Thursday, 6 August 2026

Gauteng social welfare organisations said delayed provincial payments put staff salaries, food and services at risk; the department insisted most compliant NPOs had been paid by Tuesday and the rest would reflect soon.

Ground Up said NGOs serving old age homes, children’s homes, homeless people and HIV-affected communities were owed money, with the department itself acknowledging weekly Treasury tranches and around 1,400 contracts to process.

Media24 and eNCA’s retrenchment drives were framed as a wider market failure, not just bad business models: Steli Charalambus argued advertising rates, paywalls and subscription income can no longer sustain public-interest journalism.

Interpol’s warning that South Africa is the continent’s cybercrime hotspot was unpacked through examples including ransomware, business email compromise, sextortion and identity fraud, with repeated calls for stronger training and digital governance.

Labour-law experts said many ‘independent contractor’ arrangements may in fact be employment relationships, especially where there is control, dependency and set hours, which can trigger leave, dismissal protection and union rights.