out off 19 balls, and Shaun Pollock with an unbeaten 21 off 14.

2011 — Cri-Zelda Brits scores 50, but the South African women, totalling 118/2, lose the third T20 against England in Potchefstroom by seven wickets, going down 0-2 in the series.

2013 — Wayne Parnell stars with bat and ball to help the Proteas down Pakistan by one run in the first ODI in Sharjah. Batting at eight he top-scored with 56 to lift the Proteas to 183. Then he took 3/41 and Imran Tahir 3/45. Morne Morkel bowled the final over, conceding just one single before taking the final wicket with three balls remaining to finish with 2/23.

2015 — The Springboks beat Argentina 24-13 in London to finish third at the World Cup. Wing JP Pietersen and lock Eben Etzebeth scored South Africa’s two tries, with flyhalf Handre Pollard landing one conversion and four penalties.

2021 — Captain Temba Bavuma top-scores with 46 to lead the Proteas, needing 143, to a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup group match in Sharjah. Tabraiz Shamsi and Dwaine Pretorius took three wickets each. Bavuma, Aiden Markram (19) and Pretorius (0) were dismissed off consecutive balls in different overs by Wanindu Hasaranga.

2021 — Matthew Sates becomes the fourth South African to win top male swimmer of the World Cup series, finishing less than three points ahead of American veteran Tom Shields on the overall rankings at the end of the final leg of the series in Kazan. Sates joined Chad le Clos, winner of the series four times from 2011 to 2017, Cameron van der Burgh, champion on three occasions from 2008 to 2015 and Ryk Neethling, twice from 2004 to 2006 as overall male winner. Sates achieved success across all four galas in Berlin, Budapest, Doha and Kazan, winning the 200m and 400m freestyle three times each, the 200m individual medley on three legs and the 100m and 400m IM on two.

2022 — David Miller scores 59 not out and Aiden Markram 52 as the Proteas, needing 134, beat India by five wickets at the T20 World Cup in Perth. Lungi Ngidi took 4/29.

2024 — Tony de Zorzi, resuming on 141, scores 177 and Wiaan Mulder 105 not out as South Africa declare their first innings of the second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram on 575/6.

The team said the 20-year-old Italian was recovering from a viral illness and “feeling under the weather”.

“As a precaution, the FIA have excused him from his mandatory media duties to give him the chance to rest ahead of the weekend. We expect him to be back tomorrow,” a spokeswoman said.

Antonelli will be champion on Sunday if he finishes in the top nine at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, even if closest rival and teammate George Russell wins the race. The Italian, who won in Texas last weekend, has a 123-point lead with five races and a maximum 125 points remaining.

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas was also feeling unwell and taking a day of rest.

“This is a precautionary measure and does not currently affect his participation in the remainder of the race weekend,” the team said.

Reuters

“It’s simplistic, but the most important part of this game for us is the first hour of (Friday) morning,” said Harmer in response to a question about a likely target South Africa would feel comfortable setting Australia.

At stumps on the third evening, South Africa were 140/4, having lost their captain five minutes before the close after a tough final hour of play. It leaves Ryan Rickelton on eight and Matthew Breetzke, 19, to hopefully negotiate that first hour on Friday.

“We can’t get too caught up in what we want and what would be nice and what is defendable, because whatever that looks like is not achievable if that first hour doesn’t go well,” said Harmer.

“So I’m pretty sure that’s what the (team) chats will be around, is just making sure that we don’t get too carried away and look too far ahead, that we try and keep it as simple as possible, and just to make sure that if we have a good hour (on Friday) morning, it puts us in a much stronger position than trying to get 200 and you get sort of sidetracked.”

The Australians don’t want to chase more than 200, said their first innings centurion, Josh Inglis. “The further it goes into the game it’s only going to get harder and harder. It depends how long they bat for. You don’t want to be getting too many more than 200. It’s obviously spinning a fair bit.”

Everyone has recognised that this Newlands pitch has been an excellent one for batting - even the South Africans who wasted the opportunity to use it properly after Australia chose to bowl.

#Simon #Harmer all 4 wickets vs #AUS #SAvsA pic.twitter.com/m5pOKix6Cc

— Tanuj (@Chris_gayle90) October 29, 2026

By the end of the third day, Nathan Lyon was getting the ball to bite and spin significantly and until his dismissal Temba Bavuma’s decision to play primarily off the backfoot - as challenging as it was - proved to be correct. Nevertheless balls were still hitting him in the ribs as they bounced and ripped out of the rough.

The morning, after the heavy roller has done its work, seems to be the easiest time for batting, hence Harmer rolling out the cliche about Friday’s first hour. It’s the final session, when puffs of dust accompany every ball bouncing off the surface that the threat has grown for batters.

“If you look at how the wicket changed from (Thursday) morning to the evening, there’s been quite a dramatic change. Mitchell Starc does a pretty good job of churning up the wicket. I definitely think that spin is probably going to come into it a lot more than it has in the first two and a half days,” said Harmer.

“It was quite evident to see tonight how the ball was turning out of different footmarks. I don’t know if the middle of the strip is going to start going up and down for different seamers, but the way that I see it is I think that spin has a massive role to play in the rest of the Test.”

Which will raise the pressure on Harmer, when it’s South Africa’s turn to bowl a second time. He said he was disappointed by his performance in the second Test in Gqeberha, but that lessons had been learned - albeit conditions in Cape Town are very different.

“I think there’s going to be a lot more on offer from the wicket’s perspective. And there’s a lot more on the line in terms of the result of the series being at 1-1. It’s going to boil down to getting the ball in the right area the most amount of times - just trying to keep it as simple as possible. Understand the occasion, enjoy it, enjoy the pressure and hopefully do something spectacular,” he said.

TimesLIVE

Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Jan Petrus Scheepers said security measures had been put in place to protect voters, electoral officials and election materials before, during and after the elections.

Speaking at a provincial state of readiness briefing in Polokwane on Thursday, Scheepers said security operations would be guided by intelligence assessments and risk-based deployments.

Through the Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (ProvJoints), police and other security partners are coordinating efforts to prevent election-related violence and respond swiftly to potential threats.

The security plan includes high-visibility policing, intelligence gathering, targeted law enforcement operations and investigations into electoral offences. The South African National Defence Force and State Security Agency are also supporting the operations.

Police will secure voting stations and election materials and act against intimidation, violence, vandalism and the unauthorised possession of dangerous weapons within voting-station perimeters.

Scheepers urged political parties, candidates and their supporters to respect differing political views and adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct.

He also warned against the spread of fake news, unverified information and inflammatory messages on social media, saying these could cause panic, incite violence and undermine confidence in the electoral process.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) confirmed that Limpopo has 3,037,387 registered voters across five districts and 22 municipalities, comprising 568 municipal wards and 3,315 voting districts.

Provincial electoral officer Itumeleng Seanego said more than 99% of the required electoral personnel had been recruited and trained. All batches of ballot papers had been received and were undergoing quality assurance.

A total of 341,809 special votes have been approved, with special voting scheduled for November 2 and 3 ahead of the main election on November 4.

The department of home affairs will extend operating hours at its offices and mobile offices to help voters collect identity documents or obtain assistance if they have lost theirs.

Limpopo provincial traffic officers will also assist with escorting ballot papers and other election-related operations.

Scheepers said police officers had been instructed to carry out their duties professionally, impartially and within the law to ensure eligible voters could cast their ballots without fear, intimidation or harassment.

TimesLIVE

Kenyan runners reacted with dismay on Thursday to another doping case involving one of their compatriots, after former New York City Marathon winner Peres Jepchirchir was provisionally suspended, casting a shadow over the build-up to Sunday’s race.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday that it had provisionally suspended Jepchirchir after she tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO ​in a sample taken before her Sydney Marathon victory.

Her agent said at the time: “I can only say that I feel terrible ​about what happened and I think it’s only right that an athlete who ​uses the performance enhancing drugs should be disqualified.”

“It’s so shameful,” said men’s defending champion Benson Kipruto. “Somebody like that, high-profile name, can ruin the name of athletes not only in Kenya but all over the world because we are here now, running, and maybe people will say, ‘No, these people are not clean.’”

Jepchirchir completed one of marathon running’s greatest achievements when she won the five-borough classic just weeks after taking Olympic gold in 2021.

Kipruto called for more testing in the run-up to the World Marathon Majors, particularly among highly decorated athletes.

“If I’m coming to run the TCS New York City Marathon and I have some appearance fee, I would propose that they cut my appearance fee and send to AIU people to come and intensify my testing for maybe three months to make sure I’m clean and I come here to run clean,” he said.

More than 140 Kenyan athletes have faced doping sanctions since the AIU was established in 2017 and Jepchirchir’s provisional suspension is a fresh embarrassment just weeks after World Athletics awarded its world championships to Nairobi for 2029.

Athletics Kenya said on Monday that it maintains an “unwavering policy of zero tolerance to doping”.

Jepchirchir is allowed to appeal and request an analysis of her B sample. New York’s defending women’s champion Hellen Obiri said the news meant anti-doping measures were working but stopped short of assigning guilt until the B sample analysis occurs.

“If (it is) true, that would be shocking news and it would be so bad for the Kenyans,” said Obiri.

The announcement follows the arrest of two former home affairs officials and a member of the public in connection with passport fraud at the Bothaville home affairs office in the Free State in 2023.

The three suspects were arrested following an investigation by the department’s Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks into the fraudulent processing of 10 passport applications.

They appeared in the Bothaville magistrate’s court on Monday, with the case postponed to January 20 2027.

The fraud involved exploiting weaknesses in outdated systems to obtain South African passports through the swapping of photographs.

Home affairs said it had since introduced biometric verification to close certain loopholes that had been used to commit passport fraud.

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said the arrests showed that those who exploited weaknesses in the department’s systems would be held accountable.

“Our approach is twofold: pursuing corruption without fear or favour, while using technology to eliminate opportunities for corruption in the first place,” he said.

He said the department’s digital transformation programme aimed to prevent corruption by eliminating opportunities for fraud rather than responding only after it had occurred.

TimesLIVE

Now, technology is reshaping how businesses connect with the people visiting the city and the goods moving through it, enabling them to reach new clients, expand into different markets and compete more effectively.

Consider a brick-and-mortar Durban retailer, for instance. A tourist discovers the business through social media, visits the store and pays digitally.

