These feelings are normal at this time of the year, says clinical psychologist Chris Kemp. 

“There are a lot of people out there struggling with feelings of loneliness or feelings of insecurity around this time, so if you are someone who feels this way, even though you feel alone, you aren’t alone. 

“There are a lot of people feeling very similar to you,” Kemp said.

The festive season is associated with joy and festivities with loved ones, but for some, these societal expectations induce pressure and feelings of loneliness. 

“The media and social expectations portray this time as one of celebration and connection, but for people who may be experiencing loneliness, unresolved grief or fractured family relationships, this stark contrast can heighten feelings of isolation and sadness,” said another clinical psychologist, Anele Siswana.  

For those who have lost a loved one, the December period is a reminder of their loss and grief, according to Cassey Chambers, the operations director at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag). 

“It might be the first — or even fifth — Christmas after losing a loved one, or perhaps dealing with financial stress, so this holiday season is going to look very different than before,” Chambers said.

Sadag receives more calls from older people during December, many grappling with loneliness and depression because they don’t have children or family who visit. 

On the other hand, visiting home and family could trigger unresolved trauma or suppressed emotions, Siswana said, adding that “black tax” — a reference to how many black people feel obligated to provide financial support to extended family members — can cause more pressure. 

“It is seen as one of the socially constructed ideas driving mental health. There’s an undertone of unreasonable expectations and demands from family,” he said. 

Year-end reflections can spark depression because “focusing on perceived failures, missed opportunities or unfinished goals can exacerbate feelings of hopelessness and anxiety”, Siswana added.

“Financial stress is one of the most significant contributors to mental health challenges during the festive season. The pressure to spend on gifts, travel and celebrations can become overwhelming.”

She said the reality of “January blues” — where financial strain spills into the new year — also weighs heavily on people’s minds.

Kemp said acknowledging these feelings, instead of suppressing them, is the first step to lessening the load. 

“When we talk about depression or feeling low, obviously we always want people to sit with their feelings. We want people to be able to acknowledge their feelings; we don’t want them to force them aside.” 

People should try the “opposite action” method — doing the opposite of what you feel like doing. 

“Depression tends to drag us down and make us do things that hold us in that space. 

“So, instead of staying in bed all day, or not seeing people or not interacting enough, simple things like getting up, getting dressed, getting out of bed or getting out of the house and going somewhere nice or doing something that sort of feeds your soul or that you enjoy.”

People should also embrace self-awareness and accept their feelings without judgment. They must set boundaries to protect their energy, finances and mental health and say “no” to draining activities and stick to a realistic budget, Siswana said. 

It is also important to reflect on the past year and plan small, achievable changes for growth in the new year, emphasising progress over perfection, he added.

“It’s also important to understand that being human means navigating both light and shadow, joy and pain. 

“Feeling overwhelmed during certain seasons or moments in life doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you; it means you’re alive, you’re processing, and that’s okay. 

“Life brings challenges — whether it’s personal loss, family pressures, financial worries or feelings of loneliness — and your reaction to these experiences is real and unique to you.” 

• Sadag counsellors offer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week

• Toll-free helpline: 0800 567 567 or 0800 456 789

• SMS counselling: Send a message to 31393 and a counsellor will call you back

• WhatsApp support: Send a message to 076 882 2775 (8am to 5pm) and chat live to a counsellor for free

• Visit www.sadag.org for more information.

The season holds a special place in many hearts, marked by traditions that have been passed down through generations. The rhythm of life slows down, offering families a chance to connect, share stories and create new memories. 

At a full Festival Mall in Kempton Park, Thandi Mbatha, a mother of three, is doing the final Christmas shopping for her little children. 

“I have worked hard all year, lay-buying clothes for my babies, so they can look good throughout the festive season. I am now going to pay the last instalments and add a few more items,” she says.

“We will be going home to KwaZulu-Natal for the festive season for them to meet my family for the first time. They have never been because I could not afford to take a taxi home with them. 

“I now have a better job and this will probably be the best Christmas I have ever had in years.”

For many African families, Christmas is synonymous with homecoming. After months spent in cities chasing dreams and opportunities, many return to the warmth of their rural homes. 

The joy of seeing loved ones again — parents, siblings, childhood friends — is a gift that no material possession can replace. 

