What now? — Experts weigh in after Trump boots SA from Agoa

South Africa will, from next year, be removed from the duty-free benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), the US government announced. This was after the SA government had “constructively responded” to US concerns.

Polls hint Joburg could steady or topple coalitions from Tshwane to Nelson Mandela Bay

The coalition that emerges in Johannesburg will influence negotiations in councils across South Africa. Six polls offer different scenarios for the City.

Leaving Agoa is a 3.4% tariff bump, not a door slammed on the US market

South Africa’s graduation out of Agoa doesn’t mean the country won’t have any access to the US market. It will have access, but with slightly higher tariffs.

Two South Africans charged in sweeping US illegal voting crackdowns

US authorities have accused several foreigners of unlawfully registering to vote in the country, and among those recently charged are two South Africans – Hester Weihmann and Hanlie Venter. The case against Weihmann is connected with a judge whom the US now wants recused because of his ‘unvarnished political view’ on America’s controversial immigration enforcement.

Losing Agoa isn’t a catastrophe — a botched response from Pretoria could be

Hardline promises on immigration may be impossible for parties to fulfil after elections 

Promises to police foreign nationals and restrict spaza-shop ownership dominate campaigns, but legal limits could leave municipalities unable to fulfil them.

Mapped: Bronkhorstspruit an example of SA’s collapsing water system

‘We are finding drinking water that’s not safe more often. And if people are testing rivers, it’s like almost all the time those rivers are quite polluted,’ warns Dr Ferrial Adam, WaterCAN executive director.

Misleader

IEC says ‘aberrations will arise’ during voting but ‘performance will improve’

The IEC acknowledged operational challenges affecting 217 voting stations in Cape Town while arguing that some irregularities were inevitable given the scale of the elections. The commission expects operations to improve before Wednesday’s main voting day.

‘I’m not Rockefeller’: Angelo Agrizzi says he has no money to repay R1.66bn

Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi says he does not have the money to repay a R1.66bn confiscation order imposed by the Pretoria high court and intends to challenge the judgment on appeal.

Phala Phala: Two convicted despite ‘poor’ probe into $580,000 theft

No fingerprints, no usable footage and a criminal case opened two years later. Yet six years after $580,000 was stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm, two accused have been found guilty and one walks free.

South Africa’s unfinished Lula Moment — lessons from Brazil

More than a decade after Cosatu first proposed a ‘Lula Moment’ for South Africa, the lessons of Brazil’s developmental shift remain urgent as the nation grapples with economic stagnation and political paralysis.

Local Elections — Build a coalition in your metro

Environmental justice warrior Desmond D’Sa returns to Mother Earth

Forced from his childhood home under apartheid, he spent half a century organising the people of Wentworth against the industrial giants that poisoned their neighbourhood. He closed a toxic landfill, won the Goldman Environmental Prize and never stopped fighting.

When baboon captivity becomes ‘ethical’ modern conservation, something has gone terribly wrong

The defence of Cape Town’s baboon captivity plan raises troubling questions about the ethical foundations of modern conservation: If wild animals can be imprisoned because human-dominated landscapes have become dangerous, what remains of conservation’s obligation to protect their freedom?

Apartheid’s scapegoat — the jarring paradox of mass killer Eugene de Kock

Testifying at the Khampepe Inquiry, the former Vlakplaas commander lays bare how political interference and a ‘rotten system’ shielded the generals while leaving him to take the fall alone.

SA through the lens of mission stations — Steinkopf, Concordia, Kommagas and Pella

A journey through Northern Cape mission stations traces Nama and Khoi history, missionary legacies, community activism and the threat of extractive mining. These mission communities preserve oral histories, language and identity while raising the spectres of historical erasure and an uncertain future.

Water that harms the people is not a right fulfilled — it’s a threat

The supplying of toxic water, without warning, to the citizens of Bronkhorstspruit threatened their fundamental rights to life, health and human dignity.

The Devil Wears Sneakers — Epstein and the network that allowed him to flourish

The media played a paradoxical role in the Jeffrey Epstein saga, writes investigative journalist Hazel Friedman. ‘At its best, journalism accomplished what prosecutors, politicians and regulators repeatedly failed to do: prise open a case powerful people had spent years trying to bury. Yet journalism had vulnerabilities of its own.’ In her book The Devil Wears Sneakers, Friedman shares the stories of the South African women whom Epstein recruited.

Ramaphosa admits shortcomings, Hill-Lewis woos Mamelodi, Malema condemns murder while Zuma revenge-rants

The ANC, DA, MK party and EFF all held their final campaign rallies this weekend. Here are their final pitches to voters.

Baobab trees seized in Durban ship warehouse probe

Criminal charges have been laid after officials in Durban halted the shipping of several specially protected South African baobab trees, allegedly destined for a ‘landscaping project’ in the Black Sea nation of Georgia.

Five national polls show DA building momentum in the metros

If the latest numbers are credible, the DA has the momentum in the metros and the ANC has fallen even farther back in September and early October.

‘We never called for literal killing’ — Malema appeals for farm killings to stop

EFF leader Julius Malema says the chant ‘Kill the boer, kill the farmer’ was never meant literally and has appealed for farm killings to stop.

What happens after the vote? Councils, coalitions and (maybe) controversies

When voting in the 4 November local government election is completed, if the pollsters have been proven correct, coalitions will dominate across South Africa’s 257 councils, including most of the eight metros. Here’s what happens once the voting ends and the stations close.

Ten critical questions as South Africa heads into high-stakes poll

With the ANC under intense pressure, the DA seeking gains and smaller parties eyeing roles as kingmakers, voters face a contest that could reshape municipal government.

Daily issues beat nostalgia this election, but the ANC hasn’t read the room

In the previous election the ANC based much of its appeal on nostalgia about the journey to democracy and the strides made since then. That messaging bombed very badly, but the party still tugs at the heartstrings.

ActionSA takes the anti-foreigner slogan to the ballot box

The anti-immigrant movement is becoming a voting bloc, as ActionSA makes ‘South Africans first’ central to its election campaign, while Tshwane’s water crisis fuels attacks and tests the anti-foreigner vote.

Cape Town cop convicted of murder, supplying intelligence to the 28s Mobsters gang

A Western Cape High Court judgment has laid bare the danger of organised crime penetrating the very institution tasked with fighting it.

Victims’ families place key hidden evidence before Khampepe inquiry

A physical inspection of old lever arch files by the legal team representing the families of apartheid victims at the Khampepe Commission strengthens Anton Ackermann’s claim that a disputed 2006 memo was forged, reshaping the Khampepe inquiry into delayed apartheid prosecutions.