National Treasury suspended the funding due to the mismanagement of public funds.

The equitable share is an unconditional transfer of revenue from the national government to municipalities to subsidise basic services. The funds are paid to municipalities three times a year.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said National Treasury had decided to release the funds to avoid adverse effects on the delivery of basic municipal services.

“The equitable share is an important source of funding for basic services, particularly services provided to poor households. National Treasury must therefore balance its constitutional responsibility to enforce financial management requirements with the need to avoid communities carrying the immediate consequences of failures by municipal institutions and officials,” he said.

According to Godongwana, the release of the funds is conditional and is intended to protect basic service delivery while requiring affected municipalities to correct the serious weaknesses identified through the Section 216(2) process.

Madibeng was again placed under administration in early July.

A Provincial Executive Representative (PER) and a multidisciplinary intervention team took over the municipality’s financial and council functions and introduced a financial recovery plan as per Section 139 (5) (c) of the Constitution which was published in the Provincial Gazette of Noth West on 25 June 2026.

Wilma Lerm is omstreeks 20:00 in haar huis in die Mamogaleskraal-omgewing aangeval nadat die aanvaller ’n venster stukkend geslaan het. Weens die intensiteit van die houe het ’n deel van haar skedel versplinter. Sy is steeds in die hospitaal.

“My ma het pas van die kerk af teruggekeer en het by die eetkamertafel gesit om haar gebruiklike nagsê-boodskappe aan die familie te stuur toe sy ’n geweldige slag hoor. Dit het vir haar soos ’n geweerskoot geklink en sy het na die spaarkamer toe gehardloop,” het haar seun, Johan Lerm, gesê.

Net toe sy die kamer bereik, bars die aanvaller met ’n graaf deur die venster. Hy het haar met die graaf oor die kop geslaan, en toe sy omdraai om te vlug, is sy weer van agter oor die kop geslaan.

“My ma het na die agterdeur toe gehardloop. Die selfoon was steeds in haar hand en sy het gemaak of sy reeds iemand gebel het en om hulp geroep. Die aanvaller het haar by die kombuisdeur beetgekry, waar ’n worsteling ontstaan het. Hy het die selfoon by haar afgeneem en weer deur die venster gevlug.”

Ten spyte van haar beserings kon Wilma daarin slaag om na haar seun se huis op dieselfde plaas te hardloop.

AfriForum-buurtwaglede het onmiddellik gereageer en was kort daarna met spoorsnyhonde op die toneel. Die aanvaller het egter gevlug. Daar word vermoed dat ’n tweede verdagte buite die huis gewag het.

Wilma is met kopbeserings en verskeie kneusings en skrape oor haar lyf in die hospitaal opgeneem waar sy steeds behandel word.

“Dit gaan goed met my ma onder omstandighede. Sy het ’n operasie ondergaan om die splinters uit haar skedel te verwyder,” het Lerm gesê.

“Die venster het veiligheidsglas. Die aanvaller moes dit met groot krag gebreek het.”

Hartbeespoort News wag op polisiekommentaar.

The mother and stepfather face charges of rape and sexual assault. The case has dragged on for eight years, and the trial was finally set to begin on Thursday. The girl is now 14 years old.

“The magistrate failed to appear at the Brits Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 23 July, due to the ‘unforeseen circumstances’, as described by the prosecutor, of having to attend a wellness seminar event in Rustenburg. Meanwhile, the young girl and all the witnesses were present for the start of the trial that was set down for two days,” said Barry Bateman, spokesperson for AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.

Bateman said the Private Prosecution Unit stepped in to represent the girl and her foster parents after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) initially declined to prosecute. The unit ensured that the matter was finally enrolled.

“The case has been beset by delays over the past eight years. On previous occasions, although the complainant was ready to testify, the matter was postponed because either an interpreter or an intermediary was unavailable,” he said.

“On another occasion, the matter was postponed after the magistrate reportedly experienced vehicle trouble and was unable to attend court. None of the parties, including the accused, were informed of the magistrate’s attendance at a ‘wellness seminar’, which prevented the trial from proceeding.”

He said the criminal justice system has “truly collapsed” if the judiciary allows the wellbeing of presiding officers to take precedence over the wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of society.

“This is a shocking indictment of the criminal justice system and a failure to ensure that the best interests of a child remain the paramount consideration. Every time this matter is set down for court, the girl relives her ordeal as she prepares to testify,” Bateman said.

“She has been subjected to years of secondary trauma, while the very system that is supposed to protect her continues to drag its feet, seemingly disinterested in helping her close this traumatic chapter of her life and simply allowing her to be a child.”

The alleged offences took place in Hartbeespoort when the complainant was five years old, and a case docket was opened soon afterwards.

“She is now 14 years old and a vibrant teenager in the care of her foster parents, who approached the Private Prosecution Unit after the NPA declined to prosecute the case. Following the unit’s intervention, the matter was eventually enrolled in July last year and set down to start trial on 16 February this year, but was again postponed to May, then to 23 July, and now to November.”

