Hi there 🙋🏾♀️
We’re back – hope you missed us as much as we missed you!
Our latest Wrap updates you on Julius Malema – he’s just been hit with a major hate speech ruling. Two senior justice officials are in hot water over the bungled Madlanga Commission, and two of SA’s youngest parties are flirting with a coalition ahead of next year’s local elections.
Cyril’s much-hyped national dialogue? Fast becoming a one-man show. Meanwhile, a billionaire is eyeing Curro, and the Springboks made a strong comeback after their recent stumble.🥳
In Celebville, we unpack Taylor Swift’s recent engagement and why it matters to Swifties everywhere.
Our global lows of the week include Washington and Moscow’s meeting, which was so uneventful it could’ve been an email, one of our neighbours facing a worsening health crisis, and Gaza’s suffering continues.
So, let’s dive into these stories and more in this week’s wrap, brought to you by Verashni Pillay and the explain.co.za team. 😄
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Format:
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▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ BRIEFS
NATIONAL
- The Madlanga inquiry into police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s claims of criminal infiltration was delayed, and Ramaphosa is furious. Its first hearing scheduled for Monday was cancelled “due to delays in the procurement of vital infrastructure”. Turns out the commission didn’t even have secure laptops or an IT system to handle sensitive evidence. 🤦♂️Now two senior officials face suspension, while Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi scrambles to limit the embarrassment. South Africans expected bombshell testimony — instead, we got an inquiry stuck buffering.
- RISE Mzansi, GOOD and Build One SA are eyeing teaming up before the 2029 national elections. 🇿🇦🗳️ Newbies RISE and BOSA rode big money into 2024’s race, but won less than a percent of the vote between them. Their reasoning, however, is that opposition votes are being split too thinly, thereby strengthening the ANC and DA. While a full-on alliance for the 2026 locals might be legally messy, the leaders say some form of collaboration is on the cards.
- Ramaphosa’s inaugural National Dialogue convention in Pretoria earlier this month was marred by controversy over costs and the withdrawal of key stakeholders. 😬 Initially budgeted at R740m, costs were revised down to R485m, which critics felt was still excessive. Major political parties, such as the DA, FF Plus, and ActionSA, have either withdrawn or attended only as observers, while legacy foundations, including the Thabo Mbeki and Tutu foundations, have also pulled out. Community sessions are planned nationwide, but it’s not looking good.
- On Wednesday, billionaire Jannie Mouton’s trust made a R7.2bn bid to buy out Curro shareholders and turn SA’s biggest private school operator into a nonprofit. Translation? No more chasing dividends — surplus cash would fund bursaries, rural schools and shiny new facilities instead. 🙌 Parents and learners won’t notice much day-to-day, but the move could turbo-charge growth. Investors clearly like the homework: Curro’s shares jumped over 50% on the news. Regulators still need to mark it, but class is in session.
- The Springboks got back on track in the Rugby Championship, with a hard-fought 30-22 win over Australia in Cape Town on Saturday. 🙌 Handré Pollard was the difference, kicking 15 points and setting up a try. It followed our shock defeat to the Wallabies the previous week. But the latest match wasn’t pretty. Errors and soft penalties kept the Wallabies in touch until the last minutes. 😬 Now we face the real test: the All Blacks in Auckland next Saturday. 🏉
INTERNATIONAL
- US President Donald Trump recently met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska — reportedly to end the Ukraine war and even “swap territories” (😬). But Trump emerged even more smitten after, flashing reporters a photo Putin sent him of the two grinning like varsity besties. Meanwhile, Putin’s still bombing Ukraine. At least 15 people were killed in Kyiv earlier today. Cue deflection: Trump’s team is now calling it “Modi’s war”, blaming India’s oil trade with Russia. Sure Jan.
- Botswana has declared a national public health emergency as hospitals run short of vital supplies. 🚨It’s thanks to the double-whammy of US aid cuts AND a diamond market downturn. Diamonds make up around 80% of the country’s exports and a third of its revenue, a risk as competition from lab-grown diamonds has grown. One of Africa’s most stable countries, Botswana has made plans to diversify by investing in agriculture, copper and tourism. Now, President Duma Boko has unveiled a multimillion-pula rescue plan and even called in the military to stabilise supply chains.
