Banyana Banyana secured qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup through the positional play-offs, after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Nigeria on Thursday evening at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco.
Goals from Thembi Kgatlana and Refiloe Jane were enough to book South Afri...
Organised criminal syndicates are crippling municipal electricity distributor, Centlec, by stripping away essential electricity infrastructure and plunging communities in Mangaung into darkness. The Mangaung energy utility is locked in a costly cycle of repairing ongoing damage instead of expanding the network.
During a single financial year, the entity spent more than R50-million replacing stolen electrical cables and repairing vandalised infrastructure.
This deepening crisis drains critical municipal revenue, delays infrastructure upgrades, diverts technical teams from planned maintenance, and leaves entire neighbourhoods without power.
The rolling blackouts disrupt businesses, disable traffic lights, stall factories, and compromise local health facilities and water pumping stations.
In August 2024, the utility reported an alarming increase in theft along strategic routes, including the N8 Airport corridor, Hilton, and the N1.
Centlec has on previous occasions warned that replacing stolen cables had become financially crippling while placing motorists and pedestrians at risk due to dark streets.
The crisis has also turned fatal, with a suspected cable thief electrocuted earlier this year while attempting to steal overhead lines in Phase 6, Bloemfontein. Centlec subsequently identified other parts in the city, namely Lourierpark, Phase 6, Uitsig and Fauna, as areas that also experience repeated attacks on electricity infrastructure.
In June this year, a truck loaded with an assortment of stolen copper cables was intercepted on the N1 road near Glen outside Bloemfontein, after the utility’s security department received an anonymous tip-off.
In two other separate incidents that also took place last month in Bloemfontein and Botshabelo respectively, two men were arrested for tampering with essential electricity infrastructure and stealing copper cable worth around R35 000 collectively.
These copper theft occurrences take place regularly and are believed to be driven by skyrocketing international copper prices - which have transformed standard electrical cables into highly profitable targets.
While Journal News Network’s several attempts to get comment from Centlec regarding the rampant cable theft crisis were deliberately ignored, energy experts from the University of the Free State told this newspaper that cable thieves rarely steal copper for personal use, opting instead to funnel the metal into sophisticated criminal supply chains.
Stolen electricity moves swiftly through recruiters, transporters, illegal scrap dealers, and exporters across various provincial boundaries.
Those physically cutting the electrical cables receive a fraction of the profits, while syndicate leaders and illegal buyers claim the greatest financial rewards.
Centlec and Mangaung’s crisis mirrors a national emergency, with government estimates placing the direct annual cost of cable theft between R5 billion and R7 billion.
Industry estimates suggest the wider economic impact exceeds R45 billion each year due to emergency repairs, production losses, and transport disruptions.
Between 2018 and 2022, nearly 11 000 incidents of copper theft were recorded across Eskom, Transnet, and Prasa infrastructure. Eskom estimates that cable theft and vandalism cost the utility billions annually, with an additional R2 billion spent replacing damaged infrastructure.
For municipal entities like Centlec, these compounding financial consequences ultimately filter down to residents, with proposals such as a R50 tariff having emerged as part of broader efforts to strengthen the utility’s financial sustainability. Residents effectively pay twice for the crime, experiencing prolonged power outages alongside increasing financial pressure on electricity tariffs and municipal budgets.
Law enforcement authorities now treat copper theft as a form of organised crime rather than ordinary property vandalism.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) data shows prosecutions involving copper theft and critical infrastructure attacks more than doubled from 409 to 959 cases. Of the 210 cable theft cases finalised in court, 193 resulted in convictions, reflecting a conviction rate of nearly 92%.
Prosecutors describe these cases as technically complex, requiring engineering expertise, forensic analysis and telecommunications records to link suspects to networks.
Dismantling the syndicates financing the thefts and disrupting the illegal scrap metal markets remains the greater operational challenge.
North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi is facing one of the biggest political crises of his career after a provincial legislature committee found that he breached the Legislature's Code of Conduct by allegedly attempting to influence the appointment of a municipal manager.
In a damning report submitted to Speaker Sebonta Francinah Desbo Mohono, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended that Mokgosi be issued with a formal written warning and forfeit an entire month's salary and allowances linked to the position he occupied at the time of the alleged misconduct.
The recommendations follow months of hearings into allegations that, while serving as ANC Chief Whip in 2023, Mokgosi sought to interfere in the appointment of a Municipal Manager at Naledi Local Municipality.
The investigation centred on claims by Naledi Local Municipality Mayor Clifton Groep, who alleged that Mokgosi instructed former municipal employee Thabo Appolus to alter an interview panel report to block the appointment of Modisenyane Segapo.