The business owner can use sales data to identify which products are selling and adjust stock accordingly, while using the same digital channel to stay connected with the client after they return home, helping to build brand loyalty and advocacy.

For a local supplier, digital platforms can help find new clients and build relationships beyond its existing network.

A recent Capitec BizTalk event in Durban explored the growth opportunities emerging at the intersection of tourism, trade and technology — and how businesses can capitalise on them.

Watch the recording of the event below:

BizTalk is a business-focused platform launched by Capitec in partnership with Business Day and Arena Events. It brings together entrepreneurs, business leaders and financial experts to share fresh perspectives and actionable insights to help South African businesses thrive.

Expert perspectives, practical business ideas

The Durban BizTalk featured practical insights from Capitec’s Riaan Klopper, executive head of Business Banking and the bank’s Business Support Centre, and Sicelo Mkhize, head of Commercial and Enterprise Banking.

For business owners, the discussion offered an opportunity to consider how developments in the local economy and the evolving role of technology can shape their next phase of growth.

Recognising an opportunity is only part of the equation. Preparing your business to capitalise on it also means understanding changing client expectations, ensuring financial readiness and having the operational flexibility to respond to new demands.

These topics formed part of the broader conversation at the event.

Watching the recording of this Capitec BizTalk could help you to:

• Understand Durban’s growth opportunities and how tourism, trade and technology are reshaping the business landscape.
• Reach new markets by looking beyond your existing client base and identifying opportunities to expand.
• Make technology work for your business by using digital tools to connect with clients, simplify transactions and support growth.
• Prepare your business for growth by ensuring financial readiness and operational flexibility.
• Build a more competitive business by responding to changing market conditions and client expectations.

Watch the recording above.

Visit the Capitec BizTalk hub to catch up on highlights and key takeaways from other previous events.

This article was sponsored by Capitec.

Story audio is generated using AI

In his 31st Test innings David Bedingham was dismissed in the same way as he was in his 30th.

In both innings there was no need to do what he did. It will lead to a question about Bedingham’s future in the South African Test team.

He started his Test career in Shukri Conrad’s third match in charge against India in December 2023. Conrad has known Bedingham since his days as a cheeky and extremely talented teenager who tore up the run-scoring records for Wynberg Boys High.

A windgat 22-year-old who started his professional career in the same manner he’d ended his school one, a car crash in 2016 changed his perspective on life and cricket. He spent a year in rehab for a fractured leg, hands and jaw and while learning to walk again also completed his BCom.

SA are 37/2 and trail by 63. 🇿🇦
Starc got Markram, Hazlewood got Bedingham. 🔥
Predict SA's 2nd innings total in the comments 👇#SAvAUS #TestCricket pic.twitter.com/DEFDva6fmg

— Md Haqbaaz (@mdhaqbaaz) October 29, 2026

Runs flowed for Western Province and Durham on his return — and he was close to representing England at one stage, until the Kolpak rules changed.

It was no surprise that Conrad picked him for the Test team. The 56 he made on debut against an Indian attack featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj and Ravi Ashwin was packed with typically elegant Bedingham strokeplay. On commentary, Ravi Shastri drew comparisons with Mark Waugh. It was a taste of what Bedingham had to offer at the highest level.

Conrad spoke after that Test of wanting South Africans to not only salivate about the rich talent in the opposition ranks, but also that which existed in the Proteas.

The problem for Bedingham is that the bulk of his 18-Test career has been a taste. The full buffet is still locked up in the kitchen somewhere.

He has passed 50 six times, but only once made a hundred. He’s been dismissed 16 times for scores between 10 and 49.

South Africa 2 Down David Bedingham Departs For 11 Josh Hazlewood Gets His 1st Wicket 🤩🔥 pic.twitter.com/PKkuesLXub

— Cricket Dani (@CricketDani56) October 29, 2026

He cut a desperately disconsolate figure, slumped almost all the way down in his chair in the back row of the home team’s viewing room on Thursday, rubbing his hands through his head. His pain was palpable.

Getting out caught on the deep backward square leg boundary twice in the same game, with the opposition plan obvious, provides strong reasons for the selectors to drop him for the rest of the summer.

But there is a weird context in which this Proteas batting line-up currently exists which would also justify them keeping Bedingham in the squad.

There are simply too many moving parts at the moment. A fourth new opening partner for Aiden Markram is being trialled. Bedingham is the sixth different batter to slot in at No 3 since Conrad took over as coach. Matthew Breetzke is playing his fourth Test and there’s a new wicketkeeper/batter.

Conrad doesn’t want to use it as an excuse, but it is difficult to build a batting unit given South Africa’s sporadic Test schedule. How do they create consistency and give players a sense of comfort when every error will be highlighted?

And then there is the match situation and the high pressure demands of the series between the top two teams in the world. “I mean this in the most respectful manner possible, pressure is a funny thing and I think sometimes it is easy to sit on the balcony or in the stands and pass judgment on somebody’s innings or how they get out or how they play a shot,” said Simon Harmer.

“But there’s a lot going through your head when you’re waiting to face a bowler and sometimes you make the incorrect decision at the wrong moment. And I’m pretty sure that the players that feel that those shots weren’t good enough will be the first people to put their hands up. I think everybody sitting in that dressing room wants to contribute, wants to win the game for the team and are despondent when they get out.”

It’s a feeling to which Marnus Labuschagne in the opposition ranks can attest, given his extended run of poor form.

Markram and Temba Bavuma also fell to shots they’d love to forget — Markram, an unconvincing drive, a shot he usually plays well, but which he lifted to mid-off, and Bavuma trying to whip Nathan Lyon across the line, out of the rough, five minutes before stumps and getting bowled.

Nathan Lyon Bowled out Temba Bavuma!!🔥

Aussies are truly Back into the Game. Now its time for South Africa and Rabada to prepare themselves for a defeat. pic.twitter.com/wRn8X3W67o

— Hamza Khan (@Hamzakhan17_) October 29, 2026

It was a dreadful error by the captain and his face froze with disappointment. “I don’t think anybody is going to be as shattered as Temba about getting out. But again, it’s the situation,” said Harmer. “You don’t want to go back into your shell right at the end of the day. You’ve played a certain way, and that’s cricket. It happens.”

Bavuma’s wicket means Australia still holds the advantage. South Africa’s lead is only 40 runs and they have just six second-innings wickets in hand. Those who can no longer contribute with the bat, will try to assuage their anguish overnight. Friday brings an opportunity for others to reignite the flame of hope.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired US Army Lt-Gen Brett Sylvia, a senior military planner on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, over accusations he leaked classified information to the public, officials said on Thursday.

Sylvia’s firing is one of the highest-profile consequences to date from Hegseth’s sweeping hunt for officials suspected of leaking information to the news media as the unpopular Iran war enters its ninth month.

Hegseth’s effort includes a Pentagon task force to identify the source of leaks and the widespread use of polygraph exams on senior officials as part of these investigations.

Last year, he introduced a media policy that raised legal concerns among press organisations, and revoked the press credentials of journalists who refused to sign it.

We’re very much looking for leakers, and she’s going to have big problems, long-term problems.

US President Donald Trump

A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused Sylvia of failing three polygraphs questioning him about leaking classified information.

“The extent of his leaking became so critical that Secretary Hegseth took immediate action and fired Sylvia in order to protect national security. Urgent action was needed and could not wait another second,” the official said.

US President Donald Trump, who misidentified Sylvia as a woman, said the senior US general has “got problems.”

“We’re very much looking for leakers, and she’s going to have big problems, long-term problems,” Trump told reporters.

Sylvia could not be immediately reached for comment.

Key positions

Sylvia led the Directorate for Strategy, Plans, and Policy at the Joint Staff, known inside the military as the J5, a key position that helps advise the top US military official, Gen Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He previously led the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division. His dismissal was first reported by The Atlantic magazine.

His removal comes as the US military plans for a potential resumption of intensive bombings in Iran, something Trump has called “another little Epic Fury.” The Pentagon has fumed about leaks during the Iran war, including about its planning and the expenditure of munitions.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that an internal US military analysis estimates it would cost more than $29bn (R482bn) in munitions alone to restock weapons used against Iran so far. That’s the bulk of the more than $47bn spent on operations in the war.

Our commitment was not an empty promise. We vowed to find you, and we meant it.

Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesperson

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said the decision followed an extensive investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

“This matter, along with others, have been referred to the justice department for potential further legal action,” Parnell said, without identifying other officials who may also be targeted.

Parnell added: “Our commitment was not an empty promise. We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”

A spokesperson for the Joint Staff withdrew an initial statement expressing gratitude for Sylvia’s 32 years of service, saying “we determined the statement did not appropriately reflect the full circumstances.”

“Out of respect for the service member and the ongoing personnel process, we will not comment further,” the spokesperson said.

Reuters

Authorities in the Philippines said last week they were investigating Thomas Markle over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse images.

He has denied the accusations, telling Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper they were untrue and “sick lies”.

Last week, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said the news was “very distressing” and that she had been ​informed by British police of a letter with allegations about her father in the months after her wedding to King Charles’ younger son.

London’s Metropolitan Police said on Thursday it had received a letter in 2019 in which the author said they were raising concerns purportedly linked to Meghan’s security, but instead contained allegations of offending outside Britain.

“The letter was assessed and subsequently passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness,” commander Adam Slonecki said. “The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.”

He said an internal review had led to the matter being referred to the police watchdog and that the force was now sharing the allegations with overseas authorities.

“It is our intention to make a number of referrals to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies in relation to the allegations contained within the letter. That process is underway and will be completed in the coming days,” Slonecki said.

Reuters

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Kaizer Chiefs captain Brandon Petersen and his Orlando Pirates counterpart Nkosinathi Sibisi share the view that recent results count for nothing in the Soweto derby.

Pirates host Chiefs in their sold-out Betway Premiership clash at FNB Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm) with both teams confident after registering 3-0 Carling Knockout Cup wins over Milford FC and TS Galaxy respectively in midweek matches to progress to the quarterfinals.

Going into the derby, coach Abdeslam Ouaddou’s Buccaneers are the consistent team with a good recent run of seven wins and one loss from their last eight matches in all competitions.

In contrast, Amakhosi have been inconsistent during this period with two wins and two defeats and four losses in all competitions, leaving coach Fernando Da Cruz and his players under pressure.

