President Jacob Zuma’s latest Cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday morning raised hackles across the political landscape, with the South African Communist Party (SACP) proclaiming the death throes of its alliance with the ANC and labour federation Cosatu. Reaction was fast and furious, largely describing the moves in the National Executive as a Presidential high stakes chess manoeuvre to strengthen his hand and to, as South African Federation of Trade Union (SAFTU) leader Zwelinzima Vavi put it, strengthen South Africa’s “kleptocratic democracy”. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande, who recently emerged as a strong critic of President Jacob Zuma’s administration, has lost his Cabinet post. In a Cabinet reshuffle announced by the Presidency on Tuesday morning – speculation has been rife for weeks now – six changes have been made that seem to strengthen the President’s hand by moving those regarded as close to him to key portfolios. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

If one is foolish enough to try to determine certain outcomes from our current political equations, a number of important variables will become apparent. There are so many moving parts that it is difficult to assign values to any of these variables. But one of the most important questions that could answer what will happen over the next five years revolves around a sort of “missing” constituency in our politics. These are people who used to vote, but have stopped casting their ballot. If one can identify these people, and work out what their interests are, it may be possible to determine how the country will swing in 2019 and beyond. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

If the ANC’s Integrity Commission had any lingering doubts, Friday’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment confirming the reinstatement of 18 charges of 783 counts against President Jacob Zuma should have cleared it all up. Precedents have been set. Former Minister of Communications Dina Pule resigned in 2013 after an investigation by Parliament’s ethics committee; in 2014 the Integrity Commission asked Northern Cape ANC Chair John Block – later sentenced (in 2016) to a 15-year jail term – to resign, and in 2016 Western Cape Chair Marius Fransman was asked to step away pending charges of sexual assault. Will the Integrity Commission bare its fangs when it comes to Zuma? By MARIANNE THAMM.

It is a truism that governments have no business running an airline. The airline industry is notoriously capital and skills intensive and yet has hair-thin margins. By GUY LEITCH.

Train surfing? “I do it for adrenaline – the thrill can get addictive.” By Ricardo Afrika for GROUNDUP.

A key claim of the railway company doesn’t match reality. By Zoë Postman for GROUNDUP.

Intensifying strike action that started in July in a bid for a wage increase, 10111 police emergency call centre workers marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday. By Ihsaan Haffejee for GROUNDUP.

Every time South Africa suffers a serious drought, it doesn’t take long for someone to suggest that an iceberg should be towed from Antarctica to be tapped as a water source. It sounds laughably outlandish, but a company in the United Arab Emirates claims that it is undertaking the task in 2018 in order to alleviate the UAE’s water shortages. Could the same thing work for South Africa? By REBECCA DAVIS.

The Life Esidimeni arbitration, aimed at promoting restorative justice for relatives of the 141 mentally ill patients who died, entered its second week on Monday. Families have had to relive the gruesome details of how their loved ones died, but if former Deputy Chief Justice is to get to the bottom of what happened, former MEC Qedani Mahlangu must be found and put on the stand. By GREG NICOLSON.

Welcome to the 12th article in the 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. This week we turn to British businessman Tiny Rowland, and another of Pretoria’s international allies: Margaret Thatcher’s United Kingdom.

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 112. By PIETER-DIRK UYS.

The family of the late defence minister Joe Modise have again taken issue with articles by Andrew Feinstein in Daily Maverick.

ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma took the battle to her opponent Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s home ground in Limpopo this weekend, where she preached unity and non-tribalism while striking at the heart of his support base. She also met with traditional leaders and got a warmer reception there than Ramaphosa’s camp might have liked. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

Sixty-five percent of municipal officials would be encouraged to quit their jobs as a result of direct threats of violence, South African Local Government Association CEO Xolile George revealed last week, adding that the degree of vulnerability of municipal officials was a matter for great concern. The association has done a preliminary investigation into the threats and deaths and has subsequently called for, among other things, the development of a safety and security manual for councillors. But will it have any effect? By BHEKI C. SIMELANE.

Young gangsters from rival gangs compare scars and knives. Insults fly, threats are made and no remorse is shown for past killings. By STREET TALK.

Forget the national obsession with matric. Over three-quarters of South African kids under the age of two don’t get the right nutrition – and this puts them on the back foot developmentally for the rest of their lives. If we want to be a successful nation, we need to invest in support for the poorest kids as early as possible. By KERRY CULLINAN.

The start of 2017 saw concern over a sharp increase in the rise of drug- resistant TB in South Africa. TB is killing millions each year. Last week, Médecins Sans Frontières published promising early data on the use of two new TB drugs, delamanid and bedaquiline, among patients living with drug-resistant TB in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. But availability remains the biggest concern. By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.

On Friday the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside the withdrawal of criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma. Hopefully the matter that has caused undue and unnecessary strain will soon be brought to finality. By the THABO MBEKI FOUNDATION.

The road to the ANC’s December conference appears to be lined with court cases. Hardly a day goes by without the news that someone or other has lawyered up and taken someone else in the party to court on some technicality or other. In the end, these cases are usually about using legal means to limit someone else’s exercise of political power. So far, those who have taken the legal route have had some success, albeit at the expense of the political legitimacy of those in power, in various places, and in various ways. From a certain angle, the timing of all of these cases, and the answer to the question of “who benefits”, may have the consequence of making them look almost orchestrated to help Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

Gun Free South Africa staffers Peter Storey and Adele Kirsten recently published a short op-ed in Daily Maverick bemoaning the recent killings involving firearms in Marikana in Philippi East and in Las Vegas. While it is true that these were both heinous crimes, I take umbrage at almost everything else they wrote in their op-ed as they went off on an emotional tangent making all sorts of misguided claims and statements in a continued effort to sell their gun-free agenda, writes JONATHAN WRIGHT.

