South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Tom Moyane’s fightback against KPMG for withdrawing parts of its report into the so-called rogue unit may yet drag two of Parliament’s committees into this divisive debacle. Both the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the finance committee would be asked “to investigate the immoral conduct of KPMG and determine the appropriate action”, said Moyane. But the watchdog on public spending, Scopa, said it would not tackle any one particular case, but rather the broader issue of private auditors working for the state, while the finance committee said it could not investigate. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

In one corner: a former public servant best known for being good at his job but ousted from it after turning down a R600-million bribe from the Guptas. In the other corner: a current public servant who faces allegations of nepotism, financial mismanagement, having misled Parliament and having leaked confidential Cabinet information to the Guptas. In some ways, the contrasting figures of Mcebisi Jonas and Faith Muthambi provide a metaphor for the battle for the soul of South Africa. On Monday, they shared a platform hosted by the union for government employees. By REBECCA DAVIS.

Social media has erupted with concern regarding the National Department of Health’s billboard campaign for #SheConquers. By the SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE COALITION.

After hours of strike action and incidents of violence across Cape Town on Monday, the protest action was called off for a period of mediation. By Peter Luhanga, Tariro Washinyira, Yann Macherez, Mary-Anne Gontsana and Sune Payne for GROUNDUP.

In an opinion piece titled Biko, we are not at ease (Daily Maverick, 13 September 2017) the Deputy Director-General in Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, Busani Ngcaweni, peddled a few lies about the IFP. Of course, he was writing “in his personal capacity”. By PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI.

The Zuma presidency of the ANC and the state is in crisis and the state capture project is under pressure. The ANC December elective conference could well be postponed as the organisation lurches from crisis to crisis. Citizens mainly sit and watch. Part of the problems of accountability and abuse relate to passivity, that there has been little popular involvement in our political life. That needs to be rebuilt on an organised basis. But there is a broader unity that exists, standing against the abuses of the Zuma era, shared by the wealthy and the poor. There is a need to restore legality and also to ensure clean government. It will take time to remedy the problems we now face and it is important to recognise that solid foundations need to be built. By RAYMOND SUTTNER.

SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane hit out on Monday at KPMG’s repudiation of the findings of a report it completed for the revenue agency on the so-called “rogue unit”. Moyane said he still backs the report and called for action to be taken against KPMG, which he claimed has an agenda. By GREG NICOLSON.

The publication by journalist and broadcaster Redi Tlhabi of the life story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, or Khwezi as she became known, arrives as a full stop, perhaps even a tombstone, to the brutal and destructive decade-long Zuma presidency. Three years after Zuma was acquitted of raping Kuzwayo, he was sworn in as the country’s fourth democratic president. The edifice of the Office of the President of the Republic of South Africa has been deeply tarnished by Zuma. So too the reputations of global private sector companies that have aided and abetted the estimated plunder of R100-billion from the state with Zuma, his supporters and cronies at its helm. By MARIANNE THAMM.

Just after President Jacob Zuma attended the BRICS summit in China earlier this month, City Press reported that the China Communication Construction Company was gearing up to close South African state contracts worth R70-billion, with no public tender. But CCCC’s subsidiary Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, which sold port cranes to Transnet, was already embroiled in the corruption contagion spreading from Zuma’s administration and the #GuptaLeaks. Now we have found the crane manufacturer’s kickback agreement with a Gupta intermediary. By AMABHUNGANE and SCORPRIO.

There is a naive expectation that women should be supportive of other women, particularly when they’re in places of power such as in business and politics. Some are, but many are not. Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is not. By SARA GON.