New clothes symbolise the season’s spirit of renewal. For children, nothing compares with the excitement of donning freshly bought outfits, often kept carefully hidden by parents until Christmas morning. 

These garments carry more than style; they represent hope and gratitude, a way to mark the culmination of the year’s efforts. 

Equally significant are the meals that are prepared only once a year. Dishes like roasts, mogodu, pap and braai, or sweet treats like ginger beer and koeksisters, transform ordinary dining tables into feasts. 

For a brief time, families forget the struggles of the year, united in laughter and the comforting aroma of home-cooked food. 

But Christmas is not joyous for everyone. For some, it is a sombre reminder of the year’s unfulfilled aspirations. 

Many leave their homes for the city, hoping to secure a better future. Yet, the harsh realities of urban life — low-paying jobs, high cost of living, and unforeseen challenges — mean there is little to show for a year of toil. 

For Ntuthuko Kumalo* who lives in Madelakufa in Tembisa, Christmas is a painful reminder of what is lacking. 

“I have been spending Christmas in my shack for over 10 years. I can’t go back home. I have nothing to give my siblings or my children. 

“I will just hustle some money, buy a few bottles of beer, hustle a meal and go to sleep — as I have been for many years,” he says. 

Returning home empty-handed is daunting. The cultural expectation to bring gifts or financial support for the family weighs heavily on those who feel they have fallen short. 

In some cases, this burden fosters a deep sense of shame and embarrassment, leading people to stay in the city during the festive season. 

This decision is not made lightly. It often means spending Christmas in isolation, far from family and removed from the warmth and traditions that make the season special. 

The silence of a city emptied by holiday travel can amplify loneliness, leaving many to grapple with feelings of failure. 

Christmas in Africa is thus a season of dualities. For some, it is a time to celebrate the fruits of their labour. For others, it is a reminder of the challenges they face. Yet, even in the hardest of circumstances, the season holds opportunities for introspection and renewal. 

Communities play a vital role in bridging this gap. Churches, for instance, often extend the spirit of giving to those who cannot afford traditional celebrations. 

Soup kitchens, donation drives  and communal gatherings ensure that no one is entirely left out. 

These initiatives highlight the power of collective care, reminding us that the essence of Christmas lies, not in material gifts, but in the spirit of sharing and compassion. 

As urban migration continues to shape the dynamics of African families, perhaps it is time to rethink how we celebrate Christmas. 

Can we create traditions that embrace simplicity, reducing the pressure to present outward symbols of success? 

What if the focus shifted from what we bring home to how we connect with those we love?

Some families are already making this shift. Instead of expecting expensive gifts, they prioritise storytelling, where elders pass down wisdom and recount tales from their youth. 

Others organise group activities such as soccer matches or cooking competitions, emphasising experiences over possessions. 

For those unable to return home, technology has become a lifeline. Video calls and online group chats provide a way to stay connected, when physical contact is impossible. 

These small but meaningful acts help bridge the emotional distance that urban migration often creates. 

Ultimately, the beauty of an African Christmas lies in its ability to bring people together, even across great divides. 

Whether through laughter around a fire or a heartfelt phone call to a loved one, the season reminds us of the importance of community, love  and resilience. 

For those who find Christmas challenging, it is essential to remember that success is not always measured in material terms. The courage to face another year, the ability to hope against the odds  and the love shared with family and friends are achievements in their own right. 

As we celebrate this festive season, let us hold space for both the joy and the struggles that come with it. 

Let us create moments that honour the diversity of our experiences, embracing the true meaning of Christmas — a time to give, to forgive and to cherish the bonds that make us human. 

This year, whether you’re in the city or at home, with loved ones or alone, may the spirit of Christmas find you. 

And may it remind us all that, no matter the circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for.

* Not his real name.

Giving an overview of the power utility’s performance this year, Ramokgopa told a media briefing on Monday that South Africa had recorded 272 straight days without  load-shedding — the longest stretch of uninterrupted power supply in five years — but cautioned that the country had not yet put the rolling blackouts permanently behind it.

“We are within touching distance of the resolution of load-shedding but we are not necessarily out of the woods,” he said.

“Even though we’re seeing the kind of phenomenal performance that we’re seeing, it is important that we continue to fix our eyes on the bouncing ball, and that bouncing ball is to ensure that we end load-shedding, and then in the long term, to ensure that we are able to provide the sufficient head space for the South African economy to grow.”

