The JSE All Share index closed at 109,528 points on Monday, up 1.8%.
The JSE All Share index closed at 109,528 points on Monday, up 1.8%. The Top 40 index rose to 101,439, up 2.0%.
The rand ended at R16.69 to the US dollar, weaker than R16.61 the day before. Gold was at $3,959 an ounce, up 1.5%. Brent crude was at $104.73 a barrel, down 11.0%.
Weather data: Open-Meteo
Media personality Somizi Mhlongo marked five decades in entertainment with a lunch at Sinnin Sandton on Sunday. He said he is booked and busy until December 2028.
Somizi will host a talk show called Life Lessons with Somizi. He will also front a television adaptation of MetroFM's Ask A Man.
The stories of three close friends will feature on Life Lessons: Cassper Nyovest, Lekau Sehoana and Ntombi Ngcobo Mzolo.
Somizi said a third television project is brewing for the festive season. He also said luck plays a huge role in success in the industry.
Somizi said: "I never thought I'd work that far in advance."
The driver of a red Toyota HiAce taxi pulled over and got everyone out safely on Monday. Two minors who reportedly inhaled smoke were assessed on the scene, and no other injuries were reported.
The taxi carried learners from grade 1 to 4 and a creche learner. Their reported ages range from 6 to 14. Amaoti is north of Durban.
Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) received the call and reported the incident. Rusa said the driver noticed the fire in the engine while travelling towards the main road. The driver then pulled over and quickly evacuated all the occupants.
Rusa said the driver was unsure how the fire started.
Lukhona Mnguni, the Rise Mzansi candidate for mayor of Johannesburg, said the party would insource workers instead of renewing outsourced contracts. He said critical assets such as water should stay in state hands.
Mnguni spoke in an interview with presenter John Perlman on 702. He said contract workers earn far less than permanent city employees who do the same work.
He gave the example of a worker on a truck contracted by the waste removal company Pick It Up. Mnguni said the worker earned R10,000 before moving to a new contractor and R5,800 after. He said a full-time city employee on the same truck earns about 18,000 rands.
Mnguni argued that privatising critical assets would leave poor people behind. He said the city would lose its ability to set policy for indigent households. He said privatising water in Bolivia led to a revolution.
He also said money is siphoned from the city through contracts while contract workers are paid less. On grass cutting, he said: "You don't need to outsource grass cutting contracts because you'll always need to grass cut,"
Residents of Orlando West in Soweto who qualify for special votes had no water on Monday, and many carried empty buckets to collect it. They criticised the City of Johannesburg for failing to supply water reliably.
Residents said they last saw water flow from their taps 4 days ago. They said the City of Johannesburg is failing to give households a reliable supply.
Mmapule Ramadibane waited at home for Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) officials to assist her husband with special voting. She asked how residents can be expected to vote when they are thirsty, and said government is failing them.
Ramadibane said: "There is no water, our rubbish bins haven’t been emptied, but we’re still expected to vote?"
The review covers Distell brands Nederburg, JC Le Roux and Durbanville Hills. Wine expert Michael Fridjhon says the decision came from head office in Europe and surprised the local team.
Fridjhon said the review was driven by finance, not by the local business. He said the South African wine brands in the Heineken group have not performed brilliantly and the wine industry is under pressure. He also said Heineken as a global company faces pressure on sales and on fines it must pay.
Fridjhon said Heineken South Africa needs to do some soul-searching. He said the brands are flagship brands and that is a concern.
He said an overseas buyer might see a sale as a toehold in the South African market. Such a buyer could use it as a springboard into the rest of Africa. Fridjhon spoke to CapeTalk presenter John Maytham.
Distell merged with Heineken in 2023.
A new World Bank study projects that sub-Saharan Africa will have five megacities by 2050. It says Luanda is likely to overtake Lagos as the biggest city, while Johannesburg drops from 5th place and Cape Town leaves the largest ranks.
The study says Johannesburg will grow to 8.9 million people by 2050. It puts the city's population at 7.1 million in 2025. Statistics South Africa reported 4.8 million in its 2022 census, and the study uses a broader urban definition than municipal boundaries.
