The headlines of the leading newspapers on 29 October 2025:
NATIONAL:
# Business Day:
Reports higher tax collection is good news for November’s medium-term budget policy statement after two-pot retirement withdrawals increased tax revenue by six-billion-rand. The Revenue Service’s estimate of tax costs currently stands at an increase of 18-billion-rand.
# And the Netwerk24 website:
Firstly, reports on the Nada-Jane murder case. A social worker testified that the murder of the four-year-old girl was a revenge killing against Amber Lee Hughes’s former partner and Nada-Jane’s father, Elie Challita.
Secondly, the website writes the DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille, says the 2026 elections is the city’s last chance. She says she is stunned by the levels of corruption in the metro.
And finally, it is reported the Information Regulator is concerned about the fact that matric results are published in the order in which the candidates sat in the examination hall. They can be identified that way.
GAUTENG:
# Sowetan:
Reports an unfinished taxi rank in Limpopo on which 310-million-rand has already been spent over the past 14 years will receive a further 46-million-rand to complete it. This is the sixth contractor to take over the project.
# And The Citizen:
Writes the Boitumelo community has been waiting for a promised health centre for a decade. 20-million-rand has already been spent on the project and all that remains is an empty plot of land with a hole in the middle.
WESTERN CAPE:
# Die Burger:
Reports 43-year-old Nikki Overbeek was shot dead in an apparent hit-and-run in the driveway of her Somerset West home yesterday morning. She reportedly had her home broken into in December and had security cameras installed. The murder may have been caught on CCTV. No one has been arrested yet.
And secondly, the paper writes the beloved Outeniqua Choo Tjoe steam train is set for a return in 2026 after Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager signed a 25-year concession agreement with the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe company to restore, operate, and manage the iconic heritage railway in the Western Cape.
EASTERN CAPE:
# Daily Despatch in East London:
Reports that the Mdantsane community in East London has been shocked after the principal of Ulwazi High School, Mihlali Makhalima, was suspended by the Eastern Cape Department of Education following allegations that he looted more than one-million-rand from school funds for personal use.
And secondly, the paper writes three teachers from the Alfred Nzo district have been sacked after their names were included in the sex offenders’ register.
KWAZULU-NATAL:
# The Witness in Pietermaritzburg:
Writes the Miss South Africa organisation has warned the public against a fraudulent campaign on social media claiming to be raising funds on behalf of the competition’s first princess, Luyanda Zuma. Zuma is from Pietermaritzburg.
And secondly, it is reported that about 50 South Africans are stranded in Myanmar after escaping a notorious human trafficking centre.
And finally from NAMIBIA:
# Republikein in Windhoek:
Reports the minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Frans Kapofi will handle the portfolio of the minister of Mines, Energy and Industrial Development on an interim basis.
And secondly, the paper writes the former Omaruru Hospital, once the town’s only hospital, is now in disrepair – the wards have been looted, windows broken and copper pipes stripped.