As new car prices continue to rise, along with the price of fuel and the broader cost of living, buying one of South Africa’s more affordable cars is no longer as inexpensive as it once was. For buyers shopping below the R23 0000 mark, the gap between new and nearly new is worth looking at closely. A one-year-old version of the same car might have low mileage and warranty cover remaining but with part of the first year’s depreciation reflected in the price. AutoTrader used car data shows that the saving is not consistent across the entry-level market. Some of South Africa’s most economical new cars are listed for thousands of rand less after a year on the road, while others remain close to their original price. In one case, the average used price is higher than the current listed new price. The comparison looks at selected entry-level models by their base trim levels, using their new prices against average listed prices for one-year-old examples on AutoTrader.  Mileage is generally low, with all models in the sample averaging below 20 000km. “The first-year depreciation gap matters most where household budgets are already tight,” said AutoTrader chief executive George Mienie. “At the lower end of the market, a saving of R10 000 or R20 000 is not incidental. “ It can influence finance approval, monthly repayments, insurance affordability and even whether a buyer can move into a better-specified model. That is why nearly-new cars have become such an important part of the affordability conversation.” Renault’s Kwid 1.0 Evolution shows the largest percentage gap in the data. It is priced at R178 999 new, while one-year-old used examples average R156 129. That puts the used average R22 870 lower than the new price, a difference of 12.8%, with average mileage of 9 261km. The Proton Saga 1.3 Standard Manual is another strong case for buying nearly new. A new example is priced at R209 900, while one-year-old used models average R190 730.  That is a saving of R19 170, or 9.1%, with a low average mileage of 2 519km. On paper, that puts it among the stronger nearly new propositions in the group, particularly because the average mileage is much lower than the Kwid’s. The rest of the field shows why the picture is not as simple as ranking the cars by percentage saving alone. The Suzuki Swift 1.2 GL shows a notable saving in cash terms. It is priced at R228 900 new, while one-year-old used examples average R215 045. That is a difference of R13 855, or 6.1%.  The Swift, one of the top 10 best-selling used vehicles on AutoTrader, also has the largest number of listings by far, with 914 examples listed for sale between 1 January 2025 and 30 April 2026. Suzuki’s S-Presso 1.0 GL Manual sits closer to the middle of the group. It is priced at R178 900 new, compared with an average used price of R168 952. That gives a saving of R9 948, or 5.6%, with average mileage of 4 814km. Another contender among the country’s best-selling new and used cars, the Hyundai Grand i10 1.0 Premium hatchback, follows a similar pattern. It is priced at R224 900 new, while a one-year-old example averages R215 551. That represents a 4.2% saving, or R9 349 in rand terms. Like the Swift, it is one of the more widely available used options in this comparison. The Hyundai Grand i10 The appeal of buying used over new shrinks with some vehicles. The Suzuki Celerio 1.0 GA, for instance, is priced at R188 900 new, while one-year-old used examples average R181 634. That is a saving of R7 266, or 3.8%, with average mileage of 4 111km. Highlighting the strength of the Toyota badge, the Vitz 1.0, a rebadged version of the Celerio, holds its value more strongly. Its new retail price is R180 600, while one-year-old used models average R176 192.  That leaves a saving of R4 408, or just 2.4%, with average mileage of 8 738km. For buyers, that relatively small difference might make a new Vitz the more appealing option, depending on dealer specials, finance terms and warranty cover. Elsewhere, the Tata Tiago 1.2 XM’s saving is modest but more intriguing. Against a new price of R189 900, one-year-old used examples average R182 948, saving buyers R6 952, or about 3.7%. Average mileage is particularly low at 1 248km, suggesting that some buyers could be getting a lightly used vehicle at a lower price. The Tata Tiago The smallest saving on average belongs to the Renault Kiger 1.0 Evolution. The crossover is priced at R219 999, while 2025-registered examples average R218 010. This is probably because the available 2025 models are essentially new, with average mileage of just 413km. However, the Renault Triber 1.0 Evolution, the cheapest seven-seater in South Africa, is the biggest outlier in the group. Although the vehicle retails for R218 999 new, one-year-old used examples are listed for R9 903 more on average, despite average mileage of 2 355km. It is possible that demand on the used market is pushing prices above the new car list price. The Triber’s seven-seat layout and relatively low purchase price make it attractive to buyers who need affordable passenger-carrying capacity, including ride-hailing drivers, taxi operators and other service-based users.  In a high-demand market, this can sometimes produce counterintuitive pricing, where nearly new examples are advertised at a premium rather than a discount. While the data does not confirm the cause, strong used-market demand would help explain why the Triber sits apart from the rest of the group. It also shows why buyers should compare individual listings carefully rather than assuming a one-year-old car will automatically be cheaper than a new one. For shoppers willing to consider a one-year-old car, there are savings to be found among some of South Africa’s cheapest vehicles.  On this data, the Renault Kwid delivers the biggest headline saving. But the Proton Saga looks like the stronger nearly new value buy once mileage is taken into account, combining one of the largest discounts in the group with notably low average mileage.