The study puts Cape Town's population at about 4.5 million. It says the city will no longer rank among the largest in the region. It says Luanda's population may top 20 million.
Other cities will grow fast. The study projects that Bamako will grow by 80% to 7.6 million people over the next 25 years. It projects 64% growth for Mogadishu over the same period.
The study says the urban population of sub-Saharan Africa will rise by 320 million to 823 million by 2050. The figure rises to 1.7 billion when peri-urban areas and towns are included. The World Bank and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre assessed current city sizes together.
A study in Nature Communications reports that overactive type I interferon signalling in lungs with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) makes lung epithelial cells mature too early. The authors link this early maturation to lung abnormalities seen in people with trisomy 21.
The peer-reviewed work offers a possible biological explanation for lung problems that affect many children with Down syndrome. The summary we read gives no sample sizes or methods. The findings may come from lab or animal models, so they need further testing before anyone can say how they apply to patients.
Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie told supporters on Facebook on Sunday evening that the party wants to finish fourth nationally in the local government elections. Ipsos polling puts the party at 2%, well behind the EFF.
McKenzie spoke to party supporters on Facebook on Sunday evening. He said of the fourth-place goal: "That's what we're aiming for." The EFF now holds fourth place.
Ipsos data puts the EFF at about 10% of the vote in Wednesday's elections, behind the ANC, the DA and the MK Party. Ipsos forecasts the PA at 1% in Johannesburg and 4% in Cape Town.
The PA won 0.95% of the vote in the 2021 municipal elections and 77 council seats. In the 2024 national elections it won 2.06% and nine seats.
Hlengiwe Buthelezi and Victor Majola appeared in the Johannesburg High Court for pre-trial proceedings on Monday. They chose legal aid lawyers and face charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Warrick "DJ Warras" Stock was shot and killed outside the Zambezi Building in Johannesburg on 16 December 2025. Co-accused Joaquim Pacula shot Stock.
Pacula was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Buthelezi and Majola will stand trial on the same killing.
Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero said Joburg Water reports higher bulk water supply and better overall system capacity. Recovery has started at several reservoirs and towers, but he warned that it will be gradual and uneven across the city.
Morero said some communities will keep facing low water pressure and interruptions, because recovery will not be immediate. Joburg Water said some systems remained critically low. It said restoration will stay gradual and carefully managed to avoid overwhelming the network.
Some residents complained on social media that they had been without water for more than two weeks. The areas named include Bedfordview, Sandton, Midrand, Randburg, Roodepoort and Soweto.
Morero said: "I appeal to all residents to use water sparingly during this recovery period". He also urged residents to vote in the elections on 4 November.
ActionSA says Ward 11 candidate Victoria Ntombi Mkhize was allegedly stabbed and strangled outside her home in Maphumulo, and fire destroyed the Tongaat home of Ward 61 candidate Thembela Makhiloyo. The party wants police to investigate before the 4 November local government elections.
ActionSA's KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Zwakele Mncwango, said the party was disturbed by two serious incidents involving its members and their families over the weekend. He said the timing, just days before the elections, is deeply concerning. He called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to investigate.
Preliminary reports said Mkhize was stabbed with a knife and strangled just outside her home. She was an activist and the party's candidate in Mnyameni, in the Maphumulo Local Municipality.
Mncwango said: "Political differences must never lead to violence or loss of life". At least 50 people have died in suspected political murders this election year.
A September report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime counted 43 suspected political assassinations since January. Police have opened 139 election-related criminal cases and arrested 48 suspects. National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola said KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of high-risk voting stations in the country.
A study in Nature Communications reports that excess phosphate activates an enzyme called GLS1 in mice with chronic kidney disease. The enzyme drives enlargement of heart muscle cells.
The researchers found that blocking GLS1 protected male mice against this heart enlargement. Heart enlargement is a common and serious complication of chronic kidney disease, so the enzyme may be a possible drug target. The work is peer-reviewed but early and preclinical. It used male mice only, and it has not been tested in people.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said empty ballot boxes and a training module were stolen from Amahlongwa Community Hall in Zambeni. Replacement material was delivered and the station was operational, the IEC said, ahead of Wednesday's local government elections.
