Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Christina Pitt

Creator

Christina Pitt

Because vapes don’t produce smoke from burning tobacco, they’re often punted as less harmful than smoking and seen as a popular way to help people quit. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Will South Africa’s new vaping laws lead to more smokers?

Research shows that e-cigarette rules could lead to a spike in traditional smoking

Cheaper, untaxed cigarettes are disproportionately used by lower-income smokers, people with less formal education and heavier smokers — groups more vulnerable to both economic strain and health risks.

Big Tobacco tries to stop SA’s anti-smoking Bill from becoming law

The Bill says the same rules should apply to vaping and traditional cigarettes and that both should be sold in plain packaging and banned in all public spaces

Novo Nordisk’s decision to stop supplying insulin pens to the South African government has drawn criticism across the health sector. Should SA force them and other licence holders to let different manufacturers make insulin pens too? (Canva)

Should SA force big drug makers to let others make insulin pens too?

The pens are running out in public hospitals because of Novo Nordisk’s decision to stop supplying it to the health department

People queueing outside of Ngcobo Community Health Centre in Masonwabe township. The clinic has been without running water for 10 years. (Delwyn Verasamy)

Will the new Eastern Cape govt give people of Ngcobo back their 24/7 health centre?

After 2022, the Ngcobo Community Health Centre in the rural Eastern Cape ceased operating 24 hours every day because spiralling crime and dry taps made it impossible for workers…

South Africa promised to make laws that will clamp down on advertising of tobacco products to stop people from picking up smoking. Now the tobacco industry has new tactics to get around ad bans. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Does South Africa’s new tobacco bill have enough teeth to thwart F1 sprints on TV?

Tobacco ads have been banned in many countries for years, but Big Tobacco is finding ways to get around the rules — like partnering with Formula 1 to punt their new products to a…

The demand for donor organs far outstrips the supply because data is not shared, not all hospitals are equipped to do transplants and the National Health Act is inadequate. Photo: Burger/Phanie /AFP

South Africa needs better policies to deal with the organ donation crisis

The demand for donor organs far outstrips the supply because data is not shared, not all hospitals are equipped to do transplants and the National Health Act is inadequate

A question of life or death: Could a baby’s organ save an adult life? (Envato Elements)

If your dying baby’s organs could save an adult’s life, would you donate them?

It’s a tough decision — and one few grieving parents are willing to make

divorce

Caught in the middle: When divorced parents use children as pawns

Fathers’ rights groups claim men lose contact with their children because women brainwash their children against them

Pit latrine toilets at a school.

Why Limpopo’s schools still have pit toilets

Nine years after grade R learner Michael Komape drowned in a pit toilet, 2 334 schools in the province still have these structures on their premises

During high-conflict divorces children are often caught in the middle, being used as a pawn by one parent to hurt the other. (Envato Elements)

Taking sides: Parents behaving badly by ‘brainwashing’ their children

Moms and dads embroiled in custody disputes can turn on each other — and use their kids as pawns. But claims of parental alienation are controversial and difficult to prove

Tobacco farmers sort leaves of similar standard, to be sent to the Limpopo Tobacco Processors plant, where a price will be set. (Delwyn Verasamy)

The farmers British American Tobacco left behind

BATSA has supported black tobacco farmers since 2011. So why are small-scale farmers in Limpopo upset with the tobacco industry?

Anyone can be accused of witchery, but older women in South Africa’s rural areas are the most common victims. (Delwyn Verasamy)

Perils of missing teeth and wrinkles: Will a new law curb witch hunts?

In some rural communities of South Africa, physical signs of ageing such as wrinkled skin and yellowing eyes are taken to mean that person is a witch

A bust of illegal cigarettes. (Photo: TimesLIVE)

What’s behind the Big Tobacco job cuts? A guide to SA’s illegal trade after Covid

British American Tobacco says 200 workers will be out of a job soon but public health researchers argue they’re using misleading figures to back retrenchments

The Special Investigating Unit has a year to track down lawyers and patients who file fake medical negligence claims

The plan to stop SA’s fake medical negligence claims

The Special Investigating Unit has a year to track down lawyers and patients who file fake medical negligence claims

Protesting Bo-Kaap residents claim small victory as crane leaves, charges dropped

A handful of elderly people waited peacefully for hours for the removal of the crane — a far cry from the violent events that took place on Tuesday

“The relaxation of restrictions is a moderate proposal that is based on hydrological risk assessment that indicates that it is safe to do so at the level of risk that is agreed upon,” says Ian Neilson. (David Harrison/M&G)

City of Cape Town relaxes water restrictions

​The City of Cape Town has made the move to relax current water restrictions from Level 6B to Level 5 from October 1

?The SABC 8 is a group of journalists who were suspended in 2016 for speaking out about censorship at the public broadcaster. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)

ANC rejects Sunday Times allegations

The ruling party has rejected the newspaper’s allegations of secret meeting plans to oust President Cyril Ramaphosa

Errol Velile Present

ANC ‘heist man’ to apply for bail

Errol Velile Present was one of four people arrested during a heist in Dobsonville, Soweto, earlier this month

Nomgcobo Jiba (above) and Lawrence Mrwebi were fired by the president following an inquiry outcome. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)

Jiba visited NPA offices but not in contempt of court — state attorney

Nomgcobo Jiba was at the NPA offices in Pretoria while on special leave, but has provided specific reasons for the visits

The JSC in 2021 affirmed a finding by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal that Hlophe had committed gross misconduct by raising a pending ruling relating to former president and now MK party leader Jacob Zuma’s arms deal corruption case with two constitutional court justices. File photo

Hlophe to appear before Judicial Conduct Tribunal

​The Judge President of the Western Cape High Court will face a Judicial Conduct Tribunal for allegedly attempting to influence ConCourt judges