As conflict in the Middle East redraws global shipping routes, scientists are warning that South Africa’s west coast is becoming an emerging danger zone for whales. Thousands of commercial vessels avoiding instability in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz are rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, dramatically increasing maritime traffic through some of the world’s richest whale habitats. New preliminary research presented to the International Whaling Commission by researchers from the University of Pretoria’s Whale Unit at the Mammal Research Institute, Afriseas Solutions and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, found extensive overlap between whale habitats  and major shipping corridors around Cape Town, Saldanha Bay and Cape Agulhas. The analysis found that the number of large, fast-moving vessels travelling faster than 15 knots — considered the greatest ship-strike threat to whales — has quadrupled since late 2023. The assessment combines species distribution models for six whale species — Bryde’s whale, Southern right whale, Humpback whale, Fin whale, Sei whale, Sperm whale — with vessel traffic data to map areas of heightened exposure risk along South Africa’s southwest coast. “The risk has increased very simply because there’s more ships,” said professor Els Vermeulen the chief scientist of the whale unit. “And so we did a risk assessment to kind of pinpoint the areas where that risk is highest but it doesn’t mean we see an increased mortality, it doesn’t mean we see an increase in injuries. If anything, a lot of mortality related to ship strikes in general globally is cryptic.” Vermeulen explained that whale deaths from ship strikes are often invisible. “It happens offshore, if whales get hit, they will sink – they don’t necessarily strand for us to see so we can’t go around waiting for data to see an increase in mortality.  “When we have an increase in shipping, we know there’s an increased risk and what we did is try to map where that high risk is and how that overlaps with the distribution of different whales.” South Africa’s recorded data reflects this invisibility. “The numbers we have just shows it’s super low; we have just, in the last 50 years of stranding data and we can see that less than 1% of that relates to ship strike and confirms a lot of what might be happening is cryptic, we don’t see it per se,” she said. According to the preliminary assessment, the southwestern Cape coast is one of southern Africa’s busiest maritime corridors, anchored by major ports including Cape Town and Saldanha Bay, as well as a key mineral export terminal at Saldanha. It is also an established global shipping route. In recent years, pressure on this already congested sea space has increased further. Geopolitical instability in the Red Sea has led to about 18 international shipping companies rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. This diversion has significantly increased vessel traffic along South Africa’s west coast.  Cruise ship activity has also risen, with Cape Town recording 83 cruise ship calls in the 2024/25 season. At the same time, the region supports productive fisheries, including deep-sea trawl, longline, purse seine and small-scale artisanal fisheries across Cape Town, Saldanha Bay, St Helena Bay and Lamberts Bay. The authors warned that this convergence of intensive shipping, fishing activity and high densities of recovering whale populations has created an elevated risk of whale ship strikes along the southwest coast. The International Whaling Commission has identified ship strikes as one of the most serious global threats to large whale populations and has recommended a detailed risk assessment for the approaches to the Port of Cape Town.  The International Maritime Organisation has also been working on measures to reduce strike risk globally. A recent global review further highlights southern Africa as a major gap in ship-strike management and flags the region as requiring urgent attention. South Africa’s southwestern coast and the Benguela upwelling system support globally significant populations of humpback, southern right, Bryde’s, blue, fin and sei whales, as well as sperm whales. In recent years, scientists have also documented humpback whale “supergroups” — large feeding aggregations of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of whales in confined areas linked to favourable conditions in the Benguela ecosystem. According to the preliminary assessment, this convergence has created a zone of elevated strike exposure where whale habitats and shipping corridors overlap most intensely around Cape Town, Saldanha Bay, Cape Point and Cape Agulhas. The researchers found that ship-strike risk is now a