Top Headlines
- The Constitutional Court put ANC candidates back on the ballot after the party missed the IEC deadline — days before the 2026 local government elections, reopening candidate lists in contested municipalities.
- The IEC told parliamentary committees it is ready for the elections, while smaller parties are now positioned to decide who becomes mayor in Gauteng’s hung metros.
- Ramaphosa claimed credit for the Madlanga Commission, insisted the ANC did not betray South Africa, and pointed to fuel levy relief as his answer to the cost-of-living squeeze.
- Ghost worker scandal: 4,323 suspicious cases flagged on the state payroll — the biggest single integrity test of the state wage bill.
- Joburg water crisis turned into protests after a week without water in parts of the city; Mashatile promised safe water in Bronkhorstspruit after contamination at the treatment works.
- Western Cape dam levels keep falling and Cape Town is assessing whether water restrictions must be imposed this summer.
- Pick n Pay halved its losses on flat sales, the clearest sign yet that its turnaround is biting — but the retailer is still loss-making.
- Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 as an AI-led global selloff deepened; gold steadied and copper extended losses ahead of the Fed meeting.
Madlanga, Justice and Accountability
- Khampepe Commission on TRC cases: Eugene de Kock testified and blamed the NPA for the failure to prosecute apartheid-era cases — putting the NPA, not the police, in the firing line.
- Ramaphosa used the same day to defend the Madlanga Commission’s record and set out what he wants it to tackle next.
- DJ Sumbody murder trial: Katiso Molefe and co-accused appeared in the Johannesburg High Court; the judge invoked the Senzo Meyiwa delays and warned there would be no more postponements, with the trial set for July 2027.
- Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla was back in court over her 2021 unrest posts.
- The justice ministry is probing missing Bosasa evidence after documents were destroyed in a fire.
Why It Matters
With elections days away, the courts and commissions are deciding the rules of the game faster than the politicians can: the ConCourt on the ballot, Khampepe on TRC prosecutions, the Madlanga Commission on the NPA. Watch the NPA — it is now named as the blocker in two separate accountability processes on the same day. And the water outages in Joburg and Bronkhorstspruit are exactly the kind of local service failure that moves votes at municipal level.