Phillip De Wet - Mail & Guardian

Phillip De Wet's Profile

Phillip de Wet writes about politics, society, economics, weird stuff, and the areas where all of these collide.

Over the past decade and a half, he has also written about telecommunications, sexually transmitted diseases, property development, civil liberties, riot policing, mining, movies, the media, and UFOs, among other topics.

But never about serious sport, which he knows nothing about.

He studied journalism and has never been anything other than a journalist, except for ill-considered stints as a media trainer and starting up new newspapers, magazines and websites, a suspiciously large percentage of which are no longer in business.

@phillipdewet

Marikana: NUM and AMCU resort to recruitment over a gun barrel

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union's battle to consolidate power over the NUM has taken on martial proportions.

How Gupta wedding storm turned into a PR blizzard

Phillip De Wet

The problem of too many cooks spoiling the communications broth. "Everybody was talking, all the ministers, all the departments."

Free State government gave Gupta guests an 'alibi'

The Free State government appears to have played a key role in giving guests to the Gupta wedding an alibi – the pretext of an official visit.

Gupta wedding: What is the plane truth?

Following the wedding jet saga, accusations and denials have been flying. Sarah Evans and Phillip de Wet have the facts.

Indian high commission steers clear of Waterkloof landing saga

Phillip De Wet

Despite a golden opportunity to respond to queries about the Gupta debacle, the high commissioner chose to speak on everything else but Guptagate.

Fact or fiction: We unravel the Guptagate spin

The Mail & Guardian has sifted through a storm of public denials and rebuttals by the Guptas in an attempt to separate the facts from the spin.

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Failure's Lessons

What does the demise of ThisDay tell us about the daily newspaper model in South Africa? Phillip de Wet analyses the reasons behind his former employer's downfall and asks whether the remaining crop are comparatively healthy.

Malema hands himself over to face graft charges

But the crowd that showed up to offer support during Julius Malema's court appearance was as disappointing as the numbers at Tuesday night's vigil.

Marikana: How the wage war was won

Lonmin's striking workers accepted a compromise pay deal based on fear of the mine's closure and of a threatening police presence.

Flying in face of adversity

The charter industry is in decline but the rich can still afford private planes

Racist: Much of government, many of its leaders

If referring to President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead as a "compound" is racist, then all three arms of government are racist too.

Nkandla: Documents call Zuma's bluff

An M&G investigation reveals that President Jacob Zuma was kept up to date about developments and taxpayer money was used for his private homes.

Henke Pistorius and the reality of crime in South Africa

Despite Henke Pistorius's claims, numbers show that the risk for crime is greater for the poor black township dweller than a rich white person.