The Editor's Desk - Mon 19 Jan 2026: Mbeki’s load shedding revisionism — and today’s must-reads

FirstRand just put its UK business up for sale after a motor finance mis-selling scandal turned an eight-year-old acquisition into a multi-billion-rand headache, and analyst Kokkie Kooyman of Denker Capital walked Alec Hogg through what it's actually worth. He explained why Capitec is quietly trying to build six versions of…

In this interview with Chris Steyn, Jacques Broodryk, the Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety at AfriForum, hails the announcement by the Trump administration of visa restrictions for those “responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the…

Washington has stopped talking about South Africa in the abstract. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a new visa restriction policy aimed not at the country, but at named officials inside the Pretoria government, over land seizures, race-based discrimination and incitement. No names were published, but the bar for…

Action Society's Juanita du Preez tells BizNews six bodies in Kempton Park finally forced a multidisciplinary task team, years after the Gaby Ndaba case stalled on DNA backlogs, while the station tops the country for kidnappings with 76 in three months. DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen says the ANC…

Leon Kluge pulled off a hat-trick no South African had managed before: three straight gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, the world's most prestigious garden show. But this year's win very nearly didn't happen. Storms and flooding tore through the Western Cape days before the harvest, cutting farmers off…