Pirates captain Nkosinathi Sibisi says recent results doesn't count in Soweto derby.

WATCH more on #PrimeSportsWithMahlatseTV ➡️➡️➡️https://t.co/44VuwptVFI pic.twitter.com/uhMGrTRC8k

— Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) October 29, 2026

At their pre-match press conference at SuperSport’s studios in Randburg on Thursday, Petersen admitted Pirates are on an impressive run but said the derby is about which side is on top of its game on the day.

“The derby at times is not really about form, but it is about who is the hungrier team and who wants it the most on the day. On Saturday, we will make sure that we are 100% ready for a fight,” said Petersen, adding that Pirates have been playing fast, attacking football.

“They have been on a good run this season and they come from last season as [league] defending champions. That is football and people are going to give them the upper hand but for us it is important to ensure we are aware and respect that.

“They have been playing good football and getting good results but that serves as motivation for us. We know what we are up against and we know it is going to be a fight out there.”

Sibisi agreed that the derby is more about what happens on the day.

Brandon Petersen talks about the importance of winning the Soweto Derby. ✌️⚽️🔥 pic.twitter.com/zbwSfMf3iG

— SoccerBeat (@SoccerBeatZA) October 29, 2026

“With what I have experienced with the derby in the past years, past results count for nothing. You might be favourites because of recent results but on Saturday that can change.”

Public sentiment is that Pirates are favourites and Sibisi said Bucs will wear the tag even though they are fully aware it counts for nothing.

“We shouldn’t shy away from being called favourites, but we have to take that responsibility and pride of representing the club as best as possible by getting a positive result on Saturday.

“I have been fortunate to be part of this club for five years and every derby is special. We have won and lost some but for me the excitement remains the same.

“It is always exciting to be part of this match and we want to win to make our supporters happy.”

TimesLIVE

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Former MK Party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla will know in a week whether terrorism charges against her related to her infamous “We See You” tweets she posted during the Durban July 2021 riots will be thrown out by the court.

On Thursday, Durban high court judge Mbuzeni Mathenjwa heard arguments from her defence counsel Adv Dali Mpofu who claimed that the state is targeting her because she is the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma.

Zuma-Sambudla is accused of incitement to commit terrorism and public violence linked to the July unrest in 2021 which resulted in 354 deaths and an estimated R50bn in economic and infrastructure damage.

During arguments to discharge the case against her, Mpofu said many people had retweeted Zuma-Sambudla’s posts but were not charged.

He questioned why the state had only charged his client.

Mpofu argued that the tweets made by his client cannot be proved as incitement.

“Who did my client incite? You cannot incite people from the air. There might be an inciter and an incitee. In this case, who is the incitee?” he asked.

He described the state’s evidence on the “We See You” tweets by Zuma-Sambudla as “laughable”.

Mpofu challenged the state to prove that someone broke the law because of Zuma-Sambudla’s social media posts.

Without that link, the state does not have a case, he said.

“Was there any connection or link between whatever she did and the looters? Or anyone else that was that way inclined? The answer was no. I do not believe the state’s case is that she is the cause of those unrests. But I believe the state’s case is that the incitement was through social media. So that is where their case is built.

“The point I’m making, my lord, is that whether it was through social media or a megaphone or whatever, it doesn’t matter. There must still be an ‘incitee’. That’s the point, really. You cannot have incitement [without an incitee]. That’s the crux of this case,” Mpofu said.

Senior prosecutor Mahendra Naidu said the state presented a strong case against Zuma-Sambudla, especially on count one.

He said the state had called witnesses who gave strong testimony against Zuma-Sambudla.

The matter was adjourned to Friday next week for a ruling.

TimesLIVE

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Durban has been named as the preferred host city in the South African Sports Confederation, Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s (Sascoc) expression of interest to host the 2036 or 2040 Olympic Games.

Sascoc acting president Lwandile Simelane pulled “Durban” out of the ceremonial envelope in an announcement made at Sascoc’s headquarters at Olympic House in Melrose, Johannesburg, on Thursday.

Durban beat Johannesburg and Cape Town to the status. Durban was stripped of hosting rights for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in March 2017 due to financial constraints, budget disagreements and missed deadlines.

South Africa joins India, Qatar, Germany, Hungary, Türkiye and South Korea as interested parties for the 2036 Games. The UK and Egypt are among interested nations for the 2040 Games.

Simelane said the announcement does not “confirm any formal status of it being the preferred city; it’s just the city with which we will be engaging and participating in the bid”.

She said the next steps are that South Africa “remains in continuous dialogue”, Sascoc communicates the preferred city to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and works “with the relevant stakeholders to develop the project for the next international engagements”.

“Those preparations must bring the hosting vision together with a workable venue plan, appropriate funding strategy and clear accounting of the benefits for communities.

“The IOC has confirmed no additional interested parties will be considered for the 2036 Olympics after October 31.”

A digital presentation will be made by the interested parties to the IOC in November.

Sascoc CEO Nozipho Jafta said as the world “looks ahead to Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032, we are exploring whether South Africa can welcome the Summer and Paralympic Games in 2036 or 2040”.

“Sascoc formally communicated South Africa’s intention to enter this dialogue. Our engagement has provided a framework within which to explore the country’s hosting ambitions and develop a potential Games project.

“In partnership with the department of sport, arts and culture, under the leadership of [minister] Gayton McKenzie, formal support was received from the cabinet to pursue the project.”

Strategic engagements with the affected cities will begin only if South Africa progresses to the targeted dialogue phases

Sascoc CEO Nozipho Jafta

Jafta said Sascoc has “followed the IOC timelines and guidelines in advancing our engagement through continuous dialogue, [which] allows interested parties and the IOC to examine the vision and feasibility of hosting”.

“The first deliverable of this phase is the announcement of the preferred host city, referred to as the interested party. It is worth noting that this is not yet the right moment to engage with the cities at a strategic level, as several steps must still unfold, including our presentation to the IOC at the end of November and the IOC’s own feasibility study.

“Strategic engagements with the affected cities will begin only if South Africa progresses to the targeted dialogue phases.

“Once the IOC engages us further, we will be in a position to consult the successful city further. This will allow us to clarify logistics and venue decisions and to explore the logistics of other cities hosting certain sporting codes under the IOC’s new multi-city hosting model.”

Simelane said an independent evaluation panel chaired by Ruben Reddy was formed to “inform the selection of the preferred city”. This month the panel met the cities, received their presentations and visited potential venues.

The cities were assessed against IOC guidelines.

TimesLIVE

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Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez said on Thursday the government has made progress in identifying state assets to be offered to the private sector and former owners, a move that could reverse widespread nationalisations ordered by former President Hugo Chavez.

“I have instructed that non-essential assets held by the state be assessed to determine which can be offered to the private sector or returned to their former owners. This process is already well advanced,” Rodriguez said in a televised address.

In April, Rodriguez appointed a government commission to audit and evaluate state-owned assets, including infrastructure in key industries such as energy, power and mining. They have been working on asset classification since, according to sources.

She did not provide further details on how the process may be carried out. Under Chavez, the nationalisation of key projects and industries left more than a dozen international arbitration claims, which mostly remain unsettled by the government.

Similarly, important negotiations are under way in the mining sector, specifically regarding gold, aluminum, and iron

Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s interim president

In her speech, Rodriguez said 44 energy contracts are being negotiated under the state’s new oil law approved in January. The government has stated that 61 oil agreements have so far been signed, without providing details.

“Similarly, important negotiations are under way in the mining sector, specifically regarding gold, aluminum and iron,” she added.

The president also said that she has instructed law enforcement agencies not to arrest people without a warrant, and vowed to defend the right to “peaceful protest” in the country, which has a history of political repression and last week saw its first nationwide opposition protest in ​nearly two years.

“The responsible exercise of political rights is guaranteed for everyone. Our doors are open,” Rodriguez said.

In her address, Rodriguez also said that the government has planned four quarterly increases in the national minimum wage in 2027.

Reuters

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Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Mfundo Vilakazi is relishing a sense of calm and confidence around the team after their morale-boosting 3-0 win over TS Galaxy in the Carling Knockout ahead of the Soweto derby.

Chiefs meet Orlando Pirates in the Soweto derby at FNB Stadium on Saturday at 3.30pm. Given Pirates’ upper hand in the previous derbies, having won four of their last five matches, the Amakhosi head into this fixture as underdogs, but Vilakazi said their previous win against Galaxy has done a lot in improving their confidence.

“I expect a physical game. Pirates are a good team and they have been doing well, so even us, in our last game against TS Galaxy we scored three goals,” Vilakazi told the media after the press conference in Randburg on Thursday.

“So, I think that will boost our confidence because we’ve been creating chances but not scoring. But in the last match, we scored three, and that will help us boost confidence. The chances we get we must use, otherwise they will punish us.”

Vilakazi, 20, grew up in Soweto watching the derby at the stadium and, having missed the last couple of matches against Pirates due to injuries, is looking forward to contributing on Saturday.

“It means a lot to me because as a young player growing up in Soweto, we used to go and watch the Soweto derby, but today I’m part of the players who will be playing. I thank God for the talent he gave me,” he said.

“I must focus on the game and play the football I know.”

Meanwhile, Pirates captain Nkosinathi Sibisi said they have got used to the demands from coach Abddeslam Ouaddou after he warned them that they should do more following their 3-0 win over Milford on Tuesday.

“For some of us who have been with him for the past season, it’s been easier for us to understand what he wants and what he demands,” Sibisi said.

“I think everyone who just came in also learned and understands him because he doesn’t demand good, he wants excellence. Whenever we win 3-0 or 4-0 or 8-0, he will say straight. He is a straight talker, so for us it is to take it in a positive manner and push.”

Sibisi also said that winning the derby will boost their confidence as they plan to go all out to win the remaining trophies.

Sowetan

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Public Interest SA has lodged a public interest complaint with the Prudential Authority and the Compensation Commissioner, calling for intervention at Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA).

This is after serious allegations of conflicts of interest, procurement irregularities and governance failures involving the institution’s leadership.

The complaint follows findings contained in an ENS forensic investigation, codenamed Project Clockwork, and revelations published by TimesLIVE on Wednesday concerning a disputed procurement process.

TimesLIVE reported that an executive head of investments at RMA knowingly participated in the assessment and evaluation of bids for a R32bn asset consultancy tender while serving on the investment committee of one of the bidding firms, 27four Investment Managers.

