Long Read | SA must fix its ‘dop system’
The Covid-19 lockdown has exposed the effects of South Africa’s weak alcohol regulations. Government and health campaigners want tougher policies, but the liquor giants are pushing back.
Breathless between Covid-19 and pollution
Residents in South Durban fear they will more easily succumb to the virus because of being chronically exposed to deadly fumes emitted by the surrounding oil and gas refineries.
Budget reallocation puts the lie to ANC’s pro-poor claims
The government’s recent budget cuts have shown that it prioritises the punted nuclear build over connecting thousands of residents in impoverished communities to the electricity grid.
Comrades glory a sure bet for Nkosikhona Mhlakwana
The 27-year-old runner may have finished only one Ultimate Human Race, and in agonising circumstances, but everything points to a brilliant ultramarathon career in the making.
Mncedisi Shabangu, theatre’s all-round master
The multi-award-winning actor cannot wait to perform in the William Kentridge epic The Head & The Load , but meanwhile the multidimensional artist continues to awe while honing his craft on television.
Editor's Pick
Long Read | SA lockdown failed on multiple fronts
Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa’s government deployed a severe lockdown and a flawed economic response. Both have cost too many lives and livelihoods.
Part Two | The 1918 flu pandemic that made cities
The so-called Spanish Flu that marched across South Africa a century ago influenced the way our cities are laid out today. What can we learn from that earlier outbreak?
Workers pay for Sun International’s failed gamble
After a 96% loss in revenue following the pandemic, the hotel chain is retrenching workers in South Africa and Chile. But is Covid-19 being used as an excuse after bad investments?
Lumumba’s remains return home to find rest at last
Sixty years after independent Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered and dissolved in acid, his teeth, kept as a trophy in Belgium, will be returned to Africa.
eSwatini: A brief tale of two laws
An act passed to recover the proceeds of organised crime may now be used by eSwatini’s authorities to score points for a cannabis law that many think will benefit a powerful few.
Coronavirus shows the inequality among nations
At a meeting of the World Trade Organization, developed countries strongly resisted South Africa’s plea for the global sharing of Covid-19 drug patents and designs.
Podcasts
S3 Episode 2: Goodbye, George Bizos | Urban land
Two of George Bizos’ colleagues pay tribute to the South African human rights lawyer. The high court has forced Cape Town to address apartheid inequality. What are the implications?
Mixtape 21: The games people play
For this mixtape, selector Charles Leonard has picked some fine tunes about mind games as well as some songs about sport.
S3 Episode 1: Rise of the Left in SA | Rugby and BLM
Cosatu has rediscovered its soul, but how is this likely to affect South Africa’s political landscape? And an Afrikaans dominee urges white rugby players to “take the knee” and support Black Lives Matter.
COVID-19
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News
Covid-19 Roundup | Level one
South Africans will be allowed to socialise and travel outside the country’s borders as lockdown restrictions are lifted. Meanwhile, undertakers protest and a vaccine trial resumes.
How South African prisons are managing Covid-19
The pandemic has amplified the problem of overcrowding in prisons and while the number of infections are said to be on the decline, inmates continue to fear for their lives.
Generations of farm dwellers face eviction
Residents of a farm in Mpumalanga say they endure unbearable working conditions and routine abuse from the farmer, despite having lived on the land for decades.
Covid-19 Roundup | Food and water shortages
An effective vaccine for Covid-19 may soon be available. But wealthy countries are already swooping in and pre-ordering in bulk. Meanwhile, the impoverished continue to suffer.
Women’s rights trampled on in the Eastern Cape
A retail manager has been suspended for forcing four employees to physically reveal their menstrual status and Peddie residents protest against a ward councillor demanding sex for a work contract.
Warao migrants receive a cool reception in Brazil
This first of a three-part series shows that while the Venezuelans’ host country has a social assistance plan, it is ineffective and does not address institutional racism.
Nateniel will dance no more
Those who knew Nateniel Julies say he was a jolly child, always ready with a greeting and a smile. At the drop of a beat, he would dance. A police bullet pierced through him and ended all that he was.
The judge who kept unlicensed guns on our streets
Two years ago, the Constitutional Court confirmed that firearm ownership is a legislated privilege, not a right. But a high court judge stepped in to protect criminal gun owners.
Covid-19 Roundup | Looted funds and wage disputes
While the auditor general uncovered which Covid-19 funds were misused, artists shut down the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal, calling for the reopening of the entertainment industry.
