The headlines of the leading newspapers on 22 July 2026:
NATIONAL:
# Business Day:
Reports the acting minister of Police, Feroz Cachalia, wants to radically reform the South African Police Service. This follows as the revelations about police corruption come to light at the Madlanga Commission.
# And the Netwerk24 webpage:
Reports the lawyer from Heidelberg who allegedly tried to buy a 13-year-old girl, Carel Schoeman, testified in court that he wanted to pay her mother to make the child stop sex work.
And secondly, the website writes France is now the first European country to ban by law children under 15 from using social media.
GAUTENG:
# The Star:
Writes the Alternative Information and Development Centre sharply criticised the National Treasury’s decision to withhold billions of rand in funding from dozens of municipalities. The paper reports the centre says the move punishes poor households while failing to address the root causes of the financial crisis at South Africa’s local government level.
# Sowetan:
Reports a security guard testified in the court case of Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala that he wounded one of the two suspected assassins when they tried to shoot taxi boss Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni at the gate of the estate where he lives.
# And The Citizen:
Writes according to labour experts, the issuance of false medical certificates or sick notes costs the economy around 19-billion-rand annually.
WESTERN CAPE:
# Die Burger:
Reports on Public Works and Infrastructure minister, Dean Macpherson’s decision to investigate more than six-thousand-200 government houses occupied by government officials. He wants to identify properties that are no longer needed and sell or redevelop them. The paper writes Macpherson expects a report from the director general within 30 days.
Secondly, the paper writes although the price of petrol may drop slightly in August, the price of diesel may rise.
And finally, there is news about Australian birth rates. Only one in 15 million Australian women give birth to identical twins.
EASTERN CAPE:
# The Herald in Gqeberha:
Reports three accused who are allegedly responsible for a wave of robberies in Nelson Mandela Bay have appeared in court. The men face about 50 charges, including attempted murder.
And secondly, the paper writes several new cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been reported in the Bay.
KWAZULU-NATAL:
# The Witness in Pietermaritzburg:
Writes the problem of smoke pollution from the landfill where rubbish is smouldering is still not solved, and many neighbourhoods are affected by this.
And secondly, it is reported that the Special Investigation Unit will probe Kokstad’s finances.
And finally, from NAMIBIA:
# Republikein in Windhoek:
Reports Namibians can expect to pay around one-thousand-882-rand for a one-way flight between Windhoek and Johannesburg and one thousand-939-rand to Cape Town when the country’s national airways, Namibia Air, takes off as intended. The prices do not include tax.
And secondly, the paper writes one of the three defendants in the Hochfeld marijuana case, Armand Schultz, will not receive bail like his co-accused. The High Court in Windhoek dismissed his appeal against the refusal of bail because he is still a flight risk.