SA NEWS HIGHLIGHTS — Thursday 1 October 2026
TOP HEADLINES
- Madlanga Commission shuts public hearings until November as its final-report deadline looms — the probe into police conduct goes dark right at the crunch time.
- 'Cat' Matlala subpoena row forces the Commission to halt a sitting — another delay in a process already racing the clock.
- Zondo: State Capture Commission's recommendations remain unimplemented — "It is disappointing." The man who wrote the report says SA still hasn't acted on it.
- Sibiya back in court: suspended SAPS Deputy Commissioner hit with a SIXTH charge (rape, grooming, trafficking); NPA questions his motives over NDPP correspondence in his bail bid.
- Sibanyoni links top cop Shadrack Sibiya to late taxi boss Msibi in Madlanga testimony — the taxi-industry/police knot keeps tightening.
- Ramokgopa: load reduction will be eliminated by March next year — a hard date from the Electricity Minister.
- Home Affairs pulls the plug on the green ID book — the old identity document is being retired.
- SA trade surplus rises by R2.5 billion — but the rand weakened ahead of manufacturing and car-sales data.
- Mossel Bay tragedy: three dead, two missing after five people went overboard off the coast.
Madlanga / Justice / Accountability
- The Commission is now in a hearing blackout until November — its final report is due, and the Matlala subpoena fight plus Sibiya's parallel criminal case are eating the calendar.
- Firoz Cachalia, IPID and the Madlanga findings surfaced in Parliament today — MPs pressing on police accountability and the Commission's evidence in the National Assembly.
- MK Party opened a criminal case against Judge Makamu over a R5,000 corruption claim — the JSC and SAPS now in the middle of it.
- Mudzinganyama (Vlamo restaurant case) granted R15,000 bail; NPA warns more charges are possible.
- Impeachment Committee chair says legal challenges won't derail the inquiry.
Why It Matters
The Commission that is supposed to fix policing is about to stop hearing evidence just as it has to deliver — and the man who ran the last big probe (Zondo) says nobody implemented his findings. Accountability is being talked about in three rooms at once today (Madlanga, Parliament, the courts) with very little of it landing.