Although Mokgosi repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and insisted there was no evidence linking him to interference in the recruitment process, the committee reached a different conclusion. After reviewing witness testimony, documentary evidence and WhatsApp messages, it found that he had participated in an attempt to manipulate the recruitment process.
The committee concluded that Mokgosi's actions fell short of the standards of honesty, integrity and ethical leadership expected of public representatives, finding that his conduct undermined the credibility and dignity of the provincial legislature.
Evidence before the inquiry also included allegations that confidential recruitment documents were improperly accessed and that efforts were made to derail the appointment through altered reports and fabricated complaints.
Mokgosi's spokesperson, Sello Tatai, said the Premier will not comment until the report has been formally tabled before the Legislature.
“The report will now be debated by members of the North West Provincial Legislature, who will decide whether to adopt or reject the recommended sanctions.
“If approved, the penalty would rank among the most severe disciplinary actions ever recommended against a sitting North West Premier”, said Tatai.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
The easiest way to win an argument in South Africa is not to answer it. Simply call your opponent a xenophobe. It is a remarkable socio-political invention. No statistics required. No policy discussion necessary. No examination of border management. No debate about the destruction. Just one magic word and the conversation is over.
The elite have discovered that moral intimidation is cheaper than accountability. Every nation under the sun reserves the right to determine who enters its territory. France does. Botswana does. Namibia does. Japan certainly does. But South Africa is expected to apologize for even discussing the matter.
Years ago, then Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi attempted to prevent hundreds of ‘asylum seekers’ from entering South Africa after they had travelled through multiple countries on their journey from wherever they came from. Litigation facilitated NGOs, the usual suspects, followed. Courts intervened. Government had to adjust.
But the obvious question would have been why they traveled across so many countries to reach South Africa? Why is South Africa so uniquely attractive? Government attempted to resist but NGOs made certain that litigation followed and the courts eventually shaped the outcome. But somewhere in that legal battle, South Africans lost the ability to ask perfectly legitimate policy questions about immigration. We were instead hoodwinked into believing that asking the question was itself immoral. Since 2008, this has become the preferred style here at home, that is to say, we replace accountability with accusations.
And the greatest defenders of this arrangement are often those who suffer least from its consequences. The professor in a gated estate. The activist whose children attend private schools. The consultant with comprehensive medical aid. The columnist whose interaction with hardship begins and ends with a Sunday newspaper opinion piece. The former President whose only nightmare is finding his scotch whiskey half full and half empty. For most of them, immigration is a philosophical exercise.
For the poor, it is a question of whether they still come first in their own country. It is easy to speak of open borders when your own gate is electric. The poor, on the other hand, experience it under burdens they were never designed to carry.
To millions of poor South Africans, it is about the mother in Khayelitsha who buries her child after he is consumed by drugs that circulate freely in the township. It is the homeowner in Rosettenville who watches as his family home gets hijacked by foreign thugs. It is the father in Botshabelo who takes his son to Kgauho Secondary School and eventually loses him to nyaope merchants before education has a chance. It is the shop-owner trying to keep his family alive only to be sandwiched out of business by marauding Somali and Ethiopian spaza shops. It is the pregnant woman in Tembisa who gives birth in casualty because the last available bed has been given to an illegal immigrant. It is the sister who is forced to trade in coitus because she is addicted to coccaine. These experiences deserve empathy and not ridicule.
None of this means every foreign national is responsible for South Africa's problems. That would be dishonest. Many immigrants obey the law, contribute to the economy and have become part of the fabric of our society. They are not the issue. The issue is whether South Africa still has a functioning immigration system.
A sovereign state is not defined by the size of its flag but by its willingness to administer its laws. Borders without enforcement become suggestions.
We shall never resolve our immigration challenges until we get rid of this dangerous habit of calling ordinary people xenophobic whenever they complain about illegal immigration. A country that cannot ask questions about immigration policy has surrendered democratic debate.
South Africans are expected to produce passports when travelling to Botswana, Namibia or the United Kingdom. No one calls those countries xenophobic (and racist) for enforcing their immigration laws. Perhaps the greatest contradiction in this whole thing is that even governments that publicly condemn South Africans simultaneously insist on rigorously verifying citizenship before accepting their own people. If every sovereign state has the right to know who belongs within its borders, why should South Africa alone be denied that same right? Sovereignty cannot be a principle that applies everywhere except in the south of Limpopo.
