Top Headlines
- ANC races to ConCourt as its candidate-list crisis blows open one month before the local government elections (LGE2026) — rivals sense an opening.
- Fikile Mbalula’s court bid fails: he does not secure a final interdict, and the court orders oral evidence on the ANC vote-buying claims; a new twist lands in the Mbalula–Dlamini-Zuma defamation fight.
- October fuel price hike lands Wednesday: petrol and diesel both climb, and government is weighing cutting or scrapping the RAF fuel levy. Officials warn against panic buying as illegal diesel-paraffin blending is estimated at up to 800 million litres a year.
- R400 billion water bill: that is what is needed to fix water infrastructure across 107 municipalities, while the DA demands accurate GBVF crime data from Police Minister Cachalia.
- Two high-profile trials: the AKA and Tibz murder trial opens in the Durban High Court, and the Senzo Meyiwa trial resumes in the Pretoria High Court.
Madlanga / Justice / Accountability
- JSC interviews begin today to fill three Supreme Court of Appeal vacancies.
- Madlanga Commission stays dark to the public until November — but the fallout keeps landing: Feroz Khan was ordered to appear (he is giving evidence privately), and taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni’s explosive testimony is still reverberating, with his influence over a R500m deal now under scrutiny.
- IPID records 116 rape allegations against police officers — 72 involving officers on duty.
- Midlands sexual abuse scandal widens: 60 women have now come forward.
- Local: three senior Knysna municipal officials are due to appear in court, and eleven suspected illegal miners head to the Stilfontein dock.
Why It Matters
The accountability machine is running hot this week — but with the Madlanga Commission closed to the public until November, the real action has shifted to the courts: the JSC, the AKA and Meyiwa trials, and a widening KZN abuse case. For local readers, watch Knysna — officials in court on the Garden Route is a live story.