News24 South Africa

Judgment has been reserved in the bail application of the Mthatha businessman from whose company premises the police seized 140 firearms last week while 135 remained unaccounted for.

While Cape Town sweltered through temperatures of up to 35°C on Wednesday amid unusual but not unprecedented September heat, parts of Johannesburg and surrounding provinces were battered by severe storms, hail and damaging winds, illustrating the country’s split weather personality on the cusp of summer.

The question of why the National Student Financial Aid Scheme paid four intermediaries a whopping R615 million to manage student accommodation – when arguably just one could have done the job – was a burning issue in Parliament.

The president talks tough, yet again, on fighting gender-based violence, and the Springboks look to bounce back against Italy and win the Nations Championship – this is News24’s Unread.

A 32-year-old man is set to make his first appearance in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after police officers arrested him for robbery and the alleged murder of Mariette Mouton, who was found dead inside her home last Monday.

Thursday will bring with it mostly cloudy and cool conditions, with scattered thundershowers. It will be very hot in places in the Western Cape and warm to hot in the Eastern Cape, according to the South African Weather Service.

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero told councillors on Wednesday that the rainfall in the City was a blessing for their political term.

The Eastern Cape High Court in Gqeberha has found Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in breach of a housing agreement it has failed to honour for nearly three decades, ordering it to finally take concrete steps to complete a development that has left thousands of indigent families without fully serviced homes.

News24 brings you the top stories of the day, summarised into neat little packages. Read through quickly or listen to the articles via our customised text-to-speech feature.

An expectant Buffalo City mother bought several items of clothing ranging from 0 to 3 months in anticipation of her baby boy’s birth. But after giving birth at the Life Beacon Bay Hospital in KuGompo, she had to go back to the outlets to exchange them because her baby, Izimakhe, needed clothes ranging from 3 to 6 months.

Weeks after Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza reinstated Malusi Gigaba as co-chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, the ANC quietly removed him this week.

Five years after the fact, EFF leader Julius Malema finally apologised to Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Elias Matojane for using his position on the Judicial Service Commission to challenge the judge for finding against his party in a defamation case.

Western Cape police have offered a R100 000 reward for information that leads to the successful prosecution of those responsible for the deadly shooting at a KwaNdelu Shisanyama in Lwandle, Strand, which left 10 people dead and 11 others injured.

Two advocates defending former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 others in the R320 million Durban Solid Waste tender fraud trial are no longer part of the legal team representing seven men accused of the murders of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend, Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel has criticised Pretoria’s decision to demarche US ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell on Tuesday, after a week in which Bozell lambasted his host government in a round of media interviews.

Men led a march against gender-based violence in Durban on Wednesday, with the March and March movement saying men must take responsibility for confronting the killing of women and children.

Disagreements between the State and defence in the case of murder-accused UK fugitive Ndodana Tshuma have resulted in more delays in his plea and sentence agreement – a deal he entered into in the hope of returning to the UK, where he is wanted in connection with three murders.

Buffalo City Mayor Princess Faku is accused of leading a “massive” employment drive in one of the ANC’s stronghold wards in Mdantsane, without consulting a fellow councillor.

The Eastern Cape police commissioner has used one word to describe what happened when Gqeberha’s Flying Squad was left without a working vehicle to respond to a major crime scene: “embarrassing”.

ANC Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane has warned party leaders of an internal “political project” to destabilise the ANC.