The IEC said the theft was reported to the uMkomaas police station. It also reported other incidents in its KwaZulu-Natal special voting update, including police escort and vehicle delays. The commission said the delays and problems at voting stations had been attended to.
In Umzinto, MK Party members approached a voting station at Umzinto Town Hall and asked for information about how election material is distributed. The IEC said a person who claimed to be a Political Liaison Committee (PLC) member was also at the hall. It said that person had not taken part in earlier PLC meetings.
The IEC said PLC members were reminded that the storage locations of election materials are confidential and may not be disclosed to unauthorised persons.
The IEC approved 362,878 special vote applications in KwaZulu-Natal. Of these, 211,449 are for visits to voting stations and 151,429 are for home visits. The province has 5,028 voting stations, and 4,988 of them received applications. The other 40 received none and will not open for special voting.
Lawyer Caitlin Turok says City of Cape Town law enforcement officers stayed at the Wingfield informal settlement in Maitland on Sunday, a day after an interim order stopped demolitions. The city says it is protecting private land from a mass invasion.
Turok acts for Wingfield residents through the legal organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi. She says the interim order also blocks the city from stopping residents rebuilding their shacks. She said: "only the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust can obtain an eviction order to remove my clients."
The city says it stepped in to protect land owned by the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust from a mass land invasion in Kensington. JP Smith, the city's Mayco Member for Safety and Security, said six community members with a court order had permission to build on site on Sunday. He said about 50 more people without a court order joined them and began to put up structures.
The matter is due back in court on 26 November 2026. The court will then decide whether the interim order should be made permanent.
Months after suspected zama-zamas forced nearly 600 people to flee the Sporong informal settlement in Randfontein, many families still wait for new homes. The Gauteng human settlements department says it has allocated homes to 177 households.
The department says 28 approved Sporong households still wait for homes. It is processing 19 further applications. Spokesperson Tahir Sema said 26 households received houses on 29 October. He said delays in completing housing units slowed the relocations.
Sema also said illegal mining around Sporong creates safety challenges for residents and officials. He said the remaining households will join the next allocation, with other targeted informal settlements in the Rand West City local municipality.
Resident Maria Motlhasadi said people live in fear because they do not know what will happen in the festive season, and they still have trauma. Residents said the government response was short-lived. They said soldiers stayed only a few days and the mobile police station left about four months ago without explanation.
Community leader Elsie Mokobane said there have been no further attacks since the interventions.
The Commission for Gender Equality will send commissioners and staff to voting districts on Wednesday, 4 November. It wants to check that citizens, especially vulnerable groups, can vote without gender discrimination.
The commission said in a statement that its monitors will visit voting districts in urban, peri-urban and rural communities. They will also go to informal settlements.
The commission will publish an Election Monitoring Report after the elections.
Judge Almé Stanton of the Northern Cape high court in Kimberley ordered the man to pay R259,210 towards his wife's attorney and advocate fees. He must also cover a forensic accountant and an industrial psychologist, up to set limits.
The judgment came on Friday, 30 October. The husband must pay up to R230,000 for a forensic accountant and up to R34,590 for an industrial psychologist. The fee contribution is payable in eight monthly instalments of R32,401.25 from 30 November. The accountant's fees are payable when invoices are presented.
Stanton found that the husband had not made full and frank disclosure of his financial affairs. She said the wife needed enough financial backing to fight the divorce on an equal footing. In the judgment she said: "The applicant is entitled to a contribution sufficient to secure equality of arms in the divorce proceedings,"
The husband had offered R150,000 towards her legal costs. He called the legal bill "shocking, astonishing and absurd" and said the expensive experts were unnecessary. He also said a forensic accountant was premature because discovery was not complete. His legal team said the woman should use qualified local experts where possible.
The woman first sought R915,400 in legal fees and R265,190 for expert investigations. The husband is the sole director and shareholder of a private company. His declared monthly salary is R15,832.97, and he offered R30,000 a month towards the maintenance of the two minor children.
