Unembargoed: January 11 to 17 2019

State-paid wedding plan blows up

According to emails, a housing agency spin doctor allegedly attempted to use the cost of a bogus conference to help to pay for her big day

Ramaphosa passes KZN test

The ANC president addressed the party’s January 8 celebrations in Durban without a major incident

Political parties parlay people’s expectations to get to Parliament…pfft

From the good, the bad to the United Moral Movement for the Advancement for All, South African voters are spoiled for choice

Slice of life: Of durags and a rapping boost

The other day my business venture caught the attention of one of South Africa’s prominent up-and-coming rappers: Shane Eagle. I had seen him at the airport and decided I needed to take the opportunity to say what’s up.

Knives out at water and sanitation

Intrigue and accusations of blackmail fly amid the bid to clean up the troubled department

ANC is playing it safe in the Western Cape

The party in the province has been without a permanent provincial chairperson for two years now and has been mired in chaos since the suspension of former ANC chairperson Marius Fransman

Home ombud advised to lay charges

The forensic report by Knowles Husain Lindsay Attorneys, which was presented to the former CSOS board last month, said the payments were not authorised by the board

Education can cut initiate deaths

Work by a group of volunteers in the Lusikisiki and Flagstaff area of Pondoland has resulted in no deaths at initiation schools there

Contentious traditional leadership Bill passed

Supporters say it restores people’s dignity, but its detractors argue that it will subject 17-million people who live in the former apartheid homelands to the edict of unelected traditional leaders

Delayed supp exams raise red flag

Educator’s say the state’s Second Chance programme doesn’t provide enough support to pupils who failed matric

Eastern Cape intervention gets results

After years of underperformance, the province has shown that things can change for the better

Duterte throttles online site

The embattled Rappler news website in the Philippines is fighting state-backed intimidation

Our last gasp before we burn

The few who survive the disasters of our own making will not escape the day of reckoning

A lone gay man says ‘enough’ to hate rapes in Cape Wheatlands

After Marchillino Ambraal was gang raped a second time and a friend was killed, he wants to see justice done

HEALTH:

A changing birth: What is behind SA’s skyrocketing C-section rates?

The way we come into the world tells a story of rich and poor— and of promise and peril

AFRICA:

A Tshisekedi finally at DRC’s helm

But there are fears that Felix has been co-opted by Joseph Kabila, who controls the electoral commission’

Three reasons the Gabon coup failed

The tiny but resource-rich country has remained a pseudo state that is still run from Paris

Hijabis face fear and ignorance

The debate about what Muslim women in Nigeria can put on their heads is getting more heated

BUSINESS:

Giants cost SA billions in lost taxes

Alternative thinking suggests that countries could use different ways to tax errant multinationals

Woolies in baby sling boo-boo

After a blog accused the retailer of stealing the design, it apologised and stopped sales

Is the load-shedding holiday over?

In December, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom told the public that there would be no load-shedding during the holiday period

The exotic game market goes bang

Insane prices were paid for high-value species— then there was a lull, followed by a crash

Water stress sees tank sales soar

Market leader Jojo currently sells 1 000 tanks a day, and its annual turnover is more than R600-million

COMMENT & ANALYSIS:

Halt the capitalist crisis gripping the world

Today’s capitalism is a slide into authoritarianism, using Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism to keep the state in power

Editorial: Big-man politics again blots out the Congolese

The DRC is a complex, challenging political quagmire.
It is also, as the UN characterises it, one of the most complex and challenging humanitarian situations worldwide.

A lesson about facts and opinion for McKaiser

“The readers of the M&G should be given the facts about the Clifton case and not merely the many broad accusations and assumptions that have been flying around.”

The eagle doesn’t chicken out

Ramaphosa draws on divine support— and ruffles the Thekweni mayor’s feathers

Youth is Africa’s prime challenge— but it could be an asset

The continent’s population is expected to more than double to 2.6-billion by 2050

Aid fails to solve the DRC crisis

Instead, it masks the paucity of effective government and is not resulting in development

No holy cows in hate cases

Misogyny and hate speech cannot be left to institutions to deal with internally

EDUCATION:

UCT gives students with disabilities hope

These students are inspiring others with their stories of perseverance and resilience and have expressed gratitude for the way they have been assisted

Review school admissions policies

A child’s socioeconomic status, language and colour should not result in their exclusion

Pass rate says little about schooling

The metric is poorly understood and is an inadequate standard by which to rate our education system

No matter what, a matric remains within reach

There are steps that can be taken for people who have failed or underperformed in matric

FRIDAY:

Let’s mute the R.
Kelly’s in our lives

We would all do well to reflect on the many R. Kelly’s in our lives

Ads out of touch with audiences

Black people’s lived experiences need to be at the heart of campaigns

To know Jean-Michel Basquait, look at his art

The artist died when he was 27, but in that short period he produced an influential body of work reflecting on issues such as race in 1970s and 1980s North America

Cop killer or political prisoner?

Regarded as a hero by some and a criminal by others, the story of artist Leonard Peltier is one that goes deep into issues of identity, culture and freedom

NYC has a short memory

The city might be honouring its hip-hop icons, but it ignores their messages and what they represent

Translating Nyembezi no walk in the park

The challenge of translating ‘Inkinsela yaseMgungundlovu’ into English was to keep intact the novel’s tone