South Africa imports most of its petroleum and crude oil from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. In 2023, it imported $2.28-billion (46.1%) from Nigeria and $1.62-billion (32.7%) from Saudi Arabia, according to Harvard’s Atlas of Economic Complexity.
In June 2025, Saudi Arabia was exporting 7.2-million barrels of oil per day through the Strait of Hormuz. It is one of six major oil producers – alongside Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – that rely on Hormuz to ship oil, much of it destined for Asian markets.
The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s second-busiest oil transit chokepoint after the Strait of Malacca. In 2023, 20.9-million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products passed through Hormuz each day, compared to 23.7-million through Malacca.
Any blockade or disruption in the strait would likely push up global oil prices – and South Africans would feel it at the pump. Higher fuel costs would ripple through the economy, raising the transport prices, food, and other essentials.

Iran is one of the world’s top crude oil producers, averaging 5.1-million barrels per day in 2024. When Israel launched its war with Iran, oil prices spiked amid fears of supply disruptions.
Part of that anxiety stems from geography: Iran borders the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes en route from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Six of the world’s biggest oil producers – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – rely on Hormuz to export their oil, most of it bound for Asian markets.
Tensions escalated further when the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025. Fears mounted that Iran would retaliate by blocking the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz is the second-busiest oil transit route in the world, after the Strait of Malacca. In 2023, 20.9-million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products moved through Hormuz daily, compared to 23.7-million through Malacca.

Iran is one of the world’s top crude oil producers, averaging 5.1-million barrels per day in 2024. When Israel launched its war with Iran, oil prices spiked amid fears of supply disruptions.
Part of that anxiety stems from geography: Iran borders the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes en route from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Six of the world’s biggest oil producers – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – rely on Hormuz to export their oil, most of it bound for Asian markets.
Tensions escalated further when the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025. Fears mounted that Iran would retaliate by blocking the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz is the second-busiest oil transit route in the world, after the Strait of Malacca. In 2023, 20.9-million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products moved through Hormuz daily, compared to 23.7-million through Malacca.

The severe weather that hit the Eastern Cape in early June has been classified a national disaster.
Devastating floods killed more than 90 people, with Mthatha the hardest hit. On 9 June 2025 alone, the town recorded 129mm of rain – breaking a 28-year record set in 1997, when 76.6mm fell on the same date.
The head of the Disaster Management Centre classified the event as a national disaster, which allows different levels of government to step in and coordinate response and recovery efforts.
Since 2015, 76 events have been classified as disasters at various levels of government – more than a third of them due to severe weather, including floods, hailstorms and strong winds. The Eastern Cape has been affected by 11 of these weather-related disasters.
This is the second disaster to hit the province in 2025. In January, heavy rains also triggered a disaster classification.

When disasters strike, the National Disaster Management Centre, under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, can disburse two types of grants: response grants for emergency relief – such as urgent repairs to infrastructure and emergency provision of goods and services – and recovery grants to support the longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction.
In the 2023/24 financial year, R873-million rand in disaster response grants was allocated to 75 municipalities. Yet only 25 municipalities spent 80% or more of their funding. Thirty municipalities didn’t spend a cent. By year-end, just R220.5-million – 25% of the total available – had been used.
King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality was one of 22 municipalities in the Eastern Cape that received disaster relief funding in the 2023/24 financial year. It was granted R5.4-million and spent 94% of it, which is encouraging.
Unspent funds may be reallocated by the National Treasury unless already committed to projects.

President Donald Trump banned travel to the United States for citizens of seven African countries and restricted access for another three countries from 9 June.
In a separate list, he included an additional 24 African countries that may be subject to travel restrictions if they didn’t provide ‘remediation plans’ for concerns identified by the US government that include security vetting and people overstaying their US visas, according to the New York Times.
The 34 countries are:
Banned: Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
Restricted travel: Burundi, Sierra Leone and Togo. People from these countries cannot go to the US permanently or get tourist or student visas.
May be restricted: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

An increasing proportion of people say they avoid reading, watching or listening to the news. According to this year’s edition of the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report, 40% of people say they sometimes or often avoid the news, up from 29% in 2017. At 41%, the South Africans who took part in the survey were in line with the global average.
The top eight reasons people avoid the news are:
– It has a negative effect on their mood
– They are worn out by the amount of news
– There is too much coverage of conflict/war
– There is too much coverage of politics
– There is nothing they can do with the information
– It leads to arguments they’d rather avoid
– It doesn’t feel relevant to their lives
– It’s too hard to understand

