/ 10 September 2018

Unembargoed: September 7 to 13

All articles in this week's M&G are free to read.
All articles in this week's M&G are free to read.

SAA links to Bain raise red flag

Elements in the state-owned entity were apparently determined to pass work on to the controversial company

Bleeding SA turns to Ramaphosa

Hopes are pinned on the economic stimulus package but uncertainty bedevils the economy

President needs to provide a turnaround strategy now

The election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president last December, and of the country this year, came as a relief to many, marking the end of a decade of kleptocracy under Jacob Zuma.

‘Double social grants for six months’

The social development department has made an extraordinary recession-busting proposal

Did Big Tobacco buy Twitter?

Is there more to the data backing the latest tobacco-funded ad and social media campaign?

Duarte link surfaces in Zondo inquiry

Investigators are reportedly looking into a R10m Safcol contract that failed to follow due process

No end to PetroSA’s woes

Members of PetroSA’s interim board are at loggerheads with their chairperson, Nhlanhla Gumede

Bug evolution thrown into Chaos

Super-strains of bacteria need a new nemesis, and scientists reckon they’ve found one

The aunty we all never had

Aretha Franklin was special, but in Detroit she was a family member who never abandoned them

Glebelands gang’s case adjourned

Hopes of an immediate trial have been dashed as the accused’s lawyer wins time to secure counsel

Gordhan to defend Transnet cleanup

A former board member has responded to his dismissal by taking the matter to the high court

Desire for love mingles with fear

Dating is daunting, more so for trans women who worry about the reaction when they disclose

North West EFF flexes its muscles

Its re-elected secretary is all fired up and intent on taking the province from the still-divided ANC

Patriarchy is no effing joke

Fighting corruption, corporate giants and the ruling party are not the only battles that face the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Gauteng chairperson, Mandisa Mashego.

Don’t refuse, recycle

Household waste is a major problem but if properly handled, it can be a valuable resource

Elders cry over land court setback

A Land Claims Court decision reversed on appeal has devastated weary labour tenant applicants

Lesbian couple finally get a visa but it’s a ‘housewife’ permit

They regard it as a ‘milestone’ even if one of them is not allowed to work, but they’ll keep fighting

UDM tells the DA to take a hike

Bantu Holomisa says the official opposition uses other parties to gain control and then shuns them

Sanco officials won’t go quietly

The civic organisation is battling to rid itself of Jacob Zuma’s allies in the post-Nasrec era

DA slams mayor’s millions

eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede has come under fire over her almost R100-million programme for mayoral events.

HEALTH:

Dying of the light: Hospices can’t keep their doors open

Hospice isn’t just a place to die but funding cuts — and that perception — could be killing our chances of a kinder death as refuges close

How the world taught you to fear your period

A new book examines the long history of a ‘messy problem’

AFRICA:

How much is China’s $60-billion really worth?

Xi Jinping opened his wallet again, but it’s hard to track where the money for Africa really goes

The Grand Inga delusion

The huge hydroelectric project is part of South African foreign policy, even though it makes little economic or environmental sense

Fight to free Britain’s last African colony

Britain and Mauritius are in the International Court of Justice arguing over the Chagos Islands. But the evicted islanders just want to go home

Fractures weaken Lesotho’s PM

Lesotho’s chronic instability strikes again as the ruling party begins to turn on its leader

Brutal evictions a blot on eSwatini

Hundreds of people are homeless and destitute, largely because they don’t have security of tenure

BUSINESS:

Clipped Hawks falter over Steinhoff

The policing unit lacks hard evidence despite dedicating resources to the investigation

Supercool Jooste stays untouched

When Steinhoff former chief executive Markus Jooste left Parliament on Wednesday after an unremarkable testimony, he appeared unruffled.

Bloodied economy’s future is grim

Other than a possible recovery in the agricultural sector, there is nothing to get excited about

Unfair banking practices rapped in World Bank report

A World Bank retail banking study of transactional and fixed deposits has found shortcomings in the way South African banks treat their customers.

Motorists won’t share Sasol’s pain

Solidarity says its go-slow will cost the company millions without jeopardising essential fuel supplies

Austerity is an assault on the poor

Hyper-cartels now determine the global market, feeding the few and starving the many

Investment barriers are problem No 1

Foreign direct investment (FDI), which generally refers to an investment by a firm or an individual in a business in another country, is vital for economic growth.

