Category: Sport

Ask any South African what unites the country faster than anything else, and the answer is usually the same: sport. And 2026 has delivered a bumper harvest of reasons to celebrate, as detailed in a recent reflection by Sandile Nene for SAnews.

World Stage, South African Flag

The Proteas Men were crowned ICC World Test Championship winners — cricket’s ultimate red-ball prize — while Bafana Bafana made historic progress to the knockout rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026, a first that had the nation gathering in homes, fan parks and community halls to cheer as one.

In the ring, Dricus du Plessis made history as the first South African to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title, inspiring a wave of local combat sports talent. On the cricket field, Kagiso Rabada’s exceptional Indian Premier League season earned him the Purple Cap as the tournament’s leading bowler, while Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was named among the TIME100 Most Influential Sports People of 2026.

Medals by the Armful in Glasgow

At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Team South Africa brought home 28 medals — 7 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze — with a remarkable 22 of them earned by the swimming squad. Highlights included:

• Pieter Coetze winning the men’s 100m backstroke
• Lara van Niekerk successfully defending her women’s 50m breaststroke title
• Chad le Clos becoming the most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete of all time, with 21 career medals
• Sinesipho Dambile taking gold in the men’s 200m on the track

Track Stars and History Makers

The sprinting pipeline keeps producing. Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100 metres at the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czechia, while Akani Simbine triumphed in the 100 metres at the prestigious FBK Games in the Netherlands.

And in a moment for the history books, Prudence Sekgodiso became the first South African woman to win gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, taking her title in Nanjing, China.

More Than Medals

As Nene writes, these achievements are about more than silverware — they reflect the resilience, discipline and unity that sport builds in a nation. From Banyana Banyana’s continental exploits to the SPAR Proteas flying the flag in netball, South Africa’s athletes keep proving that when the world is watching, Mzansi delivers.

The scoreboard tells one story. The pride in the streets tells a better one.

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The Springboks have levelled Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry in emphatic style, beating the New Zealand All Blacks 33–26 in a pulsating second Test at DHL Stadium in Cape Town — a bounce-back victory that had the whole country on its feet.

The win in the Castle Double Malt series squared the ledger after the opening encounter at Ellis Park in Johannesburg the previous weekend, and it restored all the momentum to the men in green and gold ahead of the third Test.

A flying start in the Mother City

South Africa made a powerful statement from the opening whistle. Jesse Kriel crossed for the first try inside the very first minute, and Damian de Allende and captain Siya Kolisi both dotted down before the break as the Springboks built a commanding 24–14 half-time lead.

When the All Blacks mounted their inevitable fightback, it was the boot of Cheslin Kolbe that kept the scoreboard ticking. The flyer contributed a remarkable 18 points from the kicking tee, helping the Springboks protect their advantage all the way to the final whistle.

A century for Pieter-Steph

The afternoon carried an extra layer of history: it marked Pieter-Steph du Toit’s 100th Test appearance for South Africa, making him only the 11th Springbok ever to reach the milestone.

Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Peace Mabe led the tributes, congratulating the team on a performance she said showed the courage, character and determination South Africans have come to expect.

“Pieter-Steph du Toit has served South African rugby with distinction. Reaching 100 Test appearances requires extraordinary commitment, resilience and consistency at the highest level of the game. To celebrate this milestone with a victory over the All Blacks makes the occasion even more memorable,” Mabe said.

Answering when the country called

Mabe praised the way the team responded after the disappointment of the first Test. “The players returned to the field knowing that they needed to produce a strong response. They accepted that responsibility and delivered a performance that has brought the series level and restored momentum ahead of the third Test,” she said.

“This was a demanding contest between two proud rugby nations. The Springboks were tested until the final whistle, but they remained composed and protected their lead under enormous pressure. That fighting spirit made the victory even more meaningful.”

The Deputy Minister also thanked the capacity crowd that packed DHL Stadium — and the millions of South Africans who followed every kick, scrum and try from homes, taverns and fan parks across the country.

With the series now level and a history-making centurion in their ranks, the Springboks head into the decider with the wind firmly at their backs. See you at the third Test, Mzansi.

