As the government’s financial woes worsened, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana slashed the department’s spending as part of an initiative to conserve money and avert a “fiscal crisis”.

As the matric class 2023 sat for final examinations youth unemployment remained distressingly high.

The murder rate in South Africa reached its highest mark in twenty years, with the police powerless to arrest the rising tide of death.

Dozens of state employees who work at a government department in the Pietermaritzburg city centre had to flee their building because of a rat infestation.

There was chaos at the Durban port as the facility battled a backlog of shipping containers that needed to be processed. Some 57 ships, some heavily laden with festive season goods for the retail industry, were anchored in the outer holding facility awaiting permission to enter the port and offload their cargo.

The announcement that Arcelor-Mittal was to close its long steel operations in Newcastle and Vereeniging delivered a devastating blow to the economies of both towns with up to 3500 jobs on the line. The company attributed some of the reasons for the closure to include the current energy crisis and the collapse of South Africa’s logistics and transport infrastructure.

Humanity faced a ‘devastating domino effect’ as the planet warmed, scientists warned as world leaders met for the Cop 28 climate summit in Dubai.

The IFP were the latest party to reject the ANC-backed National Health Bill (NHI). Critics of the bill said it was unworkable in its current form and ran the risk of collapsing an already struggling healthcare system.

Former president Jacob Zuma created another headache for the ruling ANC when he announced, at a press briefing in Johannesburg, that he would be voting for the newly-formed uMkhonto weSizwe party in the 2024 elections.

Christmas greetings.

New Year cartoon.