October 2026

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced the fuel levy relief, which lasts two months. For November, the relief is R3 per litre on diesel and R1.50 per litre on petrol. Without it, fuel prices were on track to rise.

Oil prices remain high. Brent crude surged overnight to $114 per barrel, and the rand traded at R16.55 to the dollar by Friday midmorning. The price of 95-octane petrol in Gauteng reached a record R30.25 per litre. Wholesale diesel with 0.05% sulphur cost R31.95 per litre in Gauteng.

The Slate Fund had a negative balance of R10.5 billion at the end of August. The current slate levy is 87.66c per litre. The levy relief may need to run for another month if international prices keep rising.

Investec economist Annabel Bishop expects another interest rate hike, either in November or in January. The South African Reserve Bank has an inflation target of 3%.Share

Nathaniel Julies was shot near his home in Eldorado Park in August 2020 after he bought biscuits at a tuckshop. One report gave the date of the shooting as 26 August 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown. Whiteboy was a constable and Ndyalvane a sergeant at the time.

Detective Voster Netshiongolo was convicted of unlawful possession of ammunition and perjury. The court acquitted him of being an accessory after the fact to murder. The court heard that Netshiongolo and Ndyalvane planted ammunition at the scene. It heard they made up a story that Nathaniel was caught in crossfire involving unknown people.

Whiteboy said she believed her firearm held rubber bullets. The three remain on bail. They must return to court on 11 November for pre-sentencing proceedings. The National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the convictions.Share

The JSE All Share index closed at 108,020 points on Friday, down 0.5%. The Top 40 index fell to 99,991, down 0.5%.

The rand ended at R16.58 to the US dollar, weaker than R16.37 the day before. Gold was at $4,010 an ounce, down 1.2%. Brent crude was at $111.66 a barrel, down 1.3%.Share

The team found promising evidence for brief, structured programmes taught by trained non-specialists, which can reduce depression and anxiety. One example is Shamiri in Kenya, where a trial of 413 adolescents showed greater reductions in symptoms than a study-skills programme. The team says counselling alone is not enough, and teachers should not diagnose or treat conditions. The review, published in The Conversation, covers existing studies, not a new trial. Most studies came from Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya, so the evidence is uneven.Share

Their first study, "Hidden assets", looks at 25 proven measures. In parts of southern Africa, each dollar spent could return about 26 US dollars in benefits, against about 16 dollars for child vaccination. Doing all 25 measures across southern Africa would cost about 11 billion dollars by 2035. The savings come from fewer hospital stays and less sick leave. The figures are estimates of the value of harm avoided, and the authors describe them as possible, not certain.Share

The analysis breaks bednet use down by the age and the type of net. It reports that adoption of next-generation nets is growing, even as overall coverage stops improving. Bednets are a main defence against malaria, so a fall in use matters for malaria risk in southern Africa. The details of the modelling and the figures were not available to us, so the size of the decline is not stated here.Share

Rand Water will lead the technical recovery programme at the plant. Its assessment of the works is due to finish on Friday 23 October. The programme includes installing or commissioning two raw-water pumps, a third high-lift pump, sludge pumps and a spare recirculation pump.

Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya said water-quality results from the Water Research Commission are improving. She said the affected system has not yet met the required standards. Moya also described the cleaning plan for the plant.

Moya said: "Cleaning of critical treatment infrastructure is scheduled between 21 and 31 October." The city said these target dates are not a confirmed date for restoring safe drinking water. It also said it has made substantial budget provision for the refurbishment.Share

Ainslie said the orcas were trying to separate the calf from its mother. He described their behaviour in an interview.

Elwen is a founding director of Sea Search. He said attacks on large whales such as humpbacks or Southern Right whales have been rare in South Africa. He said three attacks in just over a month is a real game changer.

Researchers are investigating whether the same orcas caused the recent attacks. Elwen said presumably they did. He also said mother whales often move close to shore to stop predators attacking the calf from underneath.Share

Lesego wrote in her caption: "We recently welcomed our beautiful, healthy baby girl into the world". The post went up on Wednesday.