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South Africa’s greatest road race is officially on. Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has assured runners that the 100th running of the Comrades Marathon will take place on 13 June 2027, with the full support of national and provincial government.

“The 100th running of the Comrades Marathon must go ahead, and it will go ahead. Enter the race. Book your accommodation. Tell your family to come and stand on that road,” the Minister said in a statement on Friday. “This race has survived a world war and a pandemic.”

A century of the Ultimate Human Race

First held in 1921, the Comrades has been staged every year except during the war years and the two years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2027 edition will be a double celebration: the 100th running of the race, and the 50th running of the traditional down route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, finishing at the Kings Park precinct.

Entries for the historic race are already open, and thousands of runners have committed to the event and begun their preparations, with towns along the famous route gearing up for what government wants to be the biggest edition yet.

“This race does not belong to a federation and does not belong to an association,” McKenzie said. “It belongs to the people who run it, to the families who wait at the finish, and to the towns along that route who have built a hundred years of their identity around one Sunday in June.”

The State steps up for runners

McKenzie confirmed that government would guarantee the necessary state support for the mass-participation event. Approvals relating to event categorisation and safety certification under the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act, as well as municipal, traffic, policing and emergency services arrangements, are functions of the State and its authorised structures, he said, and are fully in hand.

The Minister has directed his department to engage the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and Msunduzi Local Municipality to make sure operational support is in place well ahead of June 2027. The department will also work with organisers to make the centenary race the largest and best-supported Comrades Marathon in its history.

Runners come first

Crucially for the thousands of athletes already deep in training, McKenzie has called on Athletics South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal Athletics to give the Comrades Marathon Association the assurance that no athlete, club or technical official will face any sanction for entering, participating in or officiating at the 100th Comrades.

“These are people who get up at four in the morning to train,” he said, promising that ordinary runners would be protected no matter what administrative discussions continue behind the scenes. The Minister’s assurance followed an online meeting with the race organisers, athletics bodies, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Mntomuhle Khawula and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

For the runners, the message is beautifully simple: lace up, enter, and be part of history on the road between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The details were first reported by SAnews.

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If South African sport were a share price, now would be the time to buy. A remarkable season of achievements has seen Mzansi’s athletes shine on nearly every stage the world has to offer, a run of success celebrated by the Government Communication and Information System’s Sandile Nene in a recent SAnews feature on the unifying power of sport.

Glasgow Gold Rush

At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Team South Africa brought home 28 medals: 7 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze. An astonishing 22 of those came from the swimming squad, with Pieter Coetze winning the men’s 100m backstroke and Lara van Niekerk successfully defending her women’s 50m breaststroke title.

The pool also delivered a slice of history: Chad le Clos became the most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete of all time, with 21 career medals to his name. On the track, Sinesipho Dambile sprinted to victory in the men’s 200m.

Champions of the World

The Proteas Men were crowned ICC World Test Championship winners, while Bafana Bafana made historic progress to the knockout rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026, uniting the nation in fan parks, lounges and living rooms across the country. The Springboks, first nation ever to lift four Rugby World Cup titles, remain among the world’s most feared teams.

The individual honours kept rolling in. Dricus du Plessis made history as the first South African to win the UFC middleweight championship. Kagiso Rabada claimed the Purple Cap as the 2026 Indian Premier League’s leading bowler, and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was named among the TIME100 Most Influential Sports People of 2026.

Sprinting Into the Future

On the athletics circuit, Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100m at the Ostrava Golden Spike and Akani Simbine triumphed over the same distance at the FBK Games in the Netherlands, while Prudence Sekgodiso became the first South African woman to win gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships with her victory in Nanjing.

The women’s game keeps rising too: Banyana Banyana are in Morocco defending their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown as reigning champions.

As Nene writes, these triumphs are about more than trophies: they strengthen national pride, social cohesion and belief in what South Africans can achieve together. On current form, there is plenty more to believe in.

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The greatest rivalry in world rugby is back on South African soil. The Springboks run out against New Zealand’s All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday in the opening Test of the inaugural Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with kick-off set for 5:10pm.

It is a fixture steeped in more than a century of history, and there are few better places to renew it than the famous old ground in Doornfontein, where the Boks lifted the World Cup in 1995. For South African fans, a home Test against the All Blacks remains the hottest ticket in the game.

