In a series of unexpected tweets, the official account of ANC NEC member Fikile Mbalula has trashed Free State Premier Ace Magashule as an option for the position of secretary general position, saying he would kill the party. By NEWS 24

In a massive study, about 85% of patients on antiretrovirals had got the virus down to acceptable levels in their blood. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP.

Talks between the National Taxi Association and SA Taxi Finance Holdings stalled resulting in taxi drivers turning off their engines. By Ihsaan Haffejee for GROUNDUP.

The health of the city can be seen in the condition of its waterways. By Kevin Winter for GROUNDUP.

Does Western Cape Premier Helen Zille still believe there were positive spin-offs from colonisation? Is she justified in saying the ravages of the Holocaust and colonialism cannot be compared? Perhaps it’s best not to prompt outbreaks of human combustion among sections of the population by getting into those particular twisters. The important question is this: what is the significance of Zille’s apology at this moment in time with South Africa in free-fall? Zille and Jacob Zuma are among a handful of South African politicians who apologised for their actions – Zuma has done so on three occasions. But Zille was forced to humble herself in a way no other political leader has been made to do. That is noteworthy, particularly when political accountability is so eroded. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

The number of new cases of tuberculosis is dropping. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP.

The unprecedented outpouring of support from South Africans following the devastating fires that raged through the Southern Cape, and which saw more than 10,000 people evacuated from towns such as Knysna, was a bright silver lining to what was otherwise a heartbreaking event. By Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, ALAN WINDE, and TIM HARRIS, Wesgro CEO.

When the African National Congress – much to their arrogant surprise – lost significant ground in the 2016 municipal elections, coalition politics quickly gained traction as a suitable alternative and sign of South Africa’s healthy democracy. While specific coalitions were formed between a variety of actors over the common enemy of the ANC, the future of coalition politics nevertheless remains divided, and seems unlikely to last long after the potential defeat of the ANC. By DAVID REIERSGORD.

Councillors in Mogale City were again unable to elect a mayor on Wednesday after the DA’s Michael Holenstein was voted out last week. The DA is trying to figure out which of its councillors has been voting against the party. The delays benefit the ANC but limit service delivery. By GREG NICOLSON.

Why the Swedish Model does not work for South Africa. By Nosipho Vidima for GROUNDUP.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday told MPs he supported a commission of inquiry into “current allegations in the public domain”, a reference to #GuptaLeaks without actually naming them. During his question time slot in the House, Ramaphosa consistently referred to “corporate capture”, not state capture. It’s an important nuance, one that seeks to shift the focus from the state governed by the ANC. A few hours later Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane announced “a preliminary investigation” to determine the merits of claims of improper conduct against officials in Eskom, Transnet and the Passenger Rail Authority of South Africa (Prasa) - and the role of two public enterprises ministers, Malusi Gigaba and his successor Lynne Brown. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

It is important not to underestimate the degree of alienation that South Africans may feel towards the political system in general, in the light of their experiences under Jacob Zuma, the squandering of resources, the pilfering from the state and the powerful evidence that appears to prove the reality of “state capture”. There was dissatisfaction earlier as people staged continued protests over failure to meet basic needs. The post-Zuma period will need to consider a more thorough rebuilding of confidence and commitment to the democratic system and constitutional order. By RAYMOND SUTTNER.

There are a plethora of criticisms of the bill before Parliament, as well as procedural problems. By GROUNDUP correspondent.

Bereaved families are having to wait to bury their deceased loved ones as a result of an ongoing strike by workers at Gauteng's Forensic Pathology Services. The Gauteng Health Department has engaged the services of the SANDF to deal with the backlog while talks with striking workers have deadlocked. By BHEKI C SIMELANE.

A partnership between the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch Municipality and the Western Cape government is turning an abandoned water treatment facility in Franschhoek into a centre for water reuse research and innovation. By Trevor Bohatch for GROUNDUP.

Intervention helps kids to adhere to their medication. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP.

A chaotic event in Ceres highlighted problems with the social grant system. By Barbara Maregele for GROUNDUP.

Helen Zille has kept her job as Western Cape Premier, despite her tweets on colonialism. GREG NICOLSON looks at what it might mean for the party.

It’s been a busy few weeks. Let’s get caught up. By RICHARD POPLAK.

False prophets and pastors who have established churches across Mpumalanga have been encouraging their sick congregants to stop taking their medication and to trust that God will heal them. Their actions are expected to be exposed and discussed when the Cultural, Religious and Linguistics Commission presents its report on the commercialisation of religion to Parliament later this month. HEALTH-E NEWS’ Cynthia Maseko reports.