“We want to make it just an abnormal conversation for us to even have a discussion about 272 days of no load shedding … It’s an expectation that there shouldn’t be load-shedding in a most industrialised economy such as ours.”

He said the country would bring on stream different types of technologies “to ensure that we are able to achieve … our decarbonisation ambitions”, noting that 80% of South Africa’s generation capacity still comes from fossil fuels.

“We’ve got a responsibility that we are able to address issues of air quality, which has got significant health implications for those people who are living within the immediate proximity … of these power stations,” he said.

“We also have a responsibility to ensure that we reduce the CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions as part of that global agenda of addressing the scourge of climate change.”

Ramokgopa said another key milestone for Eskom was that the utility had been able to reduce its unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) — essentially, the degree to which its units fail on their own and cannot perform efficiently.

“The intention there is to bring down that number. Once you bring down that number of the UCLF it means then we have more megawatts on the grid… This time last year, we were sitting at about 33.1% UCLF, now we’re sitting at 24.9 UCLF. What that means is that we’ve got generating capacity on the grid, and it’s as a result of the sterling work that the team has been able to achieve.”

He said the energy availability factor (EAF) — the efficiency of the performance of the grid in its totality — had averaged 62.55% from 1 April to 19 December, an improvement from about 55.24% last year.

“As a result of this performance, we have been able to save about R16.06 billion just from stopping us from burning diesel,” Ramokgopa said.

“This is significant, because once we are able to reduce the cost associated with diesel, it means that Eskom is becoming a more efficient generator of electricity …  If we are able to sustain this over a period of time … we’re able to pass all this benefit to the end consumer.”

“Our ambition for the EAF for the financial year 2025 (is that) we want to achieve 70%,” he said, stating that this would be achieved through new generation capacity and the recovery of some units at Eskom’s power stations that have been out.

“70% EAF is not an arbitrary number. It’s a number that is derived from … engineering science … We know that we have the skills to get it to that level, and that’s the level of confidence that we have.

Ramokgopa said one of the targets for next year would be a revised strategy to ensure that South Africa achieves its goal of providing universal access to electricity by 2030, adding that it was unacceptable that after “30 years of a democratic government, we have not achieved universal access”.

South Africa, the first African country to hold the presidency, said it will leverage its presidency at the G20 to “highlight the barriers to AI readiness and opportunities facing developing countries, including unequal, disproportionate access to digital infrastructure”. 

How have those disparities played out in a beleaguered African media environment?

In November, the German foreign office invited the Mail & Guardian on a media tour to discuss how Germany has been dealing with disinformation and how African countries, who have been holding elections this year, can better tackle the information surge. 

During the visit, hosted by the Goethe Institute, journalists and fact-checkers from Anglophone Africa, who were part of the media tour, expressed the need for African-centered solutions for African issues after a seven-day seminar from different roleplayers. 

This was a sentiment shared by colleagues facing media restrictions in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, who acknowledged that first-world Germany was ahead in terms of media resilience. 

Mozambique recently faced a media blackout following its elections in October while Uganda and Ghana have been trying to fight the anti-homosexuality act. 

The media tour, which included civil society and government representatives, aimed to introduce African media practitioners to how Germany has been dealing with disinformation. The topics surrounded AI, fact-checking, funding, and newsrooms. 

The topics, however, were disconnected from the reality faced by the visiting journalists. Africa is a continent with limited access to new technologies and often fails to keep up with the rapid pace of digital advancements. 

While AI is on the rise in the West, fact-checking organisation Africa Check confirmed that South Africa’s recent elections have proved that there wasn’t as much false information powered by AI as expected.

This was not the case for German media houses like the Deutsche Welle (DW), a German state-owned international broadcaster that identified a need for a fact-checking desk following the rise of disinformation. 

Based on a presentation by the founder of the DW’s fact-checking desk, Joscha Weber, AI has caused media houses in Germany to implement additional measures to cut the supply of disinformation before it reaches the audience. 

Germany has several laws and regulations in place to tackle artificial intelligence and reflects both national and European Union frameworks including the General Data Protection Regulation and Cybersecurity Laws to monitor the use of AI and disinformation. 