South Africans wagered more than R1-trillion in 2024.
Betting on sports and other contingencies is driving this surge. Half the gross revenue from gambling is from online betting, according to National Gambling Board statistics.
In the 2023/24 financial year alone, the gambling industry generated R59.3-billion in gross revenue. The Western Cape overtook Gauteng as the top-earning province, pulling in R18.78-billion, compared to Gauteng’s R13.01-billion. Mpumalanga followed closely with R12.98-billion.
A survey conducted by ,a href=”https://themediaonline.co.za/2025/05/upping-the-ante-tracking-the-year-on-year-growth-of-gambling-in-sa/”>InfoQuest in April 2025 – a follow-up to its March 2024 study of roughly 300 South African gamblers – found that nearly half (48%) reported gambling more frequently than they had a year ago.
“This surge in frequency points to growing engagement, possibly fuelled by the rise of easily accessible online platforms, aggressive marketing, and shifting social norms,” said Claire Heckrath, managing director of InfoQuest. But how are people funding their gambling? According to Heckrath, a third of gamblers claim to use surplus funds. “This means that a concerning 63% are likely using money meant for essentials, savings, or other financial commitments,” she said.

People in South Africa wagered more than R1-trillion in the 2023/24 financial year.
Two-thirds of that total was spent on betting, mainly on sports and horse racing, according to the National Gambling Board.
Of the nine provinces, Mpumalanga recorded the highest gambling spend at R359.3-billion, followed closely by the Western Cape at R353.2-billion. Gauteng trailed at R173.7-billion.
In Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, betting is the clear favourite, accounting for 96% and 84% of gambling spend respectively. In contrast, Gauteng remains a stronghold for casinos, where 77% of its gambling turnover was recorded. Casinos also led in KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Eastern Cape.
Nationally, betting now far outpaces other forms of gambling, generating a turnover of R761-billion – more than double that of casinos, which brought in R297-billion.
All this activity contributed R4.8-billion to government revenue through taxes and levies in the 2023/24 financial year.

People in South Africa wagered more than R1-trillion in the 2023/24 financial year.
Of the nine provinces, Mpumalanga recorded the highest gambling spend at R359.3-billion, followed closely by the Western Cape at R353.2-billion. Gauteng trailed at R173.7-billion.
In Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, betting is the clear favourite, accounting for 96% and 84% of gambling spend respectively. In contrast, Gauteng remains a stronghold for casinos, where 77% of its gambling turnover was recorded. Casinos also led in KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Eastern Cape.
Bingo, while a smaller slice of the pie nationally, is relatively popular in the North West and Eastern Cape, where it contributes around a quarter of gambling turnover.
Nationally, betting now far outpaces other forms of gambling, generating a turnover of R761-billion – more than double that of casinos, which brought in R297-billion.
All this activity contributed R4.8-billion to government revenue through taxes and levies in the 2023/24 financial year.

The highest-paid city manager in 2023/24 was in Ekurhuleni, with a remuneration package of R4.57-million. Cape Town’s city manager followed closely at R4.49-million, while eThekwini and Johannesburg paid R3.84-million and R3.36-million respectively.
City managers typically out-earn mayors. In Johannesburg, for example, the mayor earned R1.58-million – nearly half of what the city manager received.
Mangaung’s city manager earned significantly less, but only because he took office on 1 November 2023 and did not serve the full financial year.
Why the high salaries? City managers are effectively the chief executives of municipalities. They are responsible for implementing policies, managing service delivery, and ensuring that local governments comply with legislation – making them key to a city’s performance.

Even though it’s been more than five years since the first major Covid lockdown, the effect of the pandemic remains. One of the sectors most affected by the global lockdown was tourism and travel.
Five years after Covid, international arrivals in South Africa are much improved but not yet back to pre-Covid highs.
Arrivals in 2024 were almost 9-million, still 13% down on the highs of 2017 and 2018. Kenya, in comparison, has recovered and even exceeded pre-Covid arrivals in the time since the lockdowns, albeit off a smaller base.
The vast majority of arrivals in South Africa are from within Africa, especially SADC (Southern African Development Community) countries. In 2024, 6.6-million arrivals in SA were from SADC countries, or 74% of the total.
The majority of SADC visitors to South Africa stayed in the country for 2 to 4 days. Visitors from overseas spent an average of 8 to 14 days in the country.

