International Mandela Day is more than just a date on the calendar at Delhi’s Bluebells and Springdales schools; it is a vibrant celebration. Decades after the end of apartheid, the schools continue to honour Nelson Mandela’s legacy.

Dina Pule defends her controversial appointment as Social Development Minister, asserting that public office demands accountability and promising to prioritise service delivery for vulnerable South Africans.

Reality television star and businesswoman Zari Hassan has responded to online criticism over her appearance after undergoing a temporal facelift procedure. The Young, Famous & African star said she had a temporal lift, not a full facelift. “I did a temporal lift. Temporal lift is around the eyes… not a full facelift. “I’m just enhancing my looks, but I’ve always been a beautiful woman,” she said in a video shared on social media. Hassan said she was surprised by the attention her face had received. “So for some reason my face is a whole national discussion… My face is right now the talk of the town.” Face lifting when you microbladed eyebrows is the issue….now she has a constantly surprised face— Peach (@outletformind) July 13, 2026 ‘It was makeup’ The TV star explained that the exaggerated look in the viral video was created by her makeup artist, who wanted to try a new eye look. “The makeup was a little extra. He wanted to try something new on my face, which was the fox eye, and it obviously just ended up taking my eyes like all the way that way.” Hassan said she was not trying to hide the cosmetic procedure and encouraged people to do what makes them feel more confident. “I’m not gatekeeping. If you have to do anything that is for you, that’s gonna make you feel better about yourself… why not go and do it?” She ended the video by asking social media users to stop discussing her appearance. “Can you stop talking about my face now?… This is my face, no makeup… That was the makeup.” @zarithebosslady10 looks like my whole country was bombed, who died? Who was hurt? aaiiiii are we that jobless ♬ original sound – zarithebosslady

Madlanga commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga has questioned whether the section 27 referral that led to the arrest of Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and his co-accused met all the legal requirements for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) to initiate an investigation. Idac head Andrea Johnson returned to the Madlanga commission on Wednesday to respond to allegations that Idac unlawfully operates outside of its mandate and that it pursued a criminal case against Khumalo and other officials at Crime Intelligence due to interference at the South African Police Service (Saps). Khumalo was arrested on 26 June 2025 in connection with the alleged irregular appointment of a former BMW employee to the rank of brigadier. On Tuesday, Johnson said the arrest resulted from a criminal complaint filed by National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams. She also defended her office from suggestions that Khumalo’s arrest was due to his involvement with the PKTT. Adams and classified information In September last year, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi flagged MPs for “reckless” use of classified information. One of these MPs was Adams, who opened three criminal cases based on the Crime Intelligence information he had accessed. “This information involved personal information of individuals extracted by Crime Intelligence when conducting a vetting process for security clearance for individuals. It’s very sensitive information because it involves digging deeper into personal details. Adams does not serve on that committee; he serves on the portfolio committee of police. He made the information public,” Mkhwanazi told parliament’s ad hoc committee at the time. Mkhwanazi said on 29 October 2024, Adams opened three cases at the Cape Town Police Station based on the Crime Intelligence information. Two days later, he opened the same cases at the Orlando Police Station. On 1 November, Adams sent an email to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu complaining that there were efforts to undermine the investigation of these cases and requested the minister to intervene. Mchunu intervenes Upon receipt of Adams’ complaint, Mchunu’s office sent a letter to Idac, dated 11 November, requesting Johnson and her team to investigate Adams’ complaint. Johnson confirmed to the commission that the letter from Mchunu’s office did not have any attachments to it to support the complaint. In fact, the commissioners established that the letter did not contain enough information for Idac to institute an investigation. When asked what action she took upon receipt of the letter from Mchunu’s office, Johnson initially told the commissioners she had no recollection of how she responded to the letter. “The letter came to us by hand, and it didn’t have any attachments to it. I looked to see if we replied to it. I can see the letter come in, but we don’t have a response to the ministry acknowledging receipt of the letter,” explained Johnson. “It was afterwards that we got an envelope that was delivered to the office with the section 27. I could not act on this letter because there were no attachments to it. In the acknowledgement of the receipt of the letter to the ministry, I’m not sure that I asked or indicated that there was nothing attached to this letter. Because, a few days later, by way of an envelope, we get the Section 27.” Response deleted? Commissioner Sandile Khumalo said Johnson’s response left the country with the impression that it was deleted. “You use a laptop to draft a letter and your PA would have either printed it from that computer or emailed it to you, and if you are happy with it, you would have appended your signature, and it would have gone to the minister’s office. Now, if you say you have looked, and it’s not there, the question is: what would have happened to that draft, unless somebody deleted it so that it is no longer available,” said Khumalo. Commissioner Sesi Baloyi reminded Johnson that she was not on suspension and still had her work laptop. “You are able to check this and give us a copy of your response,” said Baloyi. Adams’ section 27 affidavit The commissioners took issue with the fact that Johnson’s office contacted Adams for his section 27 affidavit, instead of telling Mchunu’s office they could not take action due to the lack of the section 27. This is because, at that point, Adams had not made any contact with Idac, only Mchunu’s office. Johnson confirmed that she instructed Idac investigator Dylan Perumal to contact Adams about the absence of a section 27, which would have legalised their investigation into Adams’ complaints. Adams submitted his section 27 affidavit, dated 21 November 2024. “Effectively, Idac solicited a section 27 affidavit from Adams. You received a letter from the minister; you then directed Perumal to act on that and contact Adams and ask him for the referral, so you solicited a section 27 affidavit from a would-be complainant,” suggested evidence leader Mahlape Sello. “I don’t agree with the ‘solicited’,” responded Johnson. She later conceded that what Idac did could be viewed as soliciting an affidavit from a would-be complainant. “Is it appropriate for Idac to be soliciting complaints from members of the public on the basis that Idac initiates an investigation?” asked Sello. “No, we’re not supposed to solicit.” Affidavit already prepared? Johnson said when her office contacted Adams, they were not sure if his affidavit had already been prepared. However, Madlanga said evidence suggested the affidavit had not been prepared at that point. “You say you do not know whether the affidavit had already been prepared at the time of your instruction to Perumal. That’s not a fact; the affidavit is dated 21 November 2024. There was no prepared affidavit,” said Madlanga. “The upshot to all of this is that the referral to Idac was by the minister’s office and following that referral, Idac then decided to engage with Adams to obtain an affidavit from him,” added Khumalo. “I suggest to you that you did that because you knew that the minister’s letter does not constitute a section 27 referral and Idac decided to cure that deficiency. So you knew the minister’s letter would not be enough to trigger your mandate, and you sought to cure that shortcoming,” added Sello. Johnson conceded that nothing from the minister’s letter triggered Idac’s mandate to institute an investigation. “Why didn’t you tell the minister you could not do it? Were you fearful of the minister?” Asked Madlanga. Johnson said no.

