Top Headlines
- Water crisis goes national. Bronkhorstspruit: 408 people ill, most of them children under four, and residents told not to drink tap water. The Public Protector has opened a maladministration probe into the City of Tshwane for failing to chlorinate the water and for not warning residents between September and October. Ekangala residents say they are living in fear, and the Findlay Reservoir is contaminated. Separately, 111 stomach-illness cases at Rhodes University in Makhanda and St Albans Prison in Nelson Mandela Bay, with E. coli detected and Water and Sanitation plus the Eastern Cape government investigating.
- Ramaphosa’s local government overhaul. The Revised White Paper on Local Government proposes ring-fencing municipal water and electricity revenue so it can only go to infrastructure maintenance. Municipalities that cannot deliver would lose functions to regional level, partnerships or concessions, and service providers would need compulsory licensing. Ramaphosa says the system needs “fundamental reform” to fix failing services, unsustainable finances and corruption.
- Madlanga Commission: intelligence documents fight. The Commission has directed its evidence leaders to get permission from Dr Ntandazo Sifolo, Acting Coordinator of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee, to use certain intelligence documents in public hearings, and to report back by Wednesday 28 October. Media24, amaBhungane and Daily Maverick opposed the bid to hear Sifolo in camera. The Commission has also asked President Ramaphosa to extend its tenure past its 18 December deadline, saying new information has implicated more people. Thabo Mbeki testified this week.
- SARS hands 100+ commission cases to the NPA. SARS Commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu says more than 100 cases involving people named at commissions of inquiry, including the Madlanga Commission, were handed to the NPA this year. He has met NPA head Advocate Andy Mothibi twice to push for speed, and warns the NPA may have a backlog of about 1 000 tax-related cases. SARS collected R1.2 trillion and paid out R239 billion in refunds.
- Legal Aid strike is breaking courts. Parliament’s justice committee chairperson Xola Nqola has demanded urgent intervention from Legal Aid SA management, the Justice Minister, the department and striking workers. Accused people are reportedly appearing in court without legal representation and prosecutions are being postponed. The strike resumed on Monday over frozen vacancies, pay and workloads.
Also Worth Knowing
- MK Party fires its eighth secretary-general, Sibonelo Nomvalo, weeks before the local elections, citing councillor selection, dual remuneration, factionalism and campaign delays.
- Durban: a foreign national in his late 30s was beaten to death by a group of about 50 people in the CBD during a march against illegal immigration. KAAX is demanding arrests.
- Cape Town’s own budget shows water up 36% and electricity up 24% by 2028/29, against roughly 10% inflation over the same three years.
- Senzo Meyiwa trial: accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube, continues testifying in the Pretoria High Court.
Justice and Accountability Watch
Two tracks are running at once. The Madlanga Commission is trying to put intelligence documents on the public record while its own clock runs out, and it now needs more time because witnesses who waited for court outcomes are only now talking. SARS is not waiting: it has pushed over 100 commission-linked tax cases to the NPA. The gap between those two speeds is the story, because evidence is moving faster than prosecution.
Why It Matters
Water is the new load-shedding. Bronkhorstspruit, Ekangala, Makhanda and Nelson Mandela Bay all failed in the same week, and the fix being proposed is financial and structural, not a tanker. Ring-fencing municipal revenue is the single most consequential local government reform on the table before the 2026 elections, and the Public Protector’s Tshwane probe will be the first test of whether anyone is actually held responsible.