KwaZulu-Natal ANC’s current leadership is set to fight for survival in a week that will see fierce lobbying and counter-lobbying to stay the effects of a court ruling last week that would see it disbanded. The “rebel” branches that brought the case are trying, on the other hand, to push for the leadership to be disabled as soon as is possible. Much of this will depend on a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee, which is only starting on Friday. Prepare for another very long week in politics. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

Prison violence, the disruptive behaviour of some inmates, high numbers of escapes in the 1990s and a public demand to be tough on crime led the South African government to replicate the American approach of dealing with very violent and dangerous offenders: building two super-maximum security prisons, at great cost to the taxpayer. The first one, C-Max, is located within Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria and is closed for renovations. The second one, Ebongweni (outside Kokstad in Kwa-Zulu Natal), is a stand-alone prison with a capacity to house 1,440 inmates, all in single cells. It started operating in 2002. A solution was needed to deal with our most violent offenders. But was the policy choice of these super-maximum prisons the most adequate one? By GWEN DEREYMAEKER.

The Johannesburg ANC has filed court papers demanding that a no confidence motion in Mayor Herman Mashaba and Speaker Vasco da Gama proceed and be held by secret ballot. The party claims there are enough disgruntled DA members to remove the controversial mayor. By GREG NICOLSON.

There is little support for young, vulnerable pregnant women – and this is fuelling the high number of abandoned and orphaned babies. HEALTH-E’s UFRIEDA HO reports.

With just around three months until the ANC’s December leadership conference, something appears to be shifting. Instead of a simple two-horse race between those who support Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and his current boss President Jacob Zuma, a push for unity is gaining ground. This push, if successful, could have a massive impact, and may save the party, at least in the short term. But there are still important, difficult and possibly lasting obstacles, not the least of which is Zuma himself. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

As SAVE SOUTH AFRICA, we are encouraged by the outcomes of our campaign against KPMG, and the impact of people’s pressure. We are also very pleased with this public accountability – but it's not good enough.

KPMG’s written apology to South Africa, if one can call it an apology, purports to be decisive. Their local CEO Trevor Hoole resigns along with seven executives in KPMG’s audit, risk and tax departments as a result of a “comprehensive investigation” conducted by KPMG International. Disciplinary steps with the eye to a dismissal will also be initiated against the lead partner overseeing the audits of the non-listed Gupta companies. KPMG’s investigation relates to a series of damning stories by amaBhungane and Scorpio based on the #GuptaLeaks. We revealed how the Guptas laundered millions of rand earmarked for emerging black farmers in the Free State through Dubai to pay for the “event of the millenium” – the Sun City wedding. All this while #KPMG was supposed to look over their shoulder. Public pressure also ensured that KPMG revisited the discredited KPMG report into the South African Revenue Service (SARS) investigative unit made out as “rogue” at the end of 2014. KPMG’s conclusion to their investigation: They saw no evil and were repeatedly mislead. BY PAULI VAN WYK.

Reports emerged this week that the ANC in Mpumalanga was going to support ANC Treasurer Zweli Mkhize for the position of party leader in December. Coming in a week in which the party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership lost a crucial court case, and as divisions in the party deepen, it appears that a realisation is dawning of just how close the party could be to an irrevocable split. Coming with that realisation is the search for candidates who can keep the party together, and get it over the existential hurdle that December is becoming. This means it may be time to consider the possibility of Mkhize becoming leader of the ANC, and then President of South Africa. On the national campaign trail he may be the one person who could bridge the urban/rural divide. But his Achilles’ heel could well be the ANC itself, and whether he would be able to exert control over it. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

From the time the Sekunjalo Group purchased Independent Media SA (INMSA) from its Irish owners four years ago, INMSA publications have undergone a radical repositioning – particularly the Cape Times and its coverage of the University of Cape Town (UCT), Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) and Fees Must Fall (FMF). This transformation occurred almost simultaneously with INMSA executive chairman Iqbal Survé’s resignation from his university posts. UCT Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price claims Survé jumped before he was pushed. Were personal reasons behind an apparent Survé vendetta against UCT and its management? By RICKY STOCH.

Civil society organisations Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies were concerned to know why there was no sign yet of the NDP’s proposed National Policing Board or any of the other priorities listed in the NDP to modernise and transform the police services. By MOIRA LEVY.

As Women’s month got under way in August, Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula announced a six-point plan aimed at how police should deal with victims of gender-based violence. He said that each police station would have the plan posted visibly and officers would be made aware of it through a national instruction. But nearly a month since his pronouncement, an instruction is yet to be given and officers in charge offices around the country are clueless about the plan. By PUSELETSO NTHATE.

