Cosatu’s decision to bar President Jacob Zuma from all its events, the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) campaign for a judicial inquiry into state capture, the SA Council of Churches report on its unburdening panel, pressure from ANC stalwarts and veterans for a consultative conference and the running circus at Eskom over the return of the prodigal son Brian Molefe. It is difficult to see how the ANC will make it through this weekend’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting without all these issues colliding around renewed demands for the party to recall Zuma from office. The evidence of the president being heavily implicated in the capture of the state by the Guptas is incontrovertible. But can the ANC pull the trigger? By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

Rabelani Dagada explains how R56-billion will be spent in the coming year. By Steve Kretzmann for GROUNDUP.

Crime is a national security matter, said Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, but right now the priority is stopping abuse of women. Speaking ahead of this budget vote debate on Tuesday, Mbalula told journalists there would be a national campaign to ensure no woman wanting to report abuse or rape is turned away from a police station. Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane already has his orders to convene a gathering of all cluster commanders and all officers in charge of South Africa’s 1,144 police stations within the next two weeks. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

He was a billionaire stockbroker, a friend of politicians from Cyril Ramaphosa to Barend du Plessis, and a trustee at Constitution Hill. He was also an alleged paedophile, a man accused of sexually molesting eight men and women more than 20 years ago, at a time when none of these people had yet reached adolescence. Now it turns out that Sidney Frankel, who died of cancer in April, may be lending his name to a progressive amendment to the Sexual Offences Act. What’s the moral behind this tragic tale? And why didn’t the Daily Maverick get anywhere with the long-form investigative piece we were preparing in 2016? A report-back by KEVIN BLOOM.

Want to get a sense of how bad public healthcare is in Gauteng, and by extension the rest of South Africa? Meet Democratic Alliance shadow health minister Jack Bloom, and his file-folder full of miserable, miserable numbers. By RICHARD POPLAK.

Through a series of interviews with the many people Craig Williamson interacted with while he was under cover and after his secret identity as a “super spy” was eventually exposed, author JONATHAN ANCER details Williamson’s double life, and the stories of a generation of courageous activists.

This weekend, a facility unlike anything else on the African continent opens in Cape Town. The Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome, built at a cost of almost R30-million, leaves its predecessor in the dust. In addition to providing a 3D experience of space to visitors, the aims for the new Planetarium are bold: to serve as a research facility, to collaborate with the work being done at South Africa’s telescope projects, and even to bridge the divide between the sciences and the arts. By REBECCA DAVIS.

Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has said the city’s first non-ANC administration will be pro-poor, but the proof is in the numbers. Finance MMC Rabelani Dagada on Tuesday presented the city’s coalition-government budget, allocating R55.9-billion in spending over the next year. By GREG NICOLSON.

Last week, the Constitutional Court heard arguments that Parliament should either allow for, or be ordered to conduct, a secret ballot when MPs are voting in a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma. The hearing came after a weekend of storms covered large parts of the country, marking the start of winter. By contrast the President’s winter started way before the end of summer. He now seems enmeshed in a hurricane of discontent. By KAVISHA PILLAY and MARK HEYWOOD.

Extremism in South Africa must be countered now, while it is still in its evolutionary phase, to prevent the possibility of a major attack. By JASMINE OPPERMAN.

The courts have always been controversial in South Africa, both during the apartheid years and today. The context within which the judiciary relates to the executive and legislature is now fundamentally different from that of apartheid. Not only are apartheid laws no more but Parliament is no longer supreme. In contemporary South Africa, all organs of the state are subject to the Constitution and it is the judiciary that is charged with determining whether or not any organ of state infringes the Constitution. In the Presidency of Jacob Zuma there has been a generally tense relationship between the executive and the judiciary and that is especially so at this time with much litigation before the courts that relate directly to presidential and other ministerial powers. By RAYMOND SUTTNER.

