Top Stories
- ConCourt KILLS the Public Procurement Act — a unanimous judgment by Acting Judge Lister Gcinikhaya Nuku at Constitution Hill on Thursday 17 September found Parliament did not give the public a reasonable chance to take part. The Act, signed in June 2024 to create one rulebook for all state procurement including municipalities, is now invalid.
- Ekurhuleni killings: ninth woman’s body found in Dawn Park. Premier Panyaza Lesufi says the killers have declared war on the state and the state will respond. The DA has posted a R500 000 reward, a criminologist says the pattern fits a serial killer, Gauteng is pushing its ePanic Button app, the SAHRC and the Commission for Gender Equality have stepped in, and Dawn Park residents are calling for soldiers.
- ANC election crisis: an Electoral Court ruling bars 181 ANC candidates from six municipal elections in November. Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu says the party will appeal, while analyst André Duvenhage calls it a lasting blow to Fikile Mbalula and Cyril Ramaphosa. Special-vote applications open on 21 September, and the IEC says more than 60% of local election candidates are men.
- Money: FNB/BER consumer confidence rebounded to -13 from -19, but only because food inflation is low — the Iran war pushed Brent crude above $100 a barrel and another roughly R2 a litre fuel hike is expected in October. SA holds just 13 days of fuel reserves (Anthea Jeffery, BizNews). Momentum beat its R7bn earnings target a year early, the SA Post Office earned its first unqualified audit in six years, the DBSA has slashed municipal lending as R16bn of loans turns risky, and Social Development owes about R18m in rent on leased SASSA offices.
- State of the state: Ramaphosa is booked off sick after the Brics Summit in India, Cosatu’s collapsed congress shows the alliance is cracking, ActionSA suspended Tshwane ward candidate Malesela Teffo after his arrest, and the DA has opened criminal cases over an alleged ANC jobs-for-pals scheme in Tshwane.
Madlanga Commission / Justice
- One year on: the Commission of Inquiry (established in September 2025 after Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s briefing, first hearing 17 September 2025, interim report to President Ramaphosa on 17 December) is being summed up as exposing rot in the police and the justice system — police criminality, JMPD misconduct cases dying internally, IDAC referral failures, and threats against commissioner Sandile Khumalo.
- BizNews has made the case for a permanent Madlanga-style body and scrapping the Public Protector entirely, argued by a retired brigadier.
- Courts and corruption: the Hawks arrested a suspect in the R45m Mogalakwena fleet tender fraud in Limpopo, Mpho Malema was granted bail in the R16m Emfuleni fleet scandal, and the MK Party is demanding Judge Makamu step aside amid a Special Tribunal corruption probe.
Why It Matters
The Constitutional Court has just pulled the legal floor out from under South Africa’s entire state procurement system, sending procurement reform back to square one, while 181 disqualified ANC candidates mean the party may fight six November municipalities without its chosen names on the ballot.
Sources: The Citizen, Mail & Guardian, IOL, SABC News, Moneyweb, BizNews — 17 September 2026.