South Africa Top Stories

    DOWN TO THE WIRE: South Africa’s day sets up thrilling third Test and series finale against Australia
    South Africa 329 and 387 (Wiaan Mulder 115, Ryan Rickelton 101, Marques Ackerman 62, Mitchell Starc 3-65) lead Australia 429 (Josh Inglis 102, Alex Carey 80, Matt Renshaw 74, Simon Harmer 4-104, Marco Jansen 3-60) by 287 runs after day four.
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    NO WATER: ‘Are we not important enough?’ — Joburg residents protest water cuts before elections
    Across Joburg, water distribution networks remain critically strained under the weight of decaying infrastructure, bulk restrictions from Rand Water, and chronic municipal management failures, causing residents in Kensington, Parktown, Melville, and Lenasia to take to the streets.
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    IN THE DOCK: Feroz Khan and Andrea Johnson charged for allegedly trying to shield Khan from prosecution
    In the latest criminal case stemming from the Madlanga Commission, the country’s former anti-corruption boss, Andrea Johnson, and the former deputy head of Crime Intelligence appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
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    I have a picture for you! 24 October-30 October
    The First Thing newsletter's Ever-lasting Subscriber Photo Gallery.
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    CRÉATION AFRICA: Developing creator-led micro-dramas for African audiences
    Johannesburg filmmaker and cultural producer Hallie Haller’s company Better Yet is transforming existing African cultural assets like books, films and artworks into new revenue-generating formats.
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    JUST ONE LAPTOP: Binance hack is history’s biggest crypto heist and another warning sign
    The planet’s largest crypto exchange was hit for more than $6bn in a two-wave attack. Access to one laptop was all the attackers needed.
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    In arguing that Cape Town’s baboons deserve freedom rather than captivity, Adam Cruise raises important ethical questions. But his argument overlooks an equally important consideration: What happens when the freedom he defends in baboons is inseparable from chronic suffering, injury, poor health and premature death?
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    COSMETIC RECOVERY: Fresh-faced appetite for alternatives — upscale beauty shakes up SA’s retail landscape
    Social media has created a market for a new entrant to brick-and-mortar beauty retail – specifically, ‘premium’ goods specialists that attract a cult online following.
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    BOOK EXCERPT: The Seeker Effect imagines an African dystopia shaped by climate chaos and control
    In the dystopian future of The Seeker Effect, the orbit of a drowning Earth has shifted and times are out of joint. Five citizens, who have been let out of their isolation pods, must do anything to avoid returning to the pointlessness of incarceration.
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    UNDOCUMENTED LEARNERS: Running the Gauntlet — The matrics caught between xenophobia, paperwork and the classroom door
    As close to a million learners sit for this year’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, people of all ages will be vividly recalling the rooms where they sat for their ‘matric finals’, and the nauseating excitement that pervaded those spaces, not to mention the apprehension that came before, or the mixed emotions that followed the ‘pen’s down’ call. It was, is, and will always be a stressful experience. But spare a thought for undocumented learners who, in addition to the standard intensity, have been challenged by additional burdens of hardship this year.
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