As it arrived at the 54th National Electoral Conference in Nasrec, Gauteng, the ANC was speeding not towards a crossroads, but straight at a T-junction. On the right was a candidate and a slate with a level of competence who, to some greater or lesser extent, would have ended the Zuma era and returned the country to a version of credibility. On the left, a continuation and a deepening of the gangster state, with the same old don and some new players. Instead of picking a direction, the ANC careened into the stop sign and exploded on impact. By RICHARD POPLAK.
There have been many fights and much nastiness in the months – and even years – leading up to the ANC’s 54th national conference, now under way in Johannesburg, which was expected to bring some kind of denouement that would allow the party to move forward in some way. Instead, the gathering got stuck on some kind of Groundhog Day of indecision and disputes, which could pretty much also define the next five years. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.
04:00. Oh man. The morning after the night before. It had to be faced. The world had changed, shifted, moved. Well, kind of. Something else had changed. The dogs, fast asleep in their basket. Huh? That’s not normal behaviour. Into the dining room. Oddly, there was no trip. The cat wasn’t there. Bugger. Where is he? I put the kettle on and began The Search for Spock. Suddenly there was bounding and scratching, the dogs were up. Tumbling through with them were four legs and a meow. Vulcans. They really play with your mind. By STEPHEN GROOTES.
The ANC Women’s League says that the fact that the ANC’s new Top Six are all male bar one is the result of patriarchy in action. They may well be right, even taking into account some justified misgivings about their chosen presidential candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. But as Tuesday’s ANC Women’s League press conference demonstrated, the vials of hypocrisy and inconsistency that the league stirs into its so-called feminist positions mean that the body seems set to remain one of patriarchy’s most constant friends. By REBECCA DAVIS.
The South African Revenue Service’s decision to file a High Court application against investigative journalist Jacques Pauw confirms that the contents of his book The President’s Keepers are correct, said NB publishers. By NEWS24.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s first comments to the media after being elected ANC president weren’t defined by his plans to stabilise the economy, curtail corruption or unify the party. They’ll be remembered for the ANC’s securitised approach to dealing with the media. By GREG NICOLSON.
The ANC 54th National Conference should be drawing to a close on Wednesday. It’s been four days of waiting and more waiting, coupled with bits of drama and shock leadership election results. By DAILY MAVERICK PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Newly-elected ANC secretary general Ace Magashule’s joy might be short-lived if some of his detractors get their way in the ANC conference today. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.
The City of Cape Town is facing its worst water crisis ever. Residents, businesses and the agriculture sector are all starting to feel the pinch as the municipalities in the Western Cape throttle back aggressively on water use. As anxieties run high ahead of dams possibly running dry in May 2018, the City is deploying several emergency initiatives to delay the arrival of ‘Day Zero’. Southern Africa’s fast-growing cities can learn some lessons about service delivery and how urban development challenges intersect with a changing climate, writes GINA ZIERVOGEL.
The presidential race is done and dusted, but the complications are far from over. This is the full text of our live blog for the day.
The ANC Women’s League is not happy with the ruling party’s new top six. That was made clear at a press briefing at Nasrec on Tuesday, where the Women’s League executive told media that the ANC has failed women by electing only one female member into its top leadership. President Bathabile Dlamini blamed the loss of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on prevailing patriarchal attitudes within the party, and hinted that new ANC deputy president DD Mabuza had won his position by riding on Dlamini Zuma’s coat tails. By REBECCA DAVIS.
While South Africa is considering a downgrade of its relations with Israel, many other African countries are upgrading their relationships with it. On this, as on the Morocco-Western Sahara issue, the ANC is diverging from the continental trend. By PETER FABRICIUS.
ANC's new political cocktail examined, Amtrak derailing kills three, and The Last Jedi makes serious cash.
by Abdul Hadi Habtor and Rania Sanjar Saudi Arabia said it shot down a ballistic missile Tuesday over Riyadh fired from Yemen by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who announced that the target was the official residence of King Salman.
A bus carrying tourists from a US cruise ship to an archaeological site on Mexico's Caribbean coast crashed Tuesday after running off the road, killing at least 11 people including several foreigners, the state government said.
Images have the power to tug at our heartstrings, and make us abdicate the faculty of reason entirely. National Geographic recently touted a video of a starving polar bear as evidence that global warming was killing them off. Yet polar bears are thriving, and one anecdote of a dying polar bear doesn’t change that.
Jacob Zuma has been defeated. Cyril Ramaphosa is officially the 13th President of the 105-year-old liberation movement, the ANC. The mood at the 54th ANC Elective conference from day one was filled with utter confidence from both camps. Depending on who you spoke to, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was streaks ahead with regards to the voting delegate numbers and the arrogance from them was palpable. On the other hand, CR17 lobbyists were equally confident that they had it in the bag. Little did either side know that voting delegates are not voting fodder, nor are they stupid.
The availability of and access to basic sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion services, is a crucial aspect of ensuring women’s health and rights. By DAPHNEY NOZIZWE CONCO.
Britain's future flagship vessel HMS Queen Elizabeth, its biggest-ever warship, has sprung a leak, defence officials admitted Tuesday, only two weeks after it was commissioned into the Royal Navy.
There was much fanfare about how a Cyril Ramaphosa victory at the ANC elective conference will bring the dawn of a new hope for South Africa. The outcome of the top six posts, however, was more complex, throwing up a frightening hodgepodge of a leadership team made up of pro-Zuma factionalists and some who have been amplifying rhetoric of reform.
President Jacob Zuma has now ended his two terms as president of the African National Congress (ANC), and Cyril Ramaphosa (not perceived to be a great fan of Zuma) has been elected as the new president of the ANC. Would it now be possible to remove Zuma as president of the country before his term ends in 2019? And what happens if he is asked to resign and he refuses to do so?
Rampahosa has a window of opportunity now to win our trust and to start ridding the state of some of the most obvious rot. If the Great Negotiator can do all that ahead of 2019, he would have done very well indeed.
A Toast