Singer Cici also said her baby had arrived safely. She shared the news in a post on her timeline.Share

Mogotsi, a self-proclaimed political fixer, wants the court to force the State to justify withholding witness identities. The charges link to an alleged staged assassination attempt in Vosloorus in November last year. He was arrested in May and has been in custody since.

Mogotsi says redacted witness details hamper his ability to prepare his defence and challenge the State's evidence. His lawyer, Nthabiseng Mohomane, read his affidavit into the record. His legal team argues that investigators and prosecutors cannot unilaterally withhold information on security grounds.

Earlier reports said his defence also wanted the State to give further particulars and evidence. The defence says the State has not adequately answered its request for particulars needed to prepare for trial.Share

Dam levels fell in all three districts. Ehlanzeni dropped from 99.9% to 99.6%, Gert Sibande from 97.5% to 97.2%, and Nkangala from 99.6% to 99.0%.

Two water management areas also declined. The Limpopo-Olifants area fell from 99.8% to 99.1%, and the Inkomati-Usuthu area fell from 97.8% to 97.5%.

Ohrigstad Dam stood at 87.5%, down from 88.6%. Westoe Dam stood at 51.9%, down from 52.5%. The department ended its call with the words: "Every drop counts as water has no substitute".Share

Eskom said the 400 kV and 24 kV breakers of Unit 1 opened automatically during an electrical disturbance. It said a conservative protection relay setting contributed to the response. Eskom said the protection system worked as designed to shut down the unit safely.

Eskom said there was "no impact on nuclear safety". It added that Unit 2 remains in planned maintenance. Eskom made the statements in posts on X on Thursday.Share

Aberdare Cables paid for the upgrade. Dube-Ncube said government cannot do this alone and that partnerships like this one turn commitments into reality. She said: "A student who learns on outdated machines risks graduating with outdated skills."

Dube-Ncube said students should protect the facility against vandalism and theft. She also said the university should set a clear maintenance plan and a budget for software licences and equipment renewal.

She also spoke about tensions around Student Representative Council elections, including an incident at Westville Campus where staff were injured. She said violence against staff is unacceptable. Disputes, she said, must be settled through university rules, appeal processes, dialogue and the law.Share

Nonyane is a Tshwane Metro Police Department officer. Tibana was appointed executor in the deceased estates. They face theft, fraud and money laundering charges over about R11m allegedly taken from the estates.

The state says the couple unlawfully concealed the nature, source, location, disposition and movement of the money. It says about R1.65m of the proceeds bought a pre-owned Mercedes-Benz AMG G63 from a dealership in Pretoria. The state also says Nonyane used some of the money for stokvel contributions and to finance the building of a residential property.

Two other accused got bail of R60,000 each: Tibana's younger sister, Rirhandzu Tibana, and businessperson Jabulani Nephtal Maluleke. The matter is postponed to 6 November for further investigation.Share

International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola will address the conference. Former president Thabo Mbeki and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia, will also speak. The Kagiso Trust is the main sponsor, and its chair, Zwoitwaho Nevhutalu, said the organisers wanted to make the gathering a success.

Chikane spoke at a media briefing in Midrand on Thursday. He said some delegates were concerned about coming to a country where "our brothers and sisters are being attacked". He said delegates also raised concerns about the killing of women in Kempton Park.

Chikane explained why Africans and people of African descent meet at international conferences. He said: "Whenever we meet together, we always find each other."Share

The father also pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest. He admitted assaulting his three-year-old son on 13 March 2025 and a rape on 6 August 2025. He told the court he drowned his daughter in a bathtub.

The case was postponed to Friday for sentencing. The state also plans to apply for separation of the trials of the father and the mother.