Just over a year ago, we wrote to you, conceding (temporary) defeat to the trolls. We drew the line and, like so many other publishers, stated that we weren’t willing to host a comments section on our pages any longer. As we grew from a niche publication into the foremost independent voice, tackling some of South Africa’s thorniest issues, we were always going to be on a losing wicket with regards to comments. Now we’re happy to announce that our search for digital penicillin may just be over and that we've just completed a trial to bring back comments. By DAILY MAVERICK.

Although ISIS has little support in South Africa, the government needs to prepare for the return of ex-combatants. By RAEESAH CASSIM CACHALIA and ALBERTUS SCHOEMAN, for ISS TODAY.

South Africa seems to have reached a stage where it must decide whether MPs should be loyal to their consciences or have the courage of their convictions when they exercise their rights and obligations regardless of the difficulties, pain, loss of jobs, etc, that they may be exposed to, writes Adv. GCINA MALINDI.

The Sunday Times report that Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe has been involved in exchanging sexual messages with a government photographer may be part of a political conspiracy. Noteworthy, however, has been the accompanying suggestion that the alleged scandal “could end Radebe’s presidential hopes”. If one looks at the history of such incidents involving powerful men in South Africa, what on earth would lead one to that conclusion? By REBECCA DAVIS.

In the headlong rush to December’s ANC leadership contest, and the 2019 election that hovers increasingly menacingly after it, the list of casualties is mounting. The naked ambition is leading to the destruction of both pawns and reputations. But in the middle of this something else is happening: truth itself is now joining the mounting list of casualties. It is getting harder than ever to determine fact from well-orchestrated fiction, to know whether this State Security Minister is lying (on his track record he must be) or whether this story about a “senior minister” and sexy SMSes is on the level (it almost certainly is). It is easy to laugh this off as politicians being politicians. In fact, the implications for our democracy are immense and serious. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

The influence of ANC politics has long tainted Cosatu’s leadership and on Monday Sidumo Dlamini’s position as president looked tenuous. As Zwelinzima Vavi builds a new federation, Saftu, his old foe might face a similarly ignominious fate. By GREG NICOLSON.

Governments and technology companies must collaborate to prevent attacks and prosecute alleged hackers. By Albertus Schoeman for ISS TODAY.

North Korea ups the ballistic ante, another dead protestor in Venezuela, and three Everest climbers perish.

South Africans may just wanna cry. The Cyber Crime and Cybersecurity Bill is before Parliament, but in the interim thousands of businesses are wide open. South Africa is already one of the world’s top cybercrime hotspots, cybercrime is one of our fastest growing criminal enterprises. Oh, and did we mention there’s more, scarier ransomware on the way? By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.

It is by now common cause that our politics is in such a swirl that one gets the sense almost anything could happen. Resignations are now retirements, those who used to be the very epitome of establishment are calling for “radical” change, and Julius Malema sometimes looks positively statesmanlike. In the centre of this maelstrom is the once unthinkable prospect of change in 2019, of the ANC losing a national election. For this to happen, the DA will have to change first, which the party is already doing in many ways. However, it is now encountering several challenges in its way. Whether it is able to overcome them could well tell us what could happen in two years’ time. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

Cameras amid the National Assembly light fittings trained on MPs. Police detectives contravening the law, and sanctity of Parliament, in pursuit of a minister’s complaint over a tweet. And another round of rumours on the parliamentary grapevine over whether or not Parliament’s top administrator really has the security clearance for the job. Beneath the veneer of the people’s Parliament, the institution appears to be unravelling. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

When the 2015 Fifa Congress gave Tokyo Sexwale a mandate to resolve the problem of Israeli settlement soccer clubs, members surely thought they had found the right person for the job. Sexwale, a hero of the anti-apartheid movement who spent 13 years imprisoned on Robben Island, knows a thing or two about oppression and injustice. Yet Fifa President Gianni Infantino has indicated that a delay in submitting a report by Sexwale is responsible for a decision this week to continue, for now, playing games on unlawfully seized Palestinian land. By SARI BASHI.