A squad built for the battle

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says the side selected for the opener is well balanced, blending players who stayed in South Africa to prepare for the series with those who featured in the recent Test against Argentina.

“The All Blacks are a quality team, and we selected combinations we think would be best suited for the challenge this weekend,” Erasmus said on the Springboks website. “It certainly helped to have some players return from injury last week and get back into top-flight Test rugby, while some of the others who had a heavy workload in the Nations Championship had sufficient time to recover from the physical toll on them.”

The group has now been together for more than a week, and Erasmus says the whole squad is aligned on exactly how the team wants to play this weekend.

Ready for an 80-minute grind

The coach is under no illusions about the size of the task. New Zealand arrive with a well-rounded squad boasting physical forwards and an exciting backline, and Erasmus wants his side sharp from the first whistle.

“We are preparing for an 80-minute grind. They have a well-rounded squad with physical forwards and an exciting backline, so we have to be sharp and accurate in our execution from the outset,” he said.

History suggests the margins will be tiny. As Erasmus noted, many meetings between these two giants have gone down to the wire, which is why the Boks are placing a premium on taking their chances and keeping their discipline on point.

“It is going to be a big battle, but the entire squad is excited about the match and looking forward to it,” Erasmus said.

A festival of rugby for Mzansi

Saturday’s Test is only the start of a feast of world-class rugby for local supporters. The new Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series brings the All Blacks to South Africa for a proper tour, with the second Test to follow at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on 29 August, giving fans in two provinces the chance to watch the world’s two most decorated rugby nations go head to head.

Whatever the scoreboard says at full-time, a packed Ellis Park roaring the Boks on against the old enemy is one of the great occasions in South African sport, and on Saturday evening the eyes of the rugby world will once again be on Johannesburg.

Details of the squad and build-up were reported by SAnews.

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South Africa has officially arrived on world padel’s grandest stage. The Pretoria Premier Padel P1, the first professional Premier Padel tournament ever staged in sub-Saharan Africa, lit up the SunBet Arena at Time Square from late July to its thrilling finals on Sunday 2 August, The Athlete reports.

The occasion carried extra shine because Pretoria’s event was elevated to P1 status, one of the highest tiers on the international circuit, after originally being secured as a P2 tournament, putting South Africa on the same calendar rung as Madrid, London and Milan in the sport’s global season.

South Africans on the world stage

For local players, the tournament was the opportunity of a lifetime: measuring themselves against the sport’s global heavyweights in front of a home crowd. Richard Ashforth and Luan Krige spearheaded the men’s challenge alongside Egmond van Heerden, Jason Milner, Adam van Harte and Warren Kuhn.

In the women’s competition, wildcard winners Linge Steenkamp and Zoe Kruger earned their places among the world’s elite, while fans kept a delighted eye on 15-year-old Basma Ali, the youngest player in the tournament and a glimpse of the bright future awaiting South African padel.

“The Pretoria Premier Padel P1 is much more than a tournament, it’s a defining moment for padel and for South African sport,” said Primedia Sport Vice President Tobie Badenhorst ahead of the event. “For the first time, South African fans will experience the world’s best professional padel players competing on home soil.”

Finals worthy of the occasion

The tournament delivered a spectacular finish. In the men’s final, Spanish-Argentine pairing Alejandro Galán and Federico Chingotto edged Francisco Guerrero and Javier Leal 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 in a deciding tie-break that had the arena on its feet. The women’s final was every bit as dramatic, with Delfina Brea and Gemma Triay outlasting Claudia Fernández and Martina Calvo 6-2, 6-7, 7-6.

A festival, Mzansi style

True to South African form, the padel came wrapped in a party. A fan village buzzed all week with family-friendly entertainment, while Finals Weekend turned up the volume with performances from DJ Maphorisa and the acclaimed Mzansi Youth Choir providing the soundtrack to Sunday’s championship showdown.

Padel is already one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, and a world-class showcase on home soil, complete with local wildcards trading shots with the game’s giants, can only accelerate that rise. First the Springboks, then Banyana Banyana, and now the padel court: Mzansi keeps finding new arenas in which to shine.

