Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°16°CTCT30°17°PretoriaPTA31°17°DurbanDBN27°64%

Northam Platinum Rhinos win first Gold Cup title

Published

Northam Platinum Rhinos beat hosts C. Steinweg College Rovers 22-20 in the Pick n Pay Gold Cup final at Hollywoodbets Kings Park 3 in Durban on Sunday 25 October. Fullback Darryn Fortuin kicked the winning penalty in the 77th minute.

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.

Key facts

Who
Flip de Kock (long-time Northam Platinum Rhinos coach); Nollis Marais (director of rugby and head coach of Northam Platinum Rhinos); Rian Oberholzer (SA Rugby CEO); Khwezi Mkhafu (Rhinos hooker and player of the match in the final)
What
Northam Platinum Rhinos won the 2026 Pick n Pay Gold Cup, beating hosts College Rovers 22-20 in the final on Sunday 25 October at Hollywoodbets Kings Park 3 in Durban. It was the club's first national title, and the article describes it as a rare trophy treble.
When
25 October 2026
Where
Durban, Thabazimbi
Status
Final result

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. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll
  2. IEC says local election voting went largely smoothly
  3. IEC says about 12 million had voted by 5pm

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