Unembargoed: Mail & Guardian January 5 to 11

Cyril, he’s a man of the people

”I’m not into politics so I can’t say much about Cyril Ramaphosa winning the presidential election. What I do understand is that he’s a good person in and of himself.”

May we hold holy our greatest expectations

The start of the year sees us awash in recycled truisms about betterment. This, after all, is the year we will lose weight, run a marathon, travel the world and still have money left over to read a book or two.

NEC decision on 68 crucial for provinces

Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal branches are in wait-and-see mode but are ready to go to court.

Ace’s future in Free State and top six in the balance

Thabo Manyoni’s camp believes Magashule’s departure leaves his camp without the glue that binds it together.

Opposition hit ground running

The parties have their eyes on next year’s polls and are wasting no time in preparations.

Big sacrifices and hard work pay off

Mphoentle Piliso worked at a local spaza shop during the school holidays and earned R300, which she used to buy the textbooks she was not issued with at school.

Sassa wants CPS for 6 more months

It signed a deal with the Post Office yet at the same time asked that the invalid CPS contract be extended.

Unchained spirit of Bra Willie

South Africa’s poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile will be remembered for his commitment to the longest struggles he encountered in his life.

Weight of a life makes the poem

Poet Keorapetse Willie Kgositsile told the The Weekly Mail after his return from exile that the leadership of the ANC for years didn’t understand culture as being integral to the struggle.

UFS language policy led to racial tension

But the Constitutional Court’s minority judgement said the court had ignored the dominance of English.

Judges at odds over impeachment

Minority of justices believe the president has been held to account over Nkandla, but it’s the majority view that counts.

It’s not about government policy, so why is this a case of ‘judicial overreach’?

Could it be that Mogoeng is looking to the future and the possibility of a level of governance where it would be counterproductive to the democratic development of the country for courts to play as active a role as they have?

My ass still aches, but 2018 is here

Tuesday. January 2. The first working day of the year is upon us. The weeks of respite from deadlines was a relief.

Call it fake news and call it out

Fake news exists. It’s propaganda, false and designed to cause harm — and its actionable.

Steps ANC must take to save itself

What the party’s new leaders do now will decide the outcome of the 2019 elections.

Vile stain of racism stains the US

It’s not surprising that the country has still not rid itself of its violent and racial bigotry.

Boys endanger manhood to be men

Overwhelming peer pressure drives some youngsters to circumcise themselves.

#MeToo implies we’re the problem

Break the silence. Speaking heals. This is what sexual health and rights campaigns say to those of us who have been sexually violated.

Rape myths inflict more harm on victims

There is something worrying about how some people who have been sexually violated prefer to conceal their identity.

Are men, by their nature, brutish?

Men will only really change if they are willing to examine their fantasies and feelings authentically.

Wanted: A credible evangelist for land

Restitution needs an efficient process with clear principles to fulfil spiritual and material needs.

Paradise for corporates and ultrarich

The Paradise Papers highlight the need for enforcing regulations to stem tax avoidance.

Apartheid’s grim hostels still home to generations of women

Change is slow in coming to the single-sex hostels plagued by social and infrastructure problems.

The economy is off to a good start

But the big questions are what Cyril Ramaphosa can do and what the budget has in store.

What’s on the cards for 2018?

Except to fork for budget shortfalls, free educations and Eskom, but interest rates, fuel and food could provide some relief.

Mixed outlook for Africa in 2018

The leaders for life will face challenged. Debt levels and servicing costs will plague governments. And conflict hotspots won’t cool down.

Going home from home

A traveller returns home to warm familiarities seen through the eyes of universality.

‘For 30 years, I kept running’

Harry Garuba wrote his collection of poems in 1982. It’s taken him 35 years to do a second.

We’re transforming the milky way

Advertising agencies in South Africa must confront the need for change if they are to survive.

Rainbowism is in a sunken place

South Africa’s reality is, as a comedian put it, like a playground bully being angry about having to share a stolen bike.

Buyel’Ekhaya Mtase: This land of ours shrouded in song

Amid the fratricidal political mayhem threatening to rip the soul of the country asunder, a music festival proposes that local is the national.

Trans Thai boxer rings changes

The red lipstick and pink sports bra make Nong Rose stand out as she trades blows with her twin brother in a Thai boxing gym, preparing for a foreign debut that will make her the first transgender fighter to enter the ring in France.

India braces for Cape of Storms

Twice, Indian dreams of an epochal series win have floundered at Newlands. For the so-called Golden Generation of Indian batting stars, the first failure cut especially deep.

Mourinho’s risky roll of the dice

‘You want to know the team?” José Mourinho teased, successfully drawing a unified chorus of “Yes!” from the gathered press. “I can say my team and Barça’s team … and the referee.”