Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named André Esterhuizen captain for South Africa’s one-off Test against Australia at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday, 27 September 2026. The kick-off is 11:45 South African time. Esterhuizen will become the 68th player to captain the Springboks in a Test.
He starts at inside centre and partners Canan Moodie. Erasmus made 13 changes to the starting side from the team that beat New Zealand 43-28 in Baltimore. Only lock Eben Etzebeth and wing Ethan Hooker retained their starting places. Handré Pollard and Herschel Jantjies form the half-back pairing. Esterhuizen has been named Sharks captain for the coming season. Erasmus said Esterhuizen had captained the Sharks and had “brought so much to our squad off and on the field, both at centre and in the loose trio,” and that he “thoroughly deserves this opportunity.” Erasmus also said the appointment would help build the team’s leadership group, with several players having already captained the side in recent seasons.
Esterhuizen is in his early thirties and has accumulated 35 Test caps. He has played for the Springboks at centre and as a loose forward.
The appointment, made on Tuesday 22 September 2026, brought a 2012 disciplinary finding back into public discussion.
In 2012 Esterhuizen was 18 and played outside centre for Klerksdorp High School. Before a schools match against Potchefstroom Gymnasium, he was accused of swearing at Thabo Molete and using a racial slur. Molete was the coach of Potchefstroom Gymnasium’s first team and of the Leopards Grant Khomo side, and a rugby organiser at the school.
The Leopards Rugby Union convened an independent disciplinary committee of Adv. Johan Pretorius, Johan le Grange and Makwezi Best. Esterhuizen was found guilty of misconduct. The panel imposed a one-year ban from rugby, suspended for six months on condition that he completed a life skills course. He was also withdrawn from the Leopards Craven Week squad.
He should be banned from playing rugby period!
— Anele Mdoda (@Anele) September 23, 2026
Leopards president André May said at the time that he hoped the outcome would be “a life lesson for him and every player and official in this.” May also said he felt sorry for Esterhuizen because he was a brilliant rugby player.
Contemporary reports in July 2012 recorded the language used as including the word “kaffir.” There has been no widely published public comment from Molete on the matter since the 2012 hearing.
On Wednesday 23 September 2026, broadcaster Anele Mdoda posted on X about the 2012 finding and wrote: “He should be banned from playing rugby period!” The post quoted another user’s post about the old case. The post drew replies both supporting a permanent ban and arguing that a person should not be judged solely on conduct at age 18.
After Anele Mdoda called for André Esterhuizen to be banned from rugby over a 2012 schoolboy incident, social media users quickly turned the spotlight on her own recent controversies. The most cited was her husband’s company, Tark Group, which the Special Tribunal in March 2026 declared had received two unlawful 2020 PPE contracts from the Mpumalanga Department of Health worth more than R14 million. Co-owners Bonelela Mgudlwa and Katleho Mokonyane were ordered to repay profits; Mgudlwa stated Anele had no involvement, as their relationship only began in mid-2024. Critics also recirculated her 12 September tweet on the Rhodesfield/Kempton Park killings, in which she said police should “plant women alone and lure these monsters in and shoot them in the head.”
Other matters that resurfaced included a 2025 CCMA settlement in which she agreed to pay former domestic worker Thuleleni Florence Mlalazi R90,000 over an unfair-dismissal and vehicle-ownership dispute, and older posts in which she questioned PPE-tender credentials while later appearing unmoved when her husband’s firm was implicated. The backlash mixed those issues with accusations of selective outrage over Esterhuizen’s teenage ban, which he served and followed with a life-skills course.
Esterhuizen’s later career included a four-year spell at Harlequins in England and a four-match ban in July 2024 after a red card for a head-contact tackle on Portugal’s José Lima. He has two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals.
Erasmus has not publicly addressed the 2012 finding in comments released with the captaincy announcement. The Test against Australia goes ahead on Sunday with Esterhuizen as captain.
Top cop Shadrack Sibiya arrested on rape, child grooming and trafficking charges
Suspended Deputy National Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, 59, appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, after his arrest the previous day on five charges relating to alleged sexual offences.