present and pressing issue for both inshore and offshore species. The study also highlights suspected underreporting of whale ship strikes, citing research indicating that only 0.6% of more than 7 000 recorded cetacean mortality and morbidity cases in South Africa over 50 years were attributed to vessel collisions. “This figure seems implausibly low given the demonstrated overlap between whales and shipping,” the preliminary assessment said. “Limited carcass recovery and observations (reflecting the high current speeds and high energy coastlines of the region), difficulty in assigning cause of death and the near absence of offshore detection all likely contribute to this underestimation.” As a result, the researchers argue, strike data alone cannot be relied upon to assess risk. “Consequently, strike incidence records alone cannot serve as a reliable measure of risk and model-based approaches and the drawing on international experiences are essential to identify areas of concern.” The modelling shows that vessel traffic has increased substantially since December 2023, with the fastest ships — those most likely to cause lethal collisions — rising by a factor of four. The analysis suggests that relatively modest changes to shipping routes could significantly reduce risk. Shifting lanes slightly further offshore — by less than 20 nautical miles — could reduce strike exposure by 20% to 50% depending on species, while having minimal impact on voyage distances that often exceed 12000 nautical miles. The greatest reductions were estimated for Bryde’s whales (50%), humpback whales (40%) and southern right whales (31%). Even offshore species such as fin and sperm whales showed measurable reductions in risk. However, the researchers caution these results are preliminary. “The risk estimates are based on relative occurrence probabilities from SDMs [species distribution models] rather than absolute density data.” Offshore whale distributions remain poorly understood and require further research, including dedicated surveys and tracking. For Vermeulen, the challenge is to balance precaution with data limitations. “We can’t quantify what this means for populations and it’s not something we can even try to attempt to quantify because again if we don’t know what the mortality rate is, we can’t see how that impacts a population, right, so I don’t think we need to wait for that either. “We have an issue, it’s very simple. There’s more ships and we have a lot of whales in our waters so that means there is an increased risk; it means we need to mitigate and minimise risks.” Researchers are focusing on what is feasible with current data. “There’s a lot of shipping lanes that come together around the Cape of Good Hope,” she said. “That’s quite a big hotspot because all the different lanes come together, they congregate in that area. “And then you have something called port approaches. It’s where the ships divert from the lane and they go into port. And so you can’t reroute a port approach because they obviously have to go to port so that’s usually where you look at speed restrictions in certain areas.” Vermeulen said international discussions are already underway with shipping bodies and regulators. “We’re not pointing fingers at anyone, this is a global issue that has led ships to reroute for human safety. “A lot of these stakeholders who are shipping companies and the World Shipping Council and the International Maritime Organisation, they’re all sitting with us, they’re all keen to talk about this … A lot of them are very happy to adhere to guidelines, even voluntarily, so once in SA waters it’s going to be up to us and the government now to say, okay these are the guidelines you want you to follow.” Researchers are particularly concerned about the humpback whale supergroups that form off the west coast during summer months. “We have these very large aggregations of hundreds of humpback whales and those kinds of concentrations or densities of whales really worry us the most especially with port approaches because these ships then come very close to shore,” Vermeulen said. “And whales that are feeding might not be very much aware of their surroundings or they’re very much engaged in other types of behaviour.” Large whales are especially vulnerable because of their size and the limits of ship manoeuvrability. “To divert a ship of that size last minute because now you just saw a whale in front of you is fairly impossible,” she said. Whales, she warned, may struggle to detect large vessels acoustically. “The whale may not necessarily know where the front of that ship is because they depend so much on acoustic signals,” she said. “That is something that might limit them to avoid large vessels when they’re close by.”

