It was a year marked by commissions, inquiries and tribunals. There was a maverick cop, an unrivalled act of philanthropy, the culmination of a 17-year-old David and Goliath battle and several brazen assassinations.
There is seldom a dull moment in South Africa’s news cycle and 2025 was no exception. The rolling stories that gripped readers brought joy, shock, horror.
On a winter’s day in May, a small pink backpack lay on the courtroom bench while a mother and her co-accused were sentenced for the disappearance of its owner. The backpack belonged to Joshlin Smith, the then six-year-old who vanished from Saldanha in February 2024.
Inside courtroom 2 in Vredenburg, Kelly Smith, her partner Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking and kidnapping. Outside, a small crowd held posters that read “Bring Joshlin home”.
The sentencing followed a trial that included harrowing details of how the girl was allegedly sold to a muti dealer. To this day, mystery surrounds what happened to Joshlin, and if she is dead or alive.
No story this year has offered more drama, twists and institutional reckoning than the Madlanga commission of inquiry, which kicked off in September after the July media briefing by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Day after day, testimony has detailed alleged criminal collusion within the police, intelligence structures and prosecution services.
Law enforcement bigwigs including Mkhwanazi, who was head of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team, national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu and crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo took the hot seat.
During the hearings so far Ekurhuleni has emerged as a hotspot of corruption. The city’s suspended metro police boss Brig Julius Mkhwanazi sweated profusely during his testimony, while his boss and BFF, retired Ekurhuleni city manager Imogen Mashazi, sulked throughout her testimony.
The biggest shock was the assassination of key witness Marius van der Merwe, “witness D”, whose true identity was supposed to be concealed for his protection. He was shot dead in his driveway earlier this month, weeks after his testimony on Julius Mkhwanazi’s role in covering up the murder of a suspect by members of his force.
Meanwhile a parliamentary ad hoc committee held parallel hearings into Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s accusations. Revelations included claims by tenderpreneur and attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala in November that he gave R500,000cash, delivered in Woolworths bags, to former police minister Bheki Cele on two occasions.
Van der Merwe’s murder was one of a series of such hits this year. In June, Ekurhuleni chief auditor Mpho Mafole was stalked and shot many times after uncovering major irregularities in a R1.8bn chemical toilets tender.
In September insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk was shot dead in his Johannesburg firm’s boardroom in what police immediately described as a targeted hit. Legal bodies and civil society groups warned his killing formed part of a disturbing pattern with whistleblowers, investigators and lawyers eliminated for confronting corruption.
Last week Warrick Stock, a DJ and security company owner, was killed outside Zambesi House in the Johannesburg city centre, a hijacked building he had reportedly been contracted to investigate.
The funerals of 14 South African soldiers killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were a cause for national mourning in February. Families spoke of sons and daughters who died on a “peacekeeping” mission they barely understood. Returning troops described missing pay, poor equipment and confusion on the ground. Parliament heard allegations of unpreparedness.
Another major flashpoint was the bribery scandal involving Tebogo Malaka, suspended head of the suspended Independent Development Trust. A covertly shot video showed Malaka’s spokesperson allegedly handing over a R60,000 cash bribe to journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh, reportedly in an attempt to halt his reporting on irregularities at the trust.
Despite widespread outrage, there has been no action. Malaka remains suspended on full pay, linked to allegations of corruption and mismanagement of an R836m oxygen plant tender.
After more than a decade of litigation over the “Please Call Me” innovation, the showdown between Nkosana Makate and Vodacom was finally resolved this year. For many, it was a David vs Goliath story: an employee fighting for recognition and compensation from a telecoms giant for an idea that had made millions for the company. However, Makate’s legal struggles continue as he is in a dispute with the people who helped finance his case against Vodacom.
The apparent suicide of former police minister Nathi Mthethwa in Paris on September 30, days after testimony implicating him in political interference, prompted speculation and suspicion, but French police said no foul play was suspected.
Then there was the tribunal that evoked shock, outrage and lessons in the meaning of mojis.
The judicial conduct tribunal into Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge, accused of sexual harassment by court secretary Andiswa Mengo, began in January. Forensic linguist Zakeera Docrat told the tribunal Mbenenge’s use of banana, peach, eggplant and dripping syringe emojis had “sexual connotations” and indicated he wanted to be intimate with Mengo.
The tribunal has reserved its findings.
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