October 2026

The panel looked into an alleged failure to follow Ramaphosa's instruction not to include the Iranian Navy in the "Will of Peace" naval exercises. Ramaphosa says he is processing the report and considering its recommendations.

DA MP Chris Hattingh said R4 million has already been spent on legal invoices alone. He said ten months have passed since the matter began. The DA says national security should not shield an alleged failure to comply with the President's instruction.

EFF MP Carl Niehaus said the public is entitled to know the findings. He claimed the President allowed himself to be intimidated by Donald Trump, and that this insulted Iran and China and damaged South Africa's standing.

IFP representative Inkosi Nsikayezwe Cebekhulu said only the West is unhappy with Iranian ships at the exercise. He said the West is trying to be accommodated.Share

Thompson sits in the Northern District of California. Her order expires on 16 November. The United States holds its midterm election on 3 November.

The Justice Department had sought to set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 California voters, saying they might not be citizens. A federal judge rejected that move on Wednesday and called it brazen pre-election interference.

Critics say the administration of President Donald Trump is trying to cast doubt on election results. The order says the defendants "shall not threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers" over the processing of ballots.Share

The rally is called "Tshela Thupa" and takes place on 1 November, three days before the vote. It is the last big event of the party's campaign.

The party says the rally will deliver its "Victory or Death" message. It describes the message as a reference to the urgency for South Africans to change the fortunes of the country.Share

The court set bail at R10 000 for each of the two accused. Johnson is the former head of IDAC. Khan was a deputy in crime intelligence before he was dismissed.

Other news on the same day concerned the 4 November municipal elections. The South African Police Service identified 331 high-risk voting stations across the country. A High Court bid over protests in Durban also referred to the election date.Share

The State alleges that in July two of Carrim's employees, Mike Phiri and Ibrahim Zakes, tried to drive two vehicles out of the Beitbridge Border Post. The State says the vehicles were still under finance and that the employees used fraudulent documents. It also alleges that Carrim helped them get the papers.

Carrim, who is 49, was due to join the two men in the dock. He was expected to apply for bail. He remains in custody, although he was granted R100,000 bail in another matter.Share

WAN-IFRA said the terms would require publishers to let Meta collect and reuse their content without payment. This would be a condition of using Meta's business services. The body says its members include almost 20 000 publications in more than 120 countries.

The Oslo District Court has temporarily suspended the plan after a legal challenge by Norwegian media organisations. The UK Competition and Markets Authority said it would examine whether Meta is abusing its dominant position. The authority said the terms would let Meta collect content without offering publishers a choice, and use it to develop its own products, including AI features.

Zuckerberg said Meta would not change its terms until a full consultation with the media industry has ended. WAN-IFRA said Meta platforms are a main gateway to news for many users. In the letter, it wrote: "Producing journalism requires substantial financial resources."Share

Zuma, who is 84, went to hospital on 6 October after he fell ill at an MK Party campaign event in Msinga. In the video he said only that he had been "somewhere". He did not explain his absence further.

The party said earlier that fatigue, found in a routine check-up, led to his admission. It said doctors recommended supervised rest and recuperation. Unnamed sources said he later went to a private location to recover further.

On 14 October his daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, posted videos of him exercising with dumbbells. President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the surgeon-general of the SANDF was overseeing Zuma's treatment.

Polling data suggested the party could take about 13% of the overall vote in the municipal elections on Wednesday.Share

Motlanthe said a sovereign wealth fund could be financed through a defined share of future mineral and resource revenues. He said it could also draw on proceeds from state assets and other fiscally sustainable contributions. He also called for property rights reforms that recognise family and communal ownership, rather than assuming individual title deeds suit every case.

Godongwana said fiscal policy alone could not generate the growth needed to address unemployment. He discussed an investment level of 25% to 30% of gross domestic product. He said that figure related to public investment and should not be treated as the total the economy needs.

Gugu Motlanthe, executive trustee of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and director of the forum, said economic exclusion is undermining confidence in democracy. She said corruption done in the name of transformation should be condemned, without abandoning the principle of black economic empowerment. Former statistician-general Pali Lehohla took part in the discussion, which Arena Holdings CEO Pule Molebeledi moderated.Share

Binance said about $3bn of the stolen assets had been frozen so far. Tether froze $1.57bn and Circle froze more than $800m. Binance did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3bn.

Binance said an initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to an engineer. Co-founder Yi He said the exchange would cover all hacking losses. Binance said user funds remain safe and that it expects to resume withdrawals in the next 48 hours.

Binance.US and Coinbase said they were not affected. Analysts said the attack could make investors rethink the risks of owning digital assets. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey Group, said it may further dampen risk appetite.

