Corruption audits, estate battles, and SA’s ‘juicy’ economic milestone

Advocate ‘had no right’ to empty Mosiuoa Lekota’s bank accounts, rules judge

By Nonkululeko Njilo. In a damning ruling, a court found that Advocate Luzelle Adams acted selfishly while overseeing Mosiuoa Lekota’s finances, leading to more than R2m allegedly being misappropriated during his incapacity. Read more.

SARS audit links ex-Prasa boss Lucky Montana to recipient of ‘tall trains’ funds

By Pieter-Louis Myburgh. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s R3.5bn ‘too tall’ locomotives contract was one of South Africa’s most costly procurement scandals. Newly obtained tax records offer compelling clues that link Prasa’s disgraced former CEO to a recipient of some of the botched deal’s allegedly illicit funds. Read more.

Watch: Julius Malema — Conviction, sentencing, and the battle for the JSC

In this episode, Greg Nicolson and Nonkuleko Njilo unpack the Helen Suzman Foundation’s high-stakes court bid to remove Malema and explore the fallout of having a convicted leader vetting the Bench. Read more.

Prosecutor faces arrest after taxi boss Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni escapes extortion charges

By Reitumetse Pilane. The extortion and money laundering case against taxi boss Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni and his co-accused was struck off the roll by the Kwaggafontein Magistrates’ Court on Monday after State prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba failed to appear in court. Read more.

The cost of commercialisation in school sports

By Takudzwa Pongweni. From R9,500 commercialisation conferences to millions of livestream views, school sport is increasingly being drawn into a professionalised, high-pressure economy. Coaches, psychologists and parents say its educational and developmental purpose is being displaced by performance and profit, while legal experts warn that children risk being reduced to unpaid entertainers in a rapidly expanding youth sports industry. Read more.

Masemola charges show how weak oversight continues to undermine SAPS

By D Khosa. General Fannie Masemola’s court appearance over alleged Public Finance Management Act violations is not just about one contract – it shines a harsh light on systemic governance failures within the SAPS. When accountability falters at the highest level of policing, public trust, institutional integrity and the state’s ability to protect communities are all placed at risk. Read more.

SA citrus sector overtakes Spain as world’s leading exporter

By Ed Stoddard. South Africa’s citrus sector, boosted by new technology and favourable conditions, has overtaken Spain as the top global exporter, promising growth despite rising agricultural costs. Read more.

The last zoo elephants: Johannesburg can no longer justify their captivity

By Adam Cruise. The continued confinement of Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane rests on an assumption that their needs can be met within the Johannesburg Zoo. The available evidence suggests that this assumption is no longer secure. An alternative exists. Read more.

Japan’s loneliness industry is an early warning to the world

By Herman Lategan. The country may be the canary in the coal mine for an epidemic of loneliness that knows no borders. So entrenched is its people’s social isolation that a lexicon for it has been spawned – words for degrees of disconnection, vanishing from society and dying alone and undiscovered. Read more.

My Heart Story: Shape-shifters, paranoia, and jazz on the operating table

By Tony Jackman. The post-operative musings of a man who loves his family. And for the bleakest days of his life, thought he was gone from them. Read more.