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Here’s your daily news update: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories.
Picture: iStock / The Citizen / Cheryl Kahla
News today includes Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana increasing tax on alcohol and cigarettes in a detailed breakdown of the 2025 budget.
Meanwhile, Joshlin Smith’s Grade 1 teacher revealed shocking details about a conversation she had with the mother of the missing girl, Kelly Smith, shortly after her disappearance.
Furthermore, Godongwana announced the extension of the Social Relief of Distress grant and an increase in social grants.
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Budget speech: Here’s how much more you’ll have to pay for alcohol and cigarettes
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has increased the taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.
The minister made his second attempt to give his budget speech on Wednesday after it was postponed on 19 February.
While most of the focus has been on the staggered 1% value-added tax (VAT) increase, Treasury also had another notable increase.
While not specifically mentioned in the speech, National Treasury’s detailed breakdown of the budget shows how much extra drinkers and smokers will be coughing up in the 2025/26 financial year.
CONTINUE READING: Budget speech: Here’s how much more you’ll have to pay for alcohol and cigarettes
Joshlin Smith: Teacher reveals Kelly’s claim that missing child was on boat to West Africa
In a chilling revelation during the ongoing trial on Joshlin Smith’s disappearance, Edna Maart, Joshlin Smith’s Grade 1 teacher, revealed shocking details about a conversation she had with Kelly Smith, Joshlin’s mother, just days after the child’s disappearance.
Joshlin was six years old when she disappeared from her Middelpos home on 19 February 2024. The case continues on Wednesday in the Western Cape Circuit High Court in Saldanha Bay.
According to Maart, on 23 February 2024, Smith told her that she had received a call from a Nigerian man who claimed that Joshlin was in a cargo container on a boat heading to West Africa.
CONTINUE READING: Joshlin Smith: Teacher reveals Kelly’s claim that missing child was on boat to West Africa
Budget 2025: SRD grant extended and Sassa grant increases
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presented his 2025/2026 Budget on Wednesday, after a delay last month due to disagreements within Cabinet over a proposed 2% increase in value-added tax (VAT).
In the run-up to his budget speech, the minister laid the blame for his proposed VAT hike at the door of the R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.
The grant, introduced during the Covid-19 lockdown and intended as a short-term solution, has been extended multiple times.
CONTINUE READING: Budget 2025: SRD grant extended and Sassa grant increases
Budget speech: R19bn allocated to keep teachers in class
National Treasury has allocated an additional R19.1 billion to ensure teachers remain in classrooms.
During his budget speech on Wednesday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that more teachers are needed due to high pupil-teacher ratios.
The move comes amid growing concerns over teacher shortages, with recent staff cuts in provinces such as the Western Cape due to budget cuts.
CONTINUE READING: Budget speech: R19bn allocated to keep teachers in class
Naomi Campbell says South Africa’s Thebe Magugu is ‘transcending fashion entirely’
British model Naomi Campbell has named South Africa’s Thebe Magugu as one of the finest fashion designers in the world today.
“Then there’s Thebe Magugu from South Africa, who’s transcending fashion entirely,” averred Campbell in a unique magazine interview with British publication i-D Magazine.
i-D Magazine was the first publication Campbell graced the cover of in 1986.
For its latest issue, the publication had Campbell’s friends, collaborators, and fans ask Campbell anything under the sun.
CONTINUE READING: Naomi Campbell says South Africa’s Thebe Magugu is ‘transcending fashion entirely’
Here are five more stories of the day:
- SA Cuba deal that racked up R1.7 billion in irregular expenditure revived under new name
- Ipid says 191 cases of death in police custody recorded since last April
- Luvo Manyonga ‘feeling free’ after returning from lengthy ban
- Vicki Terblanche murder: Boyfriend Reinhardt Leach found guilty
- Gauteng health warns of ‘silent thief of sight’
Yesterday’s News recap
READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: Ekurhuleni bus crash death toll rises | Godongwana’s budget speech | Statutory rape in SA
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