Top 10 stories of the day: Mabuza funeral Springboks beat Italy
In today's news update, the late former deputy president David Mabuza will be laid to rest next weekend, while the Springboks scored a 42-24 win over Italy on Saturday.
Additionally, this year's Durban July horse racing event has been won by The Real Prince.
Heavy rains are expected to hit the Western Cape coast on Sunday. Read the full weather forecast here.
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News today: 5 July 2025
Former deputy president David Mabuza at Union Buildings in Pretoria on 19 June 2024. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
The family of former deputy president David Mabuza has confirmed that his funeral will take place next weekend.
Mabuza died on Thursday following a short illness at the age of 64.
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Springboks battle past Italy at Loftus
Kurt-Lee Arendse was one of the try-scorers for the Springboks against Italy on Saturday. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The Springboks kicked off their 2025 Test season with a far from impressive 42-24 win against Six Nations minnows and severely weakened Italy in the first of two Tests between the nations at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
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The Real Prince, the real deal: Hot favourite goes down by a whisker in Durban July
Spectators celebrate during the Durban July main race on 2 July 2022. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The Real Prince won the 2025 Hollywoodbets Durban July at Greyville, narrowly beating hot-pot 2-1 favourite Eight On Eighteen.
Ridden by Craig Zackey and trained by Dean Kannemeyer, four-year-old gelding The Real Prince started at bookmaker odds of 14-1, paid R10.30 a Win and R2.90 a Place on the TAB tote.
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Steenhuisen calls national dialogue a 'band-aid on the ANC's electoral wound'
Minster of Agriculture and DA leader John Steenhuisen. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
DA leader John Steenhuisen has written off the upcoming national dialogue as an ANC campaign event.
The Minister of Agriculture in the government of national unity (GNU) wrote an open letter to Thabo Mbeki in response to the former president's own letter released earlier this week.
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A 'mockery' or 'flimsy attack'? ANC and DA scrap over Tshwane city manager's appointment
Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler. Picture: Neil McCartney
The appointment of Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler was conducted in a manner that creates a mockery of the prescripts governing the appointment of senior managers, claims the ANC.
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Here are five more stories of the day:
Yesterday's News recap
READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: Remembering Mabuza | Creecy signs licence machine deal | White and Bulls part ways
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IOL News
31 minutes ago
- IOL News
Erasmus to rethinks Springbok selections after unconvincing win over Italy
The Springboks' Vincent Tshituka, on debut, bust through the tackles of Italy during the first Test at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. Photo: Timothy Bernard Independent Media Image: Timothy Bernard Independent Media The Springboks' lacklustre performance in the first Test against Italy will have repercussions, with coach Rassie Erasmus stating that he will revisit his planned selection for this week's second Test in Gqeberha. The Boks went into the Pretoria season-opener with high expectations after a promising warm-up against the Barbarians, but their 42-24 win was flawed. The Italians had left a core of stars at home, yet troubled the Boks in the line-outs and breakdowns, and were arguably the better side in the second half. Last week, Erasmus said he had internally informed the players which of them would feature at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. But after several disappointing individual performances, the coach says he will revisit those plans. 'I guess it's a positive that we scored six tries, but we're frustrated,' the coach said. 'The buck stops with us coaches because we obviously did not prepare the guys well enough. I didn't see this performance coming. It is fixable, but it's definitely frustrating.' 'Internally, we've announced the 13 or 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we'd build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,' he added. 'We won't discard those players, but some of them might move to the bench. Some of the real standout players who featured today might start again. 'The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You'd think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half, but they did the opposite. 'Italy are a fit and passionate side and we have to make sure that the team we put out for the second Test is not just one that can go 50 or 60 minutes — it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.' The Boks started the game strongly and it seemed a question of time before the Italians would collapse. At half-time, the Boks would have spoken about opening the taps and putting the visitors away by a big margin. That appeared to be on the cards when they scored their fifth try early in the second half, only for Italy to rally and score three tries of their own. 'It was a very frustrating game,' said Erasmus. 'We knew they were stronger than the public perception, and they manned up in every department of the game. When we were 28-3 up and we scored a try that was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them — but then we lost momentum.
