October 27, 2025.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines:

DA takes aim at ANC with BEE billboard

Prevention at a systemic level required to tackle water mafias

And, African development banks set to expand lending as capital buffers rise, S&P says

DA takes aim at ANC with BEE billboard

The Democratic Alliance has hit out against its Government of National Unity partner the African National Congress, in a new billboard that blames the yellow party for failed Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment policy.

The billboard, which reads “BEE made ANC elites rich, and left SA poor. Choose real opportunities for all! Vote DA,” was launched on Tuesday, on the N1 highway in Johannesburg.

DA head of policy Mat Cuthbert said the advertisement was telling the truth about what many South Africans already supposedly know, that BEE has failed under the ANC.

The DA wants the policy replaced with its Economic Inclusion for All Bill, which it launched last week and urged the ANC to support it.

Prevention at a systemic level required to tackle water mafias

While severe penalties are necessary to combat damage to water infrastructure, there is a need to focus on prevention by securing water installations and assets, says Water Institute of Southern Africa CEO Dr Lester Goldman.

Discussing water tanker mafias, which are criminal organisations that disrupt water delivery so they can provide water tanker services at an inflated cost to municipalities, he further indicated that prevention at a systemic level was required, including having municipalities manage their own fleet of water tankers.

While Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo has said that municipalities will begin deploying technology such as surveillance systems, remote sensors and smart infrastructure, Goldman questions how systemic change will be achieved.

He says, installation security needs to be much broader, removing both the opportunity and the incentive, from the mafias and their conspirators.

African development banks set to expand lending as capital buffers rise, S&P says

S&P Global Ratings said African regional development creditors are poised to expand lending to fill national financing gaps, as capital buffers strengthen and new frameworks increase their borrowing headroom.

The ratings agency said Africa's supranational lenders are increasingly central to plugging investment shortfalls and stabilising economies as external financing tightens.

With climate and infrastructure funding dominating their pipelines, S&P expects regional creditors to take on a larger role through 2025.

In its October release of the Supranationals 2025 Special Edition, S&P said updates to its multilateral lending institution framework could lift risk-adjusted capital ratios by about 10%, potentially unlocking $600–$800-billion in additional sovereign lending capacity by development banks.

S&P uses the measure to judge how much more an issuer can safely lend without weakening its credit profile. A higher ratio means a stronger ability to absorb losses.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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