Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu handed a cellphone to police during a search at his KwaZulu-Natal family home. His spokesperson said the device was surrendered in the presence of his attorney.

Eight-year-old Mitchell’s Plain dancer Sage Faith Jane helped First Step Dance School’s group win gold at the Dance Wave National Championships in Roodepoort after her family raised R15 000 to cover the trip.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has dragged four political parties over municipal candidate lists to the Electoral Court, arguing that voters should know which individuals could ultimately occupy proportional representation (PR) seats before casting their ballots in the 2026 local government elections. The DA’s legal challenge targets ActionSA, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and Good. At the centre of the dispute is the parties’ alleged move to submit only a single candidate in each municipality they are contesting, while potentially adding further names to their lists after the election. The DA contends that this approach goes beyond what the law intended when it created limited circumstances in which political parties may supplement their candidate lists. DA heads to Electoral Court over candidate lists In papers before the Electoral Court, DA Federal Council chairperson Ashor Sarupen argued that the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act requires parties to submit their lists of candidates ahead of an election. According to Sarupen, the legislation does make provision for a party to add candidates before the first meeting of a municipal council. However, this is only applicable in circumstances where the party has genuinely underestimated the level of support it would receive and subsequently obtains more seats than it has candidates available to fill those positions. He argued that the provision should not be used as a deliberate strategy. “Their intent is to supplement their lists after the election, without ever revealing their candidates before the election. “They want to abuse the narrow exception for good faith mistakes in estimating support, and convert it into an election strategy that fundamentally undermines democracy. “They do not want voters to know who they are voting for. “They do not want a fair competition with other political parties where both sides know who the other’s candidates are,” Sarupen’s affidavit stated. DA accuses parties of ‘bending the rules’ Sarupen also criticised the alleged approach in a statement, accusing the parties of “bending the rules”. “The law in question was not crafted to allow parties to hide or conceal their candidates from voters and wait for the election to be done before submitting names to the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa]. “Doing this is a perversion of the very meaning of a candidate election and is deeply disrespectful to South African voters. “The law was only intended to cover situations where parties make entirely unexpected and fortuitous surges in support and end up winning a few more PR seats than their lists could cover before the election,” the statement, released on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, reads. The DA also referred to the ANC’s exclusion from contesting in several municipalities after it failed to submit its candidate lists to the IEC by the 28 August deadline. “If the ANC engaged in the same wilful deception of voters and only submitted one name on the list, it would be on the ballot.” The ANC is appealing an Electoral Court judgment that ruled in favour of the IEC. Sarupen added: “Voters must be presented the candidates they are voting for. Elections cannot become games of slight-of-hand. “The ballot box must determine which candidates are elected.” ActionSA rejects DA’s case ActionSA has rejected the DA’s challenge, with national chairperson Michael Beaumont accusing the opposition party of attempting to use the courts for its own agenda. “ActionSA notes the frivolous and undemocratic legal case filed by the DA to disenfranchise voters through the courts that they cannot win at the ballot box. “ActionSA will respond tomorrow and we will defeat this plan to back door a qualified franchise in South Africa,” Beaumont said on X. ActionSA notes the frivolous and undemocratic legal case filed by the DA to disenfranchise voters through the courts that they cannot win at the ballot box.ActionSA will respond tomorrow and we will defeat this plan to back door a qualified franchise in South Africa. pic.twitter.com/IIIyBcMa8M— Michael Beaumont (@ME_Beaumont) September 22, 2026

Get the PowerBall and PowerBall Xtra results as soon as they are drawn on The Citizen, so you can rest easy and check your tickets with confidence. Estimated jackpots for Tuesday, 22 September 2026: PowerBall jackpot: R58 million guaranteed. PowerBall Xtra jackpot: R17 million estimated. PowerBall and PowerBall Xtra results for Tuesday, 22 September 2026: PowerBall: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00. Powerball: 00. PowerBall Xtra: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00. Powerball: 00. The winning PowerBall 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 PowerBall or PowerBall Plus results. We suggest verifying the numbers on the National Lottery website. How much does it cost to play PowerBall? Lottery outlets close at 8.30pm on the day of a draw, which happens 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 PowerBall? PowerBall entries cost R10 per board including VAT. PowerBall Plus costs an additional R5 per board. You can also play PowerBall on selected banking apps (T’s & C’s apply). Visit www.nationallottery.co.za and go to the How to Play section to find out more.

It’s time for today’s Daily Lotto draw! Could tonight be your lucky night? The Daily Lotto jackpot is once again up for grabs – and it stands at an estimated R400 000. Remember: The Daily Lotto jackpot prize money is guaranteed to be given away even if no one matches all five numbers. All it takes is a ticket to turn your dreams into reality because, as the saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it! The winning numbers will be updated below as soon as they’re drawn. TUESDAY’S DAILY LOTTO NUMBERS 00, 00, 00, 00, 00 Draw date: 22 September 2026 Did you miss a draw and wonder if you won? Click here to view every past Daily Lotto result since Sizekhaya took over as National Lottery operators on 1 June 2026. For more details and to verify the winning numbers, visit the National Lottery website. You must always confirm the official winning numbers on the National Lottery website.

Actress Hayden Panettiere, who starred in the popular TV series “Heroes” and “Nashville,” died from a cocktail of drugs that included fentanyl, a US coroner said on Tuesday. The 36-year-old former child star was discovered unresponsive at a home in South Carolina last month, reportedly by long-term partner Brian Hickerson and his brother. No signs of trauma US media said Hickerson handed paramedics a bag of medications as they gave the unconscious Panettiere Narcan – a drug used to counter the effects of a fentanyl overdose – but she was declared dead at the scene. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said on Tuesday an autopsy showed no signs of trauma and classified the death as an accident. Tests revealed the cause of death to be the toxic effects of fentanyl, in combination with a generic version of Xanax, a muscle relaxant, and an anti-psychotic drug. An investigation into Panettiere’s death is likely to focus on where she obtained the drugs, and could echo the probe into the circumstances surrounding the overdose of Matthew Perry, who died in a hot tub in his Los Angeles home in 2023. Five people were sentenced for their roles in supplying the “Friends” actor with the drugs that killed him. Dark personal history Born in 1989, Hayden Panettiere’s credits include “Remember The Titans,” “Ice Princess,” “Scream 4” and “Scream VI.” She worked in Hollywood all her life, appearing in commercials at just 11 months of age and winning a Grammy nomination for voicing the “Princess Dot” character in the 1998 movie “A Bug’s Life” when she was nine. But behind the successful career lay a dark personal history. In a memoir released in May, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” she described the pressures of being a child star and her experiences with alcohol and opioid addiction and recovery. Turned to alcohol Hayden Panettiere had a daughter with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. In one of her final interviews before her death, she told parenting magazine Mome that the extremely painful and dangerous birth had left her depressed and made her turn to alcohol. She then gave custody of her daughter to Klitschko. “I was going through a really challenging time in my life,” she said in the interview. “I knew I needed to be able to put her first so that I could get the help I needed and be the mom she needed me to be.” In an interview with NPR radio in May, Panettiere said she was able to cry on cue just by channeling difficult emotions. The skill helped her career but “the thoughts and the places that I had to go in my head became darker and darker.” “How could that not have an emotional impact over time on you?” she asked. By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse

The CEO who rebuilt Cell C from near-collapse has put R20.8-million of his own money in.

South Africa cannot bank the unbanked until it solves identity, Nedbank’s outgoing COO has said.