- The global authority on hunger crises formally declared famine in Gaza City last Friday. This is rare: Only four famines have been declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification since it was established in 2004. Over 300 people, many of them children, have starved to death since the war began, making Gaza’s entirely man-made, preventable catastrophe even more alarming. Today marks 691 days since the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s devastating military response that followed.
- Nigeria has imposed a six-month ban on the export of raw shea nuts in a bid to boost local processing and profits. 🇳🇬 The country produces nearly 40% of the world’s shea crop yet earns just 1% of the $6.5bn global market, as most nuts are sold unprocessed. Shea butter is used in cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals, and much of the harvesting is carried out by rural women farmers. Africa generally needs better local processing of raw materials to keep the profit here.
- Scientists have confirmed that giraffes aren’t just one species but four: Southern, Reticulated, Northern, and Masai. 🦒 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) made the announcement after checking skulls, genes, and even old rivers and valleys that kept them apart. It’s not just trivia. Previously classed as “vulnerable” as one group, the IUCN will now reassess the survival status of each group, hoping this clearer taxonomy will strengthen protection efforts for the world’s tallest mammals.
▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ BIG STORIES
1️⃣ Hate speech ruling adds to Malema’s growing global backlash
South Africa’s firebrand EFF leader, Julius Malema, was found guilty of hate speech by the Equality Court in Cape Town yesterday. The verdict centres on comments he made at a 2022 rally, telling supporters that no white man was going to beat him up and they “should never be scared to kill”. It was language that the court deemed “a clear intention to incite harm and to promote or propagate hatred”.
This isn’t Malema’s first brush with a legal rebuke over his comments. A prior conviction stemmed from his singing of the anti-apartheid protest song “Dubul’ ibhunu” (“Kill the Boer, kill the farmer”)—a ruling later overturned but not without creating a firestorm at home and abroad.
Internationally, he’s perhaps best known for his footage being shown by President Trump during a tense Oval Office meeting with Ramaphosa in May. Trump used the clips to claim white farmers were being targeted in a “genocide” – an ongoing misinformation campaign that right-wing figures, including Elon Musk, have sold by using clips of Malema’s violent language towards white people.
The consequences of Malema’s inflammatory rhetoric have been growing, though. He was denied a visa to the UK earlier this year for being “non-conducive to the public good”. The Home Office said, in a letter released by the EFF, that Malema had made “statements calling for the slaughter of white people [in South Africa] or hinted that it could be an acceptable option in the future”. It also cited his vocal support for Hamas.
The EFF, meanwhile, has strongly condemned the latest ruling as a “grave distortion” of history, philosophy and the nature of political speech in South Africa. The party argues the court ignored context, including the Brackenfell High School protests where Malema made the comments, after its members clashed with white residents, and South Africa’s long history of structural violence against Black people.
The red berets have vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, framing the case as the suppression of revolutionary rhetoric. For Malema, though, the ruling adds another mark in his growing catalogue of controversies and sharpened national and global scrutiny of his politics.
2️⃣ Polls and political shifts ahead of the 2026/27 Local Government Elections
A leaked DA poll rocked South Africa earlier this week. It showed the ANC’s national support crashing to 29% with the DA head-to-head at 28%, surging ahead in metros like Tshwane and eThekwini.
Buuuut… the hype was misplaced. The blue party’s doyen, Helen Zille, said whoever leaked it made a mistake, as the party does this sort of snapshot polling every day, and it doesn’t really mean much in the long run, adding that the “margin of error was too great.”
A margin of error is the “give or take” range showing how much poll results could be off, since they’re based on a sample – not the whole population.
Speaking to explain, election data analysts highlighted the flaws in reading too much into premature political polling. Paul Berkowitz agreed with Zille’s assessment, saying, “The DA poll had an 8% margin of error in the metros – this is huge. The new scenario would have the DA and ANC neck-and-neck.”
