A tragic domestic violence incident in Tweeling leads to the death of a woman at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, who is later killed in a shootout with police.

A fast-spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the country's deadliest ever after killing more than 2,300 people in three months.

Some outstanding financial results from coal producers in the last few months point to a steady improvement in Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) performance. Thungela Resources reported a sharp improvement in earnings for the six months to June 2026. Headline earnings per share increased 150% to R4.80, while the interim dividend nearly trebled from R2 to R5.50 a share. Net profit of R1.4 billion was boosted by a roughly R1 billion non-cash gain arising from the sale of the Kleinkopje mining right and the release of associated environmental provisions. The results also contain some encouraging evidence that the improvement in TFR’s coal service is translating into additional export sales. Despite flat production in the first half of the year, Thungela’s export sales, including third-party coal, increased by about 12% from 6.6 million tonnes (Mt) to 7.4Mt. Thungela was able to sell around 1.1Mt more coal than its own SA mines produced during the period. The company says this was made possible by improved Transnet rail performance, supplemented by additional rail allocations obtained from producers unable to use their full capacity. It also sold roughly 600 000 tonnes of third-party coal. Transnet’s annualised performance on the coal corridor improved to 59.9Mt during the half-year, from 56.8Mt in 2025. While still well short of historic levels, the improvement allowed Thungela to draw down stockpiles and move additional coal through Richards Bay at a time when international prices were strengthening. The Richards Bay benchmark coal price was 15% higher than in the corresponding period, although some of this benefit was offset by the stronger rand and a lower-quality sales mix. Thungela realised an average price of $89.18 a tonne at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, a 15.7% discount to the benchmark. TFR ‘getting it right’ Jan Havenga, professor in logistics at Stellenbosch University, says it’s gratifying to see the improvements in rail performance showing up in company results. “They’re getting it right under the new management. The target is to get to 75Mt a year on the coal line by 2028/29, but I think we could get there sooner than that. “Russell Baatjies [CEO of TFR] and his team have come up with some interesting solutions around locomotives,” says Havenga. “For example, by redistributing the locomotive fleet and making new deals with original equipment manufacturers. “On top of that, we’ve seen manganese exports improve quite dramatically from 2Mt to 16Mt in the last few years, and I think we will hit 20Mt within a few years. “The iron ore line is also doing well, and I expect we will hit the target of 60Mt within a few years.” It’s a different story for the container rail lines from Durban and Cape Town to Gauteng, says Havenga. That will require more sustained investment and innovative solutions to fix. Thungela isn’t the only company reporting better rail performance. Exxaro is seeing much the same trend. Its coal export sales increased 2% to 7.1Mt in 2025, an improvement the company attributes in part to improvements at TFR coupled with use of alternative export routes. It is targeting roughly 8Mt of exports in 2026, an increase of about 13%. Glencore was forced to curtail production in 2024 due to Transnet’s limited rail capacity, but has since expressed confidence that the situation is on the mend. Export production recovered 8% to 12.6Mt in 2025 as coal-line performance improved – sufficient to consider re-examining expansion projects previously put on ice. These are still the early days of rehabilitation for Transnet, but coal producers are encouraged by the trend on the coal corridor as well as moves by government to open the market to private operators through the creation of an infrastructure manager to referee the process. Richards Bay Coal Terminal The impact of Transnet’s recovery is seen most visibly on volumes through Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), which exported 57.66Mt in 2025, an increase of 11% from 52Mt in 2024 and the highest volume in four years. This followed exports of just 47.21Mt in 2023, the lowest level since 1992, according to Reuters. The number of trains offloaded at the terminal increased from 6 342 in 2024 to 7 157 last year. The daily average rose from 17 to 20 trains. It’s now clear the coal sector has turned the corner, though volumes through RBCT are still well short of its nameplate capacity of 91Mt. If current trends continue and there are no serious derailments, Richards Bay could ship 62Mt this year, with a target to hit 70Mt in the next few years. RBCT exported 76Mt in 2017. Even if it achieves 62Mt in 2026, the terminal would still be operating at only about 68% of capacity and exports would remain 14Mt below the 2017 level. But the trend is certainly pointing in the right direction. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.

