Innholdsfortegnelse for 2025-08-22 i Daily News

If South Africans think the country's crime situation is going to improve, think again, warn experts, as the SAPS budget shrank by 9% from R125 billion in 2024 to R113.6bn in 2025. This issue was brought into perspective by KZN Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant‑General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who attributed the increased crime rate to the lack of SAPS personnel. He said that, due to unions demanding higher wages for their members, it impacted staff numbers and ultimately recruitment efforts. “We have less police officers in KZN, but our population is increasing and the number of officers continues to decrease,” he said. “If we don’t have a person in an area, we must have a camera that will serve as our eyes. We moved from 25 000 employees to 15 000 employees.”…

Thirty years after the first official National Women’s Day, and 69 years after the historic women’s march to the Union Buildings, women in South Africa continue to face barriers to achieving equal participation in the economy. From industry concentration and occupational segregation to informal employment and domestic responsibilities, gender gaps persist across the labour market, Statistics South Africa’s data has found. This year’s Women’s Month is marked under the theme Building Resilient Economies for All, underscoring the importance of women’s participation in leadership and economic life. But the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of 2025 showed that women remain disproportionately affected by unemployment and economic exclusion, it said. South Africa’s national unemployment rate was 33.2%, but for women it stood at 35.9%, compared to 31.0% for…

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has raised serious concerns about the uMzinyathi District, describing it as a source of criminal activity. Speaking during a Stakeholders’ Engagement Session in Durban, Mkhwanazi urged a shift in focus from arrest statistics to tackling the root causes of crime. The session aimed to bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to strengthen partnerships in the fight against crime and develop sustainable safety solutions across the province. “We have a forgotten district, Umzinyathi, in this province, and I don’t know why, for whatever reason. Almost every hitman we get is recruited there, and they are recruited from a young age,” Mkhwanzi said. He painted a bleak picture of life for many young boys in the area, citing broken family structures, cultural practices such as…

SOUTH Africa is spiralling into chaos under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Here is a leader who has stumbled from one embarrassing crisis to another, fumbling the ball, seemingly fiddling while Pretoria burns. Most infamous among Ramaphosa’s foibles was his handling of the break-in at his Phala Phala home, a scandal for which he has so far escaped accountability. We’ve never gotten to the bottom of the hundreds of thousands of dollars stashed in couches and other furniture that adorn his Limpopo game farm, with investigations and reports into the matter either conveniently clearing the president of any wrongdoing, or having had their adoption and public release blocked by political machinery. I assume one of the shady deals made to include the DA in the Government of National Collusion…

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou says his side will have enough resources to overcome Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday and reach the MTN8 final. Pirates will visit Sundowns in the semi-final second leg at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium, following the teams’ 1–1 draw in the first leg at Orlando Stadium last Saturday. With Sundowns’ away goal giving them the advantage, the pressure is on Pirates to deliver a result in hostile territory. Both sides come into the clash high in confidence after midweek victories in the Betway Premiership. Pirates edged Stellenbosch 1–0 at home on Wednesday, a win that provided relief for Ouaddou after two straight defeats at the start of the season. Amid the positivity surrounding both clubs, Ouaddou painted a picture of the type of encounter he expects in…

UMkhanyakude Municipality The ongoing conflict between the ANC-led uMkhanyakude District Municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, has intensified. Tensions escalated following the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s dismissal of the municipality’s bid to prevent the administrator, Bamba Ndwandwe, on Monday, from taking office at the entity’s headquarters. Buthelezi’s decision to place the municipality under administration arose after alarming observations by the Auditor-General of South Africa, Tsakani Maluleke, who highlighted material breaches in the municipality’s operations. The district’s mayor, Siphile Mdaka, who has opposed the appointment of an administrator from the outset, reaffirmed that stance yesterday by indicating that Ndwandwe would not be permitted to step foot on municipal property. Speaking to community members, Mdaka affirmed: “We just want to confirm that there’s no administrator that is…

The Springboks are ready to win ugly, if necessary, in their second Rugby Championship Test against Australia tomorrow in Cape Town. While they’ve steadily progressed on attack under assistant coach Tony Brown, the Boks’ strength has always been their ability to use their forwards in a power game to subdue opponents. From there, space opens up for their backs to work their magic and score tries. More recently, and much to the delight of supporters, they’ve been utilizing a running rugby blueprint alongside their forward dominance. While it has brought spectacular tries, the ease with which they sometimes score has led them to take their foot off the accelerator. That allows the opposition to claw their way back into the game — something that has already happened twice this season.…

