The curtain has fallen on 2009 and 2010 has arrived filled with promise and challenges.
Last year was an eventful and in some cases sad one for many South Africans who had to deal with the harsh reality of crime. But there was much to celebrate, including the massive strides made in the building of new stadiums for this year's World Cup.
A look at a selection of stories, some of them major newsbreaks and some quirky and different, from The Independent on Saturday front pages from the past year is evidence that 2009 was a year not to be forgotten.
Political parties started their campaigning early in January, in anticipation of what was widely expected to be the closest election in the country's history.
For ANC MP Belinda Scott, January was a month she would rather forget after a wedding party at her Kloof home was gate-crashed by robbers who held up the 11 guests.
February brought more cheer for Durbanites with The Independent on Saturday getting the first images of the lights being switched on at the R3.1 billion Moses Mabhida Stadium.
There were also policing successes after police bust a luxury Durban brothel. Residents from suburbs across Durban took the initiative and took photographs and video footage of luxury vehicles picking up prostitutes and visiting brothels. The pictures were handed to police.
The evidence has led to a number of successful raids recently, with numerous women, under-age girls, clients and brothel-keepers arrested.
ANC president Jacob Zuma also remained one of the early newsmakers and with the elections set for April, questions were still being asked about potential legal challenges ahead of the poll.
Meanwhile, convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was anticipating his early release and already making plans to buy a house in upmarket Eastbourne Road in Morningside. He put in a R10 million bid for a house one week before being released on medical parole.
Back in January, Shaik's brother Moe Shaik said that his brother would be home within four months.
He was back home by March after being discharged from the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital.
In preparation for the 2009 election the Independent Electoral Commission released the party candidate list that gave the position of each political party's candidates. While there were not too many surprises, ID candidate Shan Mohangi, 69, also known as Narantuk Jumuna, grabbed headlines.
He had to be removed from the list after it was discovered that he had been convicted of murder in Ireland 40 years ago while studying medicine.
The ID said they had no idea he had been convicted of such a gruesome crime.
April was election month and there were no surprises as the ANC won despite a late push by political newcomer Cope.
On a lighter note, a mystery man came to The Independent Newspaper offices and dropped off R10 000 for Cheryl McCarthy, a Durban woman whose battle to get a new identity document had left her and her family in a financial crisis and about to be evicted from their flat.
In May, city manager Michael Sutcliffe, who had been unusually quiet for most of 2009, made the headlines after a copy of a speeding fine of his that had been quashed was handed to The Independent on Saturday.
According to the document, Sutcliffe's Toyota was photographed travelling at 129km/h in a 100km zone on the Southern Freeway on May 10 last year.
However, according to the copy of the fine, it appears that he justified his excessive speed with a statement on the fine that he "had to get to (an) official municipal function". His signature appeared underneath the explanation.
Also on the page is written: "Please check - I think (it) was Chatsworth mayoral imbizo."
In June The Independent on Saturday broke the scandalous story about the SABC's alleged plans to make millions on the funeral of Nelson Mandela - for an investment of as little as R400 000. That was how much it was proposed to cost to secure the best vantage point of the Mandela homestead and purported burial site in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, under the guise of creating a computer centre and internet cafe in the Nelson Mandela Museum.
SABC admitted to investing R400 000 in the computer centre project, but denied it had an ulterior motive.
Also in June, the moonlighting timebomb in the nursing profession came to light with evidence that a huge number of nurses employed in government hospitals were moonlighting at private hospitals to make extra money and worked back-to-back shifts, without rest days. The nurses were said to work harder and better at private hospitals and providing below-average service at state hospitals.
After winning the 2009 election and being inaugurated as the president of South Africa, Zuma was again in the headlines in July, this time after it was found that close to R50 million was being spent on building a fortress for him in Eastbourne Road in Morningside.
The money was actually the cost of renovations to King's House, which is traditionally the president's house when he is in Durban. Bullet-proof metal mesh fences, a 4m-high metal inner fence, which is 10.7m away from the exterior fence, razor wire, motion and smoke sensors, watchdogs and police on quad bikes were just some of the security features of the house. Coincidently, the R10m house that Schabir Shaik was trying to purchase was just around the corner.
In late June, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Community Safety Bheki Cele vacated his position to become the country's top cop after he was appointed commissioner when Jackie Selebi's contract was not renewed.
Cele had been making headlines throughout 2009 with his repeated calls for police to use deadly force and shoot to kill.
He continued the call after his appointment.
In July and August, KZN and the rest of the world were gripped by news of the spread of the H1N1 virus. By August the virus hit many provincial schools as families returned from overseas trips. Several private schools were affected and several closed.
In September the biggest story in Durban was the crash-landing of an SA Airlink aeroplane in Merebank, in Durban.
Civil Aviation Authority experts working on the plane crash confirmed that the good engine might have been incorrectly switched off while the plane continued to run on the "faulty" engine, causing it to crash-land at a Merebank school ground.
The pilot, Alastair Freeman, died in hospital, while first officer Sonja Bierman, flight attendant Rodelle Oosthuizen and street cleaner Abraham Mthethwa, who were injured, are recovering.
Crime continued to dominate the news in October with the story of a Durban woman who was killed in a hijacking in Johannesburg.
Bianca Warburton, 24, of Westville had opted to complete her social work internship at Umdlezane Parent Infant Project, a community-based mental healthcare centre in Alexandra where she was gunned down in a hijacking.
She was shot dead in her car after she had stopped at an intersection outside the clinic.
October ended with a sinking feeling for a Durban motorist after his car had fallen into a huge sinkhole at the corner of Steven Dlamini (Essenwood) and St Thomas roads in Musgrave after he had stopped at a traffic light.
In November The Independent on Saturday broke a story about a group of young people from upmarket Durban suburbs who had been caught up in a church their parents described as a "mind-controlling" Christian cult where, it was alleged, some had been married off to men chosen for them by the church.
The church was identified as Grace Gospel Church, a branch of Church Team Ministries International, an international Christian group with head offices in Mauritius.
Crime continued to make the headlines late in November with the story of three Durban women who endured brutal hijackings and lived to tell their story.
Lyn Wilson was shot three times in the driveway of her Che Guevara (Moore) Road home. Yvonne Reddy, an estate agent, was leaving a house in Pinetown when she was shot in the arm and abdomen, while Kavisha Seevnarain was flung off a 60m-high bridge in Umkomaas.
Two of Seevnarain's assailants have been sentenced in the Durban Magistrate's Court to 25 and 40 years in prison.
In December, Sharks and Springbok captain John Smit stayed in the headlines with his autobiography, which, among other intriguing revelations, lifted the lid on the infamous Kamp Staaldraad.
Earlier in the year Smit became the most capped captain in rugby history, after leading the Boks against the All Blacks in the second Test in Durban.
Coincidentally, Smit's book, Captain in the Cauldron, was released around the same time as Man in the Mirror, the autobiography of former Springbok Joost van der Westhuizen, whose sensational book was accompanied by saucy revelations of an affair with a stripper.