”As I got the third call at 1.13am confirming Lucky Dube’s death, I could not go back to sleep but started reminiscing about the times we had spent together when I was still his keyboard player.” Eugene Mthethwa, who performed with Dube for many years, reminisces about South Africa’s late reggae legend.

International oil prices galloping towards a barrel could force another petrol price increase next month and South Africans may also need to brace themselves for a further hike in interest rates, just in time for Christmas. A strengthening rand may, however, be just the white knight consumers need.

The IFP has an ambitious strategy to root out warlords still associated with the party in northern Zululand. At the end of its annual general meeting in Ulundi, the party said it would expel warlords who continued to set up “no-go areas and other hindrances against other party leaders” during electioneering.

Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and his deputy managing editor, Jocelyn Maker, can sleep soundly until next week, at least, without the threat of arrest. The public prosecutor has not yet made up his mind whether the case of theft against them should go to court. Until he does, they will not be arrested.

ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma’s campaign to become the country’s next president has been given a major boost. A survey of South Africa’s largest black township suggests he enjoys overwhelming support from ordinary South Africans, who want him to be their future leader. The survey, of 2 400 residents of Soweto, was conducted by the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Sociology Research.

ANC MPs on Thursday rallied around embattled Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to protect her from the ”unfair treatment” that she has received at the hands of opposition parties and her other detractors. A motion, tabled in Parliament on Thursday afternoon, was shot down by the ANC because it was bent on “damaging her integrity and injuring her dignity”.

Communities claiming a large slice of the northern Kruger National Park (KNP) want full title to their land without any developmental restrictions. The land would remain part of the world-renowned wildlife reserve, says the Limpopo Land Claims Commission. Negotiations over this proposed settlement of the second-largest land claim in the Kruger could set a precedent for claims by communities dispossessed during apartheid.

Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla has told the Ginwala Commission that suspended National Prosecuting Authority boss Vusi Pikoli’s submission to the Khampepe Commission was behind the ”irretrievable breakdown” in their relationship. The Mail & Guardian has learned that this was the reason put forward by Mabandla’s legal team.

The world’s best hope for a malaria vaccine is still on track, with news this week that the RTS,S/AS02D vaccine appeared to cut severe disease by 58% among young Mozambican children. The researchers also reported that new infections of malaria among the one- to four-year-olds vaccinated appeared to be reduced by 65% — but warned that this figure should be treated with caution.

Human ancestors used make-up and enjoyed shellfish dinners much earlier than previously thought, according to scientists. The discovery, made by analysing fossilised remains of an ancient beach community in the Western Cape, shows that key elements of modern human behaviour were in place more than 165 000 years ago.