The mother, 32, faces charges including murder and child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial. The state alleges she saw injuries on the girl but did not report them to the authorities.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said: "The mother's case is still ongoing, and the state will continue to pursue justice."Share

The project has 2,023 beneficiaries. Spokesperson Brendan Bussack, a second-generation West Banker, said most of the original claimants have died waiting. He also said Buffalo City Metro failed to properly interpret and implement the 2000 plan to deal with the land invasion.

Nkosinathi Sikobi, an executive member of the Nongqongqo Land Restitution Claim, said the municipality has failed to carry out an eviction order after the land was invaded in 2020. He also said housing officials do not understand the implementation plan and do not consult on it.

Siyabonga Gqaji, a land invader and EFF ward council candidate, rejected claims that invaders hold up the project. He said the land was unoccupied for 20 years before people invaded it out of desperation. He said the invaders turned down the metro's proposal to move them to a temporary site.

Buffalo City Metro did not respond to questions on the project's status. It has said the project is part of the Housing Development Agency implementation programme. A contractor was appointed in June 2023 to build internal services, and work was expected to start in mid-April 2024.Share

ConnectWise disclosed the breach on October 16 in a security advisory about its Cloud Backup product, formerly SkyKick. The company took the service offline and began restoring it in stages on October 21. It disabled seven application identities on October 17.

Microsoft said the attackers used identities of ConnectWise cloud apps that already had access, so they did not need user sign-ins. Sign-in attempts peaked at 2,900 attempts per minute. In some environments, the AI agents changed application credentials, groups and privileged roles.

Reports said 162 tenants had confirmed breaches by October 16. The security firm Huntress said more than 300 tenants had successful sign-ins. A ConnectWise spokesperson said there was "no indication" that backup data had been compromised.

Microsoft said Storm-0940 has operated since at least 2021. It said the group targets defence, government, law, energy and semiconductor manufacturing.Share

Mayoral spokesperson Khathutshelo Mulaudzi linked the disruption to the city's move from one banking service provider to another. He said this briefly affected payment processing. He also said the city and the service provider agreed on the way forward, including payments.

An internal JMPD notice issued late on Thursday said the cards were unblocked. Fuel-saving measures remain in place. Mulaudzi said the city is working to complete the processing of payments affected by the transition.

JMPD chief of police Patrick Jaca said the fuel shortages posed a significant risk to operational continuity. He said some petrol stations withdrew support or capped JMPD accounts over unpaid bills.Share

Judge Slingers presided over the pre-trial proceedings. The state accuses Bongo of trying to bribe Parliament's former legal adviser in 2017 to halt the state capture inquiry into Eskom.

Bongo was acquitted in 2021. The Supreme Court of Appeal overturned that acquittal in 2024 and ordered a fresh trial. The Constitutional Court dismissed his final challenge in July 2026, which cleared the way for the new trial.Share

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) carried out the operation on 22 October 2026 in the Ermelo Central Business District in Mpumalanga. Police said six females and one male were found on the property.

Police said three of the women are Lesotho nationals, two are Eswatini nationals and one is a South African citizen. Police said the premises were allegedly used for activities linked to a breach of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act.

Investigations continue into other people who may have knowingly helped with the use of the premises or gained from it. Bruce Davenport is the Acting Provincial Head of the DPCI in Mpumalanga.Share

The survey was a Google Form shared on social media. King said 4.3% of respondents supported the wall and 1.8% were unsure. Only 2.4% chose the wall as a way to spend the R115 million.

King said 83.8% of respondents named education, youth and skill development as the best way to lift communities out of poverty. She also said 93.7% of respondents who do not live on the Cape Flats do not believe the wall is the best way to reduce poverty and crime.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the N2 Edge Safety Project. It covers a nine-kilometre stretch of the N2 and includes a three-metre barrier.

King spoke about the survey to a CapeTalk presenter. She said: "Our methodology was so simple. It cost us zero rand."Share

The $1.25 trillion figure is a pre-money valuation. People familiar with the deal said the final size of the round is still being decided. OpenAI told investors on Thursday that it hopes to secure signatures by the end of next week.