The German Digital Services Coordinator said it has also been actively combating disinformation since it came into effect. 

An example of this was a video that trended on social media showing Annalena Baerbock, the German minister of foreign affairs, appearing surprised when she arrived in India to find no formal welcome. The video was found to be misleading.

During the 2017 elections, there were concerns that foreign actors, particularly from Russia, were using AI-powered bots to spread disinformation to create division within Germany’s political system.

Since then, Germany has capitalised on the use of watchdogs in the form of organisations, websites and laws to monitor the spread of information. They have begun from the starting point to dismantle disinformation through media literacy organisations like Lie Detectors, who have introduced an education programme in several schools across Europe to promote media resilience against disinformation.

But Germany’s media resilience will be put to the test during the buildup to the elections scheduled for February 2025. 

While there is a disconnect between the availability of resources between the Global South and West, African nations can learn from countries like Germany’s ability to tackle disinformation as a shield should the continent catch up, digitally. 

While Germany, like many other countries, faces issues of public trust in the media, according to experts who provided input during the tour, Germans contribute financially to its media structures. 

Germans pay a mandatory monthly fee of €18.36 known as the Rundfunkbeitrag to fund Germany’s public service broadcasters, which include ARD, ZDF, and Deutschlandradio. Something much like South Africa’s TV licence, but in Germany non-payment of the fee results in serious penalties. 

Taz, die tageszeitung, a well-known German daily newspaper that is recognised for its progressive stance on social, political, and environmental issues has been funded and owned by its readers through a cooperative since 1992. 

It is difficult to know for certain whether the funding structures indicate citizen trust in the media or a legal obligation. Either way, it has helped their media resilience. Something that African nations could learn from.

This comes after the department’s minister, Dean Macpherson, KwaZulu-Natal MEC Martin Meyer and eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba signed a memorandum of understanding  in Durban last month committing to use public assets for the public good.

The release of the 24 properties for potential refurbishment and new uses for the land marks a shift for the department, which previously retained high-value properties that no longer served any purpose, many of which stand unused and dilapidated. In some cases, they have been hijacked.

The department has released a document listing the properties. Among them are the old police barracks Excelsior Court in Durban, the Venda Presidential House in Polokwane, the former home affairs building in Pretoria, Ramelna Court Flats in Bloemfontein and 104 Darling Street in Cape Town. 

The total municipal valuations of 16 of the listed properties amounts to just over R122.6 million, while eight of the properties do not have their municipal values included.

According to the department, members of the public and private entities have until 13 March next year “to make proposals on how these properties can be used to ensure that they contribute to the public good, help ignite job creation and add value to their communities”.  

The department will evaluate these to consider which are feasible before moving ahead with the next step, which could include granting long-term leases, entering into public-private partnerships or selling the properties.

Macpherson said the release of the list marked a “milestone” for the department.

“We will make good on our promise to invite private and public roleplayers on this scale to bring us proposals on how these properties can be utilised towards truly benefiting the people of South Africa, either through repurposing or redevelopment,” he said.

“This means that, where feasible, the state may partner with the private sector to ensure that properties contribute to economic growth and job creation. We believe these properties will attract significant investment and jobs through their redevelopment.

Macpherson said the decision signalled a shift from hanging on to properties, despite them serving no purpose.

“By working together with the municipality and the provincial government, we are charting a new course for how state-owned properties can be utilised to serve the people of South Africa.”

Depending on the success of the current request for proposals process, additional properties will be considered for release as part of the programme.

The eThekwini municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal department of public works and infrastructure are following similar processes of releasing unused properties they own for public and private sector proposals.
The tender documents can be accessed here.

Scores of people were waiting in queues at the Jabulani Civic Centre in Soweto on Tuesday morning — the last day for them to register their businesses with the municipality as ordered by Ramaphosa on 15 November to ensure they comply with food safety regulations.

Salomendaba Mofokeng, who has been running a spaza shop in the area for 24 years, told the Mail & Guardian that she had gone to the municipal offices a few times but was told each time that she didn’t have the right supporting documents. 

“I came on Friday, with all the documents, because they’ve checked everything. I’m left with only one certificate that I need to re-apply for. It’s only one certificate but they are telling me I need to follow the queue again,” the frustrated Mofokeng said.

Other women who run food businesses in the area also lamented the lack of information from officials.