Bitcoin fell to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether to a two-month low of $2,178. Binance has 335-million registered users worldwide.Share

The order bans violence, intimidation, looting, property damage, weapons and face coverings at March and March demonstrations. The police said they needed to preserve police manpower to maintain public safety and secure the elections.

The parties return to court on 18 January to argue a final order. Movement leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma urged supporters to "respect the court's decision but to go out in their numbers to vote".Share

Makoba spoke at a media briefing with Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola. He said no marches will be allowed on election day.

Recent violent demonstrations in Durban led police to apply for a court order against disruptive demonstrations. Two marches are planned between 2 and 4 November, Makoba said. He said they will take place on Monday and Tuesday, not on Wednesday.

Makoba said: "the law limits such rights of demonstration, particularly on election day". Police and other law enforcement agencies say they are ready to secure the elections.Share

The Pretoria Magistrates' Court granted Carrim bail on Wednesday. The case is linked to his failure to appear before the commission to continue his testimony. He was charged with contempt.

Michaels said the bail condition required the attorneys to take the initiative and arrange Carrim's next appearance. The commission said the attorneys did not do this, so Carrim failed to comply.

Carrim remains in custody on a separate matter in Limpopo. He faces cross-border vehicle smuggling charges at the Musina Magistrates Court, where his bail application was postponed to 9 November.Share

Judge Peter Olsen delivered the ruling in the Durban High Court on Friday. He said the interim order does not amount to a finding of wrongdoing by March and March or its leaders.

The government said violent marches took place in the Durban CBD, including outside the refugee reception centre on Moore Road. March and March has distanced itself from any violence and intimidation during its marches.

The final order will be argued in January 2027. The case returns to court on 18 January 2027. Respondents must file replying affidavits by 11 January.Share

Zille said the DA targets an outright majority of 136 seats on the 270-seat council. She said the towns and cities that work best are under DA governance. She also said Cape Town invests R42 billion in extending infrastructure, with 75% earmarked for poorer communities.

Mashaba said ActionSA would work with any party that accepts its three conditions. He said: "If DA wants to really work with ActionSA, they must remove Helen Zille". He also accused Zille of having worked with ANC leaders to remove him from office in his previous term.

Morero, the incumbent mayor, said the ANC believes it will perform better in the election. He said recent water shortages were partly due to supply problems involving Rand Water, because reservoirs were not full. He also said the Metro Centre building failed health and safety standards and is no longer insured because of structural damage.

Mofokeng said Johannesburg needs a radical change in how it is governed. She said the city should negotiate a grant of up to 15% from National Treasury.Share

Some University of Johannesburg students said they would vote. Others said they would not. One student, who was not named, gave two reasons for staying away: a lack of change, and political parties that deliver services only during election periods.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is the body that manages elections in the country. It says it continues to encourage young South Africans to take part.Share

Ipsos surveyed 2 533 registered voters between 12 September and 13 October. The ANC won 47% in the 2021 local government elections. The poll puts the MK Party at 12%, the EFF at 10%, ActionSA at 4%, the IFP at 4% and the Patriotic Alliance at 2%.

In Cape Town, the poll puts the DA at 51%. In Johannesburg, it has the DA on 30% and the ANC on 27%. In Tshwane, the DA is on 34% and the ANC on 31%.

Ipsos said the ANC has historically gained support in the final stages of election campaigns. It said the MK Party's 4% in Johannesburg reflects fieldwork done during uncertainty over the hospitalisation of MK Party MP Jacob Zuma.

Ipsos analyst Mari Harris said most metros, if not all, are likely to need coalitions. She said coalitions formed after the 2021 elections often proved unstable, with frequent leadership changes and disrupted services.Share

Thulani Mavuso, a Deputy Director-General at the Department of Home Affairs, confirmed the arrangement. He said: "The Department of Home Affairs will be open on the fourth of November."

The department says the longer hours are meant to help voters who still need identity documents before they cast their votes.Share

Glasgow won it late. Winger Ollie Smith scored a try near the end, and George Horne kicked a last-minute penalty. Horne also kicked conversions during the match.

Morne van den Berg, Siba Mahashe and Morne Brandon scored tries for the Lions. Andrea Piardi was the referee.

A match report said the Lions have now lost 19 games outside South Africa, with 17 losses and two draws. It said they have not won away from home since 2024. The report also said the Lions should have taken some points from the match.Share

The JSE All Share index closed at 107,622 points on Friday, down 2.2%. The Top 40 index fell to 99,412, down 2.4%.