In reality, the ANC was ahead of the DA by over 18 percentage points in the last election.
Meanwhile, Wayne Sussman noted that “we are a long way out from the election,” and with the DA poll’s 1,820-voter sample and 14-month gap, it is too soon to predict a definite outcome. The DA poll is also based on the assumption of a 100% national turnout, versus 2021’s 45%, skewing results. Plus, bias in party-commissioned polls tends to distort smaller parties’ strength. In the past, even reputable polls, like Ipsos, have misjudged DA support by 2–4 points.
Local elections are one of SA’s biggest reality checks, where voters punish or reward based on water supply and streetlights. But, as Sussman warns, “We are in for a very interesting time”, with more coalitions likely after next year’s polls. Lord, save us. With a whopping 472 parties on the 2026 ballot, including MK and EFF, the messy coalitions and power struggles that have defined local governance in recent years may continue to be a problem. Meanwhile, low youth turnout could boost ANC’s rural base, but urban rage may flip metros.
And, guess what? The elections may not even happen next year. The Electoral Commission of South Africa briefed the media this Tuesday on preparations for the next local polls, set to occur between 2 November 2026 and 31 January 2027, marking an end to municipal councils’ five-year term.
So, the leaked poll may have caused a stir, but with shaky data, low turnout, and coalitions still looming large, the hype was premature. The 2026 vote may shift power in key metros, but it’s far too early to call.
3️⃣Taylor Swift says yes 💍
Folks, it’s happened: Taylor Swift is engaged!
Yup, Swift’s engagement has hijacked our newsroom, and we’re not sorry. Because when pop’s reigning queen says “I do,” it’s a global event. 😆
The 14-time Grammy winner announced her engagement to football star Travis Kelce on Instagram in suitably fairytale fashion: a flower-strewn proposal, complete with archways and candles. Their Instagram caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨”, had fans in meltdown. The dynamite emoji? A cheeky nod to “TNT” (Travis ’n Taylor, obviously).
Their romance began in 2023, when Kelce, then just a fan, tried passing Swift a friendship bracelet with his number at her Eras Tour. Since then, their relationship has unfolded publicly: Swift cheering at NFL games and Kelce at her sold-out shows.
For Swifties – that devoted army of fans who’ve dissected every lyric like it’s the Da Vinci Code – this isn’t just a ring; it’s a redemption arc. Taylor’s music career, spanning two decades, has been an open diary about her quest for love. From teenage crushes in Fearless to the savage break-up anthems of Red and Reputation, she’s turned heartaches into platinum hits.
Swift, who turns 36 this year, spent six years with British actor Joe Alwyn before Kelce, in a relationship so private it was almost mythical. Their 2023 split was rumoured to have fuelled lyrics like “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” and “You shit-talked me under the table / Talking rings and talking cradles”, hinting at heartbreak over Alwyn never proposing.
Now, with Kelce, the vibe couldn’t be more different: it’s PDA, podcasts, and public praise all the way.
But there’s also serious issues at play here. Swift’s love life has been a lightning rod for vicious public scrutiny. Since her teens, media outlets have hounded her, slapping labels like “man-eater” on a young woman for… dating in her 20s. Tabloids tallied her exes, sneered at her “too many boyfriends,” and reduced a musical legend to a punchline. The misogyny was relentless; while male stars like Leonardo DiCaprio skate by, Swift faced slut-shaming and mockery. She’s fought back, though, with razor-sharp songs like The Man, dismantling gendered double standards.
This is why the Kelce engagement matters to so many. It’s about Taylor Swift reclaiming the narrative, with a partner who seems secure enough to celebrate her success, not diminish it. 💪🏾
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That’s it from us at The Wrap, an award-winning product of explain.co.za – simple news summaries for busy people. 💁🏾♀
The Wrap is sponsored by explain’s agency division. We specialise in content marketing for purpose-driven organisations, often with a pan-African reach. Mail info@explain.co.za for a quote.
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