One person familiar with the matter said OpenAI is also negotiating a commercial deal that would give it more computing capacity from the UAE. The financing is described as an "opportunistic" bridge ahead of a possible initial public offering (IPO).

Reports also said OpenAI cut its valuation target from $1.4 trillion after some investors resisted the higher price. The IPO could take place in the first half of 2027, according to those reports.

At $1.25 trillion, OpenAI would become the most highly valued private company ever, according to reports.Share

Sibeko will return to court on 19 November. Members of the African National Congress Youth League filled the court gallery. Some of the mourners who were shot at were Youth League members.

The State says Sibeko opened fire on the crowd of mourners. It accuses him of premeditated murder with a Glock 45 handgun.

The State also accuses him of failing to lock away the firearm, along with an AK-47.Share

Police allege that Mkhwane lured the woman to the Hennops River. They say she was bound and assaulted there, but she escaped. Police also allege that one of the wives murdered the woman's four-month-old baby.

Police say Mkhwane and the women wanted to benefit from the proceeds of the woman's funeral policies. The accused have not been found guilty of any charge.

The woman fears the suspects could leave custody if the court grants bail. She said: "I don't know if they come out whether they will plan something else, so no bail."Share

The ANC told its national chairperson to give a sincere apology. Mantashe made the remarks while campaigning in the North West, in reply to complaints about an unnamed councillor.

The ANC Women's League called his response "uncouth" and "unbecoming" of an ANC official and government minister. It also wanted him to face disciplinary action for what it called derogatory remarks against women.

Mantashe told a journalist: "Don't involve me in issues of asking for [sex]; this person asked for sex from a person that he encountered; this can't be an ANC issue." He later said he had apologised but did not know what he was apologising for.Share

Mawande Jwara, chairperson of the Khayelitsha Development Forum, said the forum receives extortion complaints daily. He said: "We get that on a daily basis. To say weekly, I would be understating it." He said extortion makes it harder for businesses to operate freely and discourages investment.

Jwara said ambulances, clinics and other government services sometimes cannot work normally. He said a clinic in Town Two closed for almost two weeks earlier this year because of extortion threats. He also said the deployment of the defence force has not changed the situation.

Mpumzi Mange of the Khayelitsha Community Trust said some operators face demands of 20% or 15% of income. He said those who do not pay face shootings. Khayelitsha has about 3,500 informal businesses.

City Safety and Security MMC JP Smith put the City's operational costs linked to extortion at over 300 million a year. The City recorded more than 56 extortion-related challenges on its projects since the start of the year. Its safety department gets about 800 requests a month for security escorts.Share

Acting judge Graham Girdwood set aside two TLD HIV drug contracts. He ordered the department to redo the awards. The setting aside is suspended for 90 days after the department finalises the revised award.

The court found the department's decision to exclude Cipla from negotiations was arbitrary and irrational. Cipla was shut out because its price was more than 10% above the highest scoring bidder, and that rule had not been disclosed. The court also found that Innovata and Viatris should have been disqualified, because they did not hold valid local manufacturing licences when the bid window closed.

The court dismissed the application by Hetero SA. The health department alleged that Hetero colluded on price with another bidder, Q-Sol.

Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the department is assessing whether the timeframes in the order are feasible. He said the department will consider its next steps after its legal consultations.

Cipla Africa CEO Paul Miller welcomed the provision for continuity of supply. Pharmaceuticals Made in SA (Pharmisa) said the judgment vindicated many of its concerns about the department's procurement processes.Share

Professor Pradeep Kumar, a senior researcher at the platform, presented the work at the 2026 Southern African Neuroscience Society Symposium. He said the team is engineering the vehicle that carries the medicine, not only the medicine itself. The team also studies levodopa delivery for Parkinson's disease. This is an institutional news feature, not a peer-reviewed paper. Wits says much of the work is at an early stage and can take many years to reach patients.Share