Producing a ruthless defensive masterclass, the Gauteng Golden Fireballs avenged their Power Week 1 heartbreak by hammering the North West Flames 58–28.

Despite securing a dramatic 2–0 final-day victory to end a 14-year league drought, an emotional Abdeslam Ouaddou admits his future at Orlando Pirates remains highly uncertain.

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has expressed delight after ending the club’s 14-year wait for the Betway Premiership title.This after the Buccaneers beat ORBIT College 2-0 in a match played at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday to leapfrog defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns at the top and win the league title.The result also saw the Mswenko Boys making an immediate return to the Motsepe Foundation Championship having won promotion to the elite league at the end of the 2024/25 season. “I think it’s a great, big moment for the Orlando community, for the fans. I think they have been waiting for a long time, 14 years is a lot,” Ouaddou told SuperSport TV after the game in Mbombela.“We have to give credit to our boys today, they fought to make them happy so I have a thought for all the lovers of Pirates in all South Africa. They have been fantastic all season, supporting us, it was not an easy season.“Credit has to be given to the players, the club and for me I’m a happy man. I’m a happy man today to bring joy to millions of people here, they deserved it,” added Ouaddou.“I was saying to the people at the beginning of the season, just be patient. People will say that we dropped points, but many teams dropped points and you can see that this point that we dropped was not a dropped point, it was a good point and today you can see the title and I’m happy for the Orlando community,” concluded the Moroccan.

Get the Lotto and Lotto Plus results as soon as they are drawn on The Citizen, so you can rest easy and check your tickets with confidence. Estimated Lotto and Lotto jackpots for Saturday, 23 May 2026: Lotto: R10.5 million Lotto Plus 1: R6 million Lotto Plus 2: R8.5 million Lotto and Lotto Plus results for Saturday, 23 May 2026: Lotto: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00. Bonus: 00. Lotto Plus 1: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00. Bonus: 00. Lotto Plus 2: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00. Bonus: 00. The winning Lotto numbers will appear after the draw. Usually within 10 minutes of the draw. You might need to refresh the page to see the updated results. While great care has been taken to ensure accuracy, The Citizen cannot take responsibility for any error in the results. We suggest verifying the numbers on the National Lottery website. For more details and to verify the PowerBall results, visit the National Lottery website. When do South African National Lottery ticket sales close? Lottery outlets close at 8.30pm on the day of a draw, which takes place at 9pm. The terms and conditions may differ from other service outlets. Visit www.nationallottery.co.za for more information. You can find the historical winning numbers for PowerBall and Lotto draws here. How much does it cost to play Lotto? Lotto entries cost R5 per board including VAT. Lotto Plus costs an additional R2.50 per board. You can also play Lotto on selected banking apps (T’s & C’s apply).

