Sobering data from Eskom shows that the coal fleet was only available to produce electricity 58% of the time in 2025. The official EAF figure that Eskom publishes is 62% but that combines different technologies – like hydro, nuclear and coal – together, making the picture look more pleasing.

Every month, millions of South Africans pay a Skills Development Levy meant to fund training and bursaries for unemployed youth.

The plan was absurd. The scale extraordinary.  In May 2024, the state-owned fuel company, PetroSA, approached the National Skills Fund with a plan to train 5 500 artisans in Mossel Bay.

In December 2023, PetroSA signed a deal with Equator Holdings to secure up to R22-billion to refurbish PetroSA’s deep sea platform and build new oil and gas infrastructure.

Ever actually looked at your payslip? See that 1% tax? It’s meant for skills & student funding — but someone tried to take it. Who, why, and where the money was headed. Read our latest investigation https://amabhungane.org/petrosas-r3-5-billion-raid-on-student-funding/

Where do you find money to fix a rapidly deteriorating offshore oil and gas rig? The answer: raid a government fund set up to train unemployed youth. https://amabhungane.org/petrosas-r3-5-billion-raid-on-student-funding/

This year started off positively for transparency and access to information! We were excited to read the Information Regulator’s enforcement notice ordering the disclosure of information by the JSE (which the JSE has said it will review). Read more here.

Read our latest analysis on the recent enforcement notice from the Information Regulator that ordered the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to release information on suspected market manipulation (which the JSE intends to review).

In a win for transparency the Information Regulator ordered the JSE to disclose documents on a contested series of trades. We discuss this important decision and how it sets out the key legal principles for access to information

Health DG Sandile Buthelezi has terminated an agreement with the Independent Development Trust to project manage upgrading critical hospitals, instead informing the entity of a due diligence probe into the programme.

“The decline and fall of empires is not for sissies – but fortunately, neither is South Africa.”  — Sam Sole, Managing Partner

As we close for the festive season, we sincerely thank you for 15 years of support. We couldn’t do this work without you. Please read our year-end newsletter from managing partner Sam Sole.

In August, Health DG Dr Sandile Buthelezi wrote to the Independent Development Trust, cancelling its mandate and announcing an investigation into a R1.6-billion hospital programme.

South Africa’s already gargantuan online gambling problem may be infinitely larger than the official estimates due to large unlicensed players operating illegally under the radar.

South Africa’s runaway gambling problem has made the country a beacon for global “i-gaming” groups. We now represent fully 20% of the market for the world’s single most popular gambling game – the hyper-addictive Aviator.

Read about how the financial sector collects fees from the billions it channels into gambling websites. #GamblingAwayOurFuture 

Accounts at two major SA gambling sites have been used for what looks like a clear-cut money-laundering attempt.

Voucher systems created by giant listed companies like Pepkor and Blu Label Telecoms are making gambling a massive part of their service, targeting lower-income clients. Read our big expose:

SA’s online gambling crisis is being fuelled by the widespread support of practically all banks and other financial sector companies that make gambling sites an extremely conspicuous part of their offering.

A dispute has erupted inside the consortium awarded SA’s national lottery licence. Marketer SocialPro says it was sidelined after helping craft Sizekhaya’s winning bid, alleging unpaid work, IP misuse and “governance” concerns. Sizekhaya rejects all claims. Mediation now looms.

The Ellsberg Whistleblower Award 2026 goes to Colombian whistleblower Andrés Olarte Peña—recognised for the courage it took to release thousands of documents alleging serious wrongdoing at Ecopetrol, Colombia’s biggest, majority state-owned company.

Intercape says taxi-related intimidation in Ngcobo has reached crisis levels, with blocked roads, armed confrontations and police inaction forcing it back to court. A new High Court order now compels SAPS to provide escorts and visible patrols to protect passengers.

Intercape has won a court order forcing SAPS to escort its buses amid escalating taxi linked violence in Ngcobo and Cofimvaba. The company accuses police of standing by and doing nothing as attacks unfold. SAPS refuses to respond, inappropriately citing the sub judice rule.

AmaBhungane is hiring! Do you understand the power of public-interest media and the purpose of investigative journalism? Do you know how to shape a digital strategy and bring bold ideas to life — from concept to execution?

Sannieshof in North West is drowning in sewage. It spills out of septic tanks, leaks into the boreholes, poisons the drinking water of cattle, and pours – untreated – into the Harts River. And little has changed for over a decade. 

Rudolf Schoeman Jnr. was a large-than-life character: people have described him as charming, charismatic, a loud guy, but also the biggest bullshitter they’d ever met. Despite this, there is almost no trace of him online.

