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Bill Gates with farmer Mary in Kenya. (Photo by Gates Notes)

Bill Gates plays God in Africa’s agriculture and gets it wrong

Agra’s drive for a ‘green revolution’ has reduced crop diversity, created a dependency on commercial seeds and fertiliser and increased vulnerability to drought

Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, US. Twitter  said it ended a policy designed to suppress false or misleading information about Covid-19, part of Elon Musk’s polarising mission to remake the social network as a place for unmoderated speech.  (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Prominent Twitter users ticked off over $8 fee lose verification

Well-known South Africans, including Trevor Noah, Siya Kolisi and John Steenhuisen, have lost their check mark as Elon Musk pushes for Twitter Blue

TOPSHOT – Nono, an elderly maize farmer, inspects maize which has been hung out to dry in Qunu on June 28, 2013. Qunu is where former South African President Nelson Mandela grew up. Mandela, who turns 95 next month, was rushed to hospital three weeks ago with a recurrent lung disease. AFP PHOTO/Carl de Souza […]

Study: Bill Gates promoted fertilisers are more damaging than previously thought

No to ‘climate-stupid’ agriculture

The G20, and countries like South Africa, must work out practical safeguards, framed by ethical responsibility and democratic values to regulate AI. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP

How to game Twitter’s algorithm – and hoodwink journalists

It is possible to convince newsrooms looking for a topical story that something is news when it isn’t, to dangerous effect

Whisky weather: The silence about what happened to the bottle of 50-year-old Glenfiddich looted from Makro in July is baffling.

Local government elections: The freaks come out to play

Local government is about cutting the grass and filling potholes, not about the death penalty and prayer in schools

Henry J Ford thought that the everyday American should be able to afford to drive a car, so he built one..  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What it takes to become a great leader

The purpose of business is to make money – but good leaders are more than bean counters

(Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Sanitising in the time of the pandemic can be a dirty business

It’s not only Big Pharma that uses people’s fears and illness to boost profits. A company’s billboard on the M5 near Cape Town is doing the same

Superhero or supervillian? That’s the wrong question, writes Phillip Machanick. The right question is: How it is that philanthropist Bill Gates can
have so much influence over world health? Photo: Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket/Getty Images

No vaccine superheroes or supervillains: Fix the system

Is Gates a superhero or a supervillain? That’s the wrong question. The right question is: How it is that one person can have so much influence over world health?

A vendor inspects fresh produce on a stall at a fruit market as day breaks in the Lugbe district of Abuja, Nigeria. (KC Nwakalor/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The cost of Covid: 25 years of progress, halted

Development has been set back by two decades, says the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers report

This time seems different: A Black Lives Matter mural on a street in Brooklyn, New York, during protests against racism after the killing of George Floyd. (Photo: AFP)

Beware of Big Business bearing gifts

Large corporates whose business has thrived because of inequalities, could be hijacking the anti-racist movement by offering money and not tangible changes

Crises, the kind that threaten our physical and psychological well-being, force us to stop. This unsolicited detour allows for a moment to pause. Psychologists speak of this time as reflection. (Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

What relationship therapy can teach us about our connection to the world

Handling a global crisis is not that different from dealing with partnership break-downs

ANC deputy president David Mabuza. (Sumaya Hisham/Reuters)

Blessed peace under lockdown

I’ve silenced the Bible Thumper and dumped social media drivel but physical distancing, an art the deputy prez has mastered, is tricky

Hands on: South Africans have been told to prioritise hygiene, such as using soap and sanitisers (above) to wash their hands. There is concern, however, about infections spreading in densely populated, impoverished areas where access to water is limited and healthcare facilities are already strained. (Guillem Sartorio/AFP)

To fight Covid-19 in Africa, we must fight inequality

Our global health is only as strong as our most vulnerable community. The coronavirus pandemic can be defeated — but only if we leave no one behind

(John McCann/M&G)

Jack Ma v. Bill Gates: Does Africa need another benevolent billionaire?

The latest member of the benevolent billionaires club could learn from what his peers have done right — and wrong

With most corporates effectively having their staff work remotely, educators will need to match and exceed this if they are to do more than just survive

Building your own business

We need to become perpetual students, and the range of training offerings just keeps increasing

(Graphic by John McCann)

Eish, robot: The road to mecha

Lately our worst AI dreams have entered a realm much closer to home

Allen had left Microsoft by 1983 for health reasons but held on to shares that made up the bulk of his fortune, estimated at some $20-billion. (Steve Mack/Getty Images)

Microsoft co-founder, investor, philanthropist Paul Allen dead at 65

Allen died just two weeks after publicly revealing that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma he fought into remission nine years ago had returned

Ma, who gave up the title of CEO in 2013, said he now planned to devote his time and fortune to education. (Lai Seng Sin/Reuters)

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma announces plans to retire at 54

Alibaba’s co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to devote his time to philanthropy

Clear mandate: Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus

Tedros aims to turn the WHO around

Good things are being said about the World Health Organisation since Ethiopia’s man came on board

‘Women’s empowerment is multifaceted and cannot be separated from political mobilisation

Figureheads won’t help women

It takes political mobilisation, education, laws and economic opportunities