People in South Africa wagered more than R1-trillion last year. Two-thirds of it was spent on betting, mostly online, on things like sports and horse racing. The money spent on betting has been going up since around 2021. The turnover from betting now far surpasses casinos, which used to be the most popular way to gamble.
Betting on sports and other contingencies is driving this surge.
“Gambling has transitioned from a pastime enjoyed by small pockets of society to being a commonplace activity,” notes the National Gambling Authority.
In an April 2025 survey conducted by InfoQuest – a follow-up to its March 2024 study on approximately 300 gamblers in South Africa – nearly half (48%) said they are gambling more often than a year ago.
According to Claire Heckrath, managing director of InfoQuest, “This surge in frequency points to growing engagement, possibly fuelled by the rise of easily accessible online platforms, aggressive marketing, and shifting social norms.”
Get the data used in the chart on DataDesk

South Africa has long been Africa’s leader in motor vehicle production, but that dominance is now being challenged by Morocco, while Algeria is starting to ramp up production from a smaller base.
In 2024, South Africa produced 599,755 vehicles, only slightly ahead of Morocco’s 559,645. Morocco has already overtaken South Africa in passenger vehicle production, manufacturing 524,467 units – about 174,000 more than South Africa.
Morocco is increasingly focusing on the electric vehicle (EV) sector. In early June, officials in Morocco announced plans to boost EV production by more than 50% this year, targeting 107,000 EV units by the end of 2025.
Morocco’s proximity to the EU market is a clear advantage, while South Africa faces a number of challenges including stricter EU emissions targets on traditional combustion vehicles, transport costs and often unstable infrastructure.

State salaries are under fresh scrutiny as budget pressures mount and government debt soars – but the pay at state-owned enterprises is particularly staggering. The Development Bank of South Africa CEO tops the list, earning R15.5-million a year, nearly R1.3-million a month. The next highest earners are Transnet’s CEO at R8.5-million a year, closely followed by South African Revenue Services’ CEO at R8.2-million.
We’ve compiled the remuneration packages of the 122 state-owned enterprises CEOs using responses from 18 government ministers to parliamentary questions. The electricity and energy minister’s response was incomplete due to a broken link, so Eskom’s financials were used to estimate its CEO’s pay.
The top 15 earners all take home R6-million a year or more – not including performance bonuses. None of the 122 CEOs earns less than R1-million a year.

It won’t come as a surprise that the five richest people in the world are tech billionaires based in the United States, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
At number one – as of the close of business on 5 June 2025 – is Elon Musk (yes, born in South Africa, but now an American citizen), with a net worth of $368-billion. To put that in perspective, only two African countries have economies larger than Musk’s fortune – South Africa, with a GDP of $400-billion, and Egypt, at $383-billion.
The graphic above compares the net worth of the world’s top five richest men to the GDPs of Africa’s five largest economies, based on the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (April 2025).
Altogether, the combined net worth of the top 10 on Bloomberg’s latest billionaires index stands at $1.97-trillion – exceeding the entire GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa, which the IMF estimates at $1.88-trillion for 2024.

The number of people using South Africa’s trains is slowly recovering, driven by improvements in the commuter rail service network.
In March 2024, Statistics South Africa recorded 4.7-million train journeys. A year later, that figure had risen to 7.4-million. But this is still nowhere near the highs of 2009, when there was an average of 52-million journeys per month.
Over the past year, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has significantly expanded the number of operational lines. By March 2025, 34 of PRASA’s 40 commuter service lines were running – up dramatically from just four in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Train services ground to a halt in late March 2020 during the country’s initial hard lockdown. Although operations resumed as restrictions eased, the recovery was hampered by widespread vandalism and theft at rail stations and along the tracks. The revival of the rail network is a critical step in restoring affordable public transport.

Around 24,000 runners entered the 98th Comrades Marathon in 2025, with the largest group made up of men aged 40 to 49 (8,171 entries), followed by senior men aged 20 to 39 (5,329), and men aged 50 to 59 (4,395).
On Sunday, 8 June, roughly 22,000 runners completed the approximately 89km Down Run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. The gap between entries and actual participants is typically due to injuries, personal circumstances, or failure to meet qualifying standards.
Entry fees were set at R1,200 for South African citizens, R2,000 for entrants from the rest of Africa, and R4,500 for international runners.
Tete Dijana claimed victory with a time of 5:25:28, while Gerda Steyn was the first woman over the finish line with a time of 5:51:19.
First held in 1921, the Comrades is the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon. The race alternates annually between the up run (Durban to Pietermaritzburg) and the down run (Pietermaritzburg to Durban).