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Banyana Banyana have taken a giant step towards the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, beating Nigeria 2-1 at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco, on Thursday to secure a place in the FIFA playoff tournament.

It was a night that showcased everything South Africans love about this team: composure, courage and a refusal to be overawed by one of the continent’s traditional powerhouses.

Kgatlana and Jane strike

The breakthrough came in the 56th minute, when star forward Thembi Kgatlana found the back of the net after a well-placed pass from Hilda Magaia, according to SAnews.

Then it was the captain’s turn. “Captain Refiloe Jane increased the lead to 2-0 when she fired a shot from the edge of the box and rattled the net in the 77th minute,” the South African Football Association (SAFA) said on its website.

Nigeria pulled one back, but by then the game’s other hero had already made her mark. Goalkeeper Kaylin Swart walked away with the Woman of the Match award after a series of saves kept the Super Falcons at bay.

What comes next

According to SAFA, the next phase of the FIFA qualification process will be played in November 2026. The playoff tournament will feature:

• Two teams from Africa
• Two teams from Asia
• One team from Oceania
• One team from South America

Come through that, and Banyana Banyana will be on the plane to Brazil for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

A team that keeps rising

This result is especially sweet coming so soon after the disappointment of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, where South Africa exited earlier in August. Rather than dwelling on that setback, the players regrouped, travelled to Morocco and produced one of their most disciplined performances of the year when it mattered most.

Beating Nigeria, a nation that has so often stood between South Africa and continental glory, will give this squad enormous belief heading into November’s playoffs. With Kgatlana’s pace, Magaia’s vision, Jane’s leadership and Swart’s safe hands, the ingredients are all there.

South Africa made history by reaching the knockout stages at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Now a second consecutive World Cup appearance is within touching distance, and a nation will be cheering every step of the way.

Go well, Banyana Banyana. Mzansi is behind you!

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The world champion Springboks have done it again. In a bruising one-off Test at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani in Buenos Aires on Saturday, 8 August, South Africa outlasted a fired-up Argentina 17-10 to stretch their remarkable winning streak to twelve consecutive internationals.

It was never going to be pretty. As The Herald reported, the Pumas came out swinging in front of their home crowd and led 10-3 for most of the first half, with flyhalf Santiago Carreras keeping the scoreboard ticking and Benjamin Grondona crossing for the hosts.

A Test of Character

Champion teams find a way, and this Springbok side has made a habit of it. Edwill van der Merwe struck back for South Africa to bring the sides level at 10-10 by the break, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu adding points from the tee.

The decisive moment came in the 63rd minute. From a close-range scrum, powerhouse loose forward Cameron Hanekom crashed over for the try that broke Argentine hearts, and the ever-reliable Handre Pollard slotted the conversion to make it 17-10.

Even then, the drama was not done. Argentina hammered away at the South African line through a 15-phase attack after the final hooter, and when substitute wing Matias Moroni knocked on with the tryline at his mercy, the green-and-gold wall had held firm one last time. It was the kind of defensive stand that has become the hallmark of this team.

Depth That Wins Championships

What makes the victory even sweeter is the context. Several Springboks were making their first appearances of the season after returning from injury, yet the machine barely missed a beat against a Pumas outfit desperate to make a statement. South Africa sit proudly at the top of the World Rugby rankings, and performances like this one show exactly why the four-time world champions remain the standard in the global game.

Next Up: The All Blacks Come to Town

The winning run now rolls on towards the fixture every South African fan circles on the calendar. The All Blacks arrive for a blockbuster series, starting at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 22 August before the teams meet again at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on 29 August, with a third clash set for Baltimore in the United States on 12 September.

Twelve wins on the trot, the world number one ranking in hand, and the greatest rivalry in rugby on home soil next. There has rarely been a better time to be a Springbok supporter, and if Buenos Aires proved anything, it is that this team simply refuses to lose.

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It has been a golden stretch for South African sport, and according to the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), the winning runs deeper than the scoreboard. In a reflective Mandela Month piece published by SAnews, GCIS Acting Deputy Director-General Sandile Nene argues that the country’s recent sporting surge is building something bigger: national belief.

