
Discovery launches unique service for South Africans wanting to travel to the UK
Discovery has launched South Africa’s first dedicated UK visa application centre at its Sandton head office for clients of its bank.
FRIDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2026, 05:12

Discovery has launched South Africa’s first dedicated UK visa application centre at its Sandton head office for clients of its bank.

Fifteen years ago, a little boy was given six weeks. Today, Tristan Smit has a story, a future, and a 17th birthday behind him.
Roedean School board chairperson Dale Quaker has resigned with immediate effect.

Blu Label’s energy subsidiary has obtained a licence that will allow it to buy and sell electricity in South Africa.

US President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to South Africa, conservative activist and writer Leo Brent Bozell III, has arrived in the country where he will seek to improve fraught ties between the two states.

US President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to South Africa, conservative activist and writer Leo Brent Bozell III, has arrived in the country where he will seek to improve fraught ties between the two states.

These are the key developments happening in South Africa today, 17 February 2026.

President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed South Africa’s record 88% matric pass rate in 2025. While this is impressive, it masks declining education quality and a workforce ill-equipped for a modern economy.

Bozell, US President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to SA, still has to present to his credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Two of South Africa’s top private schools, King David Victory Park and Mayfair Convent School, have officially shut down, with both campuses expected to be sold.
A 10-year-old boy died when a soccer goalpost fell on him at Reagile Primary School in Winnie Mandela, Tembisa, and 15 pupils were injured in a scholar transport accident between Pretoria West and Hartbeespoort.

The South African Revenue Service is set to intensify VAT compliance monitoring, refund scrutiny, audits, and data-driven enforcement to boost revenue without raising rates.
In conversation with Daily Maverick’s Book Editor at Large, Joy Watson, author Mpho Boshego reflects on her journey from diplomat to author.
Instead of switching off after work, Mitchells Plain police officer Constable Sinovuyo Seti changes into training gear, grabs his cones and hula hoops, and steps onto the open pitch in front of his house to prepare for a different kind of duty – one aimed at keeping children off the streets and out of gangs.
Feb 16 (Reuters) – Oscar winner Robert Duvall, a versatile actor who made lasting impressions in a range of parts from starring to supporting roles like the napalm-loving colonel of Apocalypse Now, or the spectral Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, has died at age 95, his wife said in a Facebook post.
Feb 16 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Ukrainian intelligence showed more Russian attacks on energy targets lay ahead and that such strikes made it more difficult to reach an agreement on ending the nearly four-year war.
NEW DELHI, Feb 16 (Reuters) – India has seized three U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers linked to Iran this month and stepped up surveillance in its maritime zone to curb illicit trade, a source said on Monday, confirming a post on X by Indian authorities earlier in February that had been deleted.
DAKAR, Feb 16 (Reuters) – About 100 U.S. military personnel have arrived in Nigeria as Washington scales up an operation to target Islamist insurgents, a Nigerian defence spokesperson said.
Challenges for farmers and the food industry’s stability include inconsistent sorghum supply, high production costs and how our food systems are organised. The impact of these and other issues were outlined at the Food Imbizo.
While Nelson Mandela Bay’s police chief says gang-related violence in the city’s northern areas is ‘nowhere close’ to the Western Cape, residents paint a bleak picture of persistent violent crime. ‘I know the pain of losing family members to gang violence,’ said one resident.