South Africa is never short of news and 2025 was no exception. The good, the bad and the bizarre were out in full force — from rogue cops and Russian soldier recruits to Snackgate, bling queens and defiant dictators. But who hogged the headlines best?
Vote for your newsmaker of the year from our shortlist. The winner will be announced in the Sunday Times this weekend. After his explosive press briefing on July 6, which ultimately gave rise to the Madlanga commission of inquiry, the head of the KZN political killings task team has become a household name.
His fiery talk and military gear have polarised South Africans, some of whom believe he is the antidote to police corruption and others who suspect him of a power-hungry agenda. Love him or loathe him, Mkhawanzi has hogged headlines this year. South Africans gave a collective cheer when it was announced in November that Vodacom and Makate had reached an agreement in their Please Call Me litigation.
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After all, who doesn’t love an underdog? This 17-year David-and-Goliath court battle revealed Makate’s stoic, quiet determination for justice and won him many fans. While we will probably never know exactly what the settlement was, we do know he is set for life.
Arguably SA’s villain of the year, this “tenderpreneur” and attempted murder accused has been the topic of thousands of conversations at braais and dinner tables across the country. South Africans hung on his every word at the Madlanga commission, where he described paying hundreds of rand to former police minister Bheki Cele in Woolies bags in an audacious explanation of how police top brass were captured. The founder of Capitec and PSG announced one of SA’s biggest philanthropic deals this year — the purchase of South Africa’s largest private school operator, Curro Holdings, through the Jannie Mouton Foundation for about R7.2bn, with the aim of transforming it from a profit-driven entity into a non-profit public benefit organisation to improve South Africa’s education system.
The Competition Commission approved the deal, with conditions. The former higher education minister was axed by President Cyril Ramaphosa after just a year in the job on July 21 amid controversy surrounding appointments to the boards of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). But perhaps her most memorable incident was her bizarre behaviour while accounting to parliament.
Nkhabane refused to take responsibility for her actions, and was recorded eating during the hearing in what was later dubbed “snackgate”. SA’s queen of bling has been forced to go “minimalist” this year after five auctions of her belongings by Sars to offset the R40m she reportedly owes in taxes. Under the hammer were various luxury cars, designer bags and even her alcohol collection.
Even her football club, Royal AM, has not escaped unscathed, with a raid on its KZN training facility, where dormitories used by the club’s women’s side were emptied of beds and other essentials while players continued with training sessions nearby. Msholozi’s most famous offspring has always been known for being fiery. But she overdid the heat this year by allegedly luring MK Party recruits to Russia.
They thought they were receiving training for “bodyguard training” but found themselves on the front line in Putin’s war against Ukraine. Zumu-Sambudla has denied the allegations, but has resigned as an MP for the party, and the Hawks are investigating the saga. The Joburg artist has ramped up her global domination this year, breaking barriers with major wins at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, the American Music Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards and others.
She’s performed at Coachella and Global Citizen and featured on the cover of British Vogue and in Glamour’s Women of the Year issue. The “princess of popiano” shows no signs of slowing down, with a nomination for a 2026 Grammy Award in the best African music performance category. Few people evoked such a strong emotional reaction from the public this year as Kelly Smith, the mother of missing Joshlin Smith.
She yawned through her human trafficking trial and showed little emotion during court proceedings. Smith and her co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, but the mystery of what happened to Joshlin has never been solved. The former Road Accident Fund boss’s maniacal defiance of accountability has hogged headlines for much of the year.
He refuses to account to Scopa, has been accused of spending millions on bodyguards who he forced to work on his farm, and is under investigation for overseeing irregular contracts worth millions. While his contract as CEO expired after he was suspended in June, new controversies continue to emerge on an alarmingly regular basis.
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