October 2026

KwaZulu-Natal transport and human settlements MEC Siboniso Duma released the arrest details with weekly figures from the Nenzani LaEzweni road operations. Duma said: "The RTI will have no mercy this festive season, as demonstrated during Transport Month."

From 15 to 21 October, the Road Traffic Inspectorate and Operation Shanela teams stopped 12,073 vehicles. They charged 1,719 motorists, including 421 for speeding, 141 for not wearing seatbelts and 87 for driving without licences.

Officers identified 112 unlicensed vehicles and impounded 140 vehicles for operating without permits. From 22 to 28 October, 26 multidisciplinary operations are planned. Another 15 operations will focus on drunk driving.Share

Schreiber said the department has widened access to Smart ID cards. Around 1 000 locations now take applications, which is nearly five times the number of access points two years ago. People can also get IDs at more than 450 participating bank branches under the digital partnership with Absa.

Schreiber said: "A valid ID holds the key to democratic participation in the upcoming elections." He also called the green barcoded ID book fraud-prone. He said the country is closing that chapter in favour of secure, digitalised identity services.Share

Charles Helm, Clive Thompson and Jan Carlo De Vynck write that trackers #oma Daqm and /uce Nǂamce confirmed one known site and identified two others. At two sites they read tracks of both a male and a female lion. The authors say these are the only reported fossil lion tracksites in southern Africa. Only one site has been dated, to about 70,000 years ago, and the authors say they cannot tell Cape lion tracks from those of other subspecies.Share

The authors modelled the expected yearly demand for replacement materials after floods, as climate-driven flood hazards increase. They say the result points to the need for both flood adaptation and climate mitigation. The tenfold figure is a model projection, not a measured result. It covers Europe, not southern Africa, so it does not give figures for South African cities.Share

In an explainer written by the study's authors, one of them says wealthier owners can buy extra feed. With each drought, they would then own a larger share of the animals. The team says better weather forecasts, paired with help to act on them, largely remove this effect. Mobile slaughtering trucks, now used in South Africa, are one example. This is a simulation, so the results depend on its assumptions, and the explainer does not name a journal or say if the study is peer-reviewed.Share

Macpherson announced the blacklisting at a media briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday. He said Moriel Group may have misrepresented its capabilities to win public sector contracts for which it may not have been suitably qualified.

Macpherson said investigations into Moriel Group began in 2025, and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) served formal notice that year. It served an additional notice in September 2026. He said the company held several high-level grades, so the CIDB had to address the concerns through a proper regulatory process.

CIDB board chair Khulile Nzo said access to public procurement must be earned through real capabilities and compliance with the rules. He said it cannot be obtained through fraud, forgery and misrepresentation.

Mudzinganyama is a former director and executive chair of Moriel Group. The video showed him threatening to shoot women at a Sandton restaurant after they rejected his advances.Share

Inquiry chairperson MP Mhlanti issued the finding, dated 21 October. He ruled that the department did not prove the charges on a balance of probabilities. The ruling also ordered the charges removed from Mboxela's personal file.

Mhlanti explained the finding in the ruling. He wrote: "A disciplinary finding must be based upon evidence and reasonable inference, not suspicion."

Mboxela claims the charges had no basis from the beginning. She says she was made a "sacrificial lamb" to protect relations between the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union and the department's top management. She also says she has peace with those involved. The case includes victimisation allegations that name department deputy director Malibongwe Mtima.Share

The figure of 833 cases comes from Majodina's briefing on Monday 26 October. The fact sheet gives no earlier count, cause or timeline for the outbreak.Share

South African National Parks (SANParks) said the work is essential maintenance on the roof structure of the gate. It is part of the authority's infrastructure management programme.

SANParks apologised for the inconvenience. In its statement it said it "appreciates the patience and cooperation of visitors, tourism partners and staff while these important improvements are carried out."Share

Police's drone unit went to the mall on Monday, where officers arrested and detained the two suspects. Police took them to Woodstock police station for profiling. Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the seller's payment did not show in his bank account, which raised suspicion.