RMA is a mutual insurer licensed under Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (Coida) to administer medical costs, disability payments and pensions for workplace injuries or diseases in South Africa’s mining and metals industry.

Public Interest SA, a non-profit organisation, said it requested the two regulatory authorities to independently examine the forensic findings, scrutinise the RMA board’s handling of the investigation, assess the adequacy of RMA’s governance arrangements and establish whether sufficient safeguards exist to protect the financial security and statutory compensation rights of mineworkers, injured employees and their dependants.

“This is not merely a corporate governance dispute. It concerns the integrity of an institution entrusted with safeguarding the financial security, dignity and statutory compensation rights of some of South Africa’s most vulnerable workers,” the organisation said.

While confidentiality, legal privilege and procedural fairness may justify restrictions on circulation, they cannot legitimately be used to frustrate accountability or prevent the implementation of necessary corrective measures

Public Interest SA, non-profit organisation

It said it was concerned by reports that ENS completed and submitted its final forensic investigation report to RMA’s board, but that executive management has not been afforded access to it.

“While confidentiality, legal privilege and procedural fairness may justify restrictions on circulation, they cannot legitimately be used to frustrate accountability or prevent the implementation of necessary corrective measures.”

Public Interest SA said where allegations potentially implicated members of the very board entrusted with considering an investigation, independent oversight becomes indispensable.

It also urged RMA’s shareholders to exercise their lawful governance rights and insist on independent accountability, effective remedial action and the protection of compensation beneficiaries.

RMA occupied a critical position in the occupational injury and disease compensation system, Public Interest SA said.

“These beneficiaries have little influence over the appointment of directors, investment decisions or internal governance disputes. Yet they may ultimately bear the consequences should governance failures compromise the institution’s financial sustainability or operational effectiveness.”

Public Interest SA said the Compensation Commissioner has separately been requested to assess whether the reported governance concerns have implications for RMA’s continued compliance with its statutory compensation responsibilities and applicable licensing conditions under Coida.

The organisation requested written acknowledgement within three working days and an initial response within 10 working days.

Public Interest SA also disclosed that RMA, alongside other entities, recently sponsored its 2026 Whistleblowers Awards & Summit, a relationship it said had neither influenced nor constrained its decision to seek regulatory intervention.

TimesLIVE

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Two dreadful errors from Aiden Markram and David Bedingham have left South Africa in deep trouble in the final Test against Australia at Newlands.

The Proteas were 53/2 at tea, trailing the visitors by 47 runs.

Australia had been bowled out for 429, thanks to a century from Josh Inglis and half centuries from Matt Renshaw, Cameron Green and Alex Carey. Simon Harmer was the home team’s most successful bowler taking 4/104, while the newly top-ranked bowler and all-rounder in the Test format, Marco Jansen, finished with 3/60.

Although a deficit of 100 runs at the start of their second innings was substantial, the Proteas should still have taken solace from the fact that the Newlands pitch remains a good one for batting. Australia’s No 10 Nathan Lyon spent an hour at the crease and until the last few overs he faced from Wiaan Mulder, he looked largely untroubled.

But be careless, and no matter the conditions or the quality of the attack, you’re likely to be in trouble, and that’s exactly what happened to Markram and Bedingham.

South Africa 2 Down David Bedingham Departs For 11 Josh Hazlewood Gets His 1st Wicket 🤩🔥 pic.twitter.com/PKkuesLXub

— Cricket Dani (@CricketDani56) October 29, 2026

The cover drive is one of the Proteas opener’s favourite shots and one he plays with style and conviction. Neither of those elements were on display with the shot he struck straight to Travis Head, the only fielder stationed in front of the wicket on the off-side.

It was loose, and Markram looked like he wanted to be ill as he made his way off the Newlands pitch.

If anything, Bedingham’s was worse. Having been dismissed pulling in the first innings, he got out the same way again in the second, this time losing his wicket to Josh Hazlewood, who took the catch in the first innings to dismiss him, with Lyon stationed at deep backward square hardly needing to move.

If Bedingham is picked again — and it would be entirely justifiable if the selectors chose not to do so after Thursday’s mistake — he can expect a diet of short-pitched bowling from both Bangladesh and England later in the summer.

There were also two close run-out chances, with Marques Ackerman extremely lucky to be resuming his innings after tea, having set off for an ill-judged single after tapping the ball straight to Cooper Connolly in the covers. But the young Australian missed the stumps with his throw, with Ackerman already having given up the effort to regain his ground.

TimesLIVE

Maimane maintains voters have been deprived of a choice and made to think that their choices are limited.

However, he says this is a thing of the past.

“The old politics has made political survival the priority. South Africans need politics that makes their survival, their livelihoods and their future the priority. For years, we have been told that our choices are limited.

“We are told that the ANC is the only party with the experience to govern. We have seen where that has led. We are told that the DA is the only credible alternative. Yet its own decisions raise serious questions about what that alternative means when the negotiations begin.”

Maimane criticised sentiments that votes for newer political parties are wasted votes.

“I reject that argument completely. A wasted vote is not a vote for a new party. A wasted vote is a vote cast without asking whether the party you support will deliver the future you want.

“If you believe that the old politics has failed you, why would you automatically return to it? They do not own your vote. They are not entitled to your vote. If you are unhappy with the choices the established parties have made, you should never be discouraged from choosing something new.”

He was addressing the party’s final campaign event in Finetown alongside Bosa’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, on Thursday.

Despite making the case for newer parties, the Bosa leader insisted that they needed to offer a serious alternative.

“South Africa needs a new vision under a new political leadership. But being new is not enough. A new party must offer a serious alternative, with clear priorities, credible candidates and a commitment to accountability. That is why we founded Build One South Africa. We did not establish Bosa to become another version of the old politics. We established it because we believe South Africans deserve an alternative that puts their interests first.

“We are not asking you to vote for us simply because we are new. We are asking you to examine what we stand for, look at the candidates we have put forward and decide whether our offer deserves your support.”

Following their electoral debut in the 2024 national and provincial elections, Maimane’s Bosa will be contesting the local government polls for the first time this year across 24 municipalities in five provinces, with almost 800 candidates standing for election.

“We have done this because we believe that the future of South Africa cannot be left to the same established parties and the same political calculations. We want to build a movement that takes the problems of ordinary people seriously and treats public office as a responsibility.”

He vowed that if the party garners enough votes to participate in municipalities, its representatives will tackle the issues facing voters and their families.

“Municipalities must deliver value for money. Residents must be able to see what their money is paying for. Budgets must prioritise essential services and infrastructure. Roads, water systems and electricity infrastructure must be properly maintained. Waste must be managed. Local businesses must be supported. And when municipalities fail, residents must be able to hold those responsible to account. This is what local government should be about.”

TimesLIVE

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By Dan Peleschuk

Kyiv — A Russian drone strike killed at least 14 people on a crowded rail platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday and five in daytime strikes on other cities, officials said, even as a local truce in Kherson raised cautious hopes for a resumption of diplomacy.

Two teenagers were killed on a central street in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, and three people were killed in a strike on an apartment building in the central city of Kremenchuk.

“Russia is deliberately hunting civilians: on trains, at stations, in residential buildings,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi said on the Telegram app. “There is no justification for this terror, and there never can be.”

Moscow had made clear that a six-day humanitarian truce brokered with US help applied only to south Ukraine’s Kherson region to enable humanitarian relief to reach the Russian-held town of Oleshky, marooned in a war zone since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Infrastructure hit

Elsewhere, Russian drone and missile attacks on critical infrastructure, including the rail network, have been making civilian life increasingly fraught as well as burdening the economy. They have exploited an acute shortage of air defence missiles.

Like Kyiv, Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.

The state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia said a jet-powered drone had struck a platform at Dnipro’s main station, where a commuter train was preparing to depart for the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia.

Ordinary, peaceful people were attacked who were just going to work, going about their daily business, making plans for the day

Images posted by President Volodymyr Zelensky showed bodies strewn across the ground as rescuers rushed the wounded away on stretchers.

In Chernihiv, in addition to the two dead, 23 people were wounded in a drone attack on a busy downtown street.

“Ordinary, peaceful people were attacked who were just going to work, going about their daily business, making plans for the day,” said Dmytro Bryzhynskyi, head of the city’s military administration.

In Kremenchuk, the strike on the housing block killed three people and wounded 15, the regional governor said.

Zelensky responded to the Dnipro strike by urging partners to put more pressure on Russia with a glancing reference to the US withdrawal of sanctions on Russian diesel exports and the EU’s suspension of measures against two Russian billionaires.

“Just how many terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on certain Russian oligarchs and the Russian energy sector, rather than de-escalating?” he wrote on X.

Reuters

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Benjamin Netanyahu alleged on Thursday, without providing evidence, that Arab parties’ record gains in an election this week were driven in part by voter fraud, a charge rejected by Arab leaders who accused the premier of incitement.

The allegation represents an escalation of anti-Arab rhetoric by Netanyahu and his far-right partners after high Arab turnout in a national ballot on Tuesday effectively blocked a smooth path to power for either him or his main Jewish rivals.

Israeli election officials said on Thursday that there was a probe into fraud allegations, though the election’s integrity was not “systematically compromised”.

Analysts and critics say that by stepping up attacks on Arab parties, Netanyahu may be trying to ensure his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, feels unable to even consider forming a minority government with Arab help that could oust him from power.

Netanyahu’s goal is “delegitimising any Arab-Jewish co-operation”, said Eytan Gilboa, professor of politics at Reichman University.

Election officials were expected to finish tallying votes later on Thursday, in a tightly fought election that has produced no clear winner and is likely to be followed by weeks of protracted negotiations over a new government.

This entire campaign is directed against Eisenkot, to prevent him, intimidate and scare him off forming a government that relies on external support from the Joint List or Ra’am

Ahmad Tibi, one of the leaders of the Arab Joint List party

With nearly 93% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s nationalist-religious bloc held a modest lead in seats over a bloc of right-wing and centre-left parties led by Eisenkot, with both men’s coalitions short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in parliament.

Parties representing Israel’s 21% Arab minority were projected to win an unprecedented 19 seats, leaving Eisenkot’s bloc, with 48 seats against Netanyahu’s camp of 53, with no realistic path to power without broad Arab backing, an option Eisenkot has so far ruled out.