“It’s not even fair because the security guards don’t tell you that, when you come back, you must bring one, two, three, four. They tell you you must bring an ID only, and now I find out I must bring other documents, and I don’t have all those things,” said one woman, who asked not to be named, asking for an extension of the registration deadline.

“We are expected to fail already, because we are going to leave this place — and it’s tiring,” another woman said.  

Some of the documents required when submitting an application for a food business include the physical and postal address; a description of the goods or services that the business will sell or provide to the community; the citizenship status of the applicant and the passport number, a permit or valid visa for foreigners. 

The applicant must also provide an affidavit stating that they do not sell illegal goods and that their business will operate according to the applicable norms and standards. 

Mofokeng was waiting in another queue nearly two hours later to submit her certificate but she said she would leave if she could not finalise her paperwork on Tuesday.

“If today I don’t come right, I am going to keep all my papers and I will work in my shop. If they come, I will tell them that I took the initiative to come [re-register],” she said.

“All those days when the president said we must do this, I’ve tried. I ran up and down. I don’t even have money now. We closed the shop; we are not operating. We are trying to fix this. There is no money coming in but there is money going out.”

The Gauteng provincial government said in a briefing last week that, as of 10 December, 13 616 spaza shops had been issued with registration forms. Of these, 1 916 forms were returned and 2 605 applications were submitted by non-South African spaza shop owners. About 541 spaza shops were closed for non-compliance.

The provincial government said businesses that missed the registration deadline would be closed down. 

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosi Hlabisa is expected to provide an update on the re-registeration of businesses on Wednesday, his spokesperson said.

The fourth edition of the Western Cape Gang Monitor, released by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, paints a sobering picture of the complexity of organised crime in the province.

It reflects a usurping of the government’s authority, with gangs controlling turf and leaders getting away with murder as state witnesses are killed or threatened into silence. 

Fuelling the violence are arms and ammunition that flows from smuggling, legal gun owners and dubious security firms to the gangs.

Unravelling these gangs and the fear they instil in business owners and residents, who pay protection money to them, is not easy because it requires rooting out systemic problems such as corruption in the South African Police Service and achieving better gun control, security analysts say.

The report highlights the gunning down on 3  November of Mark Lifman, a prominent figure in Cape Town’s underworld, and includes interviews with current and former gang members, civil society figures and members of the criminal justice system.

Lifman was a dominant force in Cape Town’s extortion economy, particularly in the nightclub security sector. He ascended to prominence in the 2010s through his involvement in the nightclub scene, which he controlled with Jerome “Donkie” Booysen of the Sexy Boys and Nafiz Modack.

Gang rivalries turned violent in 2017, sparking competition for dominance in the lucrative protection rackets before the rivals settled into co-existence.

But Lifman’s death has raised fears of renewed violence in the decades-long turf war, notes the report, which depicts gang control as a spiderweb of decentralised authorities rather than a top-down hierarchy. 

The leader may be dead, but Lifman’s network and other gangsters expect his protection business to continue.

“It’s business as usual. Why would it change? Because they killed one of the bosses? No way! We got the necessary firepower to get the job done,” said a member of the Sexy Boys interviewed for the report.

Business owners have also predicted they must keep paying. One said he had factored in extortion as “an inevitable operating expense, a payment of around R1  500 to R2  000 per establishment per month”.

“Stopping payments is unthinkable. The safety of our staff and patrons is at stake,” he said.

What allows rackets to flourish is ineffective and corrupt policing.

“Police inefficiency means business owners see protection rackets as the lesser of two evils,” another respondent noted.

A parallel economy 

A significant finding of the report is how organised extortion syndicates have extended their influence into the provision of basic services in poor neighbourhoods.

Yanga “Bara” Nyalara, an extortionist in Khayelitsha, is a case in point. His operation, as described in police affidavits, is a self-reinforcing cycle of violence and control. Nyalara operated a quasi-police station out of a container at Site C taxi rank in Khayelitsha.

“The choice of location was strategic — as a taxi owner and association member, Nyalara could leverage existing transport industry networks while maintaining a visible presence in community life. From this base, he allegedly encouraged community members to report crimes such as robberies and assaults directly to him, offering a resolution for a fee through his criminal network,” the report noted.