In 2024, a lawsuit was filed by Sony, Universal Music Group and Warner Music against AI music platform Udio and its competitor Suno, listing 333 copyrighted sound recordings that the platforms used to train their AI models. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein did not, however, allow Sony to add the over 30,000 tracks Sony’s discovery for the case found among Udio’s training datasets. He advised Sony to rather file a new lawsuit because adding to the existing lawsuit at this late stage would delay the conclusion. This brings the total to over 333,000 copyrighted sound recordings that Sony says Udio used without permission to train their AI model, according to MJvibe.com. Sony says it used audio fingerprinting technology to match its copyrighted recordings to material allegedly used to train Udio’s AI model without permission. This includes Michael Jackson’s catalogue. Other big musicians who fell victim and are part of the claim are Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Elvis Presley, among others, according to Variety. Not only does Sony want at least $150,000 (R2,469,802,50) for each work infringed, which could amount to as much as $4.5 billion (R74,094,075,000), but it is asking the court to block Udio from using its work to train its models.

Sekunjalo Group has announced it will stop funding Independent Media after investing more than R5.2 billion into the business over the past decade, casting uncertainty over the future of some of South Africa’s best-known newspaper titles. The group also confirmed that Independent Media’s licence to publish mastheads such as the Cape Times, The Star and The Mercury will expire at the end of July 2026. Funding comes to an end According to 2oceansvibe, Sekunjalo Group CEO Lucien Jacobs said in a statement that the company could no longer justify ongoing financial support for Independent Media. “While previous leadership continued funding Independent Media despite sustained losses in order to preserve jobs, support journalism and promote media freedom, our responsibility is to ensure that the business operates on sound commercial principles,” Jacobs said. According to Sekunjalo, the group has invested more than R5.2 billion since acquiring Independent Media in 2013. That includes: R1.8 billion in direct operational funding for Independent Media R2.2 billion invested in media-related businesses, technology platforms and infrastructure Additional investment linked to the 2013 acquisition and related media assets Newspaper masthead licences to expire Sekunjalo confirmed that the licensing agreement allowing Independent Media Publications to publish several historic newspaper brands expired at the end of June. A one-month extension was granted until 31 July 2026, after which the licences will terminate. The affected titles include: Cape Times The Star The Mercury Jacobs said Sekunjalo is considering several options for the newspaper brands, including retaining them within the group, licensing them to another publisher or pursuing another commercially viable arrangement. Uncertain future for Independent Media Independent Media was acquired in 2013 in a R2.1 billion transaction. Sekunjalo’s consortium contributed R1.2 billion, while the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) invested R880 million. Jacobs said Independent Media has been formally notified that it can no longer depend on continued financial support from Sekunjalo. “As a result, the company’s ability to continue operating as a viable business is now uncertain,” he said. Sekunjalo said discussions will continue with fellow shareholders, including the PIC, SACTWU and Interacom, but no decision has yet been made about what Independent Media will look like after July. The announcement raises fresh questions about the future of several of South Africa’s oldest newspaper brands, as the media industry continues to grapple with declining print revenues and the ongoing shift to digital news consumption. When last did you read the Cape Times – or any newspaper for that matter? Let us know by clicking on the comment banner below …

From kilowatt-hours to charging costs, two EV veterans answer the questions new buyers actually ask.

Centracom's Peter Bokaba on the fraud that turns hijacked phone systems into profit machines.