Within a week of his CV being passed to the Guptas, an old associate of Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa was given the top job at Eskom. Then the Guptas started collecting. By AMABHUNGANE and SCORPIO.

Anti-corruption politics in South Africa are now decisively focused on Jacob Zuma’s removal. It is not our intention to legitimise him. Governing requires a measure of disinterest in oneself and distance in balancing the interests of others. Zuma’s indiscretion in giving ample circumstance to claims that he is acutely self-interested and heinously partial means that he is incapable of governing. By RYAN BRUNETTE, PATRONELLA NQABA, JOEL PEARSON AND MOSA PHADI.

The SAPS could not answer why, over a year after it was alerted it to conflicts of interests in its ranks, no action had been taken beyond getting statements in which those implicated deny doing business with the state. Parliament’s watchdog on public spending, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), on Tuesday met the police top brass in a follow-up to an earlier briefing by the auditor-general’s office, when the SAPS had emerged as a serial offender. What transpired was a picture of no consequences, belying government talk of consequence management amid the ticking of legislative, regulatory and policy prescript boxes. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

People inside the ANC are scared of breaking the party and losing the alliance it has with the Cosatu and the SACP. Their fear is understandable. The ANC has been their “political home” for decades and loyalty to the party has been passed from generation to generation. The ANC used to drip with nostalgic liberation street cred. But of late the party has been reeking from the symptoms of factionalism, corruption and client deployment (read cadre deployment). The rot has become so bad that even ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe, who has demonstrated a profound capacity for double-speak, is beginning to forgo his ailment denialism and admit that the party is in trouble. By MARIUS OOSTHUIZEN.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has accepted Helen Zille’s apology for saying colonialism’s legacy was not all negative. Zille, who issued another apology on Monday, will remain Western Cape premier, but will not participate in party structures and will limit her communication on DA issues. By GREG NICOLSON.

A power failure brought Cape Town trains to a halt across the city and thousands were stranded. By GROUNDUP Staff.

The criminalisation of hate speech in an otherwise good draft bill provides a space for the right-wing to rally around. By Sanja Bornman for GROUNDUP.

The GuptaLeaks continue to reveal in astonishing detail how the Gupta family used, manipulated and coaxed politicians to siphon off what may amount to billions of rands to their offshore bank accounts. During the past three years their trusted lawyer Gert van der Merwe has defended his clients with ardour. But now Van der Merwe himself stands accused of money laundering. BY PAULI VAN WYK.

British politician, Lord Anthony St John of Bletso, recently said: “South Africa needs to come to the table. It needs to show transparency; it needs to show good governance; it needs to show accountability.” In this article, we do not discuss accountability from the perspective of the election prerogative of voters to vote new people into government every five years. Rather, we look at the effective and immediate enforcement of accountability from the perspective of immediate responsibility, answerability, trustworthiness and liability of politicians for their actions, decisions and conduct. By ANDRIES HAVENGA.

Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe has found himself the focus of a searing SCA judgment handed down last week with regard to his conduct in another matter involving the alleged theft of R48-million by a businessman. The man was represented in court by the same attorney representing Hlophe in pending disciplinary proceedings before the Judicial Services Commission over allegations that the Judge President approached two Justices of the Constitutional Court in 2008 in an attempt to improperly influence that court’s pending judgment in a case involving Jacob Zuma. Hlophe was excoriated by the SCA for potential bias in ruling in favour of the crooked businessman. By MARIANNE THAMM.

A parliamentary question by DA Shadow Minister in the Presidency Sej Motau to Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa has revealed that controversial UK-based PR Company, Bell Pottinger, was appointed by the SA Tourism UK office from January 2014 and paid a whopping R9-million for PR and other communication services relating to South Africa. Bell Pottinger, #GuptaLeaks emails also prove, not only helped the Gupta family and Duduzane Zuma to shape a particular economic narrative inside the country but also partly determined how we should be viewed by the outside world. By MARIANNE THAMM.

Who, in their right mind, would want to be Malusi Gigaba? Our Finance Minister is now at the centre of several storms, and under attack from almost all sides. It is a position few would envy. It is hard to see how he gets out of this with any credibility at all, never mind with any senior position in government or the ANC. Much of this, but not all, is of his own making. And it is becoming increasingly clear he simply cannot get away from the Saxonwold Embrace. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

Since the beginning of the year, outbreaks of cholera and later measles have been spreading across Somalia. The severe and prolonged drought has also caused high malnutrition among children. Unicef estimates that 1.4-million children will suffer from acute malnutrition this year, including 277,000 severe cases. By KUN LI.

