Maduro says he was ‘kidnapped’, and base jumper falls to his death on Table Mountain

Today, 6 January 2026, some areas in Johannesburg will be hit by a 54-hour water outage as Rand Water’s infrastructure maintenance project begins.

Maintenance will begin at 2 pm and will continue until 8 January at 8 am. Residents should expect disruptions for about seven days following the maintenance, as the system recovers. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the 31st annual commemoration of Joe Slovo today in Soweto, honouring the contribution of the stalwarts of the liberation struggle.

In the Johannesburg Magistrate’s court, a man accused of murdering popular media personality Warrick Stock, known as DJ Warras, will apply for bail. 

The High Court in Thohoyandou, Limpopo is expected to sentence social media influencer and comedian Livhuwani Madadzhe today. 

Madadzhe has already pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud after he faked his mother’s death in 2017 and unlawfully claimed the insurance money. 

The Rand is trading at R16.32 to the Dollar this morning, from R16.41 at the close of business on Monday.

Here are five other big things happening today:

Maduro says he was ‘kidnapped’ – Reuters

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was taken into custody, pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom on Monday, claiming that US forces had kidnapped him.

Base jumper falls to his death on Table Mountain – EWN

Cape Town Central police are currently investigating the death of a man on Table Mountain after Wilderness Search and Rescue extracted a body from the nature reserve on Monday.

MultiChoice’s R8.8 billion tax bill – MyBroadband

DStv owner MultiChoice revealed that its total tax contribution in its last financial year was R8.8 billion, with R3.7 billion going to the South African government.

South African airline ranked the most on-time in the world – BusinessTech

FlySafair has received an on-time score that surpasses the world number one in the Cirium 2025 On-Time Performance Review.

Some GNU partners don’t like BEE because they prefer white supremacy, says Gwede Mantashe – Newsday

African National Congress (ANC) National Chairperson and Minister Gwede Mantashe said that “white parties” in the Government of National Unity (GNU) do not support Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) because they “prefer white supremacy.”