And what a surge it has been.

A Year of Firsts

Bafana Bafana made historic progress to the knockout rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026, a run that saw South Africans gather in homes, fan parks and community halls in a shared national experience of hope and pride. The Proteas Men were crowned ICC World Test Championship winners, and the Proteas Women carried the same fighting spirit into their ICC finals campaign, lifting the profile of women’s cricket in the process.

In the cage, Dricus du Plessis became the first South African to win the UFC middleweight championship, sparking a combat sports boom at home. On the cricket field, Kagiso Rabada claimed the Purple Cap as the leading bowler of the 2026 Indian Premier League, while Temba Bavuma was named among the TIME100 Most Influential Sports People of 2026.

On the track, Bayanda Walaza won the men’s 100 metres at the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czechia and Akani Simbine triumphed in the 100 metres at the FBK Games in the Netherlands. Prudence Sekgodiso made history in Nanjing as the first South African woman to win gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Glasgow Gold and Pool Power

At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Team South Africa delivered an outstanding medal haul including seven golds, with the swimming squad accounting for the lion’s share of the medals, according to the GCIS piece. Pieter Coetze won the men’s 100m backstroke, Lara van Niekerk successfully defended her 50m breaststroke title, and Chad le Clos swam into the record books as the most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete of all time with 21 career medals. Sinesipho Dambile added gold on the track in the men’s 200m.

The women’s game keeps rising too. Banyana Banyana, the reigning champions, are currently defending their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco, while the Springboks remain the first and only nation to win four Rugby World Cup titles.

The Madiba Standard

Nene anchors it all in one unforgettable image: Nelson Mandela handing the Webb Ellis Cup to Francois Pienaar in 1995, the moment that proved sport could be an instrument of reconciliation and nation-building.

Sport gives South Africans a sense of belonging and community through visible acts of unity such as raising our flag, wearing our national colours and singing the national anthem.

His conclusion is one worth carrying beyond Mandela Month: success is measured not only in trophies, but in the determination, discipline and character shown in pursuit of them, and in a country that keeps finding reasons to believe in itself. On current form, South Africa has plenty.

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South Africa has a new world champion. Sixteen-year-old Cape Town native Tatiana Thomatos produced a heroic Laser Run performance to claim gold in the Women’s Final at the UIPM 2026 Pentathlon U17 World Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania — the biggest global medal of her glittering young career.

Competing on Tuesday, 28 July, the seventh day of action at the championships, Thomatos overhauled a 15-second deficit with faultless running and shooting to reel in Tulya Kesebir of Türkiye, according to the sport’s world governing body, UIPM.

A duel for the ages

Just two seconds separated the rivals on the run-in after a contest that gripped the arena from start to finish. Thomatos and Kesebir had gone toe to toe from the very first moments, finishing second and first respectively in Fencing, and by the end of the Laser Run there was nearly a 30-second gap back to the rest of the 36-strong field.

When the pressure was at its greatest, the young South African found another gear — hunting down the leader shot by shot and stride by stride until the gold was hers.

Seven years in the making

The victory is no overnight success. Thomatos has competed at major UIPM competitions for seven years and already has world titles to her name, particularly at the UIPM Laser Run World Championships, where she has been a prolific performer.

Her rise through the ranks reads like a champion’s roadmap:

• Gold at the UIPM Tetrathlon U15 World Championships in 2024
• Bronze at the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon U17 World Championships on home soil in South Africa
• Now, the U17 world title in Kaunas — a landmark victory that underlines her potential as a future star of the sport

Behind the front-running pair, Jemima Chetwood of Great Britain claimed bronze, holding off a trio of Hungarians who filled fourth to sixth places.

Flying the flag

The championships, which ran from 23 to 29 July, brought together around 330 of the world’s best young pentathletes across Fencing, Obstacle, Swimming and Laser Run disciplines. Amid that world-class field, it was a teenager from Cape Town who stood on the top step of the podium as the South African flag was raised.

From the Laser Run tracks of South Africa to a world title in Lithuania, Tatiana Thomatos has shown that South African sport’s future is in fearless hands — and at just 16, her story is only beginning.

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