The village of uMhlwazi, which sits among the rolling mountains of uMhlumayo in KwaZulu-Natal’s uThukela district, feels forgotten. With barely any services and almost entirely cut off from the rest of the predominantly rural district, daily life in the impoverished village is marked by isolation and hardship. The Mail & Guardian witnessed first-hand the struggles faced by residents trying simply to move in and out of the community. After more than three hours on a heavily potholed tar road that ends halfway, the journey continued along a punishing gravel route leading to the village. uMhlwazi lies roughly three hours from the seat of the Alfred Duma local municipality, headquartered in the town of Ladysmith, known to locals as eMnambithi. Running through the middle of the village is the Indaka River, both a lifeline and a danger to residents. With no water infrastructure, villagers rely on the river as their only source of water, sharing it with livestock. But locals say the river has also claimed six lives over the years, earning it the grim nickname: “the river of death”. Community leader Khanyisani Sibisi initially appeared reluctant to speak to the M&G. “Nizohlekisa ngosizi lwethu,” he said angrily. “You’re here to make a mockery of our struggles. People are perishing here.” Village elder Mboniseni Mazibuko later explained the source of Sibisi’s frustration. “Please pardon him. He lost his younger brother in these waters,” Mazibuko said, pointing at the river. “Government officials have come here and made a lot of promises. People are angry.” Pupils not only walk kilometres to reach Mandlakhe High School, the only secondary school serving several surrounding villages but must also risk crossing the Indaka River, which residents say is infested with crocodiles. The community has never had a bridge connecting it to the other side. Local councillor Bongani Nicholas Madondo said the provincial department of transport must take responsibility for the community’s ongoing suffering. “Government officials and the department of transport have visited this area several times and made many promises,” Madondo said. “The first was former KwaZulu-Natal transport MEC Willies Mchunu, who presided over a sod-turning ceremony and promised a bridge would be built. Nothing came from that. The current education MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, also conducted a sod-turning ceremony in 2023.” Madondo said residents remained traumatised by repeated drownings, including the death of 36-year-old Lungeleni Shabalala. Shabalala had travelled to Ladysmith, the nearest town serving the surrounding villages, to buy household items when she drowned while attempting to cross the river, he said. Her body was recovered the following afternoon. “Two learners have also died in similar incidents,” said Madondo. “Parents sometimes keep their children at home during rainy days because they fear for their safety. The situation is catastrophic.” He said the lack of a bridge also stripped grieving families of dignity during funerals. “During burials, families are forced to carry coffins across the river,” he said. “It completely takes away their dignity.” Mncedisi Maphisa, chairperson of the transport portfolio committee in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, described the situation as “a travesty of justice”. “We will seek answers about what happened to the funds meant for the construction of this much-needed bridge,” Maphisa said. “If there are people who must be held accountable, heads will roll.” In the nearby village of Mbondwane, about 15km away, residents described similar hardship. The only bridge serving the community was damaged during floods, forcing parents to carry children on their backs across dangerous sections so they can reach Mnyanda Primary School. Villagers also told the M&G that there are no nearby clinics and that poor cellphone reception leaves them isolated.  “We are shut off from the world because there’s no network in our village,” said resident Sphelele Gumede. “We have to climb the mountains just to make calls or receive important ones.” uMhlumayo falls under the traditional leadership of eMangweni. KwaZulu-Natal transport department spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said he was uncertain about the status of the bridge project. “I will have to check with the engineers regarding the status of the bridge,” he said.

