Unembargoed: March 29 to April 5

Luthuli inquest could be reopened

The NPA is relooking at the ANC leader’s 1967 death, and those of other activists

It’s Blac to the future in Bishop Lavis

A new wave of activism has swept over the Cape Suburb, as residents band together to target gangs

Slice of life: Hijacked, but it felt like a movie

“I have never been hit before, not even by my parents. To me that was painful because, suddenly, I was being hit by someone I didn’t owe my life or anything to.”

Only beneficiation will stamp out

The youth jobs scheme offers yearlong internships but sceptics fear it will only beef up BEE scorecards

Unions edgy after wage talks delay

Unions fear Public Service Minister Ayanda Dlodlo won’t keep promises made by her predecessor

“So we are coming.
If we need to expropriate your land, we are going to do that because it’s in the Constitution. It’s not something that we are going to create … We can’t wait for [the constitutional review process].”

No proof of birth, no education

An undocumented mother’s fight to her her children school highlights flaws in the law

2019 polls: ANC to call in the big guns

Ramaphosa thinks they could win now, but others want veterans to help to build a winnable campaigns

DA quibbles over diversity wording

Amid calls for greater racial diversity in its own ranks, the Democratic Alliance’s federal executive has rejected a call to include more township-based party members as delegates at its federal congress next week, because of administrative constraints

HEALTH:

But will South Africa be able to get this figure down further to achieve its sustainable development goal in 2030?

AFRICA:

Egypt anoints a new pharaoh

With Sisi retaining his grip on the presidency, this election is everything but democratic

#ThisFlag pastor runs for local office

If he is elected, activist Pastor Evan Mawarire aims to tackle Harare’s problems, in particular water

Botswana president’s bittersweet farewell

Khama instituted populist programmes but he was also seen as an authoritarian

God Edition:

The many churches of my youth

Zaza Hlalethwa recalls her days of church through childhood and into belonging

From sand to sky: Divine thread links the San with nature

For the Khomani San of the Kalahari, spirituality lies in their connection with the land they know so intimately

Healing resurrects blighted land above Mamelodi

A place of ecological and historical significance has been turned into an indigenous knowledge centre by a dedicated traditional doctor

Songs of the black matriarchs

They cling to their hymn book, yet the Bible doesn’t recognise women’s worth

Finding G-d in small things

Orthodox Judaism’s rituals can provide divine connection, even in a Highveld thunderstorm

A hymn and my mother are as one

Psalm 23 has become inextricably intertwined with a woman who has always refused to give up, writes Mashadi Kekana.

A playlist for ukubuyela amid sites of displacement

Growing up in Johannesburg, I’ve always felt a sense of inadequacy with regard to my heritage and spirituality.

Pastors heed the homophobic call

Restricted by the NGK, gay people follow their calling by starting their own churches

You lose some, you love some

But if it is death that is the real inevitability of life, then loss is the inevitability of living. It is acquiring the slow consciousness of a pain that grips your being so tightly, nothing else is coherent.

The gaze of the upward-facing dog

Your self-worth can’t help but be buoyed by a pet’s love – the universal spirit in in furry or feathered form.

From church to shop and back: God never left the building

“It was inevitable that the church was going to close.” That is what Mark Harding, my 80-year-old grandfather, told me the last time I spoke to him.

Keeping the faith

Organised religion, which tells us to believe in invisible things, does not tackle real suffering

‘There is no power on earth that can compare with religion’

Sello Hatang, the chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation says Madiba was fiercely private about his religious convictions.

The case for regulating religion

No faith should be immune from consequences for harming or even wilfully deceiving its followers

COMMENT & ANALYSIS:

Liberalism isn’t married to capitalism

There are many differences in liberalism as there are in any other philosophical approach

EDITORIAL: Aussies, spare us the moral outrage

We are told that as the coach, Darren Lehmann, had no prior knowledge of his players’ plan to tamper with the ball. So what, then, is the point of a coach if the team leaders make such significant decisions without him?

EDITORIAL: A vote for funds disclosure

The long-in-the-works Political Party Funding Bill was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, not with a bang but rather with a whimper.

Letters to the Editor

Our readers write in about the rumours of swart gevaar and the ANC

Ngiyabonga, Comrade Jesus

It will be nice to have a few extra days to think about things besides Daddy and his cohort

Bar needs to review lawyers’ ethics

A court should consider a punitive costs order if Zuma’s counsel continues a ‘Stalingrad defence’

Palestinian teenager’s chutzpah shames Israeli military

16-year-old Ahed Tamimi became a symbol of resistance when she slapped an Israeli soldier and was arrested. A few days ago, she accepted a plea bargain, meaning that she will be sentenced to eight months in prison.

Doctors shouldn’t define the norm

Cosmetic surgery on intersex children, without their consent, exposes social bias

Fifth Column: Be careful what you pray for

What do a praying mantis and a maniac have in common? Well, both descend from the ancient Greek word mania, which meant the same as it does today — madness characterised by “excitement and delusion”

BUSINESS:

Credit ruling gets mixed reaction

The Western Cape High Court has recently scrapped a subsection of the National Credit Regulations that required lenders to demand payslips, bank statements or financial statements as part of their affordability assessments for consumers who apply for credit.

Consumers have a little more money for Easter eggs

The South African Reserve Bank has given borrowers a little Easter holiday gift, announcing a 25 basis point cut in interest rates on Wednesday.