The rand was little changed at R16.61 to the US dollar. Gold was at $3,885 an ounce, down 3.6%. Brent crude was at $112.33 a barrel, down 2.2%.Share

The authors also interviewed nine officials, advisers, researchers and civil society specialists. They say both countries lack reliable data, funding and skilled staff, and that women often hold lower-paid, non-technical jobs. They propose a Gender-Transformative Industrial Policy framework that asks what blocks women, what is overlooked, who shapes the rules and whether policies work together. The working paper is not peer-reviewed, and the authors describe their own findings.Share

The beads are passive and 3 mm wide, and the array tracks them wirelessly. The authors report sub-millimetre resolution of real-time muscle movement at depths of up to 6 cm. They propose the signal as a way to control wearable robotics, such as prostheses and exoskeletons. The work is at device stage, so clinical use is still some way off.Share

The study is peer-reviewed and appears in Scientific Reports. The team found that Mars could have been a slightly more promising site for such delivery, though still highly unlikely. They say asteroids and chemistry on Earth itself are now seen as likelier sources of life's building blocks. The work is computer modelling, so its conclusions depend on the model's assumptions, and the authors say they cannot rule the scenario out completely.Share

The study by Pretorius and Keith appears in the peer-reviewed journal Austral Ecology. Only about 5% of the karst that suits roosts overlaps with the suitable future climate. That falls to about 2% once the model counts the vulnerability of land cover. This shows that a species can have a suitable climate ahead and still have nowhere to roost, because the geology has no caves. The work is a model of one bat family, based on 551 occurrence records.Share

The authors say THBS1 acts through the activation of TGFβ in macrophages, a type of immune cell. This points to a possible molecular driver of the scarring and inflammation in belly fat that comes with obesity and diabetes. The work is mechanistic and early, and it does not show that THBS1 is a treatment target in people.Share

The peer-reviewed study appears in Sleep Health. Broken sleep was the most common complaint, and outages between 8pm and half an hour past midnight were the most disruptive. Only 40% of students had backup power, and solar users reported worse sleep less often than generator users. The survey was self-reported and done at one university, so it shows an association, not a cause.Share

The airport said passengers face longer-than-usual queues at security screening. It blamed operational staffing constraints linked to the ongoing taxi-related unrest. The unrest follows a violent week-long feud between rival minibus taxi groups.

Some travellers complained that they missed flights because of the long queues. The airport also reported flight delays on Friday.Share

Hooker Khwezi Mkhafu was player of the match in the final. The title is the first national title for the club, which is based in Thabazimbi. Reports described it as a rare trophy treble.

Rhinos coach Flip de Kock recalled the club's first Gold Cup appearance. He said: "We played in our first Gold Cup in 2016 and lost all four of our matches," De Kock said the 2026 tournament took club rugby to new heights.

The five-week tournament had 31 matches and 2 068 points. The 32 teams selected 809 players. SA Rugby research showed a 13.5 per cent rise in club participation between 2024 and 2025, with just under 120 000 registered club players across the 15 provincial unions.

SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said the tournament truly came of age in 2026. He said the future of the club game looks very bright.Share

The NPA says the man met the girl on Facebook and gave his age as 22. It alleges he let her onto the court premises and gave her alcohol. The NPA says he raped her when she refused sex.

The NPA also alleges that he gave the girl money to travel home at about 4am the next morning. Fidelity Security is contracted to the department of justice.

Police arrested the guard on 27 October. The case was postponed to 6 November for a bail application, and the state intends to oppose bail.Share

The Treasury responded to public comments on the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. Civil society groups had claimed that it is cutting the number of grant beneficiaries to save money. The Treasury dismissed this.

Busi Mothlabedi, a Deputy Director in the Budget Office at the Treasury, said people are not being excluded on purpose. In her words: "We are just making sure that we are granting people that should be getting grants according to the Act."

Civil society groups want the old-age pension raised to R3,000 a month. The Treasury put the cost of the increase for the older persons grant at R30.2 billion. It put the cost of the proposed increase for the child support grant at R42.5 billion.Share

The judge asked whether the state wanted temporary limits ahead of the 4 November municipal elections or a broader, permanent interdict. The order sought would also bar intimidation and damage to property.

The government said it deployed more than 400 police officers in Durban, but that this failed to contain the violence, intimidation and looting. In court, the state said reactive policing no longer worked. It said officers often arrived after property was damaged and people were assaulted.

The state also said police were outnumbered and struggled to remove weapons from protesters. It said more people allegedly joined crowds armed with sticks and other objects. Protesters allegedly planned to set fire to the Home Affairs refugee reception centre on Moore Road in Durban.Share