October 2026

Masemola said Mokwele's recognition is a testament to her resilience, professionalism and commitment to serving the organisation despite challenges in recent months. The South African Police Service (SAPS) was appointed her to the rank of Brigadier in 2024.

The police statement said the award honours exceptional courage, humility and steadfast integrity in the face of extraordinary institutional adversity. Masemola said: "We applaud her courage and congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition".Share

The tanker Reef carried the 113,000 barrels to Myanmar in December 2025. Myanmar's military-backed foreign exchange regulator reportedly agreed to label the delivery as diesel. A letter dated 30 November said it would issue import papers describing the cargo "instead of jet fuel".

Thai firm Tawan-Oil Trading agreed the sales contract. UN experts have identified Tawan as a jet-fuel supplier to Myanmar's military. In May 2025 Dynamic Wave also agreed to buy 202,000 barrels from Tawan, described as South African diesel, for $26m. The fuel carried a price premium of more than 50% over a global diesel benchmark.

The investigation says there was no such trade between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025, citing UN and Vortexa data. The activist group Justice for Myanmar supplied documents and says the junta imported jet fuel mislabelled as diesel. Siam Commercial Bank, which holds Tawan's account, said its Myanmar-related transactions were legitimate and not linked to the arms trade.

The US imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar's jet-fuel industry in 2023, citing the military's bombing campaign. The UN says the military has killed thousands, including many civilians, in air attacks. Myanmar's foreign ministry says the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm.Share

Adams spoke at an election debate held at Kagiso Town Hall in the West Rand. He called youth unemployment a daily crisis across the city and the country.

He said young people in Kagiso must have opportunities, and that the ACDP will bring them to the table. He quoted the book of Proverbs: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick."Share

SASSA received 134 cases of alleged misconduct and fraud by officials since April 2025. It finalised 106 cases and 28 are pending. In 16 cases the agency withdrew the charges, and four officials were found not guilty.

Mpumalanga and Gauteng each recorded 13 dismissals, and KwaZulu-Natal recorded 11. In Gauteng, four officials lost their jobs over the fraudulent administration of social grants.

SASSA CEO Themba Matlou said the agency is strengthening systems and closing loopholes. He said officials handling misconduct cases have received death threats.

Spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said the agency has a way to recover stolen funds. He said it will find out how much pension money dismissed staff have and recoup the defrauded amount.Share

The draft is a revised version of the Strategic Framework for Water and Sanitation Services. The department said the framework was first promulgated in 2003.

The department said the revised framework aims to strengthen water and sanitation services. In its words, it "seeks to strengthen the provision of sustainable, reliable, equitable and inclusive water and sanitation services".Share

Malema said at the rally: "there's no MySol who will enjoy mining money alone". Madibela is a mining tycoon from North West.

Malema's supporters say he is standing up for poor mining communities. They say he is pushing back against unchecked corporate wealth and wants local wealth to benefit the public.

Critics of Malema see it differently. They call his remarks dangerous populist intimidation aimed at a successful self-made entrepreneur, and say he mixes political power with private business.Share

The victims were aged between 21 and 33. They were braaing at home when the gunmen opened fire. Four men and a woman died on the scene.

Police said the attack was gang-related. Western Cape Police Commissioner Sizakhele Dyantyi is linked to the case as the province's top police officer.Share

AccuWeather forecasts about 1.8mm of rain in Pretoria on Tuesday, lasting about 1.5 hours. Winds will blow from the north-west at 13km/h, with gusts of 48km/h. The UV index is 5, which is moderate. The overnight low is 15°C.

In Johannesburg, AccuWeather says cloud cover will decrease and no rain will fall. Winds from the west-south-west will reach 17km/h, with gusts of 44km/h. The UV index is 11, which is extreme. The overnight low is 13°C.

