Police are searching for Nadim Hoshen after his Nissan Qashqai was found abandoned, with his family reportedly receiving a R3 million ransom demand a day after his disappearance.

Eliezer Kubanza warned welterweight champion Thad Jean after devastating Trey Waters in 96 seconds, while Jena Bishop ground down Liz Carmouche to claim the inaugural flyweight world title in Chicago.

Ahead of the festive season, the eThekwini Municipality has reopened the refurbished 50-metre Umlazi BB Swimming Pool and also unveiled newly developed multi-sports courts. The facility was officially reopened on Friday, 16 October, following extensive repairs after the swimming pool sustained significant damage. According to the municipality, the refurbishment was carried out in three phases, with the first phase beginning in May 2025. “The upgraded facility includes a dedicated children’s swimming pool, expanding opportunities for young swimmers to learn water safety and develop their swimming skills in a suitable environment,” it noted The facility forms part of eThekwini’s network of 43 operational public swimming pools. Focus on sport and youth The municipality has also transformed the surrounding precinct into a sports complex. The complex features multi-purpose courts for basketball, tennis, netball, volleyball and indoor soccer. “These facilities are intended to advance sporting activities and a healthy lifestyle,” the city claimed. Chairperson of the Community Services Committee, Councillor Zama Sokhabase, said the investment was intended to provide young people with a place to spend time other than on the streets. “Through these facilities, we want to nurture sporting talent, provide young people with opportunities to develop their skills, and keep them away from the streets,” Sokhabase said. “Sport plays an important role in building discipline, promoting healthy lifestyles, and creating positive pathways for our youth.” She also called on residents to protect the newly upgraded facilities. “We encourage the community to take ownership of these facilities, use them responsibly, and protect them against vandalism so that they can benefit generations to come,” she said. Safety urged at pool The municipality urged swimmers to follow instructions from pool attendants and lifeguards and to exercise caution while using the facility. “Parents and guardians are also encouraged to supervise children closely, particularly in and around the swimming pool.” The reopening comes as municipalities face increased demand for public recreational spaces during the festive season. eThekwini said the investment in the Umlazi facility demonstrated the importance of accessible public infrastructure in promoting recreation, social cohesion and community well-being. It also helps to develop future sporting talent.

The South African festive season is drawn out and exhaustingly competitive. It begins in mid-September when stores, typically with a panda in the name or logo, put the Christmas trees in the front. This reminds the big retailers to take the unsold Christmas cakes from 2008 out of cryostasis – with the first to do that winning the passive marketing award of being the subject of Sunday lunch’s “can you believe X already has Christmas things out?”. Enter the retail pricing creep before Black Friday, when you walk past a bargain bin and can’t believe that there are still CDs for sale in the 2020s; Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey are still fighting to be your Christmas kitchen soundtrack. If you side with Mariah and have more than one kid, they’ll each try be the first to point out that Carey’s desire to build a toy-land all around the Christmas tree sounds remarkably like a toilet. The season ends with the greatest competition of all, although it’s an internal one: how soon after the matric pass rate is announced can the DA announce the “real” matric pass rate? Matric exam marking centres This year, we seem to have a novel inclusion to the festive discourse – an inquiry no less. Why is the basic education DG visiting all 180-something marking centres personally? What does it cost the taxpayer? Is it worth the money? Fair questions, but it’s a bit rich to put a director general on the subject of oversight in a department that spends about 16% of the national budget to prepare 30% of the population for unemployment. Teacher absenteeism isn’t a term we should be familiar with, yet it is. I’m sure there are several reasons for the rise in home schooling in recent years, but I can’t imagine that the high quality of public basic education is one of them. Is education worth what we spend on it? If we’re going to be asking whether a personal oversight by the DG to marking centres is worth the money, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t extend that question to something more impactful – is the whole exercise of education worth what we spend on it? To be more precise, is the way we do it worth it. I don’t believe anybody would claim that it’s not worth spending public money to educate our kids just like nobody is saying that we shouldn’t be having oversight on matric marking. How we do it, what it costs and what we get out of it should be considered. One cannot look at a R300 billion budget and ask whether we’re getting bang for our bucks on R1 million or R2 million of it while ignoring the rest. The rest is probably more important than whether a person is driving around the country, somehow managing 180 stops along the way. Fine. Let’s ask that person how much time they get to spend at each centre and whether it’s worth it for them and the public. Let’s also ask whether they’re doing the remaining parts of their job or if they’re too busy gallivanting. Is that really anything remotely near the top of our concerns regarding education? If anything, at least they’re showing some sort of commitment. That’s more than can be said for so many other aspects of the system. Have the questions if you must. Let’s just not pretend like getting to the bottom of this is going to solve any real issues in education. More importantly, if you’re willing to open the question of whether something that we spend money on in terms of education is worth it for the taxpayer, you need to be open to asking that question about the entire system. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be educating our kids. It means we need to be honest about how we go about it. The real question is, are our children learning what will be good 4 dem in there foocha?