With just a week before nearly 800,000 matric pupils sit for their final exams, the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, Umalusi, said it was all systems go. By PUSELETSO NTHATE.

Could seismic changes in Ghana’s narcotics laws herald a shift in Africa’s drug policy? By Mark Shaw and Lucia Bird for ISS TODAY.

De Waal Drive has been renamed after a struggle veteran. By Tariro Washinyira for GROUNDUP.

Phosphate mining company Kropz is said to be in breach of its license in its use of an ancient Elandsfontein aquifer. By Melanie Gosling for GROUNDUP.

Handing down judgment in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Friday reinstating 18 charges amounting to 783 counts against President Jacob Zuma, Judge Lorimer Leach expressed the court's doubts that this would be the end of the 15-year saga. President Zuma had every intention, the court said, to continue to use whatever means possible to resist prosecution. In eye of the storm, the President's next move, and the ANC's reaction: will the party stick to its earlier resolution that members facing criminal charges should step aside? By MARIANNE THAMM.

President Jacob Zuma is again potentially facing 783 counts of money laundering, racketeering and fraud – eight years after the charges were first laid. By PAULI VAN WYK.

Weinstein and Amazon entertainment head focus of Sexual harassment claims, US & Israel leave UNESCO, and Trump snipes at Obamacare.

Shaun Abrahams, head of the country’s beleaguered National Prosecution Authority will find himself in the spotlight on Friday when the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein hands down judgment in President Jacob Zuma and the NPA’s appeal against a High Court order for the reinstatement of 783 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering against the President. It is clear from September representations made to the SCA that Abrahams is a worried man. Will he finally find his spine and honour his oath of office and the rule of law? By MARIANNE THAMM.

This is the moment to restore the Sovereignty of the Citizenry over its Servant – the Government. Let the people organise themselves in their provinces and their organised structures to reimagine the South Africa of their dreams, the South Africa we pray for. This is the Moment. By BISHOP MALUSI MPUMLWANA.

The South African public is gatvol with corruption. When it comes to KPMG, nothing short of a a review process is required to uncover all the wrongdoing, with actual consequences for the wrongdoers. This includes fines and time spent in correctional services. By MOOKETSI ‘POP’ MOTSISI.

Only if the alliance is seen to be rising above factionalism and attending to the real needs of its core constituencies can it hope to remain something workers support. The alliance cannot be something that comes into being at election time or when a crisis emerges that has to be addressed to avoid a strike. It has to have content and meaning. By SILUMKO NONDWANGU, TEBELLO MOKOENA, RICHARD JEWISON and MOLEFINYANE PHERA.

Professor Belinda Bozzoli got it wrong in her opinion piece, misleadingly titled New assault on academic excellence – research grants cut amid funding shortage. The piece disingenuously focused only on one funding instrument that is aimed at incentivising researchers and ignored the main instruments for funding research and human capacity development used by the National Research Foundation, says DR MOLAPO QHOBELA.

South Africa is in the midst of a hunger crisis affecting millions – and a group of activists think they have a solution. Thursday saw members of the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign march to six government departments to try to persuade officials to take seriously a “People’s Food Sovereignty Act” drawn up on behalf of small-scale farmers, communities, the hungry and the landless. The suggestions are radical. Will anyone in power listen? By REBECCA DAVIS.

With ANC branches preparing to nominate candidates for the party’s elective conference in December, watch the campaigns spring into full gear. Demonstrating that he is a player in the game, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe has this week properly nailed his colours to the mast of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who this weekend is set to go boldly into KwaZulu-Natal, the mighty home province of his rival in the presidential race, ANC MP Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. She, in turn, will be addressing a crowd on Ramaphosa’s home turf, Limopopo, on Sunday. ANC Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize is also humming along. By CARIEN DU PLESSIS.

Most members of the Police Portfolio Committee didn’t seem to think there was much sign of the professional, skilled and community-based police service envisaged in the National Development Programme. By MOIRA LEVY.

Africa is a mining continent. Minerals represent over 60% of the continent’s exports. There is a persistent outcry within the continent that African people are being dispossessed of their resources. It is a fact that the current model characterised by the externalisation of mining (for most countries concepts/philosophy on mineral governance are conceptualised and designed by outsiders; rent-seeking approach and export of minerals that benefit outside players more) is not working for the continent. By CLAUDE KABEMBA.

In which J. BROOKS SPECTOR suffers the fate of Samuel Taylor Coleridge with a vivid dream. Only, instead of the immortal poem, “Kubla Khan”, he imagines a reality show that bears far too much similarity with the astounding world we are actually living through now.

The SADC’s delay in deploying a peacekeeping force to Lesotho has provoked anxiety in the country, raising fears of a pre-emptive strike by renegade ex-army chief Tlali Kamoli. By PETER FABRICIUS.

Six years after ruling, huge backlogs persist as a December court deadline looms. By Alicestine October for GROUNDUP.

Thursday’s judgment ruling anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s 1971 death a murder at the hands of the Security Branch was a historic moment for the country. Already there are calls to hold more apartheid killers accountable, but, as history has shown, finding justice in the past is a long and difficult road. By GREG NICOLSON.

It was widely reported last week that a vehicle dedicated to carrying people with disabilities was attacked and the occupants left traumatised. But what was the protest about and how did a Dial-a-Ride bus end up being targeted? By Peter Luhanga and William Yoder for GROUNDUP.

Zelda Holtzman is contesting her dismissal as head of Parliament’s protection services (PPS), it was announced this week after an over two-year disciplinary process. “It’s