Cape Town will have no rain, according to AccuWeather. Winds from the west-south-west will reach 15km/h, with gusts of 32km/h. The UV index is 5, and the overnight low is 14°C.Share

Parents say the assaults have happened since the second term. They allege a group of male Grade 7 pupils targeted younger schoolmates on the school premises. They say the latest incident happened on Friday.

Department spokesperson Onwabile Lubhelwana said: "It's alleged there are more, and we asked the school for a record of other cases, but the principal says we don't have reporting of such cases."

Parents also say they reported the matter before and nobody acted. The father of the child who was allegedly assaulted said the pupils accused have not been suspended. Protesters want the principal and the school governing body removed.

Police have yet to confirm whether formal cases have been opened.Share

Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said Taxi Violence Unit detectives made the arrests. The suspects were traced in the Overberg, Kensington and Langa.

Potelwa said the suspects face charges of murder, attempted murder and arson. Police said the arrests are linked to the attacks in Hermanus and Cape Town.Share

Police spokesperson Brig Nobuntu Gantana gave details of the incident. The woman went to hospital. Police opened an attempted murder case and an inquest docket.

Eastern Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Vuyisile Ncata issued a statement on the incident. He said: "Our thoughts are with the injured wife as she recovers, with the two children who were in the house, and with the family".

Ncata also appealed to officers and families who face emotional distress. He said support is available for them.Share

Group turnover rose 2.4% to R60.5 billion, and group like-for-like growth was 1.8%. Boxer sales rose 6.3% to R24 billion. Sales in the rest of Africa rose almost 11% to R1.68 billion. Total revenue in the South African business fell 0.5% to R35 billion.

Trading profit rose by more than 58% to R490 million. The group gross margin rose 70 basis points to 18.8%. Group net cash was R10 billion, including R7.7 billion within Pick n Pay. The group closed 19 supermarkets in South Africa.

CEO Sean Summers said the Middle East fallout and the inflation it caused had probably cut about 3% from total sales. He said: "For every 1% of total sales that we lose, it equates to about R140 to R150 million of lost income."

Jean Pierre Verster, CEO of Protea Capital Management, said the ship was slowly turning for Pick n Pay. He said the Pick n Pay business still appears on course to break even in financial year 2029. Steph Erasmus, an investment analyst at Anchor, said the business had not turned yet. The share price is down almost 30% over the last year.Share

Le Pen promised to restore France's borders and to make French nationality a privilege. She also said she would cap household energy bills, reduce taxes and trim France's contribution to the EU. She accused President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government of being soft on violent protesters.

Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, pledged a crackdown on the "ultra-left". He also pledged to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 16. Le Pen wants a "national unity" government led by Bardella.

On Saturday, more than 400,000 people marched in major French cities over the cost of living. Police made more than 1,300 arrests after clashes. A separate demonstration against the party congress drew 13,000 people, according to the local council, and 26,000, according to organisers.

An Ipsos survey published on Saturday put Le Pen at 32 to 34 percent of first-round votes. Polls show her as the frontrunner to succeed Macron. She has made three unsuccessful presidential bids.Share

Molefe, Michael Pule Tau, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Musa Kekana face 35 charges. These include the murders of DJ Sumbody and Armand Swart. Two of the four are also accused in the Matlala trial, which is still under way.

Prosecutor Elize Le Roux said the state aims to end the Matlala trial by the end of the second term next year. She told the court the case is moving at "a glacial pace". She also said it is impractical to run both matters at once because the same lawyer acts in both.

Judge Thifhelimbilu Phanuel Mudau warned against a delay like the one in the Senzo Meyiwa trial. He told lawyers to plan for a continuous trial and to line up their witnesses. Molefe's lawyer, Michael Hellens, said the defence did not oppose the postponement.Share

The municipality said the storms pose a serious risk to life, property and infrastructure. It said flooding may hit roads, bridges and low-lying areas.

Poor visibility and slippery roads will make driving hazardous, the municipality said. It urged motorists to take care on the roads.