A court case that most South Africans probably scrolled past this month deserves a lot more attention than it got. On 30 April 2026, the Western Cape High Court ruled that Cape Town’s fixed charges for citywide cleaning, water and sanitation were unlawful and unconstitutional.  The South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) brought the case and won. The city has since decided not to appeal, which tells you everything you need to know about the strength of its legal position. The issue was that Cape Town had structured the fixed service charges so that the amount you paid was calculated based on your property’s value. The more expensive your property, the more you paid for cleaning and basic water, regardless of how much water you used or how much rubbish you generated.  The court found that linking a service charge to property value converts it into a property tax in disguise. Municipalities don’t have the legal authority to introduce new property taxes. That power sits with the national government. What looked like a service charge was, legally speaking, an unlawful levy. The city is scrambling to rework a budget that depended on roughly R2 billion in revenue from those charges. A new draft budget goes out for public comment on 27 May 2026. Sapoa has said citywide cleaning should be funded through property rates, the mechanism that exists for broad-based municipal expenditure. The city appears to agree. Why does this matter beyond the Western Cape? The ruling is a mirror being held up to every municipality in the country. Municipalities have a problem and it is one that few are willing to talk about honestly. They are over-reliant on a small group of people to fund their budgets — property owners. Property taxes and rates make up a disproportionate share of municipal income in most of our major cities.  When you add surcharges and service fees that get stacked on top of rate bills, a significant portion of what municipalities collect comes from the same pool of ratepayers. That is not a sustainable funding model and it creates a political temptation that is almost impossible to resist. To put it another way, if you need more money, you look at property owners because they’re paying, their properties are registered and they’re relatively easy to bill. Cape Town’s value-linked charges were a version of that temptation. Instead of going through the proper legislative process to increase rates, which requires alignment with the national framework and public consultation, the city found a creative workaround.  Link the service charge to property value, collect more from higher-value properties and achieve the revenue outcome without technically calling it a rate increase. The court said no. Here is what the data tells us about the broader problem. According to research compiled from the National Treasury’s local government data, property rates as a share of municipal operating revenue have climbed steadily over the past decade. In the metros, rates income has in many cases grown faster than inflation — and significantly faster than the property values being taxed.  The City of Cape Town’s budget shows rates income growing at compound rates that have consistently outpaced CPI. The same pattern holds in Johannesburg, Tshwane and eThekwini, where property rate increases have run between 8% and 12% annually, even during periods when inflation was at 4% or 5%. For property owners, this is not an abstract policy conversation. It lands on your doorstep in the form of a municipal account that seems to grow faster than almost anything else in your cost of living. Being a property owner in South Africa in 2025 is sometimes not as glamorous as it looks. The romanticised version of buying a property, building wealth, collecting rent and retiring comfortably has become something different. The costs of owning, maintaining and managing property have escalated dramatically while the income from that property has often not kept pace. Think about what goes into owning a property. You start with transfer duty on acquisition, which applies at a graduated rate to purchases above R1.1 million, plus conveyancing fees, bond registration costs and potentially an estate agent commission.  That’s before you’ve switched on a light. Then come the monthly costs of the bond, levies if you’re in a complex, property rates, building insurance, maintenance and repairs.  If you’re a landlord, add vacancy periods, property management fees if you use an agent, the cost of tenant disputes and the risk of a non-paying tenant you cannot remove quickly because the Rental Housing Tribunal moves at its own pace. As for the effectiveness of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998, let me save the rant for another article. Rates alone have become a material line item. A property valued at R3m in Cape Town can attract a monthly rates bill of R2 500 to R3 500 or more, depending on the category and the valuation cycle. The number was lower five years ago.  In Johannesburg, where property values in many areas have gone flat or backwards in real terms, rates bills have kept climbing. You are paying more for a municipal service in a city where the roads are worse, the water infrastructure is under pressure and load shedding, while recently improved, has cost property owners significantly in generator investments and electricity surcharges. The cumulative effect on affordability is real and underestimated. When first-time buyers do the maths on whether they can afford a property, they typically look at the bond repayment and maybe the levy. Rates often get underestimated. The cost of maintenance, which, for an average freestanding house, is roughly 1% of the property value a year almost never features in the calculation.  The true cost of owning property is considerably higher than the headline price suggests. Municipalities raising their rates above inflation year after year are making that calculation worse. None of this is an argument against municipalities collecting revenue. They need it. Roads, water reticulation, waste removal and electricity infrastructure cost money and property owners benefit from them. A well-run city with reliable services and maintained infrastructure is the most important driver of property value. I have made this argument in this column before: the reason Cape Town properties appreciate the way they do is not just the mountain and the ocean. It is the fact that the city’s lights stay on, the sewage system mostly works and the streets get cleaned. That is worth paying for. But paying for it and being exploited are two different things. When a municipality creates a charge that is linked to the value of your asset and not to your usage, not to the cost of the service but to how much your property is worth, it has crossed from taxation into something that looks more like a wealth levy applied to an illiquid asset.  You cannot sell 10% of your house to pay your rates and you cannot easily liquidate equity. You are being asked to fund the municipality based on a notional value, while the municipality often fails to justify how the number translates into service delivery. Sapoa is engaging Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality on the same issue. Other municipalities had better take note because the precedent is set. The lesson is not complicated. Property rates and proper service levies are legitimate. They are the clean, constitutionally sound way to fund shared municipal services. Sapoa has said it supports the mechanism.  What is not legitimate is using property values as a proxy for ability to pay, packaging it as a service charge to avoid legislative scrutiny and then running a R2bn hole in your budget when a court calls it out. Municipalities need to do the hard work of broadening their revenue bases rather than returning to the same well. They need to improve billing and collection rates and be transparent to ratepayers about how their money is being spent.  Property owners are carrying more than their fair share of an increasingly heavy load. They are not an inexhaustible revenue source.  As this court case has reminded us all, they are not without legal recourse either.

