News24 | SA gets fuel relief; Inside Westdene’s illegal commune boom: Today’s top 7 stories
News24 brings you the top 7 stories of the day.
Graphic: Sharlene Rood
News24 brings you the top stories of the day, summarised into neat little packages. Read through quickly or listen to the articles via our customised text-to-speech feature.
In the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana gave more details about new fiscal rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the crippling debt blowout since the Zuma regime.
Graphic: Mihle Mdashe/News24 Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images; bluebay2014/Getty Images; Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Medium-term budget in a nutshell: Tax boon turns debt tide, SA gets fuel relief
- Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, announcing that government debt (as a share of GDP) has declined for the first time in 17 years.
- A stronger-than-expected tax revenue windfall drove the improved fiscal position, with new fiscal rules – a “fiscal anchor” – introduced to prevent a repeat of past debt blowouts.
- The statement also included fuel relief for South Africans, alongside a trimmed economic growth outlook.
Janine Lochrenberg, 65, died after she was attacked by a shark at Orient Beach in KuGompo on Tuesday morning.
East London Open Water Swimming/Facebook
‘The ocean was her happy place’: Shark attack cuts life of beloved swimmer short
- Janine Lochrenberg, 65, a retired radiographer and musician, was killed in a shark attack at Orient Beach in KuGompo City (East London) in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday morning.
- Friends and fellow open-water swimmers described her as a beloved member of their community, saying the ocean “was her happy place.”
- The attack has left the local open-water swimming community devastated.
The historic suburb of Westdene, with the Johannesburg CBD in the background.
Alex Patrick/News24
When students go home, jackhammers come out: Inside Westdene’s illegal commune boom
- Landlords in Westdene, near the Johannesburg CBD, are illegally converting historic family homes into multi-room rented communes, primarily to meet demand for student housing.
- The conversions involve unauthorised structural alterations – including jackhammering – during university holiday periods when student tenants are absent.
- Long-term residents have raised complaints about noise, overcrowding, and the damage being done to the suburb’s character, but no specific enforcement action by the City of Johannesburg has been reported.
The Queue | Herman Mashaba makes his pitch to Johannesburg residents
- Herman Mashaba addressed Johannesburg residents ahead of local government elections scheduled for 4 November, pitching himself as a self-funded and incorruptible mayoral candidate.
- He promised to add 500 metro police officers per year, introduce a merit-based public service built on skills audits, and replace tenders and labour brokers with greater insourcing.
- Mashaba said his mayoral committee has already been selected, and argued that his age should not be a barrier to leading the city.
The Madlanga Commission’s evidence leaders have applied for the testimony of National Intelligence Coordinating Committee head Dr Ntandazo Sifolo to be heard in camera.
Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
What did spies know about crime infiltration of the police? Media houses fight to find out
- The Madlanga Commission has heard an application for the testimony of Dr Ntandazo Sifolo, head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee, to be heard in camera, on the basis that the intelligence reports he will speak to are classified.
- The classified reports are said to deal with the infiltration of the criminal justice system, including the police, by organised crime syndicates.
- Media organisations are contesting the move towards secrecy and are fighting for access to both the testimony and the underlying intelligence reports.
A minute of silence was observed in memory of Lions player Hyron Diego Andrews before the Champions Cup match between the Bulls and Stade Français at Loftus in Pretoria on 17 October.
Phill Magakoe/AFP
Lions confirm Hyron Andrews’ cause of death
- The Lions rugby club confirmed the cause of death of lock Hyron Andrews, who was found unresponsive in the shower at the team’s hotel in France on the morning of 16 October.
- The club had previously announced his passing; this report follows the completion of an autopsy into his death.
- A minute’s silence was observed in his memory ahead of the Lions’ Champions Cup match at Loftus.
Daniel Niepoort sharing his drink of choice on the day: host Eben Sadie’s Columella.
Le Roi van de Vyver
How South Africa and Portugal’s top winemakers found each other and forged a cross-continental link
- A chance dinner and a camper-van encounter sparked a nearly 20-year friendship between South Africa’s Eben Sadie of The Sadie Family Wines and Portugal’s Dirk Niepoort of Niepoort.
- The bond between the two winemakers grew into a cross-continental collaboration rooted in a shared approach to winemaking, with Sadie’s Columella among the wines central to the connection.
- The relationship stands as a rare example of a deep, personal link between two of their respective countries’ most celebrated winemakers.
These summaries were written with the support of Toqan AI.
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