News24 | SA’s R110 best-selling wine; Steel magnate’s fraud woes: Today’s top 7 stories

News24 brings you the top stories of the day, summarised into neat little packages. Read through quickly or listen to the articles via our customised text-to-speech feature.

- Hawks officer Gavin Jacob admitted lying in his affidavit about exhausting storage options before moving cocaine to Port Shepstone, where it was stolen.

- Evidence showed Jacob never contacted nearby stations like Maydon Wharf, which later accepted 999kg of drugs, contradicting his storage concerns.

- He failed to follow standard procedures, including not calling the Local Criminal Record Centre, leaving only his word on the container’s contents.

- Over five years, 3 232 statutory rape cases were reported to the police, but only 14% resulted in convictions, with 57.3% withdrawn.

- Government officials, like teachers and medical personnel, frequently fail to report statutory rape cases, despite facing potential 10-year imprisonment for non-reporting.

- Cases are withdrawn due to cultural beliefs, financial dependence on perpetrators, stigma and fear, with KwaZulu-Natal experiencing 72% withdrawal rates.

- A 38-year-old mother is on trial for forcing her two minor daughters into sex work and selling her eldest to a lawyer.

- She spent R25 000, allegedly a down payment from lawyer Carel Schoeman, on restaurant meals, clothes, lingerie and perfume at Eastgate Mall.

- The mother claimed Schoeman and her daughter fell in love and became engaged, but the girl testified she was forced into prostitution.

- Business leaders warn Johannesburg’s financial crisis threatens national economic recovery and demand urgent intervention from the government and the Presidency.

- Business organisations offered private sector resources for city recovery in exchange for transparent governance, fiscal stabilisation and credible consequence management.

- The Auditor-General estimates annual losses of approximately R12 billion through corruption, while Eskom threatens to suspend electricity supply over unpaid debt.

- Steel magnate Rafik Mohamed was granted R100 000 bail on fraud and theft charges relating to R1.1 billion in IDC loans to his former company.

- The State alleges Mohamed misused IDC funds to purchase houses and cars and transferred money offshore, though he denied all charges completely.

- Mohamed argued the allegations stemmed from a commercial dispute with Alfeco Holdings that was already subject to civil and arbitration proceedings.

- All four home teams won their quarter-finals predictably, with top seeds Glasgow, Leinster, Bulls and Stormers advancing to this Saturday’s semi