HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

Fri 09 October 2026:

Here’s what’s happening in South Africa today: 👇🏼

◼️ Call for R5.25 cut to petrol and diesel prices: Of the 11 components that determine South Africa’s petrol price, 10 are directly set or regulated by the government. These administered elements of the final price of diesel and petrol at the pump have grown rapidly over the past decade, substantially outstripping inflation. Government taxes, levies, and regulated margins have a substantial impact on the total cost of petrol, accounting for 41% of the total price at the pump.
Read more here:
https://dailyinvestor.com/energy/158966/call-for-r3-cut-to-petrol-and-diesel-prices-in-south-africa/

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◼️ Durban and Soweto protests: Police on alert after 23 vehicles torched: “It quickly turned into an exercise in intimidation, destruction andXenophobia. What happened today was not a protest. Asylum seekers were driven from queues with sticks and sjamboks. Vehicles were set alight. Shops were looted and vandalised, and certain buildings were set alight. People were assaulted because of how they looked or where they came from, and at least one person was reportedly shot,” ANC Provincial Spokesperson Sifiso Sonjica said. Sonjica said the image of our province and our city has once again been dragged through the mud.
Read more here:
https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/durban-and-soweto-protests-police-on-alert-after-23-vehicles-torched/

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◼️ Private conversation is no shield for racist language such as the k-word: Then, on 23 August 2019, Ackerman sent Wellman a WhatsApp message following a robbery at his home. The message read: “Garth, after today I might be seen as a racist, but I will man alone kill every k****r that cross my path. So God help me.” That statement, the court found, expresses “homicidal contempt”, and “it is not limited to the perpetrators of the robbery, and is framed in a manner that unequivocally indicates that the scope of the invective extends far beyond them.”
Read more here:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-08-hate-speech/

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◼️ Ipid reports 332 GBV cases against police as on duty rapes surge: Ipid recorded 72 of the 116 alleged rape cases as involving officers who were on duty, while 44 involved officers who were off duty. The figures mean that an alleged rape involving an on-duty police officer was reported to Ipid approximately every five days. Prof Kholofelo Rakubu said police officers had powers of arrest, detention, investigation and coercion, which could create additional barriers for victims when the alleged perpetrator belonged to the same institution responsible for receiving and investigating complaints.
Read more here:
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/ipid-reports-332-gbv-cases-against-police-as-on-duty-rapes-surge/

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◼️ New rules for gambling on phones: The South African government has failed to crack down on online gambling. That is despite the National Gambling Board emphatically stating that interactive gambling remains illegal in South Africa. Prominent players like Hollywoodbets, Betway, SportingBet, Sunbet, and SuperSportBet have maintained that they don’t offer interactive gambling. Despite this, several of the operators have tacitly admitted in their own ads that they offer interactive online gambling in South Africa.
Read more here:
https://mybroadband.co.za/news/government/671342-new-rules-for-gambling-on-phones-in-south-africa.html

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