The municipality said: "Where possible, residents are encouraged to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary travel". The City's Disaster Management Centre can be reached on 031 361 0000.Share

The visit was made by the Portfolio Committees on Home Affairs and on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The Select Committee on Security and Justice also took part. They went to assess how ready the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is.

Mosa Chabane chairs the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. He said: "We are confident that the preparations are under way." He also said the committees are confident the IEC will respond to the measures put in place.

Chabane said work to carry out the Constitutional Court judgment is under way. He said concerns were raised. He added that the areas the IEC raised need a collective effort.Share

Winde said provincial dam levels are just under 80%. He said Cape Town's dams are significantly lower than a year ago. The areas of concern include Cape Town and the Garden Route.

Winde said El Niño conditions and high summer temperatures raise the risk of a Day Zero-type crisis. He also said water could become a bigger crisis than energy.

He said: "I would actually like to see the first round of restrictions coming in earlier". The provincial government set aside nearly R41 million this year for drought response and water resilience projects.Share

Moody's named three reasons: tighter monetary policy, continued fiscal consolidation despite higher oil prices, and weaker nominal GDP growth than assumed in February. It put the revised fiscal 2026 consolidated deficit target at 3.9% of GDP, down from 4.0% in the policy statement. Gross tax revenue was revised up by R17.1bn.

Moody's said government debt has probably peaked. It forecasts debt at 84.9% of GDP by fiscal 2028, against 86.8% in fiscal 2025. It said debt affordability remains weak, with interest taking 18.8% of general government revenue in fiscal 2025.

Moody's also called the draft fiscal rules legislation credit positive. It said that without a binding numerical target, the rules would need consistent application to be credible.Share

De Kock, a former Vlakplaas commander, claimed that the people who organised and facilitated the murder sat next to Ackerman during De Kock's court case. Ackerman is a former prosecutor.

De Kock said other senior figures should have faced criminal charges over apartheid atrocities. He said he would have testified against them.

He said De Klerk's Nobel Prize must be retracted because De Klerk is "up to his elbows in the blood of children". On pardons, De Kock said: "Everything is just covered up."Share

The party's provincial spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, Xolani Malamlela, has not ruled out a political motive. He said the killing could be politically motivated and that other political parties might be involved. He said the party is not saying any party is responsible.

Malamlela said the party suspects Fipaza died because he was its candidate in the ward. In his words: "We don’t know why this happened, but we suspect because he was our candidate in that rd."Share

Kanyane, an independent criminologist, commented on shootings in Lavender Hill, Steenberg and Manenberg. He said: "the system itself has been repurposed, and criminal culture has rooted itself inside law enforcement and governance systems at large in this country".

Benedicta van Minnen, the Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Police Oversight and Community Safety, said authorities need to rethink how they tackle gang-related violence. She said the answer cannot be to centralise the response further, move resources around, or announce another deployment without a clear plan and measurable results.

The DA governs the Western Cape. Western Cape police offered a R100 000 reward after the Lavender Hill mass shooting.Share

Ramaphosa said the ANC will win an outright majority across the country in the Local Government Elections. He made the claim while campaigning in Mamelodi on Monday.

He said the elections take place on Wednesday of next week. The pollsters who put the DA ahead in at least six metros were not named.Share

The weather service expects isolated to scattered thunderstorms over central and eastern parts of the country this week. It said a surface trough, a high-pressure system and upper-air disturbances will combine with high temperatures. It also warned of high fire danger in several provinces.

The service said severe thunderstorms in KwaZulu-Natal could cause localised flooding and damage to infrastructure and settlements. This covers most of the province, except the extreme north-east, and extreme northern Eastern Cape.

The damaging winds could cause localised damage to settlements, farm losses and transport disruptions in the western Free State and extreme eastern Northern Cape. The service said this could happen there.

