It is somehow difficult to understand how such an unassuming guy, in black jeans and T-shirt, could have caused such a fuss when he announced that he was quitting his job. But then again, we are talking about John Perlman, who has made a living and a reputation by allowing people to fuss and argue about things in public.

Mbhazima Shilowa, the Gauteng Premier, is not exactly John Lennon, but like the famous former Beatle, Shilowa would also like us to ”imagine” a better world, specifically, a better Gauteng. Shilowa delivered his budget speech this week, in which he set out his government’s intention for the coming year.

The Gender Commission is hamstrung by internal strife and has dropped off the public’s radar, according to a damning report by the Civil Society Advocacy programme, funded by the European Union. The report — part of a review of Chapter 9 institutions — paints the gender watchdog body as long on talk but short on delivery.

President Thabo Mbeki recently warned that the government’s R7,7billion taxi recapitalisation plan will not be held to ransom by the taxi industry. However, the National Taxi Alliance (NTA), a major player in the industry, remains vehemently opposed to the idea.

Prez Bez speaks to the Mail & Guardian‘s Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya about present and future presidents, umshinis, beetroots and, of course, koeksisters and which faction she would support if she could.

A faulty perception persists among black people that environmental issues are, at best, a matter for bored white liberals who have too much time at their disposal. At worst, the same whites are seen as bitter because employment equity and BEE now allows insolent darkies to drive around in large, gas-guzzling 4x4s, when the apartheid superstructure was hell-bent on keeping them poor.

The media is not the public. The public knows a media-lynching when it sees one. This little local noise demonstrates the dying power of an old establishment. It used to win quiet victories, but now finds it must raise its voice and then it still fail, says Ronald Suresh Roberts in an interview with the Mail & Gurdian‘s Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya.