April 22, 2026.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lynne Davies.

Making headlines:

ConCourt rules SAHRC can’t issue legally binding directives

South African inflation picks up to 3.1% y/y in March, as expected

And, US in talks to resettle 1 100 Afghans in Congo, group says

A Constitutional Court ruling has affirmed that the South African Human Rights Commission does not have the authority to issue legally binding directives.

The judgment in the matter of SAHRC v Agro Data CC and FC, brought to an end a long-standing battle regarding the scope of powers held by Chapter 9 institutions.

The Constitutional Court, upholding previous rulings from the Mpumalanga High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, found that while the SAHRC is mandated to protect human rights, it lacks the statutory authority to issue directives that are binding in nature, similar to those of a court order.

The civil rights organisation AfriForum welcomed the ruling with Campaign Officer Louis Boshoff hailing the decision as a “victory for a well-balanced distribution of power within a constitutional framework”.

South Africa's headline consumer inflation edged up as expected last month, but analysts said the increase would be far larger in April when fuel price hikes triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran have filtered through into consumer prices.

Headline consumer inflation accelerated to 3.1% from a year earlier in March from 3.0% in February, matching a Reuters poll, statistics agency data showed today.

Inflation is set to accelerate to about 4% in April, when domestic fuel prices surged despite the government temporarily reducing a fuel levy to try to mitigate the impact of the Middle East conflict.

South Africa imports most of its petroleum products, leaving it highly exposed to swings in global energy prices.

The Trump administration is in talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo to resettle 1 100 Afghans who have been stranded in Qatar awaiting US visas, according to an advocacy organisation that works on their behalf.

The discussions underscore the legal hurdles facing Afghans who fled the Taliban after US immigrant visa processing for Afghan nationals was effectively halted, leaving them in limbo more than four years after the US withdrawal from Kabul.

Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups, said officials had briefed him about the plan to resettle the Afghans in Congo, which he described as unacceptable, partly because of chronic insecurity in the central African country.

Congo has experienced decades of conflict and is currently fighting a Rwanda-backed rebel movement that made major incursions in the east last year.

That makes it unlikely the Afghans will accept resettlement there, VanDiver said, adding that the US could potentially use their refusal as justification for sending them back to Afghanistan.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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