The City of Johannesburg’s leadership failure is etched in the thousands of potholes scarring its roads, the 45% of water pumped from which the city receives no revenue due to leaks and illegal connections, and the nearly 30% of electricity lost to theft and faulty meters. Residents have witnessed this descent into darkness over the last decade. But most alarming is the acceleration of this trend in the last three years, which begs the question whether it can be reversed or are we at the precipice of something worse? If Joburg fails, so too does South Africa, concludes the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) in a newly published report, ‘Joburg in Jeopardy’. “Preventing the collapse of Johannesburg must be a national priority,” it says. “The failure of the City impacts on what should be one of South Africa’s biggest assets – a national system of successful cities anchored on Johannesburg.” For all its obvious failings, Joburg remains SA’s most important city, accounting for 70% of corporate head offices. Nearly half of personal income taxes are collected in Gauteng, with 22% coming from Joburg. About 1.9 million people are employed in the city, compared with 1.8 million in Cape Town. Here’s a snapshot of the problem: Joburg Water has an infrastructure backlog of R26.6 billion due to years of underinvestment, and is replacing just 60-70km of piping a year for a network of 12 500km. At current rates, it will take two centuries to replace all ageing pipes. None of the Johannesburg Water board members are professionally qualified engineers despite the city facing one of its worst water crises in decades. The electricity infrastructure backlog is about R44 billion, and showed up in the 54 132 power outages reported between July and December 2025. This included 105 high voltage failures, a 22% increase on the previous year. Cable theft and vandalism accounted for 20% of those outages. There were 23 572 potholes reported to the Johannesburg Roads Agency in the last half of 2025, an average of about 3 900 a month. In the final quarter of 2025, some 55% of the city’s traffic lights experienced faults. The Rea Vaya bus rapid transit system that was supposed to unclog the roads has had to shut down critical feeder routes due to financial pressure. Crime: the murder rates has gone from 25.6 to 35.6 reported murders per 100 000 people since 2012, placing the city among the most dangerous urban centres globally. Some 84% of residents feel unsafe walking at night and this prevents people running viable businesses and offering night-time activities like schooling and 24-hour factories. Then there’s the admin chaos: 155 days and 20 steps required for a building permit, which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says is 10 steps and 40% more costly than other member countries. All this is careering towards bankruptcy, with Joburg owing creditors R25.2 billion but holding just R3.9 billion in cash. More than 80% of the municipal debtors’ book now consists of revenue considered irrecoverable. And if you own a house in Joburg, it would have depreciated by an average of 2% over the last decade while Cape Town house prices have screamed up 60%. Those with the means have installed solar power and JoJo water tanks to inoculate themselves from this chaos. The City of Joburg’s solution is to continue hiking tariffs while services are collapsing. Enough Quality of life surveys show residents are fed up, while the city – once the lodestar for those in search of work – now has the highest unemployment rate, at 35.9%, of any metro. “Johannesburg is the one municipality whose failure would make national success impossible,” says CDE executive director Ann Bernstein. “It raises the critical question: if Johannesburg cannot be fixed, can we fix South Africa?” Since 2016, Joburg has had nine different mayors and eight different coalitions. No mayor completed a full five-year term. “As a result, stable long-term planning has all but disappeared, while appointments, priorities and policies have shifted with the political winds,” says Bernstein. This is a political problem The city’s crisis is not primarily technical, it is political. “The November local government elections are critical to Johannesburg’s future,” says Bernstein. “A continuation of the current political and governance dysfunction would deepen and probably accelerate the city’s decline. “A weak and unstable coalition would struggle to take difficult decisions, appoint capable people, attract partners and investors or sustain a multi-year programme of reform.” If the current path of jostling coalitions continues, Joburg’s decline will no doubt accelerate. What’s needed are effective partnerships and professional leadership reaching outside the political hacks now ensconced in City Hall. Bernstein argues that Joburg has the potential for recovery given its deep financial markets, vibrant private sector, its impressive educational institutions and the many concerned residents and civic organisations willing to take a stand. But this will only work if the upcoming elections produce a new and stable city government. Relying on politicians to get the job done won’t cut it, as we have learned over the last decade. It’s time for the new broom. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.