Traut said the suspects link to a fraud case already registered at Milnerton police station. Police also link them to other alleged incidents in which three victims were reportedly scammed.

Police urged sellers to check that funds are in their bank accounts before they hand over goods. Traut said: "A payment notification, screenshot or proof of payment is not confirmation that money has been received."Share

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the runoff with 52 percent of the vote. Investors had expected a win for conservative Flavio Bolsonaro and worried about fiscal discipline. Bolsonaro has refused to concede.

Reports differ on the size of the stock fall. One said the Ibovespa fell 17 percent at its worst and ended down almost 14 percent. Another put the drop at more than 15 per cent, its largest daily fall since 1998. A third said the index was down 10 percent when the halt began.

Analysts said Lula has talked about spending cuts but has not given details. Mariano Machado of Verisk Maplecroft said: "Sound fiscal reform is the price Lula 4.0 must pay to regain market confidence." A later report said Lula is under pressure to announce budget cuts.Share

Skeem Mafenya, whose real name is Ndivhuwo Khadziyani, was a comedian and content creator from Malamulele. Reports said he was stabbed several times after an argument at Madonsi-Menele village near Malamulele.

The circumstances of the killing are still under investigation. The three suspects are accused of the murder, and none has been found guilty.Share

Advocate Dali Mpofu cross-examined Nazo, who heads the KwaZulu-Natal serious and organised crime unit. Nazo agreed that the complaint against Zuma-Sambudla could be treated as politically motivated. The complaint came from Sarah-Jane Trent.

The charges concern 28 tweets that Zuma-Sambudla made within 36 hours in July 2021. Nazo made a statement on 15 July 2021 saying he believed she was conspiring to cause rioting and looting.

The defence says the statement wrongly used the word "belief" instead of "suspicion". Mpofu put it to Nazo that the word was a mistake and that no one corrected it.

Mpofu also asked whether a statement from a concerned South African and one from a possible political rival would be taken as the same thing. Nazo replied: "Correct M’Lord".Share

The presentation says Russia wants to counter a shortage of personnel. It also names the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar as targets. It describes the aim as "offsetting massive losses and a shortage of people to mobilise". Russia has never publicly acknowledged using foreigners to fight Ukraine.

The presentation says 530 Zimbabweans were recruited between January 1 and September 30, up from 65. It says 45 959 foreigners from 151 countries signed contracts with the Russian military, and 5 451 of them are African.

Kenyan politicians say Russia has recruited at least 1 000 Kenyan citizens. A UN commission based its findings on 245 interviews with recruits aged 18 to 60. It says recruits were sent mainly to carry out assaults and advance on the frontline.

The commission says recruits who refused faced detention, beatings and threats to be killed. It says many have been killed or gone missing. It also says a network of agents around the world, working with the Russian authorities, organised the transfer of recruits to Russia.Share

The trial is in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court. The state called its first witness, an employee of a Bosasa subsidiary. Henry Mamothame, spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, confirmed this in a statement on the first day.

The directorate alleges that Nair received the upgrades at his Gauteng home in September 2016. They included an electric fence, an alarm system, perimeter beams and a CCTV system. It says African Global Operations, formerly Bosasa, provided them.

The directorate says Nair received the upgrades in exchange for acting in a dishonest or improper manner as an officer of the judiciary. Nair was suspended from his duties in February 2020.Share

Lescure said the government has no spare funds and must rely on creative measures. He said France can find solutions without widening the budget deficit.

He said existing institutional safeguards, including Article 49.3 and executive orders, may have to be invoked. He said he did not think the outside world would see this as a coup at the institutional level.

Lescure blamed heavy selling of French short-term government bonds earlier this month mainly on hedge funds and other traders. He said they were unwinding carry-trade positions. The opposition has warned it will act to oust the government if the budget is pushed through without consultation.Share

Anthropic filed a Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The filing leaves the price range and the number of shares blank. Both the company and selling stockholders will offer shares, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters.

The filing lists 22 underwriting banks. It shows $112.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of 30 June. It also shows more than 11,900 customers with at least $100,000 in revenue over the past 12 months as of 30 September.

