All the articles in this week’s Mail & Guardian are now free to read online
No deal—the ANC battle is on
Neither presidential hopeful is prepared to stand back for party unity, which could lead to a split.
MultiChoice: Bully boy or dirty player?
The pay-TV service admits it lobbied e.tv to drop its encryption agenda but denies resorting to bribery
Firms shrug off corruption
KPMG and McKinsey employees linked to Gupta deals have walked away with their pockets lined.
Flakka in SA is fake news—Hawks
The unit says it has found no signs of the psychosis-inducing drug but others insist it is in the country
Little Foot: Two assistants credited for finding ‘needle in haystack’
Meet Stephen Motsumi: A former Sterkfontein caves tour guide who made one of the world’s most important evolutionary science discoveries- Little Foot.
‘Sex pest claim got me fired’
An ex-staffer claims UFS sacked her on trumped-up fraud charges leaked by her alleged harasser
Ramaphosa: Money or the workers?
Is he the one to rescue the ANC and South Africa? There is no telling from his contradictory record.
The roast of Busisiwe Mkhwebane
The public protector was grilled so badly in court that she was left fighting for her professional life
Survivors of botched circumcisions live in secrecy
But surgery can help those whose dreams of a normal adult life were brutally ended
‘Ambassadors’ for trans surgery rally for better services
Transgender patients and activists have mobilised health profession to get more surgeons interested in doing gender-affirming surgery.
Imisebe’s Shembe legacy unsure
The church leader gained support for pursuing its founders ideals
Prison gang war sparks lockdown
Westville jail inmates say they are being unlawfully punished for gang violence
R100m for ‘ads’, too little for ships
Commemorative events and memorials, as well as consultants have cost the defence department millions
Promoting science for youth a ‘smart choice’
Cyril Ramaphosa and Naledi Pandor have a particularly pro-intellectual stance, pushing science and technology as a way to drive economic growth and job creation.
Unravelling the riddle of Jessie
Tough as nails, the ANC top-sixer is labelled a party unifier by some and clearly biased by others
Police officer among five arrested for hostel murders
Police have arrested five men — one of them a police officer — in what appears to be a major breakthrough in investigations into the series of murders that have taken place at Durban’s Glebelands hostel
Why abortion-by-mail services are spreading
Go inside the international network of women willing to break the law to give people access to abortions
Nigerians relive Libyan nightmare
Sent home after failing to reach Europe, migrants tell of the horrors they endured
New blood gives Angola hope
It took just 50 days into the new Angolan administration for the former president’s daughter to be replaced as boss of Sonangol, along with three other top officials at the national oil company.
Fit-again Nigerian president hits campaign trail
After months of illness and treatment abroad Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari made his first trip to a key state, the latest sign of his return to the national stage.
Sudanese courts rob the poor
Punitive fines are used to raise revenues, and women are the biggest target
BUSINESS:
Steinhoff implosion staggers SA
Former Minister announces investigation by Financial Services Board into alleged misconduct
Watch your job, the bots are coming
Automation is replacing manual workers at a rapid rate. What will be the ‘safe’ careers of the future?
Consumers fret over debit orders
Banks are usually blamed but a professional body is taking steps to stop fraud
Bitcoin: A pocketful of cryptonite
Invest in the risky cryptocurrency only if you are prepared to lose everything
FRIDAY:
Building bridges over taken land
We sometimes forget that our struggle as the beneficiaries of desegregation is to solve these existing power dynamics piecemeal, from the inside of these new shared intimate spaces.
Boycott predators’ films. Or not
We’d miss out on the work of the talented, but a stayaway is a vote for values—and for their victims
Surfing the Qqom Wave to oblivion
Before the hype wave, Gqom was Kwaito’s errant teenage child. In Friday this week, Kwanele Sosibo talks Gqom after watching the supposed EPK for Maphorisa’s project, the Gqom Wave documentary.
Spike Lee revives Nola Darling in a TV joint that hits and misses
The director has recast his signature film and its characters for a new generation
El Anatsui comes back to Africa
The world-renowned artist is being introduced to audiences with his latest exhibition ‘Meyina’
When pudding is no trifling matter
Pudding politics: Dinika Govender invites us into her family’s annual Christmas Eve dinner and shares her grandmother’s politically-layered dessert with us.
A Brazil travel diary: Nova Terra, Nossa Terra
”How can I explain this feeling of beginning to understand Africanity beyond the mother continent?”. Chaze Matakala’s travel diary across the Atlantic transports us into a pilgrimage on Africanness.
The gifts of imperfect everydays
A daily commune offers discomfort, the smells and sounds of the city and time to think about where you come from and where you’re going.
COMMENT & ANALYSIS:
Esidimeni’s are going on all the time
Unless care of the intellectually disabled changes there will be a never-ending series of tragedies
Illiteracy threatens our democracy
The democratic project is fatally wounded without a national plan to teach teachers how to teach reading
Shaun the sheep can’t safely graze
If CR17 becomes president, Abraham’s lack of action could provide the reason to get rid of him
The Cat is out of the bag in the race to anoint the Chosen One
“ANC national chair Baleka Mbete and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize didn’t have much fun at the KwaZulu-Natal provincial council.â€
Sixteen days of denialism
The state’s response to violence against women and children avoids the real work that’s needed
Big Bro set to watch each pupil
The secret move to closely monitor public school education will track children right into adulthood
