September 16, 2025.

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

Making headlines:

ActionSA to file complaint against Treasury with Public Protector

Solidarity disputes retrenchments with govt

And, Shell’s fight with South African activists moves into last round

ActionSA said on Tuesday it will submit a complaint against National Treasury to Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, alleging systemic maladministration and failure to implement Special Investigating Unit consequence-management recommendations.

This follows a Presidency briefing to Parliament, which the party said revealed failure of consequence management as the country pushes back against corruption.

ActionSA Member of Parliament Alan Beesley said of the 467 individuals and companies recommended by the SIU to be added to National Treasury’s Restricted Suppliers Register, only one has been listed.

The Presidency’s tracking showed 1 278 disciplinary recommendations emanating from SIU investigations, yet only 44 dismissals have resulted.

Beesley said that means the system routinely allows implicated suppliers and officials to escape accountability and continue doing business with the State.

Trade union Solidarity has declared a formal dispute with government, calling on other trade unions, employers and community organisations to do the same.

This follows Solidarity’s letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa underscoring the crisis relating to retrenchments and proposing action.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is winding down its Long Steel operations, directly affecting 3 500 workers in Newcastle and Vereeniging, and potentially threatening over 100 000 downstream jobs.

Solidarity said it expects this number to increase drastically within the next three months.

Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis said the reasons provided in retrenchment notices and discussions with employers include poor infrastructure such as railways and ports, unpredictable power supply and electricity prices, poor policy and the government’s inability to conclude a favourable trade agreement with the government.

South Africa’s top court started hearing arguments today in a legal battle that has pitted environmental activists against one of the world’s biggest energy companies — and which may determine the trajectory of the country’s fledgling offshore oil industry.

The four-year saga began with an activist outcry in 2021 over a seismic survey planned by Shell and a local partner off the nation’s rugged “Wild Coast” along the Indian Ocean, where whales are frequently spotted.

Environmental groups won a interdict that halted the exploration activity over concerns that communities were not properly consulted and about the impact the survey would have on local residents and marine life.

The high court the following year set aside the decision to grant the exploration right, as well as two subsequent renewals. Shell’s appeal was dismissed, though the Supreme Court of Appeal handed the London-based company a reprieve by ruling that a third renewal, which was pending, could proceed subject to proper consultation.

The battle now moves to the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg for two days of arguments.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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