Professor Gert Saayman told the Joburg High Court that little substantive basis exists to link Musa Kekana's earlier hospital admission to his later condition of coughing up blood. He finished his testimony on Monday.
Saayman testified for the defence in the attempted murder trial of Vusumuzi "Cat" Matlala. His evidence forms part of a trial-within-a-trial over whether evidence obtained on the day of Kekana's arrest is admissible. Kekana is accused number one.
Saayman questioned why blood alcohol results were missing. He said they could have shown whether Kekana was acutely intoxicated during the earlier admission. He also said Kekana's alcohol use during the 4 March hospitalisation does not necessarily prove that intoxication directly caused his condition.
State witness Dr Pooja Panicker said Kekana was admitted after taking alcohol and cocaine. She said he lost consciousness and suffered respiratory failure, and doctors had to intubate him. Kekana says poisoning caused his condition, not drugs and alcohol.
Matlala, Kekana and three co-accused face 25 charges in total. These include 11 counts of attempted murder.
Deputy Minister Zuko Godlimpi told small-scale sugarcane growers in Mzinti, Mpumalanga, that government is also pursuing legislative changes to support bioethanol. These could include adjusting fuel blend requirements with the Department of Minerals and Petroleum.
Godlimpi, the Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, spoke on Saturday. He said government is considering tighter import controls to help stabilise the domestic sugar industry.
He said a main concern is to guarantee enough sugarcane to meet possible bioethanol quotas without harming existing supply. He warned that legislative changes could push demand for sugar in fuel blends beyond what local growers can supply.
Godlimpi said milling capacity in areas such as Umfolozi and Zululand appears sufficient. He said an agreement on blend requirements could create significant business opportunities for producers.
He also said existing boundary rates on dollar-based reference prices limit the scope for further increases. He said the sector must cut energy costs and use water better to compete without raising prices.
Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi asked North West residents to turn out in large numbers for the 2026 Local Government Elections. He spoke as Special Voting began on Monday, and he will vote in Vryburg on Wednesday, 4 November.
Mokgosi said he will cast his vote at Naledi Local Municipality Ward 3 in Vryburg. He will vote at the Kismet Park Hall Voting District at 10am on Wednesday, 4 November.
In a statement issued as Special Voting began, Mokgosi said: "The strength of our democracy lies in the participation of its people. Every vote matters, and every voice deserves to be heard."
The High Court in Johannesburg postponed the attempted murder trial of businessman Vusimusi "Cat" Matlala and four co-accused so accused number five, Nthabiseng Nzama, could write an exam on Tuesday. The court will resume at 2:00pm.
Judge Cassim Moosa explained the postponement in court on Monday. He said the court heard almost two weeks earlier that Nzama would write the exam. Nzama is the daughter of co-accused Musa Kekana.
The State accuses Matlala of orchestrating three failed assassination attempts between August 2022 and January 2024. The alleged targets are Tebogo Thobejane, Joe Sibanyoni and Seunkie Mokubung. These are claims by the State.
The court is now hearing the accused's challenges to the admissibility of evidence from State witnesses. Kekana says police assaulted him after his arrest in April 2024. On Monday medical expert Prof Gert Saayman answered questions about Kekana's medical records.
Mietas, a 47-year-old Karoo Highland municipal councillor, was found dead at the scene of a crash on the R353 between Williston and Fraserburg on Sunday night. His passenger went to hospital in Calvinia.
Police spokesperson Mashays Gamaldien said it is believed that the vehicle rolled before it came to a standstill on its side. Mietas was found dead at the scene.
The passenger received treatment at the hospital in Calvinia. Gamaldien said the deceased is believed to be from the Karoo Highland Municipality.
A court ordered former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi to pay the State more than R1.6 billion in a corruption-related confiscation order. The court found that he benefited from the unlawful activities of Bosasa.
The court rejected Agrizzi's attempt to limit the amount to money he received personally. It also found that he failed to fully disclose his financial affairs. The court found that he concealed assets, including property abroad.
Agrizzi was convicted last year on three counts of corruption and one of money laundering. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) commented on the judgment. It said the ruling sends a clear message that people who take part in corruption face jail and can lose the financial proceeds of their crimes.