This Africa Month, as economic disparities drive a wedge between South Africans and migrants, the pressing need for united action against a common financial crisis has never been clearer. In an age bereft of safety nets and beset by escalating costs, addressing these pains collectively could pave a path towards a more harmonious coexistence.

The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry resumes on Monday, addressing health concerns surrounding key witness Suliman Carrim and allegations of coercion in a high-profile corruption case.

Mpumalanga police have arrested two suspects and recovered a firearm believed to have been used in the Marite triple‑murder case. The duo, both aged 28, were apprehended on Friday, 29 May 2026, following an intelligence-driven operation in connection with the murder of the three people on 16 May 2026. Murder The first victim was shot and killed at 9pm while at a Marite tavern. Half an hour later, two men were ambushed and fatally shot in the same area while sitting inside a truck. One suspect was found in possession of an unlicensed firearm believed to have been used in the commission of the crime. Mpumalanga police spokesperson Moeti Mmusi said the suspects are expected to appear in the Mkhuhlu Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 01 June 2026. Breakthrough Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Jackie Macie, has applauded the police in the province for a breakthrough in the Marite murder case under Calcutta Policing Precinct. “We applaud the work done by the police so far, and as we promised to deal decisively with crime in the Calcutta area, the arrest of the two is a sign that we are moving towards the right direction. According to our plan, we still expect more such arrests. “We hope that ballistic results of the firearm recovered will perhaps assist in resolving other murder cases in the area. We anticipate that anyone else involved in recent incidents in the Calcutta policing precinct or anywhere else in the province will face the full consequences of their actions. Our communities deserve to live in peace,” Macie stated. Violence Macie condemned the acts of violence in the strongest possible terms and commended the police for the swift arrests. “We must remain highly focused and bring all perpetrators to book. Their efforts will inspire communities to work with the police in preventing and solving crime.” Macie urged the police to increase visibility and patrols in the Calcutta policing precinct, especially on weekend nights. Appeal He also appealed to anyone with information that can assist investigations of other murder incidents that have occurred in the area to come forward. Contact Calcutta SAPS or Crime Stop anonymously on 08600 10111. All information will be treated confidentially. The MEC conveyed his condolences to the victims’ families.

Two weeks out from the race, organisers have assured Comrades Marathon runners and supporters that plans are in place to handle traffic congestion in Pietermaritzburg during the 99th edition of the annual ultra-marathon contest. After traffic issues near the finish in Pietermaritzburg at the last edition of the ‘up’ run two years ago caused spectators to be delayed by hours, concerns had again been raised by the roadworks currently taking place in and around the city. However, race director Sue Forge said they were aware of the potential issue around increased congestion for people heading to the finish at Scottsville Racecourse, and measures were being put in place to ease the flow of traffic. “We are well aware of the current roadworks and associated traffic considerations in and around Pietermaritzburg, and these have been discussed extensively through our integrated operational planning processes with all relevant stakeholders, including municipal authorities, SAPS (South African Police Service), traffic management, emergency services and the broader ESSPC (Event Safety and Security Planning Committee Structures),” Forge said. “At this stage, we are monitoring the route on a daily basis and are comfortable that the necessary mitigation measures and contingency plans are being put in place to minimise any disruption on race day. “Traffic management plans, access routes, shuttle operations, parking arrangements and public communication strategies are all being carefully coordinated to ensure efficient movement around the finish precinct.” Ongoing monitoring Forge, who was appointed as the new race director in September, said they would continue to monitor the situation to make things as easy as possible for spectators trying to get to the finish area. “As with any major event of this scale, there are always dynamic operational factors that require ongoing monitoring, and our teams continue to work closely with the relevant authorities to address any emerging issues proactively.” The 2026 Comrades Marathon, to be held on Sunday 14 June, will be held over 85.77km between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Entries for the race were snatched up in record time, with the cap of 22 000 runners reached within 10 hours of going on sale.

