HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

Thu 01 October 2026:

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

◼️ US ambassador Bozell démarched again: The démarche, delivered on Tuesday, followed a string of remarks in which Bozell criticised the South African government’s handling of Washington’s demands. AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel was not happy about the action taken against Bozell. “A very, very stupid move, Dirco, that goes against the interests of ordinary South Africans. Politicians in South Africa will continue to enrich themselves, while ordinary people will bear the brunt of this move,” he said in a post on X.
Read more here:
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/us-ambassador-bozell-demarched-again-as-pretoria-washington-tensions-escalate/

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◼️ Eskom wants to add over R100 to your monthly bill: Eskom has approached NERSA to implement an average 8.8% electricity tariff increase for the 2027/28 financial year starting April 2027. The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD) said this will add at least R112 to monthly electricity bills.
Read more here:
https://www.enca.com/business-top-stories-videos/eskoms-potential-tariff-increase-hard-stomach-consumers

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◼️ SA unveils first digital ID (photos): On Thursday, Schreiber, alongside the department, demoed the first live digital ID in South Africa, providing a full picture of how the system will function and how it is linked to the MyMzansi platform. Schreiber also had more details about digital IDs, looking to address the largest concerns about the technology, he said, which were privacy of user data and state surveillance. “Surveillance is the state watching the citizen. What we are building is the opposite: the citizen watching the state and other users of their data,” he said.
Check images here:
https://independentpress.cc/south-africa-unveils-first-digital-id-heres-what-it-looks-like/2026/10/01/

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◼️Cape Town campaign writes names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza on 20-metre shroud: A Cape Town community initiative has recorded the names of thousands of Palestinian children killed in Gaza on a 20-metre shroud as part of a campaign to remember the victims as individuals rather than statistics. The Know Their Names project began over the weekend of 19 and 20 September at Claremont Main Road Mosque, where community members started writing the names of Palestinian children on the cloth.
Read more here:
https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-09-30-cape-town-campaign-writes-names-of-palestinian-children-killed-in-gaza-on-20-metre-shroud/

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◼️Domestic worker earns in 2 years what a CEO makes in 1 day: South Africa’s richest 1% hold 54.9% of national wealth, while the bottom 50% have more debt and liabilities than assets, according to an Oxfam report. The report said that the country’s eight billionaires – worth a combined R730 billion – added roughly R382 million per day to their wealth in 2025. The report warned that extreme inequality is eroding democracy, with 63.5% of households being food insecure and 23.2 million people living below the poverty
Read more here:
https://www.news24.com/southafrica/news/domestic-worker-earns-in-2-years-what-a-ceo-makes-in-1-day-new-report-finds-20261001-0442

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