“The unit will write to the Regional Court President and the Magistrates Commission to formally register its concerns regarding the treatment of a child victim of a heinous crime and the repeated delays in starting the trial,” Bateman said.

The confirmation follows widespread confusion after the DWS announced its recent water-use registration campaign. DWS published draft regulations to monitor and regulate borehole drilling and groundwater extraction in the country.

“Many homeowners who depend on boreholes because of unreliable municipal water services believed they could face penalties or even criminal prosecution if they failed to register,” said Julius Kleynhans, Executive Manager at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

The clarification comes after OUTA formally requested guidance from the department.

“South Africans should not have to fear prosecution simply because they installed a borehole to keep water flowing when municipal systems fail,” said Kleynhans.

“We engaged the DWS on behalf of concerned residents, and we welcome its prompt response in clarifying the legal position for domestic borehole users.”

OUTA said Schedule 1 of the National Water Act allows certain low-impact water uses without the need for a water-use licence or formal registration.

“These include reasonable domestic household use, watering a small non-commercial garden, watering livestock within normal grazing limits, harvesting rainwater, using water during emergencies and certain recreational water uses.”

“This clarification provides long-overdue legal certainty for ordinary households that have invested significant amounts of money simply to secure access to one of life’s basic necessities after repeated municipal water interruptions,” said Kleynhans.

“It also provides certainty for domestic users living on smallholdings and other properties that are not connected to municipal water services.”

Two armed men arrived at the fuel station and threatened the cashier at gunpoint, forcing her to unlock and open the entrance doors.

According to police spokesperson Constable Ben Moabi, the robbers stole cash and cigarettes before fleeing the scene.

Chris Degenaar of Afrique du Sud K9 Security said their control room received a report of an armed robbery at 02:22.

“According to information at the scene, the armed robbers pointed a gun at the cashier through the window and ordered her to unlock the doors. The cashier complied,” he said.

“The suspects allegedly took cash from the till, as well as a large quantity of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. The cashier only activated the security panic button after the suspects had left.”

They fled by climbing over a wall behind the fuel station. Security officers found the suspects’ tracks and followed them through the bushes to the R513, where the suspects were apparently picked up by a waiting vehicle.

Moabi said police are searching for the suspects. Anyone with information is urged to contact Brits Detective Constable Katlego Moeletsi on 082 373 9823.

In the latest incident on Monday, a vehicle was badly damaged when it struck rocks that had been thrown onto the road near the bridge, close to Hartbeespoort.

According to Kyle Vosloo of SDS Protection, the company has been responding to almost daily incidents on the freeway.

“During Monday’s incident, we responded after being alerted and found rocks on the road. Five suspects fled when we arrived,” Vosloo said.

A badly damaged vehicle was found about 500m from the scene.

“We assisted the motorist and remained with him until a tow truck and family members arrived.”

“We urge motorists to remain alert and be on the lookout for suspicious people and obstacles on the road.”

Maria Isabella Christina Meyer died when the car she was in went up in flames during the early hours of Friday. Meyer and her husband had been stranded in front of a private school in De Wildt after their vehicle broke down on Thursday afternoon, 16 July.

Police spokesperson Constable Thuto Bobelo confirmed that Mmakau police are investigating the incident.

“The police responded to the scene and, upon arrival, found a female trapped inside the burning vehicle. The victim had succumbed to her injuries and the husband, who was at the scene, was not injured,” he said.

“The local fire department extinguished the flames and the victim was declared dead by paramedics.”

The husband told people at the scene that he had been smoking a cigarette outside the vehicle when the fire started. In a video recorded shortly after the incident, he is heard saying there was a can of petrol in the car that he had not been aware of.

Hartbeespoort News previously reported that the couple had been stranded since about 18:00 on Thursday after their car broke down on the R566 in De Wildt. Local residents helped push the vehicle off the main road to an area in front of the school.

The woman was last seen at about 23:00 when she bought coffee at a nearby fuel station.

“The police investigation into the incident continues,” Bobelo said.

The woman and her husband were parked in front of a private school in De Wildt when the car went up in flames at around 03:00. The husband was unharmed.

According to information at the scene, the couple had been stranded outside the school since around 18:00 on Thursday after their car broke down on the R566 in De Wildt. Local residents assisted, and the vehicle was pushed off the main road to a nearby location in front of the primary school.

The couple remained with the vehicle until it caught fire shortly before 03:00.

According to Ruan Strauss, owner of the school, he was alerted by security guards at around 03:00 that a car was on fire outside the school.

“When I arrived at the scene, the car had already been engulfed in flames for a while. A man was walking around at the scene and, when I arrived, he asked me to assist in getting his wife out of the car. Sadly, it was much too late,” Strauss said.

“While waiting for Madibeng Fire and the police, the man told me he had been standing outside the car, smoking, when the flames erupted. He told me there had been a can of petrol in the back of the car that he did not know about.”

According to sources, the woman was last seen buying coffee at a nearby fuel station shortly before midnight.

Police were still at the scene at the time of publication. Hartbeespoort News is awaiting further information from the police when the story will be updated.