The City of Cape Town has committed to turning 13 sites near the city centre into homes for low-income households. The move even received praise from one of the city’s staunchest critics, Zackie Achmat. By Will Yoder, with photos by Ashraf Hendricks, for GROUNDUP.

On Thursday it appeared that strike action was averted for the time being at UCT. Emphasis on “the time being”. While the Executive appeared relieved and said negotiation was going well, union members said the issues resolved thus far were “quite small” and they had little faith that the university was ready for the kind of change they envisaged. This is where it gets clear as mud. By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.

What does sanity look like in a world that’s gone mad? As humanity approaches the bottom of its resource bucket, this question is consuming an increasing number of economists, none more so than the University of Pretoria’s Lorenzo Fioramonti. Big Oil, Big Mining, Big Food, Big Pharma —they are all ultimately the same, his book reminds us, because they are all the hell-spawn of a system that demands eternal growth. So what are the alternatives? By KEVIN BLOOM.

ANC Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize has previously raised his hand to succeed President Jacob Zuma as ANC president, but so far he’s more widely been punted as Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s number two. Now, however, Khabazela has turned up the charm offensive (and he really, really knows how to), gently stepping up his campaign for the top spot. But what is it that he’s really trying to achieve? By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

Paris poison plots, multibillion-rand bailouts for SAA, SABC and who knows what other state-owned entities (SOEs), hits on bodyguards and skipping an appearance before a Parliament oversight committee because of dental surgery. It’s getting curiouser, and you can’t make this up. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s mining charter threw the industry into turmoil. Despite backing the charter, he hasn’t yet been able to defend it in court, once again postponing the review application from the Chamber of Mines. By GREG NICOLSON.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Appeal needed less than four hours to conclude its hearings. The case at hand: President Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority’s appeal against a lower court’s judgment that the decision to drop Zuma’s corruption charges was irrational. As it turned out, pretty much everybody in the courtroom was on the same page, agreeing that the decision to drop the charges was incorrect. This consensus means that the Supreme Court will now almost certainly dismiss Zuma’s and the NPA’s appeal, meaning that corruption charges will be reinstated against Zuma. So what’s the plan on the part of Zuma’s wily legal counsel? By REBECCA DAVIS.

Q(h)ubeka Trust reports back after the first 16 months. By Pete Lewis for GROUNDUP.

Case of attempted murder has been opened. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP

While SARS commissioner Tom Moyane has claimed that he did not lodge a charge against former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan which served as a cover to wage an almost year-long witch hunt by the Hawks, led by the now disgraced and suspended Mthandazo Ntlemeza, evidence attached to court papers handed in to the Pretoria High court this week indicate otherwise. The tangled web at the embattled revenue service seems to be nudging Moyane into a corner. Or maybe not. By MARIANNE THAMM.

McKinsey's Eskon shenanigans revealed, shooting in US school, and pharma bro back in jail.

In a recent article on the High Court judgment which dismissed an application to evict Sikade and her neighbours at Marikana, Helen Zille misrepresents the facts of the case, ignores the applicable law, and fails to come to grips with the practical realities faced by the Marikana residents, who face a daily struggle to secure a home. By the SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS INSTITUTE OF SOUTH AFRICA.

The City of Cape Town's water demand management strategy restricts how much water poor households can use, while allowing those with swimming pools and water-guzzling gardens to imagine they live in a world of abundant water. This illusion has been allowed to last for far, far too long. And is, we believe, at the root of many of the difficulties we are currently facing. By JESSICA WILSON and TARYN PEREIRA.

A young Hout Bay teenager who was shot by police with rubber bullets during a protest in Hangberg over dwindling fishing quotas has undergone surgery. His name is Ona Dubula. By Ashleigh Furlong, Kimon de Greef, Mary-Anne Gontsana and Ashraf Hendricks for GROUNDUP.

