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No more heckling: Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who has just stepped down as DA leader, says he leaves the party in better shape than he found it. Their duty now is to help build South Africa, not scream at other parties. Photo: Supplied
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

Leaving is never easy but look at us now

Not long ago, it was unthinkable that the leader of the DA would ever walk up the steps to the Union Buildings

  • John Steenhuisen
9 min read
Fomer minister of higher education Nobuhle Nkabane. (@Dr_NohbuleN/X)
ANC

DA renews call for Nkabane’s dismissal over Seta panel scandal

The party has accused the higher education minister of misleading parliament and violating the executive ethics code by fabricating the legitimacy of the selection process of…

  • Mandisa Makgakga
4 min read
President Cyril Ramaphosa
BOARD OF HEALTHCARE FUNDERS

Ramaphosa says decision to sign NHI Bill was politically sensitive

This rendered it immune to high court review, he argues in an application for leave to appeal an order to hand over the reasons for his decision

  • Emsie Ferreira
6 min read
Undermined: The Magog community wants to stop SA Lithium from causing further damage to food sources, livestock and houses in Umzumbe on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Photo: Supplied
AIR QUALITY ACT

‘Save our village from the mine’

A KwaZulu-Natal community wants parliament to intervene to force SA Lithium to abide by mining and environmental laws

  • Paddy Harper
7 min read
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANC

Ramaphosa, Steenhuisen: Policy conflict will not collapse government of national unity

The Democratic Alliance will not walk out of cabinet over the Bela Bill or National Health Insurance This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free…

  • Paddy Harper
  • Emsie Ferreira
1 min read
Graphic: John McCann
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Copyright Bill feeds into Big Tech’s agenda to grab creative content

The bill in its current form creates a safe haven in South Africa for machine learning

  • Keyan G Tomaselli
6 min read
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
ANC

Democratic Alliance wants 12 cabinet posts or no GNU deal

The opposition party has rejected the ANC’s offer of six ministerial positions in the government of national unity

  • Mandisa Makgakga
4 min read
Jeremy Acton, leader of the Dagga Party. (David Harrison/Gallo)
CANNABIS ACTIVISM

Activist calls on president not to sign ‘malicious’ Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill

Jeremy Acton says the bill violates the 2018 constitutional court privacy judgment

  • Paddy Harper
5 min read
When courts dismiss violence on the basis of occupation, the message is clear: sex workers’ lives matter less.
AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Sex work decriminalisation postponed

While some lobbyists have welcomed the delay, others believe it will have negative consequences

  • Eunice Masson
5 min read
Deputy President Paul Mashatile. Photo: (Morapedi Mashashe/Getty Images & Christopher)
DEBT

Mashatile: Government helps municipalities repay debt to Eskom

The deputy president told the National Council of Provinces that the municipal debt relief would be conditional and application-based

  • Anathi Madubela
2 min read
Water treatment plants, along with hospitals, harbours, railways and other critical infrastructure are supposed to be exempted from load-shedding in terms of national state of disaster regulations promulgated last month. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
CLASS ACTION SUIT

Ramaphosa: Water works may be exempted from load-shedding

The government is in talks with Eskom to keep water pumps going during blackouts, the president told MPs

  • Emsie Ferreira
2 min read
KwaZulu-Natal residents who are unemployed, financially struggling and hungry have lambasted Eskom’s proposed 36.1% tariff hike. (Dean Hutton/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
ANDRE DE RUYTER

Eskom plans to spend 18.2% more on independent power producers in the next five years

Power utility will buy significantly more electricity from IPPs as they come onto the grid, outgoing chief executive De Ruyter tells NCOP

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
The independent panel report, published on Wednesday evening, found that Ramaphosa needed to provide answers on the origin of the foreign currency that was stolen from his private game farm in 2020 and on efforts to recover it.
ANC

Ramaphosa goes to ground after Phala Phala recommendations

President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled a scheduled appearance before the National Council of Provinces on Thursday

  • Lizeka Tandwa
3 min read
Most of us don’t have a clue what all the regulations and municipal by-laws are in the first place, so we walk around perpetually dazed and revert to obeying simpler, smaller rules to make ourselves feel virtuous. (M&G)
CASSEL MATHALE

Budget constraints paint grim outlook for new police recruits

“A drop in the ocean” as only 15 000 new police recruits are expected for the next three years

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
A statue of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former president, stands outside the parliament building in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. Moodys Investors Service in November gave South Africa’s Finance Minister Tito Mboweni just under four months to come up with a credible plan to rein in government debt and get the economy growing. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
DEMOCRACY

Want to have a word with parliament? Here’s how

Public participation in the people’s assembly is important. Find out how you can submit a petition, write a message or make a submission to parliament

  • Eunice Masson
5 min read
The City of Johannesburg has recorded an increase in illegal mining activities, which include tunnelling on the road reserve, below road surfaces and excavations of bridge embankments in recent years. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
DEPARTMENT FOR MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY

Specialised task force to combat illegal mining in South Africa

Police and minerals department tell briefing a specialised team will be appointed in each province to fight illegal mining

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
Proposed amendments to the Cannabis for Private Purposes bill allow for the creation of a commercial recreational cannabis industry. (Renata Larroyd/M&G)
CANNABIS

Massive breakthrough in cannabis bill

Proposed amendments to the Cannabis for Private Purposes bill allow for the creation of a commercial recreational cannabis industry

  • Paddy Harper
4 min read
The City Hall is to be used by Parliament for SONA on January 31, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. The City of Cape Town made the building available following the devastating Parliament fire earlier this month. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
2022 SONA

Despite last month’s fire at parliament, officials ‘confident’ about incident-free Sona at new venue

An estimated R4-million has been budgeted for this year’s event, up sharply from R208 000 in 2021

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
Harrismith’s streets are potholed, filled with refuse and illegal electricity connections are evident but more worrying are the power and water cuts. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
COGTA

Eskom to take over distribution, billing at troubled Free State municipality

The Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality owes the power utility more than R5-billion

  • Chris Gilili
2 min read
“Our municipalities have a crisis of poor financial management or planning to attract revenue, and they need to be capacitated there,” Amos Masondo said.
AMOS MASONDO

Calls for removal of unethical local government leaders at Salga conference

Ability must determine who gets hired, not jobs for pals or because of their political affiliation, says the head of the South African Local Government Association

  • Chris Gilili
4 min read