Since the 2021 local elections, metro leadership across South Africa has been volatile.
Johannesburg has had six mayors, driven by resignations, court rulings, and no-confidence motions. Dada Morero currently holds the position. Ekurhuleni and Tshwane have each seen four mayoral changes, the latter due to scandals, poor audits and no-confidence motions. ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya now leads Tshwane.
In the Eastern Cape, Nelson Mandela Bay also had multiple shifts. The current mayor is ANC’s Babalwa Lobishe. Buffalo City saw one change, with Princess Faku replacing Xola Pakati.
Cape Town remains the most stable, with Geordin Hill-Lewis continuing since 2021. Ethekwini had one change in 2024, and Mangaung had two mayoral changes.
Things were not much more stable after the 2016 elections. Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay each cycled through four mayors during that term, often due to motions of no confidence, resignations, or death in office.

In 2024, over 695,000 Schengen visa applications from across Africa were denied, resulting in more than $70-million lost in non-refundable fees. West Africans bore the brunt of these visa rejections.
A Schengen visa, which allows short stays in 29 European countries, costs €90 (about R1,800) per application and is non-refundable, even if the visa is denied.
Nigeria was hit the hardest, with 45.3% of its 111,201 applications rejected. Only 58,808 were approved – meaning Nigerians lost over $5-million in fees for unsuccessful applications.
Other West African countries followed closely:
– Senegal: $3.3-million lost
– Côte d’Ivoire: $2.6-million
– Ghana: $2.5-million
In East Africa, 28.5% of Kenyan applications were rejected, resulting in $1.9-million in lost fees.
South Africans fared far better, with just 5.6% of 193,768 applications rejected. Still, that relatively low rate translated into more than $1-million in lost fees.

Africans lost over $70-million in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024. Nigerians were hit hardest, with 45.3% of applications denied, followed closely by Ghanaian applicants at 44.5%.
A Schengen visa, which allows short stays in 29 European countries, costs €90 (around R1,800) and is non-refundable.
Data from the European Commission shows that there were 111,201 applications by Nigerians for Schengen visas in 2024, and only 58,808 of those were granted. That means that over $5-million was spent (and lost) by Nigerians whose visa applications were turned down.
South Africans fared much better, only 5.6% of the 193,768 applications were rejected. Still, that translates to over $1-million (or R19.7-million) in lost fees. People travelling from the United States and China had 4% and 4.5% of their Schengen visas rejected.
The average rejection rate for Schengen visas for all countries is 16.9% while the rejection rate for African applications is 27%.

In the world of computer programming, Stack Overflow was a giant.
For more than a decade, it was the go-to site for asking tech-related questions.
At its peak, more than 300,000 questions* were posted on Stack Overflow every month, and many of them had dozens, if not hundreds, of responses. Stack Overflow was massive.
That’s why Naspers-owned Prosus paid $1.7-billion to acquire it in August 2021. Many argued it was an overpriced deal, but given Stack Overflow’s influence and reach, it could have made sense.
But it didn’t.
In November 2022, ChatGPT was launched – and new data shows Stack Overflow activity plummeted over the next two years, dropping from over 200,000 questions a month to just a few thousand, as developers increasingly turned to AI for answers.
Today, most of Prosus’s investment in Stack Overflow has been written off. The once-dominant platform is now all but dead.
*Note: The question data includes all posts, including deleted posts, as an indicator of activity.*  The data is from here.

Mozambique is South Africa’s largest African trade partner, with exports reaching nearly R120-billion in 2024. According to the South African Revenue Service, it ranks among the top five destinations for South African exports. Key goods include chromium ore (26%), ferroalloys (17%), iron ore (8.5%), coal (7%), electrical energy (5%), and cleaning products (2%), along with motor vehicles, corn, cereals, and soya beans.
Trade with Mozambique has grown significantly over the past 14 years, rising from just R13.8-billion in 2010 to nearly R120-billion in 2024. While Mozambique leads among African trade partners, it still lags behind global export destinations such as China (R220-billion), the United States (R157-billion) and Germany (R154-billion).
South Africa’s other major African trade partners are, unsurprisingly, its immediate neighbours: Botswana (R78.9-billion), Namibia (R70.4-billion), Zimbabwe (R69.2-billion), and Zambia (R55.6-billion).
On the import side, Nigeria is South Africa’s largest African source, with imports totalling R46.7-billion in 2024 – comprising almost exclusively crude petroleum, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Get the data used in the chart on DataDesk.