A threat to cut off water and electricity sparks protests, but a multitude of festering problems underlie community’s anger. By Ihsaan Haffejee for GROUNDUP.

An obstacle has been removed to making the HIV drug PrEP widely available in South Africa. By Ashleigh Furlong for GROUNDUP.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who tried to turn the SABC into a private fiefdom, was finally fired on Monday. The SABC’s interim board is only starting to come to terms with the havoc he inflicted. By GREG NICOLSON.

Judgment clarifies what must happen in eviction hearings. By Safura Abdool Karim for GROUNDUP.

It has been two straight weeks of non-stop revelations about the Gupta tentacles and interference in state affairs. The tranche of leaked Gupta emails have removed any doubt that the family is the controlling force in government. As the methods of courting and manipulating people in government and state-owned enterprises continue to be exposed, panic has set in among some of the people who are compromised or in danger of being outed for their dealings with the family. Some are now seeking legal advice and considering options to “come clean”, while others are banking on the next Zuma presidency providing continued protection for the racket. But how long before the dam walls burst? By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

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 94. By PIETER-DIRK UYS.

Allegedly, in recent events, two senior students at Maritzburg College and Pietermaritzburg Girls High School, respectively, used the “K” word to refer to their peers. I urge every Head of Philosophy in South Africa to petition the MEC of Education in KwaZulu-Natal to investigate these allegations. By SISEKO H KUMALO.

The Constitutional Court has been approached by the Quaker Peace Centre, The FW de Klerk Foundation and AfriForum, represented by a team of lawyers assembled by Accountability Now, seeking the urgent appointment by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa of an independent commission of inquiry into state capture. The organisations argue that the urgent and direct application is being made based on Section 90 (1) of the Constitution which relates to a conflict of interest with regard to President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of such a commission as he and members of his family are deeply implicated. By MARIANNE THAMM.

The government says it is still committed to eventually withdrawing South Africa from the International Criminal Court (ICC) – despite its recent withdrawal of its notice to withdraw. By PETER FABRICIUS.

J. BROOKS SPECTOR contemplates the potential for the ruin of the liberal international project, although he finds a whisper of hope in a collection of other national figures who are not of the opinion that being a serial real estate bankruptcy perpetrator (and the lessons learned) is sufficient background to be the leader at the top of the liberal world order.

Last week, a young South African scientist nabbed a top international award for her groundbreaking metallurgical research. Geologist Tshiamo Legoale, aged just 27, is probing methods to use wheat as a gold hyper-accumulator – or, as she puts it, “grow gold from wheat”. By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.

The South African government has issued a very clear and blunt warning that it would not tolerate a military coup in troubled Lesotho. By PETER FABRICIUS.

The events of the next six months and six days (or so) will almost surely determine the next decade of our politics. Whoever wins in the ANC’s leadership conference in December will have a huge impact on the 2019 election, and its outcome, and after that the country will start to change in one way or another. The process will begin first with a consultative conference from Friday 30 June and then the ANC’s policy conference that starts immediately there. The week after that is the SACP’s conference, which could see the party leaving the alliance. This may be the last breathing space we have in which to examine the balance of forces as they currently stand, in a sober manner, before events start to overtake our ability to breathe deeply. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

Things are not so great in Kenya right now. In fact, life is much harder than before, more expensive, and frankly quite uncomfortable. The country is not just slipping into economic crisis, it is free-falling into full-blown recession. By MAYNARD MANYOWA.

From Lesotho to Zimbabwe, to Zambia and beyond – KRISTEN VAN SCHIE brings you a weekly round-up of regional news.

The government official who helped the Guptas obtain permission to land a private jet at Air Force Base Waterkloof has been using his position as South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands to negotiate business deals on behalf of the controversial family. By NEWS24.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report “Derailed”, published in August 2015, was the first official proof that all is not well at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). The PP found a state-owned company in the tight grip of deep-set corruption and recommended that all contracts awarded between 2012 and 2015 worth more than R10 million be investigated. But at the time her findings were at odds with the views of outgoing Prasa board chair, Sfiso Buthelezi, these days deputy minister of finance, who hailed “remarkable achievements by the outgoing board” in Prasa’s 2013/14 Annual Report. Daily Maverick has gained access to the investigation Madonsela ordered, and it makes for depressing reading. By PAULI VAN WYK.