/ 5 November 2018

Unembargoed: November 2 to 8

All the articles in the M&G are free to read
All the articles in the M&G are free to read

Dodgy diesel: Shell to quit PetroSA

The desperate state oil company’s ill-conceived bid to refine crude at its gas-to-liquid plant might be the last nail in its coffin

‘Are black teachers real teachers?’

Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School dismissed Nozipho Mthembu – but it won’t say why

‘Down and out’ Bongo to sue Parliament for defamation

Former State Security Agency minister Bongani Bongo wants to take the speaker of Parliament to court over allegations that he attempted to bribe the evidence leader in the parliamentary inquiry into state capture of state-owned entities last year.

Slice of life: Now I have two birthdays

‘We neglect our health. I didn’t take the doctor seriously. Until I collapsed’

Catch Jo’burg Pride before it falls

The founders of the annual march are disillusioned with its commercial flavour

We’re dissolving the ocean floor

Carbon dioxide is changing the sea bed and the damage humans will do has not yet been seen

Roelf Meyer tramps on Sisulu’s toes

The minister has taken issue with a meeting of DRC leaders that excluded the ruling party

Electoral commission stalls Numsa’s political bid

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) wants to know why the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has rejected its efforts to register a workers’ party, despite the union’s belief that it has followed all the relevant procedures.

Peaceful protesters ‘pleaded guilty to get out of jail’

A group of women from Colenso’s Inkanyezi township were held in ­custody without bail for more than two months after a peaceful service delivery protest.

Unsolved KZN hits spread fear

Suspicion in eThekwini is rife and the police appear to be no closer to apprehending those responsible for the deaths

Growthpoint BEE scheme drags on

Two businessmen are locked in a battle over shares in a major deal that goes back to 2005

Fate of wild places in five countries’ hands

More than 70% of Earth’s last untouched wilderness lies in the territories of just five countries, most of which have alarmed environmentalists with their lukewarm response to climate change.

World’s children bear the brunt of toxic air

They are more vulnerable than adults and the effect for their wellbeing is life-long

Caught at last, a brazen Jo’burg con artist must face the music

For years it seemed to all those people caught in Tracy Morrison’s intricate webs of deceit that she would never be called to account

Warm world: Floods are the future

New research says a warmer climate and more storms will lead to more flooding and damage

Farmer tenants demand services from municipalities

A high court action by two farm tenants in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands to force municipalities to provide them with water and sanitation is likely to benefit more than 42 000 people in the Umgungundlovu district municipality alone.

Call to decolonise water laws

An international organisation says small-scale farmers are compromised because of red tape and costs

HEALTH:

How SA is saving its newborns

Nurses and doctors are hitting the books to save infants’ lives – and it’s working

Sachets quench Ghana’s thirst

In a country where the pipes can stop short or reaching homes, cheap sachets of water sold on the street could be the unlikely solution filling the gap, but is there a hidden cost?

AFRICA:

382 900: South Sudan and the science of measuring the dead

The death toll from South Sudan’s civil war is nearly eight times higher than previously thought

Fresh crisis in the Comoros

The arrest of a top opposition leader has plunged the Indian Ocean islands into chaos once again

Africa’s decade of ‘lost opportunity’

The 2018 Mo Ibrahim African governance index was released this week. It’s not good news

BUSINESS:

Fed rebalancing rocks markets

Rout in equities and uncertainty over valuations sees money flowing into the safety of US bonds

Beware, the everything bubble

Think back not too many years and it seems we have floated from bubble to bubble, cases of out-of-whack prices being recorded in eras such as dotcom, subprime and crypto.

VBS needs to be wound-up ‘urgently’

The Reserve Bank is second in line to apply for liquidation and there is concern this could cause a delay.

Eskom tariff hikes will deepen pain

The increases it wants will drive down sales and no one is buying into the parastatal’s claims that it can counter this

Latin America is spawning tech ‘unicorns’

Nubank is the online bank with the greatest number of clients outside of Asia. Fellow Brazilian startup 99 is a platform that connects 300 000 taxi drivers and chauffeurs to provide a competitive service in which passengers pay less while drivers earn more.

Why is democracy faltering?

Economic inequality is fuelling a growing sense of tribalism, which populist politicians exploit — just take a look at Team Trump

COMMENT & ANALYSIS:

News media needs to save face

Its credibility is at stake and an open, all-encompassing approach needs to be taken

Editorial: Diversity should be DA’s strength

The past 18 months have been gruelling for the country’s official opposition

Editorial: If we don’t fix it, IMF may

We should fully expect that the IMF’s main focus would be our costly civil service and bloated, indebted and dysfunctional state-owned enterprises.

Letters to the editor: November 2 to 8

Our readers write in about the Democratic Alliance, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and Israel

Check, my mate was right

The smart lawyer’s money was on Zuma screwing the system – and Gigaba, well, himself

South Africa’s not that different from Brazil

South Africans could embrace an authoritarian state if the government fails to address current social and economic issues

Domestic abuse isn’t only by men

Women also abuse men, siblings abuse siblings, parents abuse children and it’s all bad

FIFTH COLUMN: A clever plan for silly season

“ We are moving into silly season with Movember (mens’ very own costume party: “Look, I’m Tom Selleck”) starting the countdown to Christmas and then, of course, the great crescendo: New Year.”

Transformation began 50 years ago

The first bid to place Africa at the heart of literary studies took place in Kenya

FRIDAY:

What we are hinges on respect

Modes of inhlonipho (respect) are the ways in which “ways of being” are promoted, implemented and preserved.

The Weekend Guide

There; Not There by Karen Cronje, Chilahaebolae and In These Waters.

On our lists

Harambe, Tswaka, Jabba and all the hits by HHP; When It Falls by Zero 7; and Edward’s Menagerie

Art and the heirs of redness

Buhlebezwe Siwani’s latest exhibition grew out of a trek and conversations with several women

Dickies fanatics get their own store

There’s always that one uncle in black families. The malume who sports a gold chain, uses a pair of balled-up stockings to shine his two-tone Brentwood shoes and only speaks tsotsitaal.

Gayle, the language of laughter – and of safety

Gaseroen Samuels laughs as he recalls the years of fun he had in Cape Town’s District Six with his large, all-queer posse.

Magugu fashions a new look for Sunday bests

The fashion designer’s latest collection of the conservative conceals as it reveals

African Mobilities and the African City

The concept of megacities comes out of a colonial and global taxonomy of cities of the world.

Dangarembga builds on her two earlier books

Those who have read Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not, prequels to This Mournable Body, will remember Tambudzai, protagonist and narrator.

Tune in to the wails of Maskandi

The genre grew out of Southern Africa’s past and reflects our present and our desired future

Search for ‘good food’ is karma

Just as preparing and eating food binds us, so do visits to markets with fresh, unpackaged products

SPORTS:

Does Solinas have balls to reinvent?

Solinas must ensure Chiefs produce results consistently, injuries notwithstanding

Saudi money writes scripts

A 10-year strategic partnership is an acid test for how far down a pseudo sport will bow to Saudi money

Acid test for Springbok women

The tour abroad will test whether the bid to develop women’s rugby since the disastrous 2014 World Cup has paid off

 

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