“He let his own runners rob people and break into houses, then played the Robin Hood figure to gain popularity by dealing with these so-called offenders.”

Nyalara symbolises a trend in the province where extortion gangs such as the Bara, the George and the Piri are de facto authorities in townships such as Khayelitsha.

They proffer a semblance of order through violence and coercion, exploiting the vacuum the state has left in its failure to deliver security and basic services.

Thando Pimpi, councillor for Ward  93 in Khayelitsha, noted that extortionists charge contractors fees of R50  000 to work in his ward, crippling government service delivery.

 “We can’t do anything,” he said.

Protection fees from schools have also been demanded.

“Extortionists have been seen parked outside schools as a form of intimidation or as a sign to other extortionists that the school falls within their turf. The schools in question are hesitant to report these incidents or speak out due to the threat of violence, and there has been little to no public coverage of this developing problem,” the report noted.

“The scope of these groups’ operations reveals their ambition to become de facto governing authorities … these gangs now demand ‘protection fees’ from almost every commercial enterprise … This extensive system of taxation mirrors legitimate governance structures, creating a parallel economy that has penetrated government service delivery.”

Violent arsenal

The report notes the ease of acquiring arms and ammunition.

Data from the City of Cape Town’s ShotSpotter system showed that more than 7 400 rounds were fired in four Cape Flats suburbs in the first eight months of 2024.

A senior police investigator observed: “Five years ago, we’d pick up five or six bullet casings at a crime scene. Now, it’s 30 to 60, and they’re brand new.”

Gangs acquire ammunition through multiple channels, including cross-border smuggling, corrupt police and robberies, while legal loopholes in the firearms licensing system aids supply.

Licensed gun owners, including hunters and private security firms, can exploit lax oversight mechanisms, allowing them to stockpile ammunition and sell it. For example, the Firearms Control Act allows gun owners to buy 200 rounds of ammunition per firearm but because there is no centralised database this can be circumvented by buying from multiple dealers.

Cocaine and abalone

The illegal abalone trade, a historic cornerstone of the organised crime economy in the province, now intersects with drug smuggling.

Gangs such as the Terrible Josters — whose leader Peter Jaggers was murdered this year over a botched R1  billion cocaine deal — have used abalone as a bartering commodity, trading it for precursor chemicals used in methamphetamine production.

But the report indicates these networks now play a more direct role in cocaine trafficking involving “boat-to-boat exchanges at sea”.

By embedding themselves in transnational drug trafficking networks, the gangs are poised to escalate their violence and power, which will have devastating consequences for coastal communities, the report warned.

Confronting the gangs

The report noted that restoring state legitimacy is a critical step to tackle this crisis. 

It also recommends strengthening oversight of ammunition sales, bolstering witness protection programmes and addressing systemic corruption in the police service.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) crime hub manager Lizette Lancaster said there were no quick fixes to dismantling any organised crime network.

“One needs to fully understand how these networks operate and map them to understand who is involved, and that is very difficult when victims are too scared to speak up due to fear of retaliation. But it can be done through sustained efforts,” she said.

“It’s about increasing the pressure and making sure there are very safe reporting lines for victims. Victims need to feel they are protected against organised crime figures, and therefore corruption within the criminal justice system and within law enforcement needs to be eradicated,” she said. 

“There need to be safe spaces where cases can be dealt with without fear that the task teams or anti-corruption units are infiltrated, and that means a lot of integrity testing within the police and law enforcement agencies.”

A recent ISS report, titled Targeting Firearm Crime Will Make South Africa Safer, noted how the police service should use its crime administration system data to map station areas where gun crime is highest.

“The initial focus should be on provinces with the highest levels of firearm crime: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga. This information should be used to support implementation of a focused strategy to reduce firearm crime,” the report noted.

Data collection and the recording, mapping and analysis of gun-related crimes must be improved. Based on this data, dedicated firearm crime reduction units with intelligence support should be established to focus on areas where gun violence is concentrated.

“Police measures to reduce firearm crime must be aligned with efforts to reduce the overall problem of firearm proliferation in South Africa, including more rigorous implementation of the Firearms Control Act and digitisation, anti-corruption and measures to strengthen the Central Firearms Registry,” according to the report.

2025 marks a significant milestone for these awards — the 20th anniversary of what young people have achieved over the past two decades.

Nominees must be aged 18 to 35 and should demonstrate excellence in 19 categories that include agriculture, arts and entertainment, financial services, health, justice, sport and technology.

Be part of this milestone by submitting your nominations before 17 March 2025 here. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 15 November that all food handling facilities and spaza shops should register their businesses within 21 days and 17 December is in that period.

The directive came amid a number of cases of food-borne illnesses being reported across the country, which have killed more than 20 children.

“The counting of the 21 days started on Monday, 18 November considering that municipal offices are closed on weekends and public holidays,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said in a statement on Thursday.

It reiterated that businesses that missed the registration window would be closed down.

The Gauteng provincial government said this week that as of 10 December, 13 616 spaza shops had been issued with registration forms. Of these, 1 916 forms were returned. Some 2 605 applications were submitted by non-South African spaza shop owners. 

Additionally, 541 spaza shops were closed for non-compliance. These did not have a Companies and Intellectual Property Commission registration, which is a legal requirement for businesses operating in South Africa. 

Other issues of non-compliance included not having certificates of acceptability or comment from the City of Johannesburg’s environment health department and failure to pay operating licenses obtained from municipalities. 

“Businesses operating from unsafe premises and within a hazardous environment have also been closed for non-compliance,” the Gauteng government said.

In his 15 November announcement, Ramaphosa also ordered the spaza shops implicated in the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, to be closed immediately. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases had found that their deaths were linked to a harmful agricultural pesticide called Terbufos. 

Ramaphosa said the government interventions were aimed at preventing food borne illnesses and to get pesticides off the streets. He added that a multidisciplinary team would also conduct door-to-door inspections of all spaza shops, tuck shops and other informal traders. 

On Thursday the GCIS said these teams are identifying and closing non-compliant businesses and “confiscating illegal and unsafe products that pose risks to public health”.

They are also doing compliance checks and intelligence-led operations targeting food warehouses, supermarkets and other food handlers. 

These inspections will continue beyond the 21-day period, the statement said.

“The initiative intends to address previous concerns related to machine breakdowns, which are mostly caused by ageing equipment and inadequate infrastructure,” the National Health Laboratory Service said in a statement. The SAVP is part of the National Health Laboratory Service.

The African Snakebite Institution estimates that more than 4 000 people are bitten by snakes annually although only a quarter of them are admitted to hospital. Only 10% of those require antivenom treatment.

The institute said there was more than enough snake venom available for immunisation.

This was backed up by Jason Seale, the director of the Hartbeespoort Dam Snake and Animal Park, who said the depletion of antivenom reserves at the National Health Laboratory Service will not affect the country’s reserves.

“In South Africa, snakebites are not that regular but when they do occur they need to be treated with the correct antivenom for the best results but there are two antivenom’s which is enough for the demand,” he said.

The regions with the highest incidence of snakebites are KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumulanga, where 24 to 34 people per 100 000 are bitten annually. North West also has a high incidence of bites.

The most common snake antivenom in South Africa is the SAIMR polyvalent produced by the South African Vaccine Producers. The other antivenom — used at the Hartbeespoort Dam Snake and Animal Park — is the World Health Organisation-approved Panaf Premium, which can be used on both animals and humans. 

Seale said Panaf Premium has been proven highly effective because it can be used to treat venom from 24 different species while the SAIMR polyvalent can only be used against the venom of 10 snake species. 

“We have been using it since last year and it has proven very effective so we have started supplying it to the government agencies and hospitals,” he said. 

Panaf is a lyophilised product, a powder consistency, that does not require cold storage and has a four-year shelf life. The price per vial is just over R2 000 but the downside is that a patient requires double the number of vials compared with the SAVP polyvalent antivenom. 

According to the African Snakebite Institute, one of the biggest problems with the SAVP polyvalent antivenom is that about four out of 10 patients have anaphylaxis as a result of an allergic reaction to the horse plasma which requires urgent medical intervention. 

For this reason, the antivenom is only administered in a hospital environment by trained medical professionals. 

“To date, none of the patients treated with Panaf Premium in South Africa have had anaphylaxis. Roughly nine out of 10 snakebite victims that are hospitalised do not receive antivenom, purely because the level of envenomation does not justify its administration,” the institute said.

The National Health Laboratory Service declined to comment when asked when production of the antivenom vaccine will resume.