Kaizer Chiefs have once again been linked with ex-Sundowns and Orlando Pirates attacker Thembinkosi Lorch. Why is this guy always so hyped up in Mzansi? Kaizer Chiefs ‘target’ Lorch has struggled with output Thembinkosi Lorch spent the better part of the two years on the treatment table leading up to 2023. In the 2022-23 campaign, he made just 12 appearances in the league, exactly 40% of the Betway Premiership season, and made just 15 league outings in the season before that. Was Lorch ever worth the trouble? Even when fit and available, he couldn’t string consistent performances together and his direct output of goals and assists wasn’t good either. Chiefs’ links to 33-year-old Lorch seem tenuous, at best. Lorch’s rare moments of brilliance for Bafana We all remember that stunning moment when Lorch broke Egyptian hearts to race clear and dump the 2019 AFCON costs out and send Bafana to the quarter-finals. That stunning July 2019 moment in Cairo feels like lifetimes ago. What’s next for Kaizer Chiefs? Chiefs remain unbeaten in the Betway Premiership. They’ve won matches against Kruger United and Sekhukhune, and held Sundowns to a 1-1 draw on Saturday. Seven points from a possible nine see Chiefs sit atop the embryonic table. Next up for the Glamour Boys is a trip to Richards Bay on 26 August. Let’s remind ourselves that this team won its opening three league clashes last term.

Those who pay their electricity accounts could be carrying some of the cost when Eskom fails to recover money owed through municipalities. Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa raised the issue on Tuesday, 18 August, while outlining government’s Revised Electricity Pricing Policy. Government targets costs passed on to paying customers According to a statement, the policy aims to tackle affordability while changing how electricity tariffs are structured. Ramokgopa said between one and 2.5 percentage points of the current tariff could be linked to Eskom’s inability to recover money owed through municipalities. “You are not allowed to punish those who are paying on account of those who are not paying,” he said. What could change on your electricity bill? Government wants electricity bills to give consumers a clearer breakdown of what they are being charged for. This could include generation costs, transmission and distribution network charges, ancillary services and municipal surcharges. Ramokgopa said Eskom and municipalities should be able to show customers how they arrived at the amount they owe. For households, this could make it easier to see how much of a bill relates to electricity use and how much comes from other charges. The proposal does not guarantee cheaper electricity. It is aimed at making tariffs more transparent and ensuring consumers can see what they are paying for. Changes for vulnerable households Government also wants to improve the way it identifies households that qualify for Free Basic Electricity. Ramokgopa said information already held by government, including social grant and Home Affairs records, could help identify eligible households. The approach could reduce reliance on municipal beneficiary lists, which require regular updating. Annual verification is also proposed so households can be reassessed when their circumstances change. More certainty over future electricity prices Another part of the policy focuses on making electricity prices more predictable. Government wants the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to provide greater certainty over the direction of tariffs. This could help households and businesses plan for electricity costs instead of waiting for annual tariff decisions. The framework will also have to accommodate a changing electricity market, including independent generators, traders and bilateral electricity supply agreements. Special pricing agreements could also be used for energy-intensive industries where electricity costs threaten jobs and operations. Ramokgopa said government was engaging major industrial users, including smelters, about possible negotiated tariffs. When will the changes happen? Consumers will not see the changes on their next electricity bill. Cabinet has approved the Revised Electricity Pricing Policy for public comment, meaning the proposals must still go through the consultation process before they are finalised. The Department of Electricity and Energy says affordability has become a major focus as South Africa’s electricity system stabilises. For consumers, the policy could ultimately answer a question many households have when their electricity bill arrives: What exactly am I paying for?

Replying to a customer on WhatsApp will start costing business users money from October. Meta won’t confirm how much.

Headline inflation slowed to 4.3% in July, ending four months of acceleration - and beating market expectations.