Features
Ray Mutemeri, the guy behind the fly
Fly tying is a lesser-known Zimbabwean export, with tiers producing quality fishing flies in South Africa that are used by international anglers to target trophy fish.
Part one | The 1918 flu pandemic to remember
A century ago, so-called Spanish Flu was beginning a menacing march across South Africa. As we continue to endure the airborne coronavirus pandemic, what can we learn from the last one?
‘We want our people and culture to be respected’
This final instalment in a three-part series on Warao migrants in Brazil looks at why many families leave public shelters and try to make it on their own, difficult as it may be.
From the Archive | Strange Pilgrimages
As a novelist and poet, Achmat Dangor, who died earlier this month, captured the complexities of race, writing and activism during and after apartheid.
New Books | Femicide in South Africa
Whenever femicide crops up in the news cycle, people argue that women should protect themselves with guns. Nechama Brodie shows how research proves this to be a very bad idea.
Culture
Puleng Mongale draws on home to fill the hollow
The Joburg-based artist explores feelings of displacement and hollowness through digital collages that incorporate images of home and those who have come before.
New Horizons is an ode to fresh sounds
The first of its kind to be released on vinyl, the 12-track double LP compilation features contemporary jazz artists from South Africa, securing an international distribution deal to ensure the further reach of the music.
SA musicians march to demand government recognition
Protests around the country have raised the issue of bungled Covid-19 relief and the department favouring sports over the arts as the coronavirus lockdown continues to decimate livelihoods.
Album Review | Fall to Pieces
Grappling with the death of his daughter, English poet-producer Tricky’s new album is a gripping and devastating exploration of grief that speaks to a worldwide audience struggling with Covid-19.
Noir books depict East African cities
Two new short-story collections explore the darkness, disorder and chaos of Nairobi and Addis Ababa, as writers attempt to portray the haunting underbelly of those vibrant cities.
Lauren Beukes on what comes after catastrophe
The South African writer’s timely new novel, Afterland, is not the story of a global pandemic. It’s about what happens afterwards.
Text Messages | The brevity of Orwell
George Orwell opposed hypocrisy in language, euphemism, abstractions and jargon, aiming to write concrete language that suggests accurate images to the reader.
Sport
What’s in a name when it comes to sports teams?
Quite a lot, it turns out, as teams and clubs around the world are being forced to reckon with the racist origins of their names, branding and imagery.
When South Africa regained its pan-Africanism
Heading into the 2010 Fifa World Cup quarterfinals, South Africa was a nation clawing at its lost pan-African footing. But BaGhana BaGhana crafted Mzansi’s moment of redemption.
Part two: Made in Africa
This second of a two-part series. This one tells the story of Didier Drogba, who, like Jay Jay Okocha and many other African players before him, walked a rocky road to the top.
The three pillars of Mamelodi Sundowns’ success
Sundowns’ assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi and captain Hlompho Kekana explain what’s behind the club’s resilience and why they never doubted that they would win the league.
Sports activism’s struggle with hypocrisy
Emboldened by social protests, athletes are speaking out about issues, even refusing to play. But their actions are often at odds with those of the brands and sports associations they represent.
Ndubuisi Egbo’s struggles and triumph in Albania
The Nigerian coach gave KF Tirana their first league title in a decade, moving the club from being a yo-yo team to returning where they belong. But not all of Albania has been kind to him.
Cecilia Molokwane had a tough trek to the top
The president of Netball South Africa has endured many challenges, both personal and professional, in her rise to becoming the sport’s most powerful person in the continent.
A policeman using football for change
Stellenbosch’s Sergeant Simphiwe Mgwetana formed Barca Juniors to give youngsters a positive platform to use their talent rather than resort to a life of crime because of a lack of sport resources.
Kick4life, more than a footballing club
The Lesotho outfit is set to become the first professional football club in the world to pay its women players the same as the men’s side next year. But that’s not the only thing they are doing.
Editorial and Analysis
Murder is a routine tool of social control
The scale at which grassroots activists, and participants in strikes and protests, have been murdered is a major threat to democracy, a threat which is seldom taken seriously in the elite public sphere.
Simplicity is key if SA is to harness technology
The so-called fourth industrial revolution is seen as a part solution to South Africa’s sluggish economy. But policy paralysis and a lack of stakeholder cooperation is crippling progress.
Morality vs moralising in SA
South Africa needs to come up with solutions to the country’s biggest issues, not express ‘horror’ and ‘outrage’ at every opportunity and at the expense of problem-solving.