The charges are promoting the sexual grooming of a child, two counts of sexual grooming of a child, trafficking in persons, and rape. The alleged incidents occurred between 16 May 2026 and 3 August 2026 and involve a 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman.
Sibiya did not enter a plea. The matter was postponed to 29 September 2026 for a formal bail application. The National Prosecuting Authority has indicated it will oppose bail. The offences are treated as Schedule 6 matters.
He is being held at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria. Prosecutors requested the transfer from a police station or Johannesburg facility, citing intelligence of a possible escape plan and concerns about witness interference.
Alleged grooming of a 16-year-old
According to the charge sheet, an associate of Sibiya placed the associate’s 16-year-old daughter in contact with Sibiya on 18 July 2026 to discuss logistics and transport arrangements.
The State alleges Sibiya then communicated with the girl on WhatsApp. The communication is said to have become sexual between 20 July and 3 August 2026.
It is further alleged that Sibiya sent the girl nude photographs of herself that she had not supplied to him, and that he encouraged her to send sexual videos.
These allegations form the basis of the three grooming-related charges.
Alleged rape at a Sandton hotel
The charge sheet also sets out allegations involving an 18-year-old woman who is a friend of the 16-year-old.
The State says the 18-year-old and two other women arranged an outing and booked accommodation and transport with the help of a man. When that man arrived to collect them from the hotel, he was accompanied by Sibiya, who was not known to the women.
Sibiya is alleged to have instructed the women to change their clothes before taking them to The Grand, described in the charge sheet as a strip club in Sandton. He is accused of buying food and providing alcohol there.
The group later returned to the hotel, identified in reporting of the charge sheet as the Garden Court. The State alleges the 18-year-old became unconscious after consuming alcohol and that Sibiya sexually assaulted her without her consent while she was unconscious.
It is further alleged that as Sibiya left the hotel room he told the complainant’s friends that she was “very nice and still a virgin.”
The hotel incident forms the basis of the rape charge. The trafficking-in-persons charge relates to the alleged recruitment, delivery or transport of the three women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The allegations in the charge sheet have not been tested in court.
Arrest and court proceedings
Sibiya was arrested on Monday, 21 September 2026, in Sandton by members of the Commission Recommendations Task Team, which investigates matters arising from the Madlanga Commission.
He appeared briefly in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court the following day. Security around the appearance was tight. Media access to the courtroom was restricted for a period; National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago later described aspects of the media handling as unacceptable.
The State told the court that threats had been made against witnesses, including voice notes and videos sent to witnesses as recently as 14:00 on Tuesday, 22 September. Prosecutors referred to a “cabal” allegedly working with the accused. They said investigating officers were taking steps to protect witnesses and were seeking electronic devices linked to the alleged intimidation.
Kganyago said Sibiya had not yet pleaded because the process had not reached that stage and that the bail application would start afresh on 29 September. He confirmed the State would oppose bail on the basis of the seriousness of the charges and concerns for the safety of witnesses.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said investigators had assembled what they described as overwhelming evidence before the arrest.
Background of the accused
Sibiya holds the rank of Lieutenant-General and served as Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection. In that role he oversaw aspects of national crime detection, including detectives, specialised units and related functions.
He was placed on special leave, later described as suspension, in July 2025 by then National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola. The suspension followed public allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that Sibiya had interfered with the Political Killings Task Team and the handling of 121 case dockets, and that he had been involved in the disbandment of the team.
Sibiya has denied those allegations. He has testified before the Madlanga Commission and Parliament’s ad hoc committee examining related claims. The commission has heard testimony alleging links between Sibiya and businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, including an alleged gift of 20 impalas. Sibiya has denied corruption.
Sibiya previously headed the Hawks in Gauteng. He was born in 1967.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia issued a statement after the arrest, noting that the allegations were particularly concerning given the country’s levels of gender-based violence and femicide and the responsibility of the police service.
Sibiya has made no public comment on the current charges.
The case returns to the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on 29 September 2026.
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