Liverpool can expect a hostile reception when they travel to Newcastle on Monday, amid their pursuit of wantaway Magpies striker Alexander Isak. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Tottenham face off in an early test of their Premier League ambitions. Across Merseyside, a new era begins for Everton on Sunday as they welcome Brighton for the first competitive game at their new 53,000-capacity stadium. AFP Sport looks at the major talking points ahead of the second weekend of the Premier League season. Isak saga hangs over Newcastle vs Liverpool clash Isak is expected to sit out the meeting between his current club and his preferred destination, as a stand-off over the Swedish striker's future stretches into the final week of the transfer window. Newcastle maintain that the 25-year-old will not leave unless…

Eric Tinkler wore a weary smile at the PSL offices yesterday during the pre-match press conference ahead of Sekhukhune United’s MTN8 semi-final second leg against Stellenbosch. The coach’s expression reflected the exhaustion he has endured over the past three weeks due to mounting expectations. Babina Noko assembled a strong squad during pre-season, and there were high hopes for them to build on their fourth-place finish in last season’s league campaign. They duly answered the call, beating TS Galaxy in the MTN8 quarter-final and Orlando Pirates in their Betway Premiership opener. Their impressive league run continued with another victory over Galaxy at home, before suffering a rude awakening with a 2-0 defeat to Stellenbosch in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final away. Tinkler lamented after that defeat that his troops…

While Standard Bank accused the Competition Commission of “sticking to its bloody-minded ignorance” by continuing to accuse the bank of allegedly being part of a cartel which manipulated the Rand/US dollar exchange, the commission had hit back to say the bank is pulling out all the stops in a bid not to face the music. Advocate Kate Hofmeyr, acting for Standard Bank, told the Constitutional Court this week that in 2017, when the commission told the media about its allegations that the banks were allegedly involved in an international cartel colluding to manipulate the Rand/US dollar, Standard Bank’s share price dropped in a few days by 3.8%, which equated to R8.5bn. She argued that while the commission was investigating the case for a year and a half, it did not…

AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane was pleased that his side secured their second win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Marumo Gallants, but he emphasised that there is still plenty of work to be done ahead of their next match. Usuthu bounced back to winning ways after a 2-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in their previous outing. Having already opened the season positively with a 1-0 win against newcomers Orbit College, the clash against Gallants was always going to be challenging, particularly given the Bloemfontein-based side’s confident start to the campaign. A first-half added-time goal from Keegan Allan ended Siwelele sa Marumo’s two-match winning streak in a game where the KwaZulu-Natal outfit could have scored more but were hampered by poor decision-making in the final third. Zwane was pleased…

FOLLOWING Prenelan Subrayen's reported suspect bowling action, Proteas bowling coach Vincent Barnes sympathised with the spinner as he was reported in his One Day International debut. Barnes knows this process well, having overlooked the process when former Proteas men's bowlers Johan Botha and Aaron Phangiso found themselves in Subrayen's shoes. The 65-year-old understands that players can take a hit mentally when in such a situation purely because of the reach such a case can have, as it happened in front of the whole world. Barnes told Independent Newspapers that there is no place to hide in international cricket and that worrying about the legality of your action is the last thing any bowler would want at the highest level. "In international cricket, there's no place to hide. You're on the…

Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef says it will be important for his side to carry momentum from their flying start to the season as they prepare to face what will be their biggest challenge of the campaign against Mamelodi Sundowns next week. Amakhosi are one of two unbeaten sides in the league after three matches, having bounced back from last season’s turbulence in fine style with three wins from three games. With the MTN8 taking centre stage this weekend, their next league outing against the defending champions at the FNB Stadium will provide a real test of their early form. Chiefs are expected to have head coach Nasreddine Nabi back on the bench after he missed the club’s first three matches while in Tunisia attending to his wife,…

Thank goodness for small mercies. Like finding a well-placed chair after a day of walking, your feet beating in time with your heart, or that first slurp of cold tap water when your mouth feels like a gravel trap. Or, perhaps, like the blessing of a wedding scheduled on the same day the Springboks lost to the Wallabies at Ellis Park for the first time in more than 60 years. The ceremony unfolded against a waterfall backdrop, and after a short trek up to the reception, the customary speeches regaled us with tales of the bride and groom for much of the match. By the time the formalities had drawn to a close, the Boks had already stumbled to a 38-22 defeat — leaving those of us at the wedding…