Seven co-founders will hold 50.1% of the vote through a single share. The filing also shows future obligations of about $417 billion to pay providers for computing power.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Anthropic aims to list in the week of 16 November. It reportedly hopes to raise $100 billion or more at a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. Another report said Anthropic may start pitching investors in the week beginning 9 November.Share

Protesters called for exams to be stopped at the Auckland Park campus. Videos appeared to show damage to university property. A source said some examinations had to be cancelled when protesters interrupted them.

The university said in a statement that the disruptions at its Auckland Park Kingsway campus were swiftly addressed and resolved. It said images and videos on social media do not reflect the current situation on campus.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) distanced itself from the protests. Its Ward 87 structure said the protesters hijacked the party's identity for a destructive agenda. The party said individuals wearing its regalia did not represent it.

The EFF also claimed the disruptions were a coordinated attempt to sabotage it ahead of the local government elections.Share

Sibanda cross-examined Mncube at the High Court in Pretoria on Monday. He questioned Mncube about activity on the memory card later that evening. Mncube described his last phone transaction as happening at 20:32.

Mncube answered the question about the memory card by saying: "Anything can happen because the phone is mine." He also said Meyiwa died at around past seven, and that others said eight.

Monday marked 12 years since Meyiwa, the former Bafana Bafana captain, was killed in Vosloorus.Share

Pityana spoke at the Africa and African Diaspora Conference in Ekurhuleni on Monday. He also spoke about Gaza and the West Bank. He said there is a genocide in Gaza and a continuing genocide in the West Bank, and that it has lasted three years in Gaza.

Pityana said the victims feel the world is watching in silence. He also said it may look as if all the energies, efforts and struggles of the past have come to nought.

The conference ends on Friday. Organisers will produce a declaration and action plans.

Reports said a foreign national died, allegedly after being attacked. A group called March and March leads anti-migration protests across the country.Share

Johannesburg metropolitan police department (JMPD) officers directed motorists away from the protest and set up diversions. The closures caused congestion in the CBD and surrounding areas. Officers later dispersed the protesters.

The union says City of Johannesburg workers are on incorrect salary scales. It says the City agreed to a R5.4 billion allocation to address pay disparities. The City now proposes to pay R1.2 billion from April next year, the union says.

Regional Chairperson Lebohang Ndawo said the City promised part payment by September after selling a few assets. He said the City instead offered the balance over two to three years. The union also alleges that police shot some protesters with rubber bullets.

Deputy Regional Secretary Richard Moila said the members were not on strike. He said they went to the area to be addressed by Mayor Dada Morero, who was not at the municipal building.Share

Chibuzor, a Nigerian citizen, faces charges that include money laundering and theft. The State also says he broke the Second-Hand Goods Act. His co-accused are Stephen Sekhukhune and Danial Anthony Moat. Moselakgomo's body was found in Rhodesfield, Ekurhuleni, on 12 September.

The State alleges Chibuzor paid R900 for the smartwatch to an unidentified person. It says he then sold it to Sekhukhune. Sekhukhune allegedly registered it to his Gmail account after the profile information and settings of the dead woman had been erased.

The State further alleges that Sekhukhune sold the device to Moat for R4 000. Moat allegedly advertised it on social media and sold it for R4 000 to a fourth person. Sekhukhune and Moat each have bail of R10 000.Share

Tiffany Nicole Meek faces charges of murder, defeating the ends of justice, crimen injuria and attempted defeating of the ends of justice. The trial sits in the High Court at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court. Warrant Officer Sizwe Mayisela gave evidence on Monday and took photographs during an inspection in loco.

The court heard that Jayden Lee was found on 14 May 2025. It also heard that his body was allegedly moved between places before a tenant found it in Swazi's in the early hours. Meek's account is that her son did not come home from school. The court heard she blamed the transport driver for his disappearance.

Activist Althea Curtis said Meek could not have acted alone if she is guilty, and that the body was moved and staged. Outside court she said:

City of Johannesburg spokesperson Margaret Arnold said Meek's accounts were inconsistent and differed from what she told police. Activist Reona Coetzee said the community needs the courts to act.Share

Ndweleni Mphephu, director of the Association of Water and Sanitation, spoke in an interview on chlorine supply. He said: "We do not have a shortage of chlorine at all." He said about three major companies produce chlorine in the country.

