SA News | 5 August 2026 2026 reporting period will be first year of assessment for all designated employers who submit reports. The 2026 reporting period will be first assessment for all designated employers who submit employment equity plan reports – thus giving employers a base from which to assess progress towards achieving employment equity in an employer’s workforce. Department of Employment and Labour’s Employment Equity (EE) Directorate Director, Dr Ntsoaki Mamashela s

Siyabonga Goni | 29 July 2026 While tertiary students across South Africa demand an increase in food allowances and an accommodation cap, the upper echelon of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) appears to be operating on a vastly different budget, including eyebrow-raising spending on hotels. Daily Maverick has obtained a trail of invoices revealing how NSFAS splashed public funds on hotel stays for Administrator Hlengani Mathebula. The most damning evidence of

Shaun Jacobs | 27 July 2026 The new Transformation Fund is effectively another tax the private sector will have to pay for the privilege of operating their businesses in South Africa. Under the new fund, money that would have been allocated by companies to supplier and enterprise development will instead flow to the state. The government will then manage the fund and allocate capital towards businesses that meet its criteria and drive the transformation of the economy. The

Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane | 26 July 2026 Rametsi claims house was part of the deal he had with Cornish. Soured business relations between former ANC councillor Johny Rametsi and his former partners Gordon and Lorna Cornish have left Rametsi and his family destitute. The former councillor and mayoral committee member in the Matlosana and Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipalities has been evicted from his home in Klerksdorp after the North West High Court determined that he was

Schalk Burger | 27 July 2026 With smarter localisation, clearer procurement rules and a more deliberate industrial strategy, public spending could again become a powerful engine for rebuilding factories, expand supply chains and restore confidence in South Africa as a manufacturing country, public and private professionals say. Localisation is not about closing the economy, but about using the State’s buying power to build a stronger, more competitive manufacturing base that

Merel van der Lei | 13 July 2026 On a packaging line outside Pietermaritzburg, an operator slightly adjusts a machine because the packaging film is running tacky, preventing a batch from jamming. Two bays down, a setter finishes a die changeover in a third of the manual's estimated time because she knows the most efficient sequence by memory. Neither holds a formal certificate for what they just did. Yet, both made the difference between a shift hitting its production targets

Malcolm Libera | 9 July 2026 A legal battle is brewing over the government’s plan to grant special protected status to the upcoming Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 2026 Tour. The tour will see South Africa’s Springboks take on New Zealand’s All Blacks between August and September this year. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) recently published a notice proposing that the tour be declared a protected event under Section 15A of the Merchandise Marks Act of 1941.

SA News | 9 July 2026 Fifty years after the class of 1976 relied strictly on courage and dreams to confront the apartheid regime, government is challenging today’s youth to adopt a new generational mission to leverage State-backed digital platforms and funding networks to achieve financial liberation. Speaking during a Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) webinar on government opportunities for youth, Deputy Government Spokesperson William Baloyi emphasised

Myles Illidge } 29 June 2026 Through the Telkom Foundation’s RT15 ICT Skills Learnership Programme, Telkom has invested over R85 million to train more than 1,100 learners. The telecoms giant announced that over 150 learners have graduated from the programme and have secured accredited qualifications and practical experience that opened doors in the working world. Moreover, 22 learners from the latest cohort have secured permanent or temporary employment, while two have pursue

SA News | 1 July 2026 The South African labour market continues to reflect pronounced racial, gender and disability disparities, according to the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) in its 26th Annual Report. The Commission for Employment Equity said the upper two decision-making occupational levels, namely top management and senior management, remain racialised and gendered, with the white and Indian population groups, and males, being dominant at these levels. Released u

Michael Taylor | 21 June 2026 The business group Sakeliga has warned that the South African National Roads Agency’s (SANRAL’s) new draft proposals will impose new broad black economic empowerment (BEE) requirements for petrol stations and other roadside businesses. These concerns relate to SANRAL’s Draft Policy for Rest and Service Facilities along National Roads, which Sakeliga says could unlawfully expand the agency’s powers over private businesses. The policy aims to regul

SA News | 11 June 2026 Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has announced a series of transitional arrangements aimed at modernising South Africa's qualifications system, while ensuring continuity for learners, training providers and employers. Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, Manamela said the implementation of the Directive on Transitional Arrangements for Pre-2009 Qualifications forms part of government's broader efforts to strengthen a

Malcolm Libera | 19 June 2026 President Cyril Ramaphosa has thrown his support behind the proposed R100 billion Transformation Fund in South Africa. He said it will help address longstanding inequalities in South Africa’s economy by expanding opportunities for black-owned businesses and broadening participation in key industries. The proposed fund, which would be capitalised over five years, is expected to channel around R20 billion annually into majority black-owned and cont

Nkateko Joseph Mabasa | 17 June 2026 While the affirmative action policy was broadened in 2011, from targeted share transfer ownership to wider socio-economic transformation, including women and youth, slow economic growth has resulted in growing scepticism over its effectiveness Compliance fatigue and unclear outcomes under the broad-based black economic Empowerment policy have been highlighted by business leaders at the Nedbank Top Empowerment Conference. They emphasised th

Boitumelo Kgobotlo | 7th June 2026 Black shareholders of brewing firm SAB are up in arms, alleging they have not seen financial returns on their broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) investment scheme for five years. Those holding shares in SAB’s Zenzele Kabili empowerment scheme – a special purpose vehicle that holds shares in the local arm of global brewing giant AB InBev – which was set up to enable black South African investors to participate in the ownership of

BizCommunity | 5 June 2026 The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has launched Phase V of the National Youth Service (NYS) Programme, which will unlock 100,000 paid service opportunities for unemployed young people across South Africa's nine provinces. Unveiled on Thursday in partnership with the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), the programme aims to provide young people with meaningful opportunities through community service, work experience, skills d

Zingiswa Losi | 8 June 2026 Two recent important legislative developments have taken place in South Africa that will play important roles in raising workers’ wages, putting money in their pockets and helping to reduce our shameful levels of poverty and inequality. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been heartened to see our efforts begin to shift the needle in this struggle. It is important to remember the damage done to South Africa by centuries of insti

Kate Philip | 31 May 2026 If there was ever any doubt, it is now clear. Public employment makes a measurable difference to our national job statistics. In the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), the single biggest contributor to the rise in unemployment was the loss of jobs from the termination of Phase 5 of South Africa’s biggest youth employment programme: the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI), which is part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus. In th

Zelda Venter | 31 May 2026 South Africa’s National Employers’ Association of South Africa (Neasa) and business group Sakeliga lost their Constitutional Court fight to halt the government’s new employment equity (EE) quotas, but they vowed to continue the fight. The Constitutional Court declined Sakeliga and Neasa's application for leave to appeal in their urgent application for an interdict against the Employment Equity quotas enacted in 2025. But they will now pursue the mat

SA News | 17 May 2026 Deputy Minister in the Presidency Nonceba Mhlauli has called on young South Africans to take an active role in shaping government and the country’s future, declaring them “not just leaders of tomorrow, but changemakers today”. Speaking at the Seventh-day Adventist Community Day held in Maragon Mooikloof, Pretoria, Mhlauli said young people play a very important role in shaping government, society, and the future of the nation. She emphasised that South A