Senior forecaster Lehlogonolo Thobela said widespread rain and showers are possible along the Eastern Cape coast and southern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday. He said conditions elsewhere will be partly cloudy and warm to hot.Share

Hayden spent about 15 years at M-Net as a continuity presenter. She got her start when presenter Charlotte Levine went on leave, which led to Hayden's audition. Before that, she spent about six months in Johannesburg with little happening.

Hayden said she cannot believe the channel is 40. Her words were: "I actually can't. It seems like a mistake because I don't even feel like I'm 40 years old. So how can M-Net be 40?" She also said the amount of content today makes it harder for people to share one viewing experience.

Ferreira said M-Net feels somewhat lost in the changing television landscape. He wants it to bring back continuity presenters and offer fewer hours of exclusive content. He said Carte Blanche is the longest-running programme on South African television.

Ferreira also said Egoli showed that South Africans would return to the same local programme every day. He said satellite television and DStv can be traced back to M-Net's beginnings. In his view, there was no major party planned for the 40th anniversary, unlike the 30th birthday.Share

Ramaphosa spoke on behalf of South Africa. He called the result a victory for the Global South and for progressive forces.

He said of the win: "This victory will echo beyond the shores of Brazil." Ramaphosa also affirmed South Africa's commitment to deeper bilateral ties with Brazil.Share

The episode runs 7 minutes 12 seconds and is in 4K. Elon Musk quote-posted it with the words "Odyssey with Grok Imagine". By 25 October the Grok Imagine post had more than 3.9 million views on X, as the platform displayed them.

In July, Musk wrote that Grok Imagine would make a full-length film of The Odyssey before the end of the year. He also said the AI version would be historically accurate. The first episode covers only a small part of that promise.

Early online viewers criticised the AI acting as wooden and soulless. They also noted that the characters speak English, not Homeric Greek.Share

Slok said AI has brought "zero payoff" to corporate America outside technology. He also said there are still no signs of AI boosting productivity growth. Companies outside the Magnificent Seven mention AI often on earnings calls, he said, but this is not yet leading to faster revenue growth or real cost savings.

Slok said mainstream companies are starting to treat spending on AI tokens as a cost centre that weighs on margins. He wrote that the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493, not the Magnificent Seven.

The research firm Gartner estimated that more than $3.5 trillion of AI infrastructure spending could be at risk of impairment by 2030. That would happen if AI revenue fails to justify the spending.Share

The other accused are Michael Pule Tau, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Musa Kekana. One outlet reported that the four face 35 charges in total.

The same outlet reported that Molefe, a businessman, has bail of R400,000. The charges say the four committed the murder of Sefoka.Share

The juvenile sardines were less than 5 cm long. They washed up along approximately 200 m of beach. The department said laboratory testing for pilchard herpesvirus (PHV) is continuing.

The department said small, isolated wash-ups occur periodically for various reasons. It said it is not yet known whether this one is linked to the earlier mortality event.

The department said PHV has been detected substantially more often in affected or dead sardines than in apparently healthy fish. It said this strengthens the link between the virus and the deaths.

A temporary precautionary limit on directed sardine catches stays in force until 30 October 2026. The Small Pelagic Scientific Working Group will meet on 27 October 2026. The department said commercial sardine products released through regulated channels remain safe.Share

Ramaphosa said public debt has stabilised and is now beginning to decline, for the first time in nearly two decades. He said the end of load shedding, a stronger fiscal position and removal from the FATF grey list raised public confidence. He linked these to the first sovereign credit rating upgrade in over 16 years.

He said the South African Revenue Service collected R2.01 trillion in net revenue in the 2025/26 financial year. He said more than R11 billion in savings was identified in the medium term by rationalising low-priority programmes. In his words: "Our aim is not to spend less but to spend smarter".

The social wage makes up around 60% of non-interest spending, he said. More than 11 million households receive free basic services. More than 18 million people receive school meals or social grants. The government plans to employ more than 3 500 social workers for gender-based violence response.

Ramaphosa also said unemployment is still far too high. He said too many families struggle to get by and too many communities face poor services.Share