Here’s your daily news update for 18 May 2025. An easy-to-read selection of our top stories.

Picture: iStock / The Citizen
In today’s news update, Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso will not be allowed back in South Africa for the next five years, while ANC stalwart Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe has died.
Additionally, South Africa soldiers are currently stranded in Goma.
South Africans can expect a mix of fog, sunshine, and shifting winds across the provinces.
Read the full weather forecast here.
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News today: 18 May 2025
WATCH: Dark shades and police escorts as Timothy Omotoso leaves SA
Controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso has left South Africa.
A Mercedes-Benz carrying the Omotoso was reportedly followed into the OR Tambo International Airport precinct by a van carrying both uniform and plain-clothed officers on Sunday afternoon.
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ANC Women’s League deputy president Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe has died
ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) deputy president Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe has died at the age of 64.
Her death was confirmed by the ANC on Sunday morning. They hailed her a “lifelong activist and servant of the people”.
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What is taking so long? Why SANDF troops can’t get a lift home
A transport no-show has been blamed for the delay in transporting soldiers back to South Africa.
The officers were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of the Southern African Development Community Mission.
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Umlazi mass murder: KZN premier condemns ‘barbaric’ attack, calls for action against crime
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has strongly condemned a mass shooting that claimed the lives of eight people at the Zama informal settlement in Umlazi.
Ntuli visited the crime scene in uMlazi’s U Section on Saturday.
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‘The likelihood of humiliation is there’ – Musk to grill Ramaphosa in front of Trump
SA-born billionaire Elon Musk will likely be at Donald Trump’s side when the US president meets Cyril Ramaphosa this week, with one official predicting a “rough meeting”.
SA president Ramaphosa is jetting off for a working visit to the USA from Monday, 19 May.
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Here are five more stories of the day:
- ‘Most-wanted’ CIT murder suspects dead in Boksburg shootout
- Man’s appeal to overturn life sentence for raping his 7-year-old step-granddaughter denied
- 12 illegal immigrants arrested, expired food seized in Pretoria
- Has Jose Riveiro’s departure affected Orlando Pirates players?
- Bulls get another crack at Edinburgh
Yesterday’s News recap
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