However, Eisenkot’s camp could also try to form a minority government with Arab support from the outside, without including them in a governing coalition.

Netanyahu accuses Arab parties of fraud; Arab parties call it incitement

Ahmad Tibi, one of the leaders of the Arab Joint List party, said Netanyahu was on an orchestrated, toxic campaign meant to undermine the election results.

“This entire campaign is directed against Eisenkot, to prevent him, intimidate and scare him off forming a government that relies on external support from the Joint List or Ra’am,” Tibi told Reuters.

During and after Tuesday’s election, Netanyahu and his allies warned against rising Arab turnout and his right-wing Likud party issued statements accusing the Arab parties of “stealing the vote”.

It demanded police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service investigate incidents of suspected election bribery and intimidation at ballot stations in Arab towns. It said it possessed evidence of such activity but has not presented it to the public.

The police say they have arrested at least seven people since Tuesday in Israel’s south, where many Arabs live, on suspicion of voter fraud. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said they were suspected of attempting to bribe voters to cast ballots for the Arab-dominated party Ra’am, which has Islamist roots.

We have one message in response to the campaign of incitement and delegitimisation he is waging against Arab citizens: Nothing will come of it, because there is nothing there

Mansour Abbas, Ra’am head

On Thursday, the head of Israel’s Central Election Committee, Supreme Court jurist Noam Sohlberg, said he had asked the Shin Bet to investigate suspicions that unidentified foreign players had tried to intervene in the election.

Likud seized on Sohlberg’s request, alleging an attack on Israel’s democracy, “an Islamisation of Israel and the toppling of the right-wing in order to bring about IDF withdrawal and defeat on all fronts, foremost Iran”.

Likud said Qatar was behind the alleged election intervention, which Qatar later denied.

Ra’am head Mansour Abbas said on Thursday his party was not involved in the reported suspicious conduct and urged a full investigation. He said that Netanyahu was on an incitement campaign against Israel’s Arab citizens.

“We have one message in response to the campaign of incitement and delegitimisation he is waging against Arab citizens: Nothing will come of it, because there is nothing there,” Abbas said in a statement.

In a letter sent to a parliamentarian and published by the Central Election Committee, the committee said there was “no base for claims that there was systematic harm to the election’s integrity.”

Israeli president: ‘We must not tarnish an entire community’

After vote tallying is completed, President Isaac Herzog will consult with party chairs and choose a candidate who he thinks has the best chance to form a government.

The coalition that last toppled Netanyahu, in 2021, relied on Abbas’s Ra’am party. But Eisenkot’s underperformance means the opposition would now need backing from the Arab-dominated Joint List, which includes an explicitly anti-Zionist party. Most Jewish leaders have shunned formal alliances with Arab parties since Israel’s founding.

Eisenkot called for an investigation that would protect election integrity but said Netanyahu was exploiting the suspicions to “spread chaos”.

He said in a statement that Netanyahu’s aim was to “challenge the official election results, in which the Israeli public voted against the government”.

Herzog said the allegations must be investigated.

“But even at a moment like this, we must not tarnish an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote and take an active part in democracy,” Herzog said in a statement.

Reuters

Positioned below the Indian brand’s larger and more premium Harrier model, it features revised exterior styling including a redesigned front bumper, new LED headlamp clusters and a sleeker pair of daytime running lights.

The rear of the Punch receives a similar makeover with the range-topping Accomplished+ S model sporting new LED taillight clusters linked by an illuminated LED crossbar, while the bumper incorporates a faux-aluminium skid plate. Tata has also introduced new wheel designs and, depending on the model derivative, the option of a contrasting roof.

Designed for soaking up the abuse of Indian roads, the new Punch retains a MacPherson strut front suspension and a semi-independent twist-beam set-up, with coil springs and shock absorbers at the rear. Ground clearance is listed at 193mm, which is more than enough to handle choppy rural dirt tracks.

Three derivatives are on offer, starting with the entry-level Punch Pure+. It rolls on 15-inch steel wheels (with plastic covers) shod with 185/70 profile tyres and features body-colour door handles and a shark-fin roof antenna.

Inside, you’ll find a new eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, two USB-C charging ports (65W front and 15W rear), a reverse camera, rear parking sensors, manual air-conditioning, cruise control and four-inch digital instrument cluster. Other notable additions include Tata’s new two-spoke multifunction steering wheel, a redesigned centre console with improved cupholders and an armrest, and rear air conditioning vents.

On the safety front, six airbags are fitted as standard across the range, as is traction control, electronic stability control, hill hold assist, rear ISOFIX seat tethers and ABS brakes with EBD. Tata claims the Punch has a five-star Bharat NCAP rating for both adult and child occupant protection.

Next in line is the Punch Adventure, identifiable by its 15-inch alloy wheels also wrapped in 185/70 profile rubber. This mid-tier model also benefits from additional features, including automatic headlights and wipers, push-button start with smart entry, automatic folding side mirrors, automatic air conditioning with an air purifier, cooled glovebox, blindspot monitoring and a 360º view camera.

The Punch Pure+ and Adventure are both powered by a 1.2l three-cylinder petrol engine producing 65kW and 115Nm of torque, paired with a five-speed manual transmission. Fuel efficiency is aided by an automatic stop-start system — Tata claims 5.5l/100km across the combined cycle — while drivers can choose between Eco and City drive modes.

The flagship Punch Accomplished+ S sits on a set of 16-inch alloy wheels shod with 195/60 profile tyres. Aside from its racier rear-end styling, it also gains LED daytime running lights, LED fog lamps with built-in cornering function, roof rails and a sporty tailgate spoiler.

Cabin upgrades come in the form of a 10.25-inch infotainment system, seven-inch digital instrument cluster, voice-assisted electric sunroof, rear armrest, puddle lamps, hill descent control, ambient lighting and a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel and gear shifter.

The Punch Accomplished+ S also promises more spirited performance as it comes bolted to a 1.2l three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine making 88kW and 170Nm of torque. Paired to a six-speed manual transmission, it offers three drive modes (Eco, City and Sport) and sips a claimed 6.1l/100km on the combined cycle.

Pricing:

Punch Pure+: R224,900

Punch Adventure: R244,900

Punch Accomplished+ S: R269,900

Pricing includes a five-year/125,000km warranty and a two-year/30,000km service plan.

TimesLIVE

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By Anuja Bharat Mistry

Bengaluru — DoorDash said on Thursday it would buy Instacart in a deal valued at about $17bn, stepping up its push into the fast-growing US grocery delivery market as competition among app-based platforms intensifies.

The deal, DoorDash’s biggest yet, will give the company greater scale as it expands beyond restaurant delivery into groceries and other retail categories, helping it to take on deep-pocketed retailers such as Walmart and Amazon, which have built vast store, warehouse and delivery networks.

“Restaurant delivery is maturing, and growth now lies in more frequent, higher-value orders: weekly grocery shops, convenience items and retail,” said Martin Szumski, analyst at Morningstar.

Meanwhile, consolidation has gathered pace globally as slowing orders, rising costs and tighter regulatory scrutiny of the treatment of gig workers pile more pressure on the industry.

Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta said the two companies had explored a combination on and off for years.

“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online,” said Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, adding Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers.

Online grocery delivery has also gained traction as consumers increasingly prize convenience, while a recent surge in gasoline prices linked to disruptions from the war in Iran could give shoppers another reason to avoid trips to stores.

Inside the deal

DoorDash has offered Instacart shareholders $65 per share held, representing a premium of about 26% to the stock’s closing price on October 22 before reports of deal talks first emerged.

The consideration will be at least 75% cash, with Instacart shareholders able to elect cash, DoorDash stock or a combination of the two, the companies said.

Shares of Instacart, formally known as Maplebear, were flat at $58.35 in early trading. They had hit a record high of $62 on Monday.

DoorDash shares jumped nearly 6% after the company also reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue. They have declined about 25% so far this year through their last close.

Regulatory hurdles

The transaction is expected to close at the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028.

“The main risk is regulatory approval,” analysts at CFRA Research said in a note, adding that the long timeline for the closing of the transaction suggests both sides expect an extended antitrust review.

“The current regulatory backdrop is generally favourable, but the long closing window leaves the deal exposed to changes in policy,” they added.

New York City’s department of consumer & worker protection (DCWP) said on Wednesday that a potential merger continued a “troubling trend” of corporate consolidation.

DoorDash plans to retain Instacart’s brand and app after the deal closes and combine the companies’ membership programmes, while pledging not to require grocers to use its delivery services exclusively.

Instacart would be required to pay DoorDash a termination fee of $650m, while DoorDash would have to pay $1.25bn if the deal is ended under certain circumstances, according to a regulatory filing.

Reuters

He is accused of attempted murder.

Video courtesy of SABC.

Sowetan

Former acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe is taking the stand.

Video courtesy of SABC.

Sowetan

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A man in his 30s was killed and two women injured when a tree fell on them in Gold Street, Springs, next to the Ekurhuleni TVET College campus on Thursday morning.

City of Ekurhuleni disaster and emergency management services spokesperson Tikkie MacDonald said the emergency call centre received a report of the incident at 10.44am.

Emergency crews found the man trapped under the tree with no signs of life. He was declared dead at the scene.

Two women sustained moderate injuries. They were treated at the scene before being taken to a nearby hospital by Gauteng Emergency Medical Services.

“It is believed the people were vendors selling food,” MacDonald said.

The city’s parks department was called in to help with cutting and removing the tree.

MacDonald said the incident had been handed over to the police, who would open an inquest docket at Springs police station.

The man’s body was taken to the Springs government mortuary.

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The Miss South Africa organisation has announced the top 12 finalists, the judging panel and the hosts for the crowning of the 2026 titleholder.

The highly anticipated finale will take place on November 14 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg and will be broadcast live on DStv Channel 161.

The top 12 finalists in alphabetic order:

1. Alia Khan Koumantarakis, 21, (Durban): A creative entrepreneur whose Empower Youth Africa (EYA) initiative focuses on entrepreneurship and skills development.

2. Amogelang Bunu, 27, (Mabopane): A speech therapist dedicating her EYA initiative to health and wellness.

3. Bonolo Marang Motau, 25, (Johannesburg): A brand marketing professional championing education through her EYA initiative.

4. Cwenga Koyana Kotu-Rammopo, 27, (Gauteng): A social entrepreneur whose EYA initiative focuses on health and wellness.

5. Katlego Malebye, 31, (Pretoria): A candidate architect working towards community upliftment through her EYA initiative.