Most murders do not happen on South African farms – despite claims by US President Donald Trump that white farmers are under attack – a narrative not supported by the country’s crime data.
In the last quarter of 2024, more than 6,000 murders were recorded nationwide, according to official police statistics. Just 96 took place on farms, plots, and small holdings – a broad category that likely includes farm workers and nearby residents, not just landowners or “white farmers.” In contrast, 244 murders took place in pubs, taverns, and bottle stores. Public places saw the highest number of murders (3,821), followed by private homes (1,966).
The majority of South Africa’s murder victims are young Black men. As Gareth Newham of the Institute for Security Studies explains,“Murder victimisation is far more correlated to class, gender and location than race.”

In the 2023/24 financial year, only 41 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities (16%) received a clean audit, meaning their financial and performance reports were credible and reliable. Cape Town was the only metro to achieve this.The rest had concerning audit outcomes:– 99 unqualified with findings: Material misstatements were corrected, but issues like weak capacity and poor internal controls remained.
– 90 qualified opinions: Financial statements had material errors and couldn’t be fully trusted.
– 6 adverse opinions: Statements were deemed “not useful” for decision-making.
– 11 disclaimed opinions: The Auditor-General couldn’t assess the finances due to a lack of evidence.
– 10 audits outstanding: Yet to be finalised.
Audit opinions are a critical measure of whether councillors, residents, and higher levels of government can rely on a municipality’s reporting to make decisions and ensure accountability.

South Africa’s metros are expected to set the standard for good governance – but most are falling short. Despite serving nearly half the country’s households and having larger budgets and capacity, Cape Town was the only metro to receive a clean audit in 2023/24, according to Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke.
Audit opinions are a key test of whether councillors, residents, and higher levels of government can trust a municipality’s financial and performance reporting. But metro audit outcomes are deteriorating.
Buffalo City, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Tshwane all received qualified audits, meaning their financial statements contained material errors and could not be fully trusted. Even more concerning, Tshwane and Mangaung disclosed “significant doubt” about their ability to continue operating.
In her report, the Auditor-General was blunt: metros are “plagued by poor revenue management, debt collection and budgeting practices, coupled with financial losses due to poor-quality spending.”

The petrol levy is now R4.01 per litre, its first increase since 2021/22, when it rose from R3.70 to R3.85. The fuel levy had remained unchanged for three years after it was last raised from R3.70 to R3.85 in the 2021/22 financial year. According to the May 2025 Treasury Budget Overview, the freeze was intended “to provide consumers with relief from high fuel price inflation.”
The latest hike – 16c for petrol and 15c for diesel – may seem minor to some, but it hits poorer communities hardest.
When fuel prices rise, so do transport costs. According to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, a person earning minimum wage and taking two taxis to and from work can spend more than a third of their monthly income on transport.
Higher fuel costs also push up the price of goods and services across the economy, meaning the impact goes far beyond the pump.
The only silver lining? Despite the levy and carbon tax increases, June’s petrol price decreased – thanks to a lower basic fuel price.

The fuel levy hike is expected to bring in R23-billion by 2028, following increases of 16c for petrol and 15c for diesel. This comes after Treasury opted not to raise value-added tax to 15.5%. In his May 2025 budget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the levy hike was the only new tax proposal being introduced.
The fuel levy had remained unchanged since the 2021/22 financial year when it rose from R3.70 to R3.85. Treasury said the pause was intended to ease pressure from high fuel price inflation.
But the latest increase hits low-income South Africans hardest. Rising fuel prices drive up transport costs – a major expense for the working class. According to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, someone earning minimum wage and taking two taxis to and from work can spend more than a third of their income on transport alone.

South Africa’s consumer price index (CPI) rose slightly from 2.7% in March to 2.8% in April 2025. The main contributors to the uptick were housing and utilities, food, beverages, tobacco, and restaurant and accommodation services.
The rise in food prices was “mainly due to higher meat prices, particularly for beef products such as stewing beef, mince, and steak,” according to Statistics South Africa.
Over the past year, the prices of several everyday items have increased significantly. A kilogram of apples is up 22.4%, rising from R22.46 in April 2024 to R27.48 in April 2025. Instant coffee increased by almost 18%, from R61.99 for 250g to R73.09. Other hot beverages also saw price hikes: Ceylon tea rose by 13.6%, while rooibos tea was up 6.9%.
Not all prices rose, however. A six-pack of eggs, for example, is now 5.3% cheaper than a year ago, down from R25.25 to R23.92.