How a narrow court ruling became a week of anti-foreigner rage online

A narrow Constitutional Court ruling on asylum applications was distorted online into false claims about citizenship, grants, jobs and voting, fuelling anti-foreigner mobilisation in Durban.

Durban’s uneasy calm: Can the state keep a lid on anti-immigrant violence?

While the Pirates-Sundowns MTN8 final in Durban passed without incident after two days of arson, looting and attacks linked to anti-immigrant sentiment, many worry that the calm will be short-lived and that the authorities do not have the situation under control.

Nine interventions later, Ditsobotla is still failing residents and businesses

After nine rounds of government intervention, Ditsobotla remains trapped in political instability, financial distress and failing basic services, leaving residents and businesses to carry the cost of a municipality that cannot seem to get back on its feet.

On paper vs reality — could the DA and the ANC work together in Joburg?

The ANC and DA may need each other to govern Johannesburg, but competing interests, bruising personalities and the risk of political betrayal could derail a historic pact.

This J-country has its paper in order, even if not the work

One institution hands the baton to another: police, prosecutors, courts, commissions, employers. Now, at least in these cases, consequence has become a schedule.

Biker shot dead as SA drug busts rev up global outlaw motorcycle gang fears

A MAC’s Motorcycle Club member was murdered in a Pretoria shooting. As tensions flare within South Africa’s biking community, there are also growing concerns that outlaw biker gangs with connections to cartel drug factories have designs on setting up shop in the country.

Weight of prejudice

Navigating ballots, candidates, and wards: Your guide to the 2026 local government elections

The countdown to the 2026 local government elections is on. Still unsure about how voting works, who is contesting your ward or what will be on your ballot? This guide has you covered.

SA helps feed China’s huge desert fish-farming boom

As China turns desert groundwater into fish farms in Xinjiang, South Africa’s sardines and anchovies are contributing to this ‘Blue Miracle’ – revealing how modern aquaculture shifts its costs across oceans, ecosystems and people.

Walking the Leopard Trail — Four days of fynbos, fatigue and fierce resilience

The Leopard Trail in the Baviaanskloof tests hikers with steep climbs, storms and rocky descents, rewarding endurance with spectacular fynbos, red-rock canyons and mountain pools.

From struggling student to store manager — the burger wager that opened new doors

When her plans to become a scientist fell through, a young woman from Polokwane took a chance as a waitress at a burger joint in Nelson Mandela Bay. Almost two years later, and after a wager with her boss, MJ Moeta will soon open her own store under the Balkan Burger banner.

Fuel on the fire — there’s a Trumpian upside to the global oil crisis

South Africa could not avoid the latest fuel price increase because the Houthis choked off Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea exit, but that starts another conversation altogether about who benefits.

Morero vows transparency, but Joburg withholds release of R4bn misconduct records

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero promised residents that his administration would not hide financial misconduct or the misuse of public money. Yet, within days, the City acknowledged that it had failed to respond within the legal deadline to a request for records concerning billions of rands in alleged financial wrongdoing.

Hunters lose Constitutional Court challenge to animal wellbeing protections

The judgment, hailed as a ‘profound victory for wild animals’, brings relief to conservation and animal protection organisations that have worked for years to secure explicit recognition of animal wellbeing.

Relebohile Mofokeng’s father nearly benched his soccer ambitions

Former footballer Sechaba Mofokeng once opposed his son’s soccer career, but the Bafana Bafana star’s rapid rise has made him proud.

Student debt policy puts Rhodes, students at odds

After protests over upfront fees at Rhodes University, a Unisa business school expert says the fix is not always more money, but a better-run funding system that pays universities directly.

Rising tide of cancer diagnosis rates — inside the science, risk factors, human toll

It isn’t always easy to know what to believe when it comes to cancer. In part 2 of a Daily Maverick and Spotlight special series on cancer, Biénne Huisman asks whether cancer cases are on the increase in South Africa, and why. On the way, she visits academic corridors and a Limpopo citrus orchard, all while trying to make sense of the available data.

Cops on a hot tin roof: how scandals pummel SAPS’s plans

As corruption accusations spread among officers, SAPS bosses are scrambling to address a recruitment crisis, overworked detectives and the growing threat of transnational organised crime.

Steve Smith fielding show sees Australia pile pressure on Proteas in first Test

South Africa 284 all out (David Bedingham 49, Pat Cummins 3-54) trail Australia (Matt Renshaw 190, Wiaan Mulder 4-68,) by 139 runs on day three.

State to ask court to supervise Home Affairs in scramble to fix asylum system

The Department of Home Affairs plans to introduce a new asylum registration system by 10 November, as the government prepares to ask the courts for more time to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling.

SA’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Judge Navi Pillay on Gaza, power and international justice

In a world where readiness is key, Redi Tlhabi and her crew dissect the art of preparedness with a mix of sharp insights and a sprinkle of wit that keeps you both informed and entertained.

US imposes sanctions on ICC hours after South African judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

Hours after South Africa’s Navi Pillay, a former judge of the International Criminal Court, was named as this year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the US slapped sanctions on the court.

How pond algae led to a Nobel and new ways to study the brain

Three researchers were honoured with the prize in physiology or medicine for revealing potential new ways to control nerve cells, and it all started with a sensible question.

Family outings end in tragedy as two children drown in separate Western Cape incidents

Two boys, aged eight and nine, have died in separate drowning incidents at Camps Bay Tidal Pool and Kleinmond Main Beach Lagoon.

Vote for the psychopath — Joburg needs it

You have to be more than a little crazy to want to be the mayor of our biggest city.

‘Who can we trust?’ Prosecutors say little has changed since colleague Tracy Brown’s murder

More than a year after prosecutor Tracy Brown was murdered, her former colleagues say their safety concerns remain unresolved. The Department of Justice says security has been strengthened, but prosecutors are still worried about their safety.

Crossed Wires: What if the doomers are wrong and AI solves everything?

Even if AI solves science’s hardest problems, inequality may deepen as ownership, access and adoption remain concentrated among the wealthy.

How to protect yourself from El Niño’s extreme heat

As supercharged El Niño conditions bring dangerous temperatures across South Africa, mortality predictions, though jarring, only scratch the surface of the crisis.

Is SA’s novel spekboom restoration a new soil carbon-farming frontier?

Mass-planting spekboom to repair damaged farmlands in the Eastern Cape, paid for through the carbon markets, got supersized with the arrival of weighty Global North investment. Could this mark a new era for African agriculture, where farming soil carbon replaces conventional crops?