6. Lesego Khumo Nyathela, 30, (Springs): A model and entrepreneur focusing her EYA efforts on health and wellness.

7. Makhosazana Azana Masango, 25, (Ndwendwe): A musician, model, and philanthropist dedicated to community upliftment through her EYA initiative.

8. Ndivanga Muravha, 22, (Mbombela): An entrepreneur driving change through entrepreneurship and skills development.

9. Palesa van Rooyen, 27, (Hobhouse): A medical doctor centring her EYA initiative on community upliftment.

10. Simoné Nonhlanhla Tshituka, 26, (Johannesburg): A senior actuarial associate whose EYA focus is on education.

11. Tiyani Makamu, 27, (Bronkhorstspruit): An entrepreneur championing entrepreneurship and skills development.

12. Zoalize Jansen Van Rensburg, 20, (Gauteng): An entrepreneur dedicating her EYA initiative to education.

“The announcement places a new group of young women at the forefront of a platform that develops leaders, advocates, entrepreneurs and agents of change,” the organisation said.

“Alongside the entertainment, the top 12 announcement underscores the platform’s wider purpose: empowering women to lead and helping young people turn potential into possibility.”

While only one candidate will wear the crown, all 12 finalists will be named EYA ambassadors on the finale night. This initiative ensures their platform for driving social change extends well beyond the pageant stage.

EYA is Miss SA’s flagship social impact and leadership development platform, connecting contestants and titleholders to implement sustainable community programmes across the continent.

The platform operates around five core pillars:

• access to education and knowledge;
• youth unemployment;
• entrepreneurship and skills development;
• health and wellness; and
• civic engagement and Pan-African collaboration.

“The finalists are already championing causes ranging from literacy and mental health to youth employment and financial wellness, reinforcing the message that they do not need to wait for a crown to make a difference.”

Last year’s cohort made a significant impact, reaching nearly 17,000 pupils across 16 schools and communities.

Throughout the competition, the finalists have received comprehensive support through bootcamps, mentorship and project development, equipping them with valuable leadership skills for the future.

This year’s theme, Imbokodo, celebrates resilience, leadership, and strength, the organisation said.

“Under the 2026 theme, Imbokodo, the finalists embody the strength of the grinding stone: women who, through EYA, help shape South Africa’s youth into diamonds. While the competition will crown one winner, EYA champions every finalist and the work she carries into her community.”

This year’s judging panel brings together heavyweights across law, medicine, finance, and entertainment:

• advocate Thuli Madonsela — former public protector and law professor;
• Natasha Vermaak — Miss South Africa 2023, entrepreneur and TV presenter;
• Dr Musa Mthombeni — media personality and medical doctor; and
• Pumla Molope — president of African Women Chartered Accountants

The main stage will be hosted by actor and presenter Lawrence Maleka alongside former Miss SA 2001 Jo-Ann Strauss. Red-carpet coverage will be brought to viewers by Kuhle Adams and Katleho Sinivasan.

TimesLIVE

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By Agency Staff

A Chinese Communist Party conclave on toughening internal discipline this week expelled a record number of senior officials and logged the highest-yet absence rate as purges thinned its leadership ranks.

The gathering, the party’s fifth plenum since the current leadership cohort was formed in 2022, also set the 21st Party Congress for the second half of 2027 in Beijing, effectively starting proceedings for China’s tightly choreographed, twice-a-decade top reshuffle, when President Xi Jinping is expected to extend his rule for another five-year term.

The closed-door meeting of the party’s Central Committee, the largest of its top decision-making bodies, was marked by the highest rate of absences in the post-Mao era, underscoring the scale of Xi’s anticorruption campaign and wider political shake-up.

The main messaging for the party to its domestic and external audiences is that it must be unified

Kerry Brown, director of King’s College London’s Lau China Institute

In total, 279 full and alternate members of the leadership body attended the gathering this week, compared with the 376 originally named in 2022, a summary of the proceedings dispatched by the official Xinhua news agency showed. This means more than a quarter, or 25.8%, of the original cohort was absent, many of them due to purges.

Despite the record churn, the party portrayed itself as stronger than before, hailing achievements it said were worthy of being “recorded forever in the history books of building Marxist political parties”.

“The main messaging for the party to its domestic and external audiences is that it must be unified,” said Kerry Brown, director of King’s College London’s Lau China Institute.

“The US will be emerging from the midterms, where the strong likelihood is yet more division and conflict,” and for Xi and his colleagues, Brown said, “the message will be: We are united, we are disciplined, and we are not like them.”

A matter of survival

Days after ascending to power in 2012, Xi told the party leadership that “if corruption is allowed to worsen unchecked, it will ultimately lead to the total collapse of the party and the state”.

He then initiated a sweeping corruption and discipline crackdown with an intensity unseen since the Mao era that has ensnared millions in China’s vast bureaucracy and has seen hundreds of top officials purged, including one-time allies and those once thought untouchable.

Xi called on the party, with the military, to “turn the blade inward” and unleash a revolution on itself and eradicate “viruses” that corrode its health.

Thursday’s communique argued Xi’s consolidated authority had enabled the party to curb long-unchecked misconduct, resolve entrenched institutional failings, eliminate serious hidden dangers in the party, state and military, and reverse the laxity of party discipline, making it stronger through “revolutionary tempering”.

The Central Military Commission — the supreme military command — has been nearly eviscerated, with five of the seven members appointed in the 2022 reshuffle purged, leaving only Xi and vice-chair Zhang Shengmin, a discipline enforcer rather than an operational commander, in office. Zhang was unexpectedly elevated to the elite Politburo this week.

The plenum formally ratified the expulsion of 33 officials from the party, including former Politburo members Ma Xingrui and Zhang Youxia, bringing the number of sitting Politburo members ousted during the current term to three, the highest since 1980. Former senior diplomat Liu Jianchao and former industry minister Jin Zhuanglong were also among those ousted.

It’s less about purging elite rivals, more about building a disciplined system that can sustain Xi’s political priorities across leadership cycles

Ruby Osman, senior policy adviser on China at London’s Tony Blair Institute

Xi’s public remarks suggest he regards the self-cleansing campaign as the party’s only safeguard against decay, essential for ensuring its survival and ability to rule indefinitely. Relentless self-discipline and periodic “self-revolution” for Xi offer the party a means of escaping the dynastic cycle of rise, decline and fall.

Xi “seems willing to tolerate significant short-term disruption as an investment in the party’s long-term resilience”, said Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser on China at London’s Tony Blair Institute.

“It’s less about purging elite rivals, more about building a disciplined system that can sustain Xi’s political priorities across leadership cycles,” she added.

The party’s dilemma

After more than a decade, the campaign shows no sign of ending, with the party vowing on Thursday to keep waging the tough, protracted and all-out battle against corruption in the face of new problems and “major challenges”.

There are inherent dilemmas to party governance, said Joseph Torigian, an expert in Chinese politics at American University. “It’s necessary to keep trying to fight certain challenges that even Xi Jinping admits never go away.”

“People are always vulnerable to the sugar-coated bullets of bourgeois imperialism, so you need to continuously remind them why a sense of mission and zeal is imperative to the party’s mission.”

With few external checks on its power, the party appears reliant on campaign-style internal discipline drives to restrain the officials through whom it exercises its immense authority.

And “you need to keep having party plenums on ‘party building’,” Torigian added.

Leadership reshuffle

While some have speculated on a possible recalibration of Xi’s role, analysts widely expect him to secure five more years at the party’s helm next autumn.

State media have offered no hint of a loosening grip on power.

The Party is clearly going through a generational overhaul

Commentaries published by the party-run People’s Daily and Xinhua in recent days have called on the party and the nation to “unite even tighter” around Xi and further uphold his status as the party’s core.

The messaging casts Xi’s consolidated authority as the most fundamental guarantee of political stability, policy continuity and China’s drive toward national rejuvenation.

“The party is clearly going through a generational overhaul,” said King’s College London’s Brown. “But the key challenge, and the greatest unknown, is to what extent the old guard around Xi will be willing, and able, to let younger leaders assume greater power.”

The party should “improve the quality of training and selecting outstanding young cadres”, the plenum communique said.

Reuters

Members of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania also blocked access to the podium when a law on the Central Bank was being voted on.

“These (ruling politicians) are criminals and they deserve teargas, rubber bullets, cracked skulls and broken bones, not the young people,” opposition leader Sali Berisha said during his speech before his microphone was cut off.

Other opposition members surrounded him during the speech, holding photos of protesters injured by rubber bullets. Some held aloft blue flares, the colour of their party.

Student-led demonstrations, fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, have engulfed central Tirana since mid-October and spread to other cities.

Demonstrators demanding Rama’s resignation have set fire to government buildings and banks, smashed shop windows and pulled up paving stones to throw at police.

The unrest, which followed months of largely peaceful summer protests against a luxury coastal development backed by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, poses the biggest challenge yet to Rama, who has governed since 2013 and won a fourth term in office last year.

On Sunday, Rama introduced new measures to curb violence, including fines of 500,000 lek (about R103, 200) for anyone who participates in a protest that turns violent, even if they do not personally commit acts of violence.

This week the protests were mainly peaceful, and another is planned for Saturday.

Prime Minister Rama has again called on students for dialogue and introduced new economic measures such as cheaper fuel and more money for poor families in an attempt to stop the violence in the streets.

Reuters

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As the two Soweto heavyweights, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, lock horns in the league at FNB Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm), we bring to light a few crucial things.

How many times have these two Soweto giants met?

Saturday will be the 186th meeting between Pirates and Chiefs. Amakhosi have recorded more derby victories (75), compared with Pirates’ 50, while 55 games ended in a stalemate, with five fixtures abandoned for various reasons.

Debutants ...

Kaizer Chiefs coach Fernando da Cruz will be coaching in the Soweto derby for the first time, while players like his defender Thabo Moloisane and Pirates’ midfield dynamo Thapelo Mokobodi are expected to make their first appearances in this titanic fixture.

What does form say?

Pirates, who are also the league defending champions, head into this game with better form, having won four of their past five outings, with a single loss in all competitions. Chiefs boast just one win from their past five fixtures, with two draws and two defeats in all competitions.

