South Africa’s Jewish community joined in the worldwide commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camps in a ceremony at a Johannesburg synagogue on Thursday. Rabbi Yossy Goldman thanked the Allies and the Russian army in particular for freeing Europe’s Jews from the Nazis.

The government plans to use microchipping and special enforcement agents to stamp out ”canned” lion hunting — but there are concerns about the ability of provincial officials to curtail this industry. If regulations published on Friday become law, all large predators kept in captivity will have to be microchipped and recorded in a database.

Mpumalanga’s Economic Empowerment Corporation (Meec) this week backtracked on a public pledge by suppressing a damning forensic report on fraud and corruption at the corporation. Meec chief executive Ernest Khosa, who is being probed in connection with a series of irregular multimillion- rand loans, instead ”questioned” board directors on aspects of the report’s findings.

Persistent interference by the SABC’s politically mandated board in decisions ranging from programming to branding and technology purchases is threatening the broadcaster’s hard-won financial stability, according to current and former executives. Channel bosses are under intense pressure to run more current affairs and African content during prime time.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is suffering a haemorrhage of senior staff — including its gung-ho public face, spokesperson Sipho Ngwema, and Travelgate prosecutor Ben Avenant. Ngwema and Avenant are among a rash of senior NPA members who have resigned in the past three months, or plan to do so soon.

White snow and black iron, white birches and black stone, white hair and black hats of the last witnesses: Auschwitz on Thursday was a monochrome tableau drained of colour except for the brown brick of the barracks where hundreds of thousands waited to be murdered.