30-year-old British singer Dua Lipa is a married woman after her legal ceremony to British actor Callum Turner (36). Wearing a white skirt suit and hat, the beaming bride and her groom walked out to a cheering crowd outside London’s Old Marylebone Town Hall on Saturday morning. This is reportedly ahead of the three-day wedding celebrations in Italy this week. DUA LIPA IS OFFICIALLY MARRIED, OH MY GOD 😭❤️ pic.twitter.com/Hcfe15llm7— dua lipa crave (@addictionlipa) May 31, 2026 Turner is known for his work in films like 2025’s Eternity, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016, and Masters of the Air in 2024. Turner reportedly met the Dance the Night singer before a friend’s birthday party in Los Angeles and connected over a little detail while chatting. “We sat next to each other and realised we were reading the same book – it was incredible,” Turner said.  “It’s called Trust [by Hernán Díaz], and I had just finished the first chapter, and I told her, and she looked at me and said, ‘I just finished the first chapter too.’”

The RAF levy – as in Road Accident Fund – is meant to compensate people injured in road accidents in South Africa. However, the Democratic Alliance (DA) transport spokesperson Chris Hunsinger thinks it is time to see it scrapped entirely. Put simply, the party believes the RAF levy has forfeited its right to taxpayer money by being a service that’s no longer beneficial. “The Road Accident Fund is a failed entity. Not only is it wracked by corruption, but it is unable to deliver settlements to hundreds of thousands of real road accident victims,” Hunsinger said in the week the fund’s former chief executive faces possible criminal charges … END THE RAF LEVY Firstly, if the RAF levy were to be shelved, fuel would get cheaper immediately. R2.18 per litre is not an insubstantial amount at a time when fuel prices are already under strain and temporary government relief measures are slowly being phased out. However, road accident victims still need a new safety net. As ever in South Africa, the RAF levy isn’t a bad idea, it’s just a badly run one. It was designed to protect people who are hurt in accidents caused by drivers who can’t afford to compensate them. Therefore, the DA’s answer is compulsory third-party insurance for all motorists. MANDATORY THIRD-PARTY INSURANCE Most emerged countries do not allow motorists to drive without at least third-party insurance. Image: File In theory, this shifts the financial responsibility from every motorist at the pump, to individual drivers through insurance premiums. Of course, it would act as another incentive to drive safer. For example, a young man with a poor driving record might pay more in compulsory insurance premiums than he currently contributes through the RAF levy. Likewise, an older, lower-risk driver will likely pay less. What’s certain is that costs would no longer be spread equally across all fuel purchasers. Instead, they would be tied to individual risk profiles of motorists. CRITICS OF RAF LEVY Nevertheless, Hunsinger’s critique of the current RAF levy system is damning. He says accident victims wait years for settlements. They get dragged through court battles and often end up with less than they deserve. “Meanwhile, unscrupulous individuals have established entire business practices aimed at milking the RAF for the most minor traffic incidents,” explained Hunsinger. Currently, the RAF still owes enormous sums to hundreds of thousands of claimants whose cases are stuck in the queue. So, if and when something were to replace the RAF, the backlog would need to be addressed. As such, the DA has said it plans to engage Transport Minister Barbara Creecy on the proposal and pursue legislative amendments, though no timeline has been given. But what do you think? Should the looted RAF levy be given the boot and replaced with mandatory third-party insurance? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below …

Digicloud and Google partner Zila Tech is moving Kenyan schools off costly, complex Windows setups.

Nvidia's ARM-based "superchip" takes Nvidia into Qualcomm, Intel and AMD's territory at the premium end.