In the league, Bucs remain unbeaten with seven wins and a draw in their opening eight fixtures. Fourth-placed Amakhosi are also yet to lose in the league, with five draws and three wins, sitting eight points behind second-placed Pirates.

Players to watch

Tshepang Moremi has scored six goals from 10 appearances this season, making him Pirates’ danger man. Moremi scored a brace midweek when Bucs thumped Milford 3-0 in the first round of the Carling Cup.

As for Chiefs, Wandile Duba, who netted a hat-trick in the 3-0 victory over TS Galaxy in the first round of the Carling Knockout midweek, will be crucial. Duba boasts six goals from seven games across domestic tournaments.

Safety and security

Security will be beefed up. Stadium Management SA issued a stern warning that ticketless fans will face arrest if they roam around the venue.

Spectators will first be subjected to a visual ticket check at the venue exclusion zone before being allowed to proceed further into the stadium precinct.

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The Western Cape government has called for urgent national intervention to address persistent public sector medicine shortages, warning that supply constraints are pressuring healthcare services and patients who rely on essential and chronic medication.

Health and wellness MEC Mireille Wenger first raised concerns about medicine stock-outs on June 2, ahead of the National Health Council (NHC) meeting on June 11, where the issue was tabled for discussion.

More than four months later, shortages persist. In September, Wenger wrote to health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi requesting urgent action and clear timelines to stabilise medicine supplies.

She has now approached transport minister Barbara Creecy for assistance in identifying and resolving potential logistical bottlenecks at South African ports that could be contributing to delays in getting imported medicines to public healthcare facilities.

In a letter to Creecy, Wenger requested that the processing and movement of imported medicines be prioritised, particularly at the Port of Durban, where concerns have been raised about possible delays.

“This is about protecting the health, wellbeing and dignity of patients who depend on these medicines. Every unnecessary delay in getting medicines into the country is another delay in getting them to the patients who need them,” Wenger said.

“With our healthcare facilities already experiencing significant medicine supply constraints, we cannot afford additional delays where they can be avoided.”

The precise nature and extent of the port-related delays have not yet been established. The provincial department is seeking urgent co-ordination between the authorities, terminal operators and other stakeholders to identify and address potential obstacles.

Wenger said the shortages reflect a combination of pressures across the pharmaceutical supply chain, including manufacturing constraints, international shipping disruptions, supplier backorders, procurement challenges, regulatory delays and delays in the testing and release of some medicines.

She said once imported medicines arrive in South Africa, they must undergo quality testing before they can be distributed to healthcare facilities. This process can take between three and four weeks, making timely port clearance and the movement of consignments particularly important.

“Patient safety must always come first, and the necessary testing processes cannot be compromised. However, when medicines still need to undergo several weeks of testing after arriving in the country, eliminating avoidable delays becomes even more important,” Wenger said.

“Every day we can save in the supply chain is a day gained in getting essential medicines to our patients.”

Wenger said healthcare teams were working to manage inconsistent medicine availability by sourcing alternatives and redistributing available stock, but warned that these measures were becoming increasingly difficult as shortages persisted.

“Medicine supply constraints are a country-wide challenge and require a co-ordinated national response. Our patients deserve access to the medications they need, and it is our responsibility to find and implement solutions to unblock and mitigate these challenges,” she said.

She also called for co-ordinated monitoring of medicine availability across provinces to improve early identification of shortages, strengthen planning and facilitate the redistribution of available stock where appropriate.

Such monitoring, she said, would give national and provincial health departments a clearer picture of supply pressures and help ensure that interventions were co-ordinated across the country.

The Western Cape department of health and wellness said it was monitoring stock levels and supplier performance weekly at the Cape Medical Depot and reporting the information to national government. Other measures include redistributing medicines between facilities, sourcing alternatives and supporting temporary imports where necessary.

“When a prescribed medicine is unavailable, pharmacists and clinicians work together to identify clinically appropriate alternatives, which may include a different strength, pack size, formulation or therapeutic substitute. Where supplies are limited, stock may be shared equitably or dispensed in smaller quantities while replenishment is secured,” she said.

The department urged patients to continue collecting their medication and to speak to a healthcare professional if their usual medicine was unavailable, their treatment changed, or their medication looked different.

Patients were also advised not to change their dosage or stop taking prescribed medication without first consulting a healthcare professional.

The national department of health said it is aware of the medicine stockout problem and is preparing a comprehensive statement to unpack it.

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Stats SA said last year’s nominal GDP was now estimated at R8.04-trillion, up from R7.64-trillion.

Statistics agencies worldwide rebase and benchmark their GDP estimates to take into account changes in the composition of the economy and other factors.

Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy, recorded nominal GDP of 441.5-trillion naira ($328bn) last year, while South Africa’s rebased GDP in dollars is about $483bn. Nigeria used to have a bigger economy in dollar terms, but devaluations of its currency, the naira, meant South Africa overtook it.

South Africa’s latest rebasing exercise changed the base year for its GDP calculations to 2022 from 2015. It also incorporated previously non-observed parts of the economy, such as self-generation of electricity, illicit and illegal mining and manufacturing activity, and e-hailing services.

The 10 sectors it tracks were all shown to have higher output, with mining, finance and trade registering the largest increases.

Johann Els, chief economist at financial services firm PSG, said the revisions to the size of the economy would make South Africa’s debt numbers look better, in particular its closely watched debt-to-GDP ratio.

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 ends spooky season with monstrous creatures, terrifying survival stories and a celebration of South African musical heritage, from a giant Amazonian snake to a chilling South Korean thriller and the return of an iconic female maskandi group.

Something deadly lurks in the Amazon in the horror film Beware Boiúna. When a team of doctors on a humanitarian mission awakens an ancient giant snake, their mission to save lives becomes a desperate fight for survival. From Wrong Turn director Mike P Nelson, the movie stars Kiana Madeira, Jessica Rothe and Logan Marshall-Green. With a monstrous predator deciding who lives and who dies, nowhere is safe in Beware Boiúna, showing at cinemas.

The hunters become the hunted in Hope, a chilling South Korean sci-fi horror where a mysterious creature emerges near a remote fishing village. What begins as an investigation quickly descends into chaos, forcing the community into a terrifying fight to stay alive. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Na Hong-jin, known for The Wailing, the film was selected for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and stars Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. This Halloween, even hope might not be enough to save you. Hope is at cinemas nationwide.

Missed these big-screen adventures? There’s plenty coming to your small screens this week. Before he became America’s first president, George Washington faced betrayal and impossible odds that helped shape his destiny in Young Washington, arriving on BoxOffice from October 30.

For a magical family escape, The Magic Faraway Tree follows a family who discover an enchanted tree leading to extraordinary worlds that bring them closer together. The film airs on M-Net on November 1.

For action fans, Beast follows a former MMA champion who returns to the cage for one last brutal fight to save his brother. Catch it on M-Net on November 1.

We switch gears from monsters to music as the iconic female maskandi group Imithente enters a new chapter with their album Imithente (Legacy). Now led by Nondumiso Ngubane, Nelile Mthalane and Nokuthula Manana, the next generation is carrying the group’s musical heritage forward with a seven-track album that honours its roots while introducing a contemporary sound. The faces may change, but the legacy lives on. Imithente (Legacy) is available on all major music streaming platforms.

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.

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Story audio is generated using AI

By Alessandro Parodi and Helen Reid

Along wide Parisian shopping boulevards, early Christmas lights glow around security grilles and boarded-up windows as stores brace for a third weekend of unrest that has already cost an estimated $2bn in damage and lost revenue.

Weeks of demonstrations against rising costs and worsening living standards have spiralled into violence and looting in several French cities, damaging 2,400 stores across the country, according to the French Chamber of Commerce.

With further protests planned on October 31 and November 5, the mood among Parisian retailers and consumers is anything but festive.

French consumer confidence fell to a 13-year low this month. That bodes ill for November and December, which together typically account for 40% of annual retail turnover.

Pulling down the shutters

“Commercial activities in city centres have been brought to a standstill,” said Alain Di Crescenzo, president of the French Chamber of Commerce, about the days of protest.

“Stores that were looted must recover, repair and reopen, but then there are all those that weren’t broken into but had to pull down the shutters and have made zero sales,” he added. Over a quarter of the outlets damaged during protests remain shut, Di Crescenzo told Reuters, and many stores are likely to be shuttered protectively ahead of the next protests.

Shops targeted included outlets from major luxury brands like Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, but also Carrefour supermarkets and corner shops.

The Chamber of Commerce estimates losses to retailers to exceed €1bn (R18.5bn), while Morningstar DBRS said the total could approach $2bn including uninsured damage and lost revenue, and rise further if protests escalate.

Besides the direct impact on looted stores, fears of further violence drove many more to close as a precautionary measure, turning major shopping streets into ghost towns ahead of the October 24 protests, during which security was tighter but 50 stores were still broken into.

Most store managers, avidly monitoring neighbourhood watch communication groups, will only decide on Friday whether to stay open on the day of the demonstration.

Counting the damage

Burberry’s store on the fashionable Rue Saint-Honoré, which was looted and damaged in the October 17 riots, reopened on Tuesday after 10 days, according to a spokesperson for the company.

Jeweller Pandora said two stores in Paris and one in Lyon were vandalised and looted, and remain shut. It said it would keep taking steps including boarding up windows and enforcing temporary closures to protect its property and staff.

Swedish fashion retailer H&M had four stores impacted by protests on October 17 in Lyon, Nantes, Tours and Chambery. Last Saturday, it closed two outlets and shut another 40 stores earlier than normal business hours as a precautionary measure. It said it was too early to say what it would do this Saturday.

Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said on Thursday that the sportswear brand had some closures and declining store traffic in some cities due to protests.

“Of course, it was scary and it was not nice, but the impact on the total business for Q4, I would say, is not a level we can talk about yet,” he told journalists on a call.

Impact on tourism

Georges Kern, CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger that if there was a threat of more unrest occurring, its shops would stay closed.

“If the disruption continues in the weeks ahead, some businesses – particularly non-food retailers – could face serious difficulties,” Cooperative U CEO Dominique Schelcher told Reuters.

The protests are also likely to weigh on tourism. Well-known Parisian department store Printemps has had to delay the launch of its Christmas decorations, initially planned for November 5, while the Paris tourist office said extensive media coverage may deter visitors in coming months.

