In local headlines:

The Star

The great R2bn VBS heist

Some leaders of the SA Transport Allied Workers Union used Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s ANC presidential campaign to get a bribe of R1.5-million to facilitate a depost of R1-billion from state-owned company Prasa to VBS Mutual Bank. This is one of the shocking testimonies contained in an explosive report compiled by advocate Terry Motau into the large-scale looting of VBS, which has been described as “The Great Bank Heist”.

Fraud feared as Sassa shelves biometric system

Billions of rand could be lost to the fiscus following revelations that the South African Social Security Agency has suspended its biometrics enrolment system which combated widespread grant-beneficiary fraud.

Icing on cake for Homeless Day: Couple tie the know

Nathaniel Booysen and Sophia Schalk, a homeless couple, “just knew” they wanted to get married a day after they met a decade ago.

Sowetan

How to steal a bank

EFF leader Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian, former president Jacob Zuma and Public Investment Corporation boss Dan Matjila have been implicated in a forensic report on the failure of VBS Mutual Bank, released on Wednesday.

Business Day

VBS report throws KPMG back in dock

KPMG, the auditing firm whose reputation was gutted by associations with the Gupta family and a flawed report that helped weaken the SA Revenue Service amid state capture allegations, is in the dock again.

Duarte ‘very keen’ to testify on Gupta media

The governing ANC’s deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said on Wednesday she was “very keen” to appear before the Zondo commission into state capture to talk about her interaction with the Gupta family’s media operations.

Inner city project may bring investors back

A R2-billion project backed by RMH and Nedbank could kick-start and return large corporations who deserted Johannesburg’s inner city in the 1990s, accelerating its decay, says Mayor Herman Mashaba.

In global headlines:

Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert were allegedly among a 15-person team tied to the disappearance in Istanbul of the high-profile dissident Jamal Khashoggi, it has been reported by Turkish pro-government newspapers. (The Guardian)

China’s far north-western region of Xinjiang has retroactively legitimised the use of internment camps where up to one million Muslims are being held. (The Guardian)