Orlando Pirates ended their 14-year league drought in dramatic fashion, benefiting from two own goals by Orbit College defenders Ndumiso Ngiba and Sabelo Nkomo in a tense final-day clash. Needing only a victory to seal the title, the Buccaneers dominated proceedings but struggled to convert their chances. Their breakthrough eventually came through an unfortunate own goal before a second defensive error from Orbit handed Pirates a comfortable cushion. The result secured a historic treble for the Sea Robbers, capping off a memorable campaign. However, the nature of the victory sparked debate among rival supporters on social media, with some questioning the legitimacy of the result after Orbit conceded two own goals. Pirates benefit after own goals @Ta_Fitty wrote: “Hayi no, the bank notifications have reflected now.” @NathiSibiya8 added: “I’ve never seen such — two own goals. They must be investigated.” @MrksPSLClub posted: “These are the weakest champions I’ve ever seen. “You play two games without scoring a single goal, then on the last day the Orbit goalkeeper scores an own goal. Then Orbit score another own goal. “Was this league bought by Pirates knowing next season VAR is coming?” Despite the criticism, Pirates supporters quickly defended their club and pointed to past incidents involving Mamelodi Sundowns. Fans referenced Sundowns’ 7-4 victory over Siwelele, a match in which Siwelele also conceded two own goals. Siwelele fielded a Sundowns loanee goalkeeper. pic.twitter.com/pcYc5BvzBN— Mxo♉️ (@mxo_crocs) May 23, 2026 By the way, Sundowns benefited from two own goals against Siwelele, so what’s the issue with Pirates benefiting from two own goals against Orbit College? #BetwayPREM #OnceAlways pic.twitter.com/RVmXl1rQnI— 𝕄𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕠 (@maboss_1) May 23, 2026 @JustTrish_23 responded: “Siwelele scored two own goals and conceded seven. Nobody cried, we all laughed about it.” @NtombikayiseBa6 added: “Siwelele literally scored two own goals and still failed to win the league, that’s the truth we both know. I’m loving your tears though.” What’s your take? was the trophy earned?

Just a few months after going viral over his appearance at the Scorpion Kings concert late last year, Cassper Nyovest is showing off a lean frame. The rapper showed off the visuals for his new single, released this week. CASSPER NYOVEST SHOWS OFF WEIGHT LOSS On his social media platforms, Cassper Nyovest announced his new single, Phunyuka Bamphethe. The single featured artwork of the rapper showing off his recent weight loss In the pics, the father-of-two wore a black vest and leather pants and boots as he leaned against a vintage car. His new lean frame, likely the result of months of working out in the gym, was not lost on fans. When one asked if he had taken any weight loss drugs, Cassper responded: “Ozempic? Me? Hahah, you think Ozempic gives you muscles? Are you dumb?” When another asked him to drop his secret, the 35-year-old responded: “Lift heavy weights and eat less food. Starch and sugar are the biggest enemies. Keep your diet meat and vegetables” Cassper added that he had worked hard to build muscle. My new single #PhunyukaBamphethe out now!!! Stream it on all major streaming platforms!!! pic.twitter.com/BsElWZrLo5— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) May 22, 2026 Phunyuka Bamphethe pic.twitter.com/3gMmbSbAEk— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) May 22, 2026 THAT MILADYS MEME In August last year, photos of a heavier Cassper Nyovest went viral after he appeared at the Scorpion Kings concert at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. The rapper was trolled over his weight and his choice of outfit, a denim two-piece paired with white boots, which social media users joked he had bought at the women’s fashion store, Miladys. Responding to the fat-shaming jibes, Cassper said in a video post at the time: “The comments were harsh and hurt my feelings. But sometimes that’s what you need – a little push. “It is a projection of how you feel about yourself by body-shaming me. You don’t know what I’m going through. I’m going to take the lemons and turn them into lemonade. The muso revealed that as a result, he had quickly returned to training and had taken up cardio to lose weight. Cassper Nyovest has embarked on a weight-loss journey after receiving criticism for his weight gain during his Scorpion Kings concert performance, saying the comments hurt his feelings. pic.twitter.com/3aPUdY7wTu— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) September 7, 2025

South Africa's national treasury is not regulating crypto into submission. It is regulating itself into irrelevance.

The Gautrain Management Agency reportedly plans to launch its own Uber- and Bolt-style e-hailing service in October.