Indholdsfortegnelse for 2025-12-24 i Daily News

“Strong on the outside, breaking on the inside,” is how Wendy Figlan described the reality that shaped The Beauty and Battle of a Single Mom, a deeply personal book that turns quiet survival into a shared voice. From the opening pages, Figlan writes with honesty about motherhood lived in tension, holding strength and heartbreak at the same time. Her book is not framed as a guide or a lesson but as lived truth, told plainly, for women who rarely see their inner lives reflected with care. The book captures the weight of single motherhood without softening it. Figlan writes from years of carrying her story quietly, raising a child, working and managing emotional wounds that had little space to exist. “For years I carried my story quietly, balancing strength with…

The KwaZulu-Natal Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) is on shaky ground, again, after the NFP national executive committee wrote to the Speaker Nontembeko Boyce and asked her to fire Mbali Shinga as a member of the legislature. The NFP’s letter to the Speaker comes after the party resolved to temporarily terminate Shinga’s membership last week. The suspension bars her from participating in all party activities, including representing it in government. It was a response to her defiance to support the Umkhonto weSizwe Party’s motion of no-confidence as directed by the party leadership. The party’s acting Secretary-General, Sunset Xaba, said after she did not respond to the letter from the leadership to explain the reason for defying the party’s instruction to support the motion, the party then took a decision to…

As the sun sets on 2025, something unfamiliar is settling over South Africa. It is not relief. It is not a triumph. It is something far more valuable. Clarity. For years, we were trapped in a tired argument. Either our democracy was collapsing beyond repair, or it was miraculously resilient. Doom or denial. 2025 broke that illusion. This was the year we stopped debating theory and started watching practice. Not a fairy tale. Not a rescue mission. A rough, imperfect demonstration of a democracy that still knows how to correct itself when pushed hard enough. When Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi stepped forward and alleged a criminal conspiracy within the heart of the justice system, the country held its breath. We have seen this movie before. Explosive claims. Media frenzy. Then silence.…

It’s the festive season, so go out there and have fun. That’s the message from Proteas T20I captain Aiden Markram to local players participating in the upcoming Betway SA20 Season 4. With South Africa’s premier domestic T20 competition scheduled just before next year’s ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, there are many who feel the 34-game competition is a virtual trial for the 15-player squad. But Markram, in his guise as the new captain of Durban’s Super Giants, erased the pressure and wanted players to express themselves. “From a Proteas point of view, the players that are maybe vouching for squad selection, it’s not to think about the World Cup. Absorb this month for what it is, and have as much fun as you can,” Markram said.…

While the Sharks will bid farewell to Siya Kolisi in July next year, they are set to welcome back another burly loose forward in Dan du Preez. Du Preez, who has been at Sale Sharks since 2019, is close to signing a deal with the Durban team that gave him his start in professional rugby after he finished school at Kearsney College in KwaZulu-Natal. A source at the Sharks confirmed that Du Preez is keen to return to Durban and that the paperwork is underway. The Sharks have been searching for a big, ball-carrying No 8 for some time, an area where they have been lacking. Hanro Liebenberg, the former Bulls star who has flourished at Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership, was also approached but is understood to be…

The political climate in KwaZulu-Natal continues to simmer, with the Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) upping the ante with accusations that the Provincial Legislature’s Speaker, Nontobeko Boyce (pictured), had used tactics reminiscent of the apartheid era to suppress the party’s democratic rights. The assertion came in the wake of Boyce’s controversial decision to suspend 36 Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs), following what she deemed as “gross disorderly, violent, and unlawful conduct” during a tumultuous sitting on December 15. Thirthy-five of the suspended MPLs were MKP members, with the other belonging to the EFF. Nhlamulo Ndlhela, MKP spokesperson, described the move as a deliberate act of intimidation against party members who had raised a Motion of No Confidence against Premier Thami Ntuli. “The suspension of our members is a retaliation against…

They say that it’s only mad dogs and Englishmen that go out in the midday sun, but it doesn’t stop there and the saying is wrong because it could apply to any of us, with important lessons. Last week, Irishman Liam Lupton-Smith left Durban to fly back home to Delgany, a charming village 25km from Dublin, after spending 15 months on a curiosity-driven wandering through “voyage of discovery”, that saw him cycle the length of Africa, chronicling his discoveries online, making some eye-opening discoveries about the goodness of Africa. Engaging, tall and lankly with a shock of a red beard, Lupton-Smith, 25, is an engaging sort, keen to tell of his adventures that took him the length of Africa’s West Coast. With a university background in mathematics and fresh from…

