/ 25 December 2017

Unembargoed: Mail & Guardian December 21 – January 4

Get your fix of the M&G here.
Get your fix of the M&G here.

Editorial: ANC members are not just voting cattle

This week ANC leaders showed us that they consider their ordinary members — the people who supposedly run South Africa — to be cattle.

Zuma now firmly in the firing line

The ANC’s new national executive and integrity committee will be able to call him to account

New horizons for health policy

The ANC has set its sights back on medical aid tax credits at the #ANC54 conference. Bhekisisa reports.

All agree to downgrade SA embassy in Israel

The ANC international relations commission came to a unanimous agreement to approve a policy that will see the South African embassy in Israel being downgraded.

It’s over. The damage must be fixed

The question is: Can the disparate leadership pull together to save the party—and the country?

Senzo yields but the fight goes on

His aspirations to the secretary general’s office, payback for his role in derailing Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s bid for the presidency by splitting the 480 KwaZulu-Natal ANC branches, appeared to be over.

Cabinet report cards

This year’s cabinet report cards are out and you don’t want to miss a single one. From President Zuma’s F to Bathabile Dlamini’s F-, find out what happened.

Special year-end edition: Restless Cities

The Dezemba 2017 festive holiday guide

Looking for something to do or somewhere to go this festive season? We’ve got you covered across 4 provinces.

Shifting landscape of Durban’s hills

Areas like Inanda are filled with ‘outsiders’ taking advantage of vacant land

God’s pauper walks the talk

Durban’s lone street preacher follows a calling that eschews all physical comforts

Out of the darkness

Palaeontologists have a long history of pushing the ‘pure race’ theory but finally reached the conclusion that ‘we are all one human race’.

The people vs the advertisers

What comes first—the commercial viability of a radio station or the needs of listener’s? KayaFM managing director Greg Maloka has grappled with this for two decades and found an answer he can live with.

The Ant King

Her royal highness Isabella has a problem. The father of her children—much to everyone’s dismay—is still alive. Kamaria Balkisson tells the story of the fate of the colony under the patriarch’s reign.

The year in pictures

M&G’s pictures editor Paul Botes presents some of the most striking images from 2017

Twin buildings still echo the changes in Salt River

The Rex Trueform textile company employed generations of coloured people and its sale marks the end of an era that defined the area.

A death on Josiah Chinamano Avenue

In Harare the fates of trees and people seem to be intertwined. Percy Zvomuya investigates the past and present of Harare through the vibrant taxi trade that surrounds a curious landmark tree.

An ode to the matriarch

”Women like my grandmother hold up half the sky and the heart of their homes with simple food, the spirit of celebration and an open kitchen door.”

The cost of the great masigodukeni

The great end-of-year homecoming is not as simple as ‘I’m back, folks!’

Going back isn’t going home

More than material, the cost of going home is emotional.

Kisimusi is’fikile. Mari yako chete

Harare is still a grand dame, but one who’s fallen on hard, uncompromising times.

Into the heart of white suburbia and the fear of the black body

Maybe it’s being raised in racist enclaves. Maybe they thought the ANC was kidding about building a multiracial society. Whatever it is, white people still believe they are the rightful owners of South Africa, and no black person can convince them otherwise.

A tourist’s guide to Bangui

The capital of the Central African Republic could be a great holiday destination—if it weren’t for the civil war.

RIP

They left us in 2017 and now, we bid them farewell and remember their claim to fame.

Were you paying attention?

See how much of the past year’s key events and personalities you can remember 

 

M&G Slow