South Africans too have a right to ask their own government to do precisely the same. The real scandal here is not that citizens are asking difficult questions. The real scandal is that we have spent years avoiding them.
We cannot keep postponing a conversation that every serious nation eventually has, that is, how to balance compassion with sovereignty, human dignity with the rule of law and solidarity with the constitutional duty to protect the interests of its own citizens. A country that cannot distinguish between hatred for foreigners and legitimate demands for lawful immigration policy has not solved the problem.
It has merely renamed it.
*Tshediso Mangope moonlights as a social and political commentator in his spare time…
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of this publication (
Kenneth Lepota, a convicted rapists was apprehended on Friday, after evading sentencing for almost 12 days.
The 36-year-old, from Tseseng Village in Qwaqwa, was arrested after a community member spotted him upon his return to the village and alerted the investigating officer, and he was immediately arrested.
Lepota was convicted of rape alongside two co-accused in 2014 but failed to appear in court for his sentencing and had been on the run ever since until his recapture.
Morena Mokoena, one of the co-accused is currently serving a life sentence for the rape, while the third co-accused passed away before he could be sentenced.
According to police the incident took place in the early hours of 6 April 2011 when the victim along with her friend were walking from a tarven.
“On April 6, 2011, a 26-year-old woman from Tseseng Village was walking home from a local tavern with a friend when they were confronted by three men. The suspects forcefully grabbed the victim, dragged her into nearby bushes, and raped her,” police said.
In court the victim was able to identify all three perpetrators which led to their arrest and prosecution in 2014 at the Tsheseng Magistrate’s Court and were released on bail while awaiting sentencing.
“Before sentencing could take place, one of the accused died. Morena Mokoena was later sentenced to life imprisonment, while Kenneth Lepota absconded and remained in hiding after failing to appear in court for sentencing.”
The Free State Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thabang Lesia, applauded the community member for providing valuable information that led to the arrest.
"The public remains the eyes and ears of the police. This arrest demonstrates the importance of community cooperation in ensuring that offenders are brought to justice, regardless of how much time has passed,” said Lesia
Two Deaths, One Warning: Illegal Initiation Schools Continue to Claim Young Lives
The deaths of two young initiates within days of the start of the North West's 2026 winter initiation season have once again exposed the deadly risks posed by illegal initiation schools, raising urgent questions about why unregulated facilities continue to operate despite years of warnings, legislation and intervention campaigns.
While one of the fatalities occurred at a legally registered initiation school in Bodibe Village in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District, authorities say the second death at an illegal initiation school in Khuma Township in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District highlights the persistent and growing danger posed by unregistered initiation operations that continue to place vulnerable young people at risk.
The tragic incidents have cast a shadow over the province's winter initiation programme and renewed calls for communities, parents, and traditional leaders to play a more active role in identifying and shutting down illegal schools before more lives are lost.
North West MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Gaoage Oageng Molapisi, described the deaths as heartbreaking and extended condolences to the affected families. He stressed that while initiation remains a respected and important cultural practice, it should never become a death sentence for young initiates.
"The loss of even one initiate is one too many," Molapisi said, warning that illegal initiation schools remain the greatest threat to the safety and well-being of initiates because they operate outside established legal, cultural, and health regulations.
The dangers associated with illegal initiation schools were starkly illustrated following the death in Khuma Township, where authorities moved swiftly to shut down the unregistered facility. The Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee rescued 41 initiates from the school and transported them to a nearby health facility for medical assessment and treatment. All have since been discharged, with many reunited with their families.
For years, authorities across South Africa have repeatedly identified illegal initiation schools as a leading cause of deaths, injuries, dehydration, assault, and permanent physical complications suffered during initiation seasons. These unregulated schools often operate without proper oversight, qualified traditional surgeons, adequate healthcare support, or adherence to cultural protocols and legislative requirements.
Despite ongoing awareness campaigns and stricter legislation under the Customary Initiation Act, illegal operators continue to establish schools, often exploiting families and communities while placing young initiates in dangerous and sometimes fatal conditions.
Provincial authorities say inspections and monitoring efforts have been intensified across the North West, with government departments, traditional leaders, healthcare practitioners and law enforcement agencies working together to ensure that registered initiation schools comply with safety standards and legal requirements.
Molapisi appealed to communities to remain vigilant and report any suspected illegal initiation schools immediately, stressing that preventing further deaths requires collective action from families, traditional structures and residents.
Meanwhile, the South African Police Service has opened a criminal case relating to the alleged contravention of the Customary Initiation Act. It has launched investigations into both deaths as authorities seek to prevent further tragedy during the remainder of the winter initiation season.