As KwaZulu-Natalians battle to mop up after sudden torrential rains, Mandy Massey from the South Coast Tourism Development Authority has called for calm following a wave of misinformation that has swept across social media. Massey clarified that many images and videos circulating online after Sunday’s downpour were not from the recent rains but from 2023. The rainfall on Sunday was intense, with some areas receiving up to 160mm in just four hours, which left local infrastructure struggling to cope, causing temporary flooding in various sectors, particularly in local businesses. Massey said local government officials and business leaders wanted the public to know that the conditions were not as dire as suggested by misleading online posts. “We had significant rainfall after 4.30pm on Sunday, leading to localised flooding. It just makes…

It has been nearly a decade since the tragic events at Lily Mine in Mpumalanga’s gold belt, where a catastrophic collapse claimed the lives of three individuals and left a community grieving and without closure. The incident, which occurred in February 2016, buried Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule, and Yvonne Mnisi inside a container they were working in. Since that fateful day, they have been stuck in the mine’s depths. Since April 2019, family members of the victims have set up camp near the mine, living in a state of prolonged anguish while clutching onto hope that the remains of their loved ones will one day be recovered. This ongoing vigil speaks to the deep sense of loss and unresolved grief that hangs heavy over the families and the surrounding community,…

It's time to get even, Bafana Bafana. It is time to settle the score with the Pharaohs. Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations Group B clash between South Africa’s senior national team and their Egyptian counterparts will mark the fourth meeting between the two countries situated on opposite tips of the motherland. It is a crucial clash for both sides, with the winner set to book their place in the knockout stages with a match to spare. Both countries were 2–1 winners in their opening matches — Bafana having beaten Angola, while Egypt got the better of Zimbabwe. A recipe for a humdinger, alright! Not that clashes between the two are ever anything but. These, after all, are countries who have built something of an AFCON rivalry since South Africa’s return…

It has become increasingly difficult to question the selection criteria of Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos, as time and again he proves his detractors wrong. Broos is refreshingly honest, often the first to admit when his players are either at their best or have had an off day. He was back at it at Stade de Marrakech after the 2–1 win over Angola in their AFCON opener, saying his players “went to sleep” in the first half. While the team could have done better to avert the situation, it was at centre-back where they largely struggled defensively. The new pairing of Siyabonga Ngezana and Mbekezeli Mbokazi failed to show chemistry and fluidity. With Bafana set to face Egypt in a top-of-the-table clash at Stade d’Agadir on Friday, all eyes will…

The N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) has urged motorists to exercise extra care as busy holiday traffic and unpredictable weather persist along the N3 Toll Route between Cedara, in KwaZulu-Natal, and Heidelberg, in Gauteng. Chief operating officer of N3TC,Thania Dhoogra, said traffic conditions have been consistently heavy since the start of the summer holiday and was expected to continue in the coming days, particularly in a southbound direction. She noted that at peak times, traffic volumes of between 12 000 and 13 000 vehicles per day have been recorded at the busiest toll plazas, Mooi and De Hoek, and similar high volumes were expected today. She said that north-bound traffic was likely to increase from Sunday, December 28, as some holidaymakers begin returning home. In addition to high traffic volumes, Dhoogra…

Sports are increasingly emerging as a powerful connection that unites people, acting as a glue holding bilateral and multilateral relations through shared purpose and commitment to mutually beneficial relations development. Sports are a powerful, universal tool for achieving national and international development, including broader goals like the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They play a vital role in development by fostering physical and mental health, building life skills like teamwork and resilience, promoting social inclusion and national unity, curbing youth violence, and driving economic growth. Sports provide immense economic opportunities that could drive sustainable economic growth and development, in addition to bridging adversities of human diversity and cultural experiences, especially where such differences sustain human prejudices. The global sports industry is a massive, multi-trillion-dollar market, with recent estimates placing its…

Records are meaningless without honours and silverware in football. This is a fact that Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos knows all too well as he strives to steer his side to only their second AFCON title in three decades. Bafana have been on a high, extending their unbeaten run in official matches to 26 games – and 27 overall – after opening their continental showpiece with a 2-1 win over Angola at the Stade de Marrakech on Monday night. The victory, inspired by goals from Oswin Appollis and Lyle Foster, ensured that Broos – the longest-serving coach in the team’s history – celebrated his 50th match in charge in style. Broos is no stranger to chasing the continent’s biggest prize. He won AFCON with Cameroon in 2017 by laying a…

Teetering on the brink of despair for just over two decades, Bafana Bafana transformed years of anxiety and disappointment into triumph — at least for the moment. Monday night’s win over Angola represents not just a momentary success, but a shift in the trajectory of South African football. This victory restores hope after years of underperformance in high-pressure AFCON opening games. This crucial result marked a significant turning point in South African football history and was one of the major talking points from the Group B opener in Morocco on Monday evening. Remember Tunisia 2004 The last time Bafana Bafana won their opening AFCON match was a 2–0 triumph over Benin in 2004, courtesy of a brace from Siyabonga Nomvethe. Since then, South Africa had gone winless in their opening…