SA News Highlights — 18 September 2026

TOP HEADLINES

  • ConCourt strikes down the Public Procurement Act: the Constitutional Court ruled Parliament’s public-participation process was flawed, so the Act falls; Treasury and Parliament must redo it, and the MK Party is demanding the process be "corrected" ahead of the 2026 local elections.
  • ANC election-list war escalates: after the ANC’s Electoral Court defeat, ANC Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukayithobi is threatening legal action against secretary-general Fikile Mbalula — while Thuthukile Zuma and the DA’s Ashor Sarupen pile on.
  • Ekurhuleni killing spree: a ninth woman’s body has been found, family identifying 28-year-old Gracious Nkomo; Kwa-Thema and Kempton Park residents are demanding soldiers as SAPS probes the suspects’ nationality.
  • Rand pain ahead: US Fed chair Kevin Warsh raised rates; SA households now wait on the SARB repo decision next week — as African Bank accelerates 1,200 retrenchments and consumer confidence rebounds on oil-price risk.
  • Taxi unrest brewing: the National Taxi Alliance is threatening protests over a "national affordability crisis", warning Transport Minister Barbara Creecy.

MADLANGA / JUSTICE

  • The Madlanga Commission heard the Kgosi Mampuru II prison escape was tied to alleged threats — an inmate was told: "You leave or we are going to kill you."
  • Witness Thobakgale told the Commission that prisons are becoming training bases for future crime bosses.
  • A year of explosive Commission hearings has exposed rot in the justice system; a retired brigadier’s push to scrap the Public Protector and make Madlanga permanent is gaining traction.
  • Oscar Mabuyane hit with a punitive costs order in his contempt-of-court case; Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula denies involvement in an R80m tender; Mpho Malema got R30,000 bail in the R16m Emfuleni fraud case.

ALSO TODAY

  • Ramaphosa booked off sick after returning from the BRICS summit in India.
  • Senzo Meyiwa murder trial postponed to 5 October.
  • Hawks arrest a suspect in the R45m Mogalakwena tender fraud probe.

WHY IT MATTERS

Procurement law just got reset, the ANC is fighting itself in court a year out from local elections, and the GBV and prison crises are now accountability stories, not just police stories.

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