News24 Top Stories

A new consortium has just taken over the responsibility of operating and maintaining the Gautrain for the next 15 years. Who are they? How will they change the service? What do we know about the deal at this stage?

Waseem Carrim’s tenure is expected to begin on 1 November. He takes on a battered RAF that has faced allegations of governance failures, financial mismanagement and a culture of fear.

Damian Willemse, among top Boks shielded from the Perth hiccup, looks safer than ever before as the top-pick No 15, says Rob Houwing.

Wicknell Munodaani Chivayo, the fabulously wealthy 43-year-old Zimbabwean businessman killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, was celebrated and loathed in equal measure.

Chinese cars are extremely popular in South Africa. The Omoda C9 Explore ticks a lot of boxes and scores straight As. But there’s one factor that might be a concern, writes Robin Classen.

The DA’s federal executive erupted into a bitter internal showdown over “bogus doctor” Abdulkader Elyas on Wednesday night, with senior party heavyweights – including federal leader Geordin Hill-Lewis – trying to shield him from the full force of a sanction recommended by the party’s own federal legal commission.

Lex Libertas says its new film, Crossed Out: Confronting Persecution in South Africa, is intended to help international audiences understand “what is happening in South Africa, why it is happening and what can be done about it”.

The Political Killings Task Team has arrested a mayor, a municipal manager, and a chief financial officer of a Western Cape municipality in connection with alleged corruption involving a security contract.

Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada being in the Proteas’ Test squad was music to Temba Bavuma’s ears as pace, not spin, has generally been the point of difference in South Africa/Australia clashes in South Africa.

Ethiopia and Eritrea broke diplomatic ties on Thursday, accusing each other of stoking internal conflicts as fighting continued in northern Ethiopia.

The Democratic Alliance has responded to papers filed by the Electoral Commission of SA in the party’s legal challenge to the proportional representation list of four others, by accusing the commission of failing to remain neutral in the matter.

Every month, News24 offers subscribers a free audiobook. This month’s audiobook is ‘Checkmate: How Shoprite Checkers rewrote the rules and won’ by Steven Boykey Sidley.

The Mpumalanga High Court has set aside the conviction and warrant of arrest against advocate Mkhuseli Ntaba, a prosecutor who was found in contempt of court in the Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni case.

A former deputy director of finance at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Grace Mokoka, is facing charges in connection with an alleged R1.35 million fraud scheme involving funds intended to support a community land restitution project in Mpumalanga.

Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has found that former Ekurhuleni city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi engaged in improper conduct by appointing an unqualified candidate to a senior metro police post with a salary package of up to R1.9 million per annum.

A Free State teacher who sometimes uses her own salary to ensure her pupils are treated equally in the classroom has been named South Africa’s Best Teacher at the National Teaching Awards in Johannesburg.

Carrim’s tenure is expected to begin in November. The RAF has faced lots of challenges in recent years, amid allegations of governance failures, financial mismanagement and a culture of fear.

The 2026 local elections will further entrench coalition government arrangements, yet with trust in local government at historic lows and coalition culture still immature, voters face a growing gap between casting a ballot and seeing meaningful change, writes Susan Booysen.

Two court cases before the 2026 local elections – one on single-name PR lists, the other on the ANC’s failure to submit lists on time – expose how South Africa’s flawed municipal electoral law distorts council composition, rewards micro-parties, and leaves many voters’ voices diminished, argues Jean Redpath.

Behind every service delivery failure lies a system of appointments, and South Africa’s local government elections turn that into a concrete test. Two reform laws aim to take administration out of political hands. Coalition politics may be what makes it possible – not because parties agree on good government, but because none can safely allow another to own the state, writes Rafael Leite.