Rudolf Schoeman Jnr. built a R2-billion empire off the back of the country’s crumbling water infrastructure. By 2022, CMS Water Engineering was itself imploding as contracts were cancelled, and angry business partners and creditors came knocking at its door.

Mantengu’s Mike Miller vs Zunaid Moti, Daniel McGowan and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange - what’s behind the media war and the legal battles? 

Mantengu’s Mike Miller vs Zunaid Moti, Daniel McGowan and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange - what’s behind the media war and the legal battles? 

A kamikaze corporate crusade by upstart miner Mike Miller has thrown up evidence suggesting controversial businessman Zunaid discussed cutting dodgy backroom deals with the erstwhile CEO of property group Rebosis.

What happened to the money for Rooiwal? In the months before the project’s collapsed, Edwin Sodi’s business partner Rudolf Schoeman Jnr was spending millions on lamb and gold.

Calling all muckrakers, truth-diggers and fearless investigative journalists — amaBhungane is hiring! Learn more and read the full job description here: https://amabhungane.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/senior-reporter_advert.docx.pdf

This week, the Information Regulator ordered @sarstax to release the tax returns and documents related to Jacob Zuma’s tax affairs to amaBhungane and journalist Warren Thompson. This is the latest development in a saga that’s been running since 2019.

Mantengu’s Mike Miller vs Zunaid Moti, Daniel McGowan and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange - what’s behind the media war and the legal battles? 

Underwhelmed by the performance of NDPP Shamila Batohi in Parliament this week?The detachment, the lack of knowledge of detail, the absence of strategic oversight & intervention? Well, all these were evident in our documentary last year. Watch:

Critical repairs to the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant outside Hammanskraal ground to a halt in 2022, after CMS Water Engineering ran out of money.

In December 2021, a container-sized wooden box arrived in Durban. Inside: equipment that was urgently needed to repair the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant near Hammanskraal. The problem? CMS Water Engineering couldn’t pay the R4.7-million in fees and taxes to get the box released.

Service delivery failure in a small town like Zeerust is almost taken for granted, given the wide disfunction of local government.

#DeadlyWater For years, CMS Water delivered 40 projects worth over R500-million, handed over without drama. But as Rudolf Schoeman chased bigger deals, the cracks began to show. https://open.spotify.com/episode/66uvdst5xPw3jpwPDtaPl1?si=IluIn1ZdSSeSWXe4uvM6ug

#DeadlyWater When we visited the plant in Rustenburg, all we found was a lone blue shipping container marked “CMS Water Engineering.” Sources say the Rooiwal disaster was never a surprise. https://open.spotify.com/episode/66uvdst5xPw3jpwPDtaPl1?si=7904d61607a14307

#DeadlyWater On paper, Rustenburg municipality did everything right when problems surfaced with the Bospoort contract — halted payments, called in the Hawks, even hired ENS to investigate. Then… accountability ground to a halt.

“A really common word that people used to describe Rudolph is flashy. If you can imagine him walking into his office, he's got like a R300 000 watch on his wrist, he's got Versace shirts on, he's got like his designer shoes, he's got Ralph Lauren candles.

On paper, CMS Water Engineering was a highly successful, black-owned company securing water and wastewater projects across the country.

R1.2-million goes missing on the Rooiwal project, Edwin Sodi opened a case of theft and fraud against his business partner, and the City of Tshwane reluctantly coughs up R8.4-million to cover the shortfall.

Opinions remain divided on now-deceased CMS Water boss Rudolf Schoeman Jnr, who partnered with Edwin Sodi on the Rooiwal project. Some see him as a maverick, others “the biggest bullshitter” they’d ever met.

Do we know the real story behind the collapse of the R291-million Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant project? Was Edwin Sodi conned by his now-deceased business partner, as he has always claimed? AmaBhungane went digging.

We’re proud to share that amaBhungane has been shortlisted among the top five entries for the AIJC 2025 African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award.

ADVOCACY: On 29 September, the @InforegulatorSA hosted an event to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information, titled “Reflecting on 25 years of the Access to Information law and making it fit for purpose in the digital age”.

What has our flirtation with Russia’s Gazprombank cost us? Rough guess: R500m a year to keep the Mossel Bay refinery in care & maintenance. PetroSA issued RFP0001 in Jan 2022, it’ll likely be Jan 2026 before we issue another tender which puts the cost at ±R2-BILLION.

“Some of the crimes were reported to the SAPS as far back as 2021. The odds of the SAPS finding evidence implicating those involved now, more than four years later, are slim.” – Intercape