Update@Noon

Johannesburg police have fired rubber bullets at protesters outside the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein as tensions escalated during a demonstration over the asylum application system. Protesters have handed over a memorandum to the court. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to SABC reporter Chriselda Lewis.

Scores of women working on farms who marched to Parliament today, have demanded that Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Dean Macpherson, release state land in commercial farming areas for housing and food production. The women have also called for improved conditions on farms as well as the right to land. This week, women working on farms across the country gathered in Cape Town to discuss...

The race to choose the next United Nations Secretary-General remains unresolved after five rounds of informal voting, with frontrunner Rebeca Grynspan yet to secure decisive backing. International Crisis Group analyst Daniel Forti says the next round could expose opposition from veto-holding powers and continued divisions could open the door to a late entrant. With the new leader due to take offic...

The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Andy Mothibi, says criminal investigations are underway against the former the former head of the Investgating Directoracte Against Corruption, Advocate Andrea Johnson. Mothibi was briefing Parliament's Portfolio Commitee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the NPA's plan to restore public trust and confidence in IDAC. This follows te...

The Democratic Alliance took its fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to the streets of Pretoria yesterday. The march called for safer communities, stronger policing and justice for victims of GBV. DA mayoral candidates Cilliers Brink, Helen Zille and Khathutshelo Rasilingwane led the march. They were joined by DA Federal Chairperson Solly Msimanga and DA Deputy Federal Chairpersons Siviwe Gw...

SAPS Crime Intelligence and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations have uncovered a multi-million-rand drug manufacturing laboratory at a farm in Krugersdorp, Gauteng. Police found quantities of Mandrax and ecstasy tablets at the suspected laboratory. Police say five South African nationals found on the premises have been arrested. National police spokesperson  is Brigadier Athlend...

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration says government is strengthening its response following a court judgment on the asylum system. Chairperson Mmamoloko Kubayi says authorities are improving refugee processing, biometric screening and the speed of asylum applications. Kubayi says Government is also considering legal options to manage the judgment's implementation.

The MTN8 Final is on Saturday in Durban with Pirates up against Sundowns. SAfm's sports Anchor Jon Gericke Has more 

A second witness has taken the stand at the Durban High Court in the trial of seven men linked to the murders of rapper Kiernan "AKA" Forbes and businessman Tebello "Tibz" Motsoane. The witness who is a  South African Police Service sergeant told the court that, in April 2023, police arrested accused number three, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, and another man in Umlazi for allegedly being in possessio...

Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi says the country is ready for the 2026 year-end national examinations. He has called on political parties and other sectors of society to minimise disruptions at schools serving as examination centres and urged everyone to support candidates during this critical period. Rakometsi was earlier briefing the media on the state of readiness of the public and private assessmen...

The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) has launched its 2026 COALITIONS BAROMETER. The barometer include data sets on coalition formations, termination, party roles, coalition typology, governance outcomes and more. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Researcher in the Humanity faculty at Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), Laurence Caromba...

Eskom says its financial and operational recovery is beginning to take a structural shape, giving the power utility a stronger platform to drive economic reform and adapt to a changing electricity market. Eskom appeared before Parliament's Electricity and Energy Portfolio Committee to table its annual report for the 2025/26 financial year, reporting a 30-point-three-billion-rand profit. The utilit...

With less than four weeks to go before election day, the IFP took its election campaign to Denver Hostel in Johannesburg yesterday. The party's KwaZulu-Natal chairperson and KZN Premier, Thami Ntuli, together with IFP Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Mlungisi Mabaso, have urged residents to come out in large numbers and vote for the IFP in the City of Johannesburg. Ntuli says his party should be ju...

For families living in informal settlements, heavy rain can bring a familiar worry: leaking roofs, flooded floors and another night spent trying to keep the water out. Across South Africa, thousands of people are still waiting for decent housing. In Cape Town, questions about where homes should be built and how quickly projects can be delivered have come into sharp focus ahead of the Local Governm...

The majority of members of the Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in the justice system have agreed that the testimony of self-proclaimed political fixer, Brown Mogotsi, cannot be trusted and admitted in the final report without further scrutiny. This emerged during the deliberations of the committee's draft report. Yesterday...

Banyana Banyana meet Madagascar on Friday in their first qualifying match for the 2028 Women's Football at the Olympic Games. Both legs will be played in Bloemfontein with the return leg on Tuesday. It's a simple two-leg knockout competition with the final two sides booking their places in Los Angeles. SAfm's sports Anchor Jon Gericke Has more 

This Wednesday, SAfm anchor Sakina Kamwendo once again spoke to  ABSA's Investment Analyst Motheo Maphosa, for the latest market update.

The bail application of suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya has been postponed to next week Tuesday by the Randburg Magistrate's Court. The court heard an affidavit by Sibiya's wife, Sizakele Dlamini. This after Investigating Officer Ndlovu concluded her cross examination. Sibiya faces multiple charges, including the alleged sexual grooming of a sixte...

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to officially launch the CSIR's FuturePharma facility in Pretoria today. The facility is aimed at boosting South Africa's capacity to develop and manufacture medicines locally, including active pharmaceutical ingredients. For further discussion Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Chief Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Jenny-Lee...

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says load reduction has been eliminated in seven of South Africa's nine provinces, with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal still facing challenges. Ramokgopa briefed the media saying government is working with municipalities to expand electricity infrastructure and ensure there is enough capacity to meet growing demand. He says addressing illegal connec...

Trade union federation COSATU is staging marches and pickets across the country today to mark International Day for Decent Work. In Gauteng, workers will march to the mayor's offices and Massmart stores in Johannesburg and Tshwane, where they will deliver memorandums of demands. COSATU says workers are facing rising living costs, unstable incomes, retrenchments, non-compliance with the minimum wag...

Anti-illegal immigration activists are threatening to halt asylum application processing at the Department of Home Affairs' Refugee Reception Centre on Che Guevara Road in Durban. This follows a Constitutional Court ruling that South Africa's asylum system must reopen to new applicants. In light of the ruling, Home Affairs says Refugee Reception Offices  are now accepting applications from ev...

The political contest for control of Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley is heating up, with parties like the Sol Plaatje Service Delivery Forum positioning themselves as serious players ahead of the local government elections. The party, led by councillor Dennis Pienaar, will contest 33 wards in the Sol Plaatje Municipality. Keith Sayster filed this report...

Police say the owner of a house where they uncovered what they believe is a drug laboratory during a raid in Scheerpoort, near Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West, is part of the investigation. The owner had apparently leased the property to the suspects. Four suspects have been arrested and four firearms — including a rifle and three handguns — have been seized. The suspects are a 39-...

Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape leader, Andrew Whitfield, has announced the party's mayoral candidates in the four municipalities in the Eastern Cape, where the ANC failed to submit their Ward candidate and PR candidate list to the IEC on time. The announcement of candidates in Ngquza Hill, Sundays Rver Valley, Port St Johns and Walter Sisulu municipalities is the party's strategic move to topple...