The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
Proud Italy hail their ‘grenade squad', defence against Boks
Italy's coach and captain said they were very proud of their team's performance while good-humouredly poked fun at the Springbok 'bomb squad' and praised their own. Italy were proud of their performance against the Springboks. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images Tenth-ranked and understrength Italy were all smiles after their relatively narrow defeat against world champions South Africa at Loftus on Saturday. They especially praised their second-half performance and 'grenade squad' from the bench, who turned a 28–3 deficit at the break into a 35–24 deficit, before a 42–24 defeat. Italy had made seven changes to the starting XV after their comprehensive 73–6 victory over Namibia the week before, though several experienced players had already been rested after the Six Nations. Nicolò Cannone also played his first Test as captain. Still, he and coach Gonzalo Quesada told the media they were pleased with the result, while the Springboks and coach Rassie Erasmus said they were frustrated. ALSO READ: 'There is going to be disappointment': Faf and Kriel admit fans expected dominance Italy 'very proud' The Springboks boasted close to 400 more caps than the Italians in their starting line-up, with a host of double World Cup winners in their ranks. But Italy are a team on the up. They finished fifth in the Six Nations but with a scrum win percentage that was better than Ireland's and Scotland's. Since the beginning of last year, they have beaten Wales (twice), Georgia, Japan, Tonga and Scotland, drawing to France and losing to Ireland by five points and England by three. Bok stand-in captain Jesse Kriel was right to warn fans not to write them off. 'I am very happy with our performance,' Cannone said. 'It was a very tough game, a very physical game, but we prepared for this.' The captain said it was not easy playing against the Springboks in South Africa, especially as players they are familiar with in the United Rugby Championship step up their game when they put on a Springbok jersey. 'But we had a good performance. We have to prepare some little things for next week, but we are very proud.' Italy coach hails bench's performance against Springboks Coach Quesada said it was important for his side to show courage in defence with 17 players missing out on the night. 'I am so proud because the Springboks came hard at us and we showed a lot of effort and commitment. I am proud for a huge amount of reasons,' he said. Quesada praised his 'excellent jackals' for winning the breakdown battle. 'Maybe we did not believe enough in ourselves in the first half and did not try the things we prepared. So the players were made aware at half-time that they could do much better.' He good-humouredly poked fun at the Springboks' bomb squad, which was loudly announced over the speakers to huge applause from the near-capacity crowd on the night, by praising his own 'grenade squad' who had a greater impact on the game. 'The way our leaders handled the second half was really critical, and our grenade squad did really well when it came off the bench,' he smiled, as journalists laughed at the quip. 'I am very happy that we did not concede a try from the mauls because that is one of the Springboks' strengths,' he said.
TimesLIVE
2 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Bok coach Erasmus hints at changes for second Test against Italy
Azzurri 'manned up in most departments — scrums, mauling, defence, attack. It was a proper Test match' Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has hinted he will ring a number of changes for the second match of the Incoming Test Series against Italy at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday. South Africa started their international season with a 42-24 win over the Azzurri at a vibey Loftus but Erasmus was not entirely satisfied because they did not put their visitors to the sword. The Boks scored six tries to Italy's three but couldn't build on a commanding 28-3 halftime lead and Erasmus expressed his frustration with the team's performance in front of a good-sized crowd in Pretoria. South Africa's tries were scored by Jesse Kriel, Morne van den Berg (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse, Vincent Koch and Marco van Staden while Italy responded through Manuel Zuliani, Pablo Dimcheff and Niccolo Cannone. Boks coach Rassie Erasmus to make changes for 2nd Test against Italy in Gqeberha. WATCH full press conference ➡️➡️➡️ — Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) July 6, 2025 'Internally we have about 13 or 14 players that we said we will give a run to this week. We will build the bench or starting line-up around those guys and some of them we have already announced internally,' Erasmus said after the match. 'Some of them will move to the bench and some of the standouts from this match might start again. We won't discard some of the guys who played in this match, it is just the makeup of the team. 'Italy threw a lot of physicality at us. Normally you think a team that makes 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half. They are a team that is fit and passionate.' Erasmus said the team the Boks will field on Saturday must be imposing and go the distance. Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and stand-in captain Jesse Kriel reflects on win over Italy. WATCH full press conference ➡️➡️➡️ — Mahlatse Mphahlele (@BraMahlatse) July 5, 2025 'We have to make sure the team we are going to pick this week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes but it must be a team that can go for 80 minutes. 'The other nine guys that we must pick will either be in the starting line-up, someone like Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] will be back. We will see who is the other nine, maybe play a guy like Cobus [Reinach] or Grant [Williams]. 'We will just have to fine-tune now and take stock of injuries. I see Damian de Allende has some sort of a hamstring [problem] but there are no serious injuries to report on, it is just niggles.' Though he was not happy with the performance, Erasmus accepted the result. 'I guess it's a positive we scored six tries, but we are frustrated. I didn't pick up in the week this was the way we were going to perform but it's all fixable — but it's definitely frustrating. 'It was a very frustrating game. We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments — scrums, mauling, defence, attack. It was a proper Test match. 'When we were 28-3 up and we scored that try that was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them, but then we lost some momentum. I don't think we have too many excuses and it certainly makes the selection for next week interesting — they could easily have come back into it at the end. 'They performed really well — we definitely tried to impose our game on them and they didn't allow it. The frustration was not only about not dominating, but also that the game was stop-start, stop-start. It felt like we didn't get any intensity in the second half. 'The positives are that we won, that we scored tries — even with a maul that didn't function, even with a breakdown that wasn't great on attack, even with a counterattack that wasn't awesome, we still scored six tries.'