COMMENT & ANALYSIS:

The migrant and the enemy within

We need to forge an embracing social awareness to counter South Africa’s inherent chauvinism

EDITORIAL: From the embers of fire, stoke hope

It is the likes of emergency services —the firemen and the paramedics —who bear the brunt for shortfalls in the public purse

EDITORIAL: Let Chagossians speak

The fate of the Chagos Islanders should only be determined by the Chagos Islanders themselves

Letters to the editor: September 7 to 13

Our readers write in about the Community Schemes Ombud Service, food fraud, and about abandoning the M&G

This was better with the sound off

The apparently empathy-deficient Markus Jooste just doesn’t get it

SA’s political parties are a useless bunch

The blind pursuit of power has left citizens to make their own way

Brazil smoulders in time of uncertainty

But the man who could pull it back from the brink, Lula da Silva, can’t run in the presidential elections

Privileged people don’t need politics

It is the poor people of Zimbabwe who cannot escape into well-lined fortresses or go abroad

Gender-sensitive budgets can help end inequality

The government is committed to eliminating gender inequality through various policy and legislative interventions.

Misleading myth of truth commissions

Other African countries should not be so quick to blindly copy South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission model

Scapegoat for a desperate community

Rowan du Preez was an albino and petty criminal who lived in Mfuleni on the Cape Flats. In 2012, he was kidnapped and necklaced, dying later in hospital.

Violence begets violence

A rape survivor endures a long, bitter struggle to overcome the hate of what he aches to be

FIFTH COLUMN: Me, myself and my DVD Nazi

“I joined a new DVD store. They’re called VideoRite, they claim to be “your link to the stars” and they only rent out DVDs.”

Literacy and skills are the power for good

Lifelong learning should now be the goal of all, and it comes down to two essential ingredients

Sexual violation: Education institutions need a law of their own

The prevalence of sexual violations on South Africa’s campuses raises questions about how universities deal with sexual violation cases.

He had to drop out, but now he’s a brand

Sibu Mpanza started talking to his camera and his down-to-earth style brought success

FRIDAY:

Where and from whom do we come?

An old lady was released last weekend. Her name was spoken in the house she built more than 100 years ago.

On our Lists this week: Ali Wong, Al Massrien, and Doja Cat

In between working on Friday copy, this is what the team reads, listens to and watches

The Weekend Guide

For good vibes and an arts fix, don’t miss this

History re-dressed by Africa

British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare puts his wax-print stamp on our colonial past to imagine a brighter future

Pulane Kingston, a patron of Africa’s art

Despite its emphasis on progressiveness, the art world can be a closed bubble.

The art of naming things that already have names

A vast collaborative project staged over three cities confronts the colonisation of plants

In praise of cultural exchange

Pro Helvetia is giving artists a chance to participate in shaping the organisation’s role

The sour pleasure of the art industry

Black artists and curators are on the rise but the art world is still owned and governed by white people

Gunn-Salie sculpts the presence of the past

Seventeen figures crouch, headless and handless. There’s singing. Sounds of gunshots usher in expressions of mourning and memory.

The healing he(art) of women

Using their creativity, two artists help society understand the complex experience of womanhood

SPORT:

It’s do or die for Bafana coach Baxter

The nation’s patience is wearing thin and, with Afcon prospects beckoning, expectations are high

Young talent heads back home — unlike their elders

Mamelodi Sundowns supporters greeted the news of Phakamani Mahlambi’s move to the club with joy

Uefa Nations League seeks relevance

The Europeans have worked hard to create a new format that won’t bore fans to death

Pogba will always be welcome at Barça, says Suarez

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez believes Paul Pogba should be fighting for more trophies than he is at Manchester United and that he would always be welcome at Barcelona.

Banyana ace in the land down under

The footballer is one of two local players to be snapped up by a professional league in Australia

Nike selects NFL ‘pariah’ Kaepernick to ‘just do it’

What began as a quiet protest against police brutality and racial inequality catapulted Colin Kaepernick to the forefront of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

 

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