Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°69%
CTCT21°90%
PretoriaPTA33°75%
DurbanDBN30°20°

Kasrils denies shielding ANC leaders at TRC cases inquiry

Published

Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils called allegations against him unfounded and malicious at the inquiry into delays in apartheid-era prosecutions. Jacob van der Merwe, whose father was shot dead in 1978, accuses him of taking part in secret talks.

Van der Merwe told the inquiry that efforts to investigate his father's killing were frustrated for decades. He said this created the impression that suspects were being shielded. He also said Kasrils approached his mother through a lawyer after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to discuss the case.

Kasrils denied taking part in high-level secret talks to shield ANC and apartheid perpetrators from prosecution. He said that when he was alleged to have interfered, he was Minister of Water Affairs and not part of the security cluster. He said Lindiwe Sisulu was the intelligence minister at the time.

The Van der Merwe family said those responsible for the killing never came forward to seek amnesty.

Key facts

Who
Ronnie Kasrils (Former intelligence minister in the Thabo Mbeki administration; witness at the…); Jacob van der Merwe (Whose father was shot dead on a farm in 1978; raised the allegations at the…); Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Body holding the TRC cases inquiry into delays in prosecuting apartheid-era…); African National Congress (Party whose leaders allegedly were to be shielded from prosecution)
What
Ronnie Kasrils, a former intelligence minister in the Thabo Mbeki administration, was expected to appear at the TRC cases inquiry. He is accused of involvement in high-level talks to shield ANC leaders from prosecution for apartheid-era crimes, which he denies.
When
22 October 2026
Where
South Africa, Bisho
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. BOSA's Solomons flags one-ballot problem at Cape Town voting stations
  2. Mashatile urges new councillors to put voters first
  3. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update