The labour court dismissed Ster-Kinekor's bid to overturn an arbitration award in favour of Yvonne Mogano, a cinema worker at The Zone in Rosebank. She was dismissed for tasting popcorn to check its salt levels.
Acting Judge MJ Motshekga found that Ster-Kinekor had not proven a rule that bans tasting popcorn. The company also did not prove that Mogano knew of such a rule. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) had earlier found the dismissal unfair.
Ster-Kinekor argued that the commissioner misunderstood the evidence by accepting that Mogano tasted the popcorn and did not eat it. It also said the commissioner ran the arbitration in a biased way. Motshekga said: "These findings are supported by the record, and the outcome is one that a reasonable commissioner could reach."
Complex manager Tyran Naicker said Mogano was eating the popcorn. Mogano said she put only a few kernels in her mouth to check the salt. She said Naicker had told her to taste it in future but not to eat it.
The incident happened on 30 June 2023, and the company dismissed Mogano on 14 July 2023. She had worked for the company since May 2014.
A study in the journal Nature Communications reports a small molecule that activates a protein called KIF2C. The compound improves repair of DNA double-strand breaks in aged cells.
The authors say the compound also extends lifespan in mice with progeria, a model of premature ageing. The study is peer-reviewed, but only the abstract was available for this post. The work used cells and mice, so its relevance to people is unknown. The findings are early and far from any use in humans.
The Vredenburg regional court also gave the 41-year-old man 35 years for a second rape count and 25 years for attempted murder. The sentences run concurrently. He pleaded guilty under a plea and sentence agreement, the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.
The attempted murder charge relates to the girl's exposure to HIV. The state's case, as the NPA described it, is that the man meant to kill his daughter. It says he had unprotected sex with her while he knew he was HIV-positive.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the man told the court on 23 May 2025 that his partner had shown him pornographic material. He said she claimed to have found it on the girl's cellphone. The girl was 13 at the time of the offences and is now 14.
Prosecutor Chandre Minnaar handled the case. The girl gave a victim impact statement, which she compiled with court preparation officer Deonett Boltney. Adrian Mopp, the Western Cape director of public prosecutions, welcomed the sentence. He said violence against women and children were matters of serious national concern.
The NPA said the sentence sent a clear message. It said those who violate the dignity, bodily integrity and safety of children will face the full might of the law.
Makhanya, an MK Party activist and TikToker, appeared in the Durban magistrate's court on Monday after his arrest at a party rally on Sunday. He faces charges of crimen injuria and inciting violence over a video aimed at a police commissioner.
Police accuse Makhanya of verbally attacking provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in a video on social media. He faces charges of crimen injuria and inciting violence. The fact sheet places the rally at Princess Magogo Stadium in Greenwood Park.
State prosecutor Nkululeko Mosia asked for bail of R10,000. Advocate Mzonjani Zulu, for Makhanya, said his client is unemployed and could afford only R1,000. Magistrate B Singh set bail at R7,000.
Singh said Makhanya laughed in the dock, which she took as a sign of disregard for the law. The magistrate told him: "This is a serious matter, you need to take it seriously".
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said close to 99% of voting stations opened on time at 8am on Monday, the first day of special voting. Voting was slow in the City of Cape Town, and two serious incidents involved election officials.
Masego Shiburi, Deputy Chief Electoral Commissioner of the IEC, spoke at a media briefing at the Results Operation Centre in Midrand. She said voters were being assisted smoothly in most cases. At 10:30am, stations in 10 of 116 wards in Cape Town had opened for special votes.
Stations stay open until 5pm on Monday and Tuesday. Ordinary voting resumes on 4 November. Voters can check station details by SMS at R1 per SMS.
About 2.6 million people are registered for special voting across the country. In Diepkloof East, Soweto, elderly and disabled voters cast ballots at an IEC station inside Footprints Hospice. An 82-year-old woman there said: "My vote will bring a change."
IEC official Mamabolo said: "Notwithstanding these unfortunate incidents, the Commission is overall establishing a strong performance across the country." He expects further improvement on the second day.