African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa says he has ordered the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, to take time off work after he collapsed at the Constitutional Court earlier this week. Mbalula became unwell while addressing journalists following the court’s ruling in favour of the ANC in its dispute with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over the late submission of 181 candidates in six municipalities. RAMAPHOSA GIVES FIKILE MBALULA TIME OFF TO RECOVER Speaking to journalists on the side lines of his campaign trail in Athlone, Cape Town, Ramaphosa said Mbalula was recovering after experiencing health difficulties amid a stressful period for the party. “The secretary-general [Fikile Mbalula] is getting better, he was under a lot of stress, I must say. He was carrying a heavy burden and as any secretary-general would and if I was secretary-general I probably would have had a similar challenge and maybe even worse since I am older. “We must be grateful that he led the ANC with great distinction through this whole challenge. He had a little bit of a health situation but he is recovering. He’s going to be back at work. I’ve ordered him to rest and told him he is not coming back to work until I and the doctors are satisfied that he is fully okay,” Ramaphosa said. ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says Fikile Mbalula led his party with “distinction” during its list fiasco with the IEC.He says he has ordered Mbalula to take time off work to rest following his collapse this week. Ramaphosa was speaking to journalists in Cape Town during his… pic.twitter.com/InpSXt3huC— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) October 17, 2026 MBALULA COLLAPSES AFTER ANC’S COURT VICTORY The South African previously reported that the Constitutional Court handed down its ruling on Thursday, 15 October, setting aside the IEC’s decision to reject the ANC’s candidate lists after the party failed to complete the final submission process before the deadline. The ANC had argued that uploading its nominated candidates’ details and paying the required election deposits demonstrated its intention to contest the elections, despite failing to click the “Submit as Final” button on the IEC’s online system. The court ordered the IEC to take the necessary steps to include the affected candidates in the 4 November 2026 local government elections across six municipalities. Following the ruling, an emotional Fikile Mbalula addressed journalists, thanking party leaders and officials for their support throughout the legal proceedings. “Let me begin with thanks because this was never the work of one office, I thank the President of the ANC for his leadership through a hard month and for insisting that at every turn this movement takes the lawful route and no other. I thank the national officials of the movement who carried this matter with patience, which was not easy,” he said. Mbalula became visibly emotional and appeared to struggle to continue answering questions before being assisted out of the courtroom. “I’m not feeling well,” he said. [WATCH] Fikile Mbalula is overwhelmed with emotion, almost collapsing during a media briefing after the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the ANC. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/g9PgU9jSB1— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) October 15, 2026

Here is what the weather has in store for KZN, the Free State, and the North West on Monday 19 October 2026. Yellow Level 2 warning is in place for severe thunderstorms across most of KwaZulu-Natal, with possible localised flooding and damage to infrastructure and settlements. The south coast and adjacent interior are excluded. 2. Damaging interior winds A Yellow Level 2 warning is in place for damaging winds in eastern Free State and parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Strong winds could damage settlements and affect high-sided vehicles on exposed roads until Tuesday morning. 3. Damaging coastal winds and waves A Yellow Level 2 warning is in place for damaging winds and waves along the KwaZulu-Natal coast. Conditions could temporarily disrupt beachfront activities, small harbours and ports until Tuesday morning KWAZULU-NATAL Morning fog patches over the interior, otherwise cloudy and warm to hot but very hot in places over the northern parts with scattered showers and thundershowers. The wind along the coast will be moderate north-easterly becoming moderate to fresh in the south from the morning spreading to the north during the day reaching strong in places. The UVB sunburn index will be moderate. DURBAN Durban is going to be cloudy with scattered showers and thundershowers Light northerly to north-easterly winds will blow at first, otherwise fresh to strong southerly to south-westerly. Temperatures will range from 21°C to 26°C. The UVB sunburn index will be moderate. FREE STATE Partly cloudy, windy and cool to warm with isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers. BLOEMFONTEIN Bloemfontein is going to be partly cloudy and windy with isolated afternoon thundershowers. Temperatures will range from a minimum of 14°C to a maximum of 21°C. NORTH WEST Partly cloudy, windy and warm to hot with isolated afternoon showers and thundershowers in the west MAHIKENG Mahikeng is going to be partly cloudy and windy with isolated afternoon thundershowers Temperatures will range from a minimum of 19°C. to a maximum of 29°C. Weather forecast data provided by the South African Weather Service.

The Reserve Bank wants all of South Africa's ATMs white-labelled, with free transactions below a threshold, starting with a pilot in January.

Apple's first foldable iPhone carries a steeper local premium than its new HomeView, HomePod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K.