There is now only one thing we know for sure about the ANC’s December elective conference. ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said on Friday that he would not contest his position again at the 54th national conference. That means that there will definitely be a new secretary-general running the affairs of the ANC. While the focus remains on the top job, the secretary-general position is key to the party’s internal functioning and its main interface with society. Like with the presidency, this is set to be a highly coveted position. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

No matter who occupies the White House, we will continue to trade human gestures – stories, prayers, and conversations – as much as coal, clothes, or steel. By GLEN RETIEF.

Thinking about the increasingly fraught political times in both the US and South Africa, J. BROOKS SPECTOR reaches back to 18th century political philosopher Edmund Burke to understand the role of the legislator in these difficult times.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) was up in arms last week following the news that there will be some changes to how lottery funding is allocated. The National Lottery Commission denied some of Sascoc’s claims, but is it a case of fighting for the country’s athletes or being sour after being asked to disembark the gravy train? By ANTOINETTE MULLER.

Evita Bezuidenhout celebrates 20 years of her Darling venue Evita se Perron with a weekly episode of 'Evita's Free Speech'. Here's the Episode 91. By PIETER-DIRK UYS.

Margaret Chan will retire in July as World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General after 10 years and for the first time, later this month the world’s premier health organisation will choose her successor by a vote of all 194 of its member states instead of just the 34 nations on the WHO’s executive board, representing six different regions of the world, as in the past. PETER FABRICIUS interviewed Dr David Nabarro, one of the contenders for the position.

Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi talked a good spring clean during her budget vote debate on Friday, even if nuclear will not be touched. The energy sector is overshadowed by controversies not only over a nuclear build, but also independent power producers and stalled government blueprint plans on electricity and the overall energy mix. Add into the mix governance and financial failures at the state-owned entities, the Strategic Fuel Fund and PetroSA, and it’s not a pretty picture in a sector that contributes R300-billion to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP), and provides 90,000 jobs, according to the minister. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

As the uproar continues over gender-based violence in the country civil society organisations have raised concerns over an apparent reduction in funding for sexual offences courts. Government has responded by saying the funding worries are misguided. By GREG NICOLSON.

The small, plastic Trabant is a symbol of what went wrong with the German Democratic Republic, better known as the GDR, DDR, or East Germany, and why, for all of the revisionist mythology, it was a crap system. By GREG MILLS.

Grant recipients claim deductions being made for policies they’ve no knowledge of. By Barbara Maregele for GROUNDUP.

Why protests become violent and how to prevent that from happening. By Luke Jordan and Vinayak Bhardwaj for GROUNDUP.

Some students at the University of the Western Cape live in makeshift conditions and go to bed on empty stomachs. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP.

The brutal deaths or attacks of several young women and girls over the past few weeks has shocked and sparked outrage among the public but as our interviews show, gender-based violence is all too common with many young women either being victims themselves or knowing someone who has. By BHEKI C SIMELANE.

With 36 member churches and organisations representing millions of Christians, the SA Council of Churches (SACC) is arguably the biggest organised formation in the country. A pastoral letter to be issued across congregations reflecting on state capture and the report of their Unburdening Panel could have massive political consequences. The ANC had the opportunity to “unburden” itself of state capture and did not. So for the first time since the height of apartheid, the church is intervening to take on “a government that has lost its moral legitimacy”. The SACP, meanwhile, is convening “progressive forces” in the country for a national imbizo that could set the agenda for the big political conferences coming up. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

There’s something in the air. From private militias to private prosecutions, a certain segment of white Afrikaners are pushing back against perceived (or actual) threats to their lives, language and culture. They may not have political power, but there is still one tool: money, used to bolster groups like Afriforum and Solidarity, fund or defend legal actions such as the current school religion case being heard by the Johannesburg High Court, and punish businesses like Spur. By REBECCA DAVIS.

SABC lawyers have argued that Hlaudi Motsoeneng should immediately be dismissed, saying he was “grossly insubordinate” and had deliberately drawn negative attention towards the SABC. Motsoeneng, who was appearing before a disciplinary hearing on Thursday, tried once again, unsuccessfully, to stall proceedings, saying he had applied to the CCMA to have his case heard and that process would make the disciplinary redundant. Could this be the last kicks of a dying horse? By GREG NICOLSON.