“Consumption is the engine of the French economy,” said Magali Marton, head of research and data at real estate advisory Knight Frank France. “For shops to survive, people have to feel safe enough to come in and buy.”

Reuters

The footballer was fatally shot during a home invasion in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, in October 2014.

Video courtesy of SABC.

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Under glorious blue Cape Town skies, the 31-year-old, playing his sixth Test, earned a deserved reward for his tough labour on the second night, when he brought up the three-figure landmark with a reverse sweep for four off Simon Harmer.

The Proteas off-spinner led a fightback by the hosts, picking up two of the four wickets in the session. Australia went to lunch on 411/8, leading by 82 runs.

Inglis missed the first two Tests after fracturing his finger during the ODI series and would not have played at Newlands had Smith been fit. All the to-ing and fro-ing within the Australian camp, the night before the start and on the first morning before the toss, could not have been helpful to his mindset.

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However, you couldn’t tell, such was the way in which he and Alex Carey counterattacked on the second night. Inglis, who made a hundred on debut in Galle last year against Sri Lanka, defended solidly and unleashed punishing cuts when the South Africans dropped the ball short.

Thursday dawned with the Proteas knowing they needed to throw themselves into the first session if they had any hope of pulling off a victory. However, for the first half an hour, batting continued to look easy, and with Kagiso Rabada unable to bowl after leaving the field early on Wednesday morning, neither Marco Jansen nor Wiaan Mulder caused the Australian pair discomfort.

At 34 minutes into the morning’s play, Temba Bavuma eventually called on his spearhead, and Rabada found the edge of Carey’s bat, but the ball fell underneath Harmer’s attempt to catch it at slip. In addition to the anguish over the missed chance, with Carey on 65, Harmer also picked up a cut on his left ring finger and damaged the middle finger on that hand.

Fortunately, it didn’t affect his bowling. Having watched Inglis bring up his landmark, five balls later Harmer found the edge of his bat, with Ryan Rickelton taking a good catch standing up to the stumps.

Simon Harmer gets his third with a beauty 🤌

📺 Stream #SAvAUS on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/EvSSz8kAbO

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) October 29, 2026

The South Africans were ecstatic, having ended a partnership that was ultimately worth 185 runs.

Carey was dismissed four overs later, falling to a beautifully flighted delivery from Harmer that spun away to nudge the edge, with Aiden Markram taking an excellent low catch at slip.

Rabada finally got something going in his favour when umpire Richard Illingworth adjudged Pat Cummin lbw, a decision upheld on “umpire’s call” by the TV replays after the Australian captain reviewed.

Gerald Coetzee picked up his first wicket when Mitchell Starc swung wildly and was caught behind for 11.

Cooper Connolly, playing his second Test, was unbeaten on 20 at lunch, with Nathan Lyon on 2.

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A cattle farmer is fighting for his life in hospital after a brutal attack on his farm between Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp.

This is the second farm attack in the North West this month, coming after 55-year-old Hannetjie van Zyl was killed in an attack on her property near Ottosdal.

Donovan Marx was shot, beaten and stabbed during a farm attack on Wednesday morning, shortly after his wife left for work.

Marx was shot in the back and tortured. The FF+ said the details of the alleged torture were too disturbing to make public.

Ventersdorp police confirmed they are investigating a case of house robbery and attempted murder.

According to police, at about 8.30am, a farm employee mowing the lawn was approached by three unknown men who allegedly emerged from behind the house. The suspects, whose faces were covered with balaclavas, carried firearms.

The suspects allegedly pointed their firearms at the employee and demanded to know the whereabouts of the farm owner. They then tied the employee’s hands and feet with cable ties and took him to the back of the house.

Police spokesperson Capt Majang Skalkie said the situation escalated when the 50-year-old farm owner arrived at the property in a bakkie.

Two of the suspects allegedly approached him and shot him in the upper body.

“They subsequently dragged him inside the house, tied his hands and feet with cable ties, and allegedly stabbed and further assaulted him. The suspects proceeded to search the house and took three firearms from a safe before fleeing the scene in the farmer’s red Isuzu bakkie,” Skalkie said.

The farm worker managed to free himself and called for assistance, and the farmer was transported to a local hospital and admitted in a serious condition.

Skalkie said no arrests have been made and police are working to trace the suspects.

North West police commissioner Lt-Gen Arthur Peter Adams condemned the violent attack and called on members of the community to assist the police in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“The use of firearms and the brutal assault of an individual in the course of a robbery are serious criminal acts that will not be tolerated,” he said.

The FF+ expressed its condolences and offered prayers for Marx and his family as he continues to fight for his life.

Van Zyl died on October 5 after being assaulted with an iron bar at the entrance gate to her farmhouse in the Ottosdal/Wolmaransstad area.

According to the DA in the North West, Van Zyl was attacked from behind and struck several times on the head and neck before her handbag and cellphone were stolen. She was getting back into her vehicle after opening the gate when the attack occurred.

She died on the way to hospital in Klerksdorp.

The DA’s Theo Venter said the attacks highlight the serious safety challenges facing rural communities.

“Farm attacks, stock theft and other rural crimes threaten the lives and livelihoods of farmers, farmworkers and their families, while undermining agricultural activity and the jobs it sustains.

“Rural communities deserve more than assurances. They deserve effective policing, accountability and the peace of mind that comes with knowing their safety is taken seriously,” Venter said.

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Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia has asked the cabinet to approve the appointment of KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as the new head of the Hawks.

Cachalia has submitted a memorandum seeking the cabinet’s concurrence for Mkhwanazi’s appointment as national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), which investigates organised crime, corruption and other serious offences.

The memorandum will be presented at the earliest opportunity during a cabinet sitting, police ministry spokesperson Kamogelo Mogotsi said in a statement on Tuesday.

The appointment process is being conducted in terms of the South African Police Service Act, which requires the police minister to appoint the head of the Hawks with the cabinet’s concurrence.

The act also requires the appointment to be reported to parliament.

Mogotsi said appointing a national head was important to ensuring strong leadership, strategic direction and operational effectiveness in tackling serious crime.

The DPCI is a key part of the government’s efforts to fight organised crime and corruption, which Cachalia identified as priorities under the Police Reset Agenda.

Mkhwanazi’s appointment is not yet final, as it still requires the cabinet’s concurrence.

If approved, he will take over leadership of the elite crime-fighting unit responsible for investigating priority offences, including serious corruption and organised criminal activity.

Sowetan

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Tributes have been pouring in for internationally acclaimed environmental activist Desmond D’Sa, who died in a car accident on Thursday.

D’Sa, 70, who worked at the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), died in a crash on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, where he lived.

Two family members in the vehicle were also killed while travelling to the SCDEA offices in Wentworth.

The community organiser and Goldman Environmental Prize winner helped residents challenge industrial pollution, which closed a hazardous-waste landfill in Bulbul Drive, Chatsworth.

According to Goldman Environmental, D’Sa helped residents scrutinise expansion plans and access legal advice. He also trained communities to collect air samples using relatively simple equipment, giving them a way to document their exposure.

As a result, the operator withdrew its expansion application in August 2010 and the landfill closed in November 2011, culminating with D’Sa being awarded the prize in 2014.

But his activism came at a personal cost when shortly after this, unknown assailants firebombed his home, leaving him with burns, destroying possessions and traumatising his family.

Born in Cato Manor in 1956, D’Sa grew up with 12 siblings. His family’s forced removal to Wentworth brought him into the industrial neighbourhoods that would become the centre of his work.

His biography on SDCEA’s website traces a working life that began in 1971 and included years in the textile industry.

He later worked at Durban Fibres and Sasol’s Isipingo plant, becoming a trade unionist and learning about the risks chemicals posed to workers and neighbouring households.

As a safety and risk officer, the factory work gave him an understanding of the industries he would challenge, and of the people whose livelihoods depended on them.

“We are not anti-development, but we are anti-air pollution. We welcome sustainable development,” he said in the SDCEA biography.

His community organising extended beyond pollution.

Through the Wentworth Development Forum, he helped create public meetings where residents could raise problems and seek solutions together.

Durban University of Technology’s account of his work also describes early efforts to secure parks and playgrounds to keep children away from gangs and drugs.

SDCEA brought together communities across south Durban, including Wentworth, Merebank, Umlazi, Isipingo and the Bluff. Its work linked environmental concerns with human rights and encouraged residents to participate in decisions affecting their neighbourhoods.

His SDCEA biography recounts how he acquired shares in multinational companies so he could question their boards at shareholder meetings overseas. The concerns of people living alongside industrial plants could then be put directly to company leaders.

D’Sa was awarded the 2013 Diakonia Human Rights Award and an honorary doctorate in health sciences from Durban University of Technology, in September 2015.

Accepting the doctorate, he spoke about the sacrifices that had interrupted his education and the knowledge he had gained through life and work. He encouraged graduates to persist despite the obstacles they faced.

“For me, this is more than just a job. It’s my life,” he said at the ceremony, according to the university’s account.

His SCDEA colleagues said they were reeling from the news of D’Sa’s death and couldn’t comment.

Among the tributes was one from humanitarian activist Lubna Nadvi who said: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Desmond D’SA who was a dear friend and comrade of mine and of the Palestine Solidarity movement. His work on environmental awareness and education and with SDCEA was outstanding.

“We met recently at a book launch co hosted by Abahlali basemjondolo and Groundwork. He always made time to support the Palestinian cause.

“Hamba Kahle Mkhonto.”

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The murder trial of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane was adjourned in the Durban high court on Thursday until Monday to allow the defence to prepare for the cross-examination of car tracking expert Carel Rothmann.

He was giving evidence in the trial of seven men accused of killing AKA and Tibz outside the now-defunct Wish restaurant in Florida Road, Durban, in February 2023.

Defence counsel Simphiwe Mlotshwa asked for the matter to stand down on Thursday, saying the defence needed more time to prepare to cross-examine Rothmann.

“We have to consult with our experts; we will need more time. In the interest of time, we should stand down this witness and continue with other witnesses?” Mlotshwa asked.

Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi said she was not going to force the defence to continue cross-examining the witness if they did not feel ready.

She asked state prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba if he had other witnesses prepared.

Gcaba said he had not prepared other witnesses because he expected the defence to cross-examine Rothmann.

There was drama on Wednesday when the defence team tried to stop Rothmann testifying.

The incident led Sipunzi to adjourn the trial and summon all parties to her chambers for a meeting.

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