Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Clicks

latest news & developments
Thanks to the Madlanga Commission and the parliamentary ad hoc committee on the allegations made by the KZN Commissioner we now see that not all that glitters is gold.
ALIYAH

Year-end blues of hits and misses

A reflection on hope, rejection, and resilience in a tough 2025—reminding us that even without the call, the dream isn’t cancelled, just delayed

  • Sphesihle Zungu
3 min read
Lee Callakoppen, principal officer of Bonitas Medical Fund.
ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

A healthcare world that is alive and well

Professional help is becoming easier to access – starting with your local pharmacy

  • Rebecca Haynes
12 min read
AUSTELL

Pharmaceutical giant stops Clicks selling cheaper blood thinner

Bayer approached the Court of Commissioner of Patents in Gauteng last year to stop Clicks from selling the tablets

  • Tania Broughton
4 min read
Protest: Julius Malema at a picket against Clicks in 2020 protesting an advert describing black women’s hair as ‘dull’ versus ‘normal’ white hair. Black women in the industry say while they are being courted as a market they are often not in control of how they are portrayed. (Phill Magakoe/AFP)
ADVERTISING

Black women get raw deal in adverts

They are seen as drivers of consumerism, but sidelined in the industry that uses their images to sell products

  • Sarah Smit
  • Anathi Madubela
9 min read
Back foot: After his expulsion from the ANC, Julius Malema went to Gold Fields’ mine near Carletonville to campaign for the nationalisation of mines. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANC YOUTH LEAGUE

Without the ANC, Malema is a ‘destroyer of confidence’ no more

As the ANC’s Youth League leader, Julius Malema spooked investors a decade ago by popularising calls to nationalise the mines

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Rioters loot the Jabulani Mall in Soweto on July 12, 2021. – South Africa’s army said Monday it was deploying troops to two provinces, including its economic hub of Johannesburg, to help police tackle deadly violence and looting as unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma entered its fourth day. (Photo by Luca SOLA / AFP)
ZUMAUNREST

Businesses reel as #ZumaUnrest rages

Shop owners and businesses are being forced to close as violence spreads

  • Luke Feltham
2 min read
Pressure: The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration is under budgetary constraints, the workload has mushroomed and CCMA director Cameron Morajane warns of political parties setting up labour desks. (Alaister Russell/Gallo Images/Sunday Times)
CAMERON MORAJANE

Politics interfering in CCMA work

The labour dispute resolution body says there is a growing trend of political parties and civil society organisations representing workers at hearings

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
AUB DRIVER

Streaming killed the Musica star

The rise of music platforms such as Spotify spelled the end for the last music chain store standing, but music enthusiasts say vinyl isn’t dead yet

  • Tshegofatso Mathe
5 min read
‘It all depends’: Reviv CEO Sayed Mia says some doctors call IV drip treatments “expensive pee”, but he argues it’s a great source of vitamins if your diet is poor. Photo: James Puttick
ASSOCIATION FOR DIETETICS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Vitamin therapy is for drips

It may be marketed by influencers, but intravenous vitamin therapy is not necessary and probably not worth the hype, experts say

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
In a country that may never recover from the deep scars of apartheid, and also, where marketing businesses should stay clear from unforeseen storms, it’s bemusing to see messaging of the Clicks type.
ADVERT

South Africa’s advertising industry has a long way to go

White-owned advertising agencies need to change, but fundamentally, projects aimed at black people need to be given to agencies that are black-owned or have at least demonstrated…

  • John Akinribido
4 min read
CLICKS

Clicks-bait: EFF MP’s new parole probe

Kenny Motsamai, a parolee who is also an EFF MP, could be sent back to jail if correctional services finds he violated his parole conditions

  • Lester Kiewit
3 min read
We will never survive as a nation or as humans if we put up racial barriers to isolate ourselves from one another, economically, socially and politically.
BLACKS

Whites should stop poking the lion

Dismissing black people’s pain is dehumanising

  • Kyle Raman
2 min read
TRESemmé’s parent company, Unilever, sells a range of skin-lightening creams and has a history of marketing them in an aggressive manner. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)
CLICKS

What’s wrong with the TRESemmé advert?

Is ‘fine and flat’ a compliment or an insult? Depends who you ask…

  • Terence Grant
3 min read
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema (C) addresses his supporters during a picket outside Clicks Store, a retail-led food and healthcare group which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), at the Mall of the North in Polokwane, on September 7, 2020. (Photo by Phill Magakoe/AFP)
CLICKS

McKaiser needs to challenge his inner racist too

COMMENT: Clicks – or some of its employees – demonstrated culpa, not dolus

  • Glen Heneck
5 min read
Heads up: Consumer boycotts, such as the Economic Freedom Fighters’ protests outside Clicks stores this week, are as powerful a weapon as they were in the 1980s, and can become as violent. (Photo: Luca Sola/AFP)
BOYCOTT

Paddy Harper: Anti-racism is the mane thing

What we want: Ramaphosa to cough up a hairball, racists in hair shirts and consumer boycotts that don’t turn hairy

  • Paddy Harper
5 min read