“Decision making … is now lagging too far behind our current reality” By Trevor Bohatch for GROUNDUP.

Money and politics is a potentially toxic mix, but for 13 years it has brought together political parties of all persuasions in their refusal to open their books. It’s always been a case of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”. Civil society court challenges for disclosure in 2004 and 2015 proved unsuccessful. But this may change. The ANC in Parliament on Thursday said it is looking to legislation to boost political parties’ state funding and to regulate private political donations. The Freedom Front Plus said it’s heading to court for an improved formula for funding of smaller parties from the public purse. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

Ahead of its National Elective Conference later this year, the race to become the next President of the African National Congress (ANC) is taking shape with Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma emerging as the main contenders. With the provincial support Dlamini-Zuma recently received, ascending to the forefront of the party won’t be easy for Ramaphosa. But, the example of Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign against United States President Donald Trump, could provide a lesson. By DAVID REIERSGORD.

This letter is for that moment when the water delivery through pipes into your houses stops. It may be tomorrow, it may be in two weeks, it may only be next year, but it is probable that it will happen and your people need to be prepared. By JEFFREY BARBEE.

The information technology (IT) unit of the Free State Department of Police, Roads and Transport was purged, allegedly to make room for the outsourcing of its operations to a politically connected consortium. Now the unit is in disarray, a whistleblower has claimed. By Tabelo Timse and Sally Evans for AMABHUNGANE.

Can German-style social democracy work in South Africa? Tshwane Executive Mayor Solly Msimanga, of the Democratic Alliance, thinks it can. His party has formed a coalition on the council, backed up by the Economic Freedom Fighters. And yet, this unlikely gang will be implementing a straight-up version of the ANC’s National Development Plan. Can “growth” and “job development” happen in Zuma’s downgraded backwater? Msimanga's new city budget, tabled on Thursday, means that we’re about to find out. By RICHARD POPLAK.

On Thursday the ANC’s Chief Whip in the National Assembly, Jackson Mthembu, announced plans to form an ad hoc committee to tackle the issue of political party funding. He says that his party wants to create a system where there is the transparent funding of parties, and where everyone knows who private donors actually are. To bolster his case, Mthembu has also quoted at length from ANC conference resolutions. But there are many questions to ask here: why is this happening now, what is the real aim, and then the most interesting question of all – could the ANC actually survive as a ruling party, or political entity at all, if all of its funding were to become transparent? By STEPHEN GROOTES.

I was excited to go on a police ride-along but by the end of it I wondered if I’d compromised my ethics. By Ashraf Hendricks for GROUNDUP.

As Western Cape dam levels reach a 30-year low and residents brace for “Day Zero”, this week’s Water Indaba in Rawsonville saw nearly 20 government officials and industry experts brainstorming to find solutions. Premier Helen Zille took a bracing view, framing the crisis as an opportunity for innovation, with economic sector representatives painting a somewhat bleaker picture. So just how much trouble are we in? And more specifically, why have interventions been such a long time coming? By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.

Embattled former Hawks commander Mthandazo Ntlemeza lost another court battle on Thursday when North Gauteng High Court Judge Segopotje Mphahlele struck his application to interdict Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula from preventing his return to the top job. Ntlemeza was also ordered to pay costs in the matter. The law has breathed hotly down the former Hawk's head's neck ever since his illegal appointment by former Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko in 2015. The Bern, it seems has outlived his usefulness. By MARIANNE THAMM.

After discovering how it was dangerous to throw around the term “radical economic transformation”, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba told Parliament the ANC has not yet defined what radical economic transformation would entail. Well, it has only been under discussion for five years and it is used more as a crutch than a possible policy umbrella. Delivering the fifth annual Mapungubwe lecture on Tuesday, former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas warned that as the ANC’s 54th national conference approaches, it would become more difficult to subject the radical economic transformation discussion to “democratic public reasoning”. Policy positions are once again bound to become proxies for factions – particularly the one sponsored by that powerful family running the state. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.