Former deputy higher education and training minister Mduduzi Manana on Wednesday pleaded and was found guilty of three counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on charges relating to attacking three women at a nightclub in August. Manana said: “If you’ve provoked, walk away. Don’t act in this way. Now I had to man up. That’s what a leader does.” Sentencing has been postponed and it’s anyone’s guess what punishment he might receive. By GREG NICOLSON.

Have you lost track of the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, and why they are considered a persecuted minority? Confused about the situation in Myanmar, and why previously saintly Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be rapidly ceding her moral high ground? Wondering if South Africa is doing anything about what is widely regarded as a human rights catastrophe? We have you covered. By REBECCA DAVIS.

It is now well-established that global consultants McKinsey and their local Gupta-linked counterpart Trillian extracted R1.6-billion in fees for “turnaround” advice given to Eskom. In this investigation, the first in a series, we delve into an explosive report that says Eskom ignored warnings that the proposed contract might be illegal, and reveal internal documents detailing how McKinsey and Trillian planned their multibillion-rand payday. The scandal has further dented Eskom’s image, already battered by a succession of “state capture” revelations. Now it is threatening the consulting companies too. Corruption Watch says it is alerting US authorities about McKinsey, while Trillian appears to be fighting to stay open. By Susan Comrie for AMABHUNGANE and Pauli van Wyk for SCORPIO.

Close to two dozen leaders from the ANC’s leagues and regions in KwaZulu-Natal gathered at the party’s provincial headquarters where they implied that the court ruling which declared its conference unlawful and void was absurd. So now, they said, they would “defend the ANC” by supporting the provincial executive committee’s decision to appeal the ruling – although it’s not yet clear what the national leadership thinks of this. Meanwhile, this fight could soon come to a polling station near you. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

The muddle and political fault lines in Cabinet came into sharp relief over the financially and governance-troubled SAA when the deputy finance minister and the deputy president appeared at odds in Parliament. Central to this was the extension of Dudu Myeni’s term as SAA board chairperson, which the finance committee late on Wednesday resolved must be reviewed because of concerns over its legality. And with just 16 days to go before R6.8-billion falls due for repayment by the national airliner, questions also arose over government’s bailout through a special appropriations Bill that requires public hearings and proper committee processes before adoption. Parliament goes into constituency recess on Friday. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

Unless the electoral system is changed, oversight will depend on MPs acting against the “party line”. By Judith February for ISS TODAY.

New elite security team displaces long-serving parliamentary protection officers. By Moira Levy for GROUNDUP.

Simple booklet explaining the Eskom Inquiry has been published. By William Yoder for GROUNDUP.

What happens next is up to the party. By Safura Abdool Karim for GROUNDUP.

Rubber bullets, petrol bombs, flares and tear gas fill the air as protest escalated. By Ashraf Hendricks for GROUNDUP.

Rubber bullets broke his ribs and smashed his tongue. By Kimon de Greef for GROUNDUP.

Apple unveils three new phones, fighting breaks out in CAR, and Oscar Wilde temple opens up.

This is the seventh edition of the Open Secrets’ series, Declassified: Apartheid Profits. While researching the recently published book Apartheid Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, Open Secrets collected approximately 40,000 archival documents from 25 archives in seven countries. This treasure trove contains damning details of the individuals and corporations that propped up apartheid and profited in return. Many of these documents were kept secret until now. Most remain hidden despite South Africa’s transition to democracy. OPEN SECRETS believes that it is vital to allow the public to scrutinise the primary evidence. Here we invite you behind the scenes to look at the documents that informed the book. Last week we looked at the global money-laundering system managed by Kredietbank Luxembourg. This week we see how a secret office in Paris was responsible for using this system to broker weapons deals and bust the embargo.

South Africa must understand that other countries regard the adoption of the ban treaty in the UN General Assembly as very destabilising. And it might end up having a very serious impact on the international strategic environment. By PETER FABRICIUS.

The Democratic Alliance, which will be in the North Gauteng High Court most of the week in two cases against the president, on Tuesday argued that President Jacob Zuma has violated the Constitution by not establishing a commission of inquiry into Gupta-linked state capture, as recommended by the former public protector. Zuma first wants a chance to challenge Thuli Madonsela’s report. By GREG NICOLSON.