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South Africans have coined a new imaginary hospital ward: the “Madlanga Ward”. Its patients are not united by one illness. They have something else in common: they were expected to appear before the Madlanga Commission, only for sickness or a medical certificate to get in the way. As the list grew, so did public suspicion, and, naturally, the jokes. A speedy recovery to all Madlanga ward patients, their recovery is of national significance.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has secured another pause in the long-running Phala Phala saga. The Western Cape High Court on Friday, 24 July, granted him an interim interdict temporarily stopping Parliament’s impeachment committee from proceeding with hearings. The ruling does not cancel the inquiry or clear Ramaphosa of wrongdoing.

Asking an AI chatbot to fix an email, generate an image, or explain your situationship in therapy speak can seem to produce instant results. Behind the scenes, though, each query kicks off a physical process. Your request travels to a data centre, essentially a vast building filled with rows of powerful computers that generate heat while processing and storing information; they must be cooled to avoid overheating.

R&B star Brandy Norwood is returning to South Africa in December, giving fans another chance to hear classics such as The Boy Is Mine, Full Moon and Have You Ever? Live. She will headline the All White Soul Sessions Concert Tour Experience at Cape Town’s Grand Arena on 14 December, followed by shows at Pretoria’s SunBet Arena on 17 and 18 December.

Cape Town’s sex trafficking economy is expanding and becoming more organised, extending its criminal reach into homes in northern and southern suburbs like Brooklyn, Rugby, Tijgerhof, Lansdowne and Wynberg. That’s according to the June 2026 Western Cape Gang Monitor report, published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC). The report tracks gang dynamics in the province on a quarterly basis.

Next time you sleepily open a new bag of coffee grounds and prepare your first cup for the day, take a moment to consider just how many hands it took for the dark brew to reach your kitchen. You may think about (and quietly thank) the farmer who grew and harvested the beans. But that’s far from the end of the process. The beans still have to be roasted, ground, packaged, branded, advertised and sold in a café or supermarket before they reach the person drinking them.

A court has finally weighed in on what went wrong at Enyobeni Tavern, KuGompo City (East London), where 21 young people, some as young as 13, died in June 2022 during a celebration to mark the end of exams. The victims suffocated because of overcrowding and bad ventilation. An inquest into the deaths, held at the East London Regional Court, found that there is enough evidence to prosecute the tavern’s owners, a police sergeant, a bouncer and a liquor board inspector.

The biggest FIFA World Cup in history delivered a dethroned title-holder and one of the wildest third-place matches the tournament has ever seen. Firstly, hats off to the winners, Spain. They beat defending champions Argentina 1-0 after extra time in Sunday’s final at the New York New Jersey Stadium. The match was goalless after 90 minutes before substitute Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute.

Advocate Andrea Johnson finally entered the Madlanga Commission witness box on Tuesday, 21 July, after missing her scheduled appearance eight days earlier because of a health emergency. Her absence became a story of its own after commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga criticised her medical certificate for providing little information. Johnson later returned to work and was subpoenaed. Now, the head of South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog is the one being watched. So, who is she?

South African motorists briefly received the kind of fuel-price news that makes people consider filling every container in the garage. On 26 June, the Central Energy Fund’s first daily figures for the August fuel-price review period pointed to an over-recovery of about R3.67 a litre for 95 petrol and R3.70 for 93 petrol. Diesel looked even better: about R5.19 for 0.05% sulphur diesel and R5.82 for the cleaner 0.005% grade. An over-recovery generally points towards a price decrease.