The Bronkhorstspruit municipality said the plant went without chlorine dosing between mid-September and October. Mphephu said water service authorities need to plan for feedstock.Share

Kubayi said the groups want to join the consolidated court cases on asylum and illegal migration. These include the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town case. They also include conflicting Gauteng High Court judgments on asylum seekers held at the Lindela Repatriation Centre.

The committee engaged the Black Business Community, the Bhinca Nation Organisation and Hlangana Mzansi. Kubayi said the groups want to share their lived experiences. They also want to highlight the socioeconomic challenges they believe illegal migration poses to their communities.

Kubayi said legal teams made themselves available to provide services pro bono.Share

Moya said the water in the Findlay Reservoir and the Pretoria CBD is safe to drink. The boil-water advisory for both areas was lifted on 24 October.

Moya said microbiological non-compliance remains a concern in Hammanskraal. The City is continuing network flushing and water-quality monitoring there. She said the unsafe-water advisories in Hammanskraal Phase 3 and Bronkhorstspruit stay in place.

Rand Water leads the rehabilitation programme in Bronkhorstspruit. Moya said the restrictions are needed to support recovery across the wider network. She said: "We recognise that these interventions will cause temporary inconvenience to additional residents."Share

Judge Jacqueline Henriques ruled in an urgent SARS application. The money from the sale must go into an interest-bearing trust account. SARS has a month from the order to bring an action to make the properties or the proceeds executable against the tax debts of Shauwn Mkhize and the Zikhulise Group.

The judge said the properties must be sold to stop a rapid fall in their value. She named runaway maintenance costs, mounting municipal arrears and heavy security expenses. Security costs are R188,000 a month, and four of the properties owed about R1.8m to the municipality at 3 October 2025.

The five properties have a collective market value of R35m and a collective forced sale value of R24.5m. Their total municipal value is R22,831,000. The judge said the grounds of opposition from the respondents were without merit and fell to be dismissed.

At 19 September 2025, Mkhize owed R13.3m in personal income tax. Her personal liability for the Zikhulise Group tax debts, including interest, was R112.5m. The judge said the factual foundation for SARS's case is left entirely unchallenged.Share

Zigebe said the City of Johannesburg's budget for 2026-27 is R97.1 billion, and R7.5 billion of it is for maintenance and repairs. He said residents do not see this work because they do not know what goes into departments or who is responsible for what.

He said the government does not communicate with people and takes decisions behind their backs. He said a live dashboard would give residents a sense of ownership, which he said could prevent vandalism of substations and water stations.

Zigebe said: "We need to be able to publish our budget priorities. And the people need to have a say and scrutinise those particular budgets before they go into spending."

He also said some residents have been overcharged for consumption while others have been charged less, which he called unfair. Presenter John Perlman said the government's effort to communicate may come at the expense of getting things done.Share

Ramaphosa said the municipality's failures would lead to diseases spreading. He announced a national water crisis committee and said government is preparing for El Niño. He said El Niño would bring reduced rainfall, particularly around the middle of the summer season.

Reports said poor water quality at the Bronkhorstspruit treatment plant was flagged in the 2023 Blue Drop report. The plant scored 42.3%, against a benchmark of 95% for drinking-water compliance. Reports also said the department of water and sanitation sent Tshwane a letter of noncompliance in February, and that commitments were not met.

Tshwane deputy mayor Eugene Modise disputed that the city ignored warnings. He said a chlorine supplier wanted to raise its price fourfold, which the municipality could not afford. He also said municipal officials failed to inform political leaders of the problem in time.Share

Chamber President Neil Diamond said the United States must give at least sixty days' notice for an annual-review termination to take effect on January first. The chamber says this places the deadline around 2 November.

Diamond urged the South African government to engage Washington immediately to protect preferential market access. The warning comes even though Washington recently extended AGOA to the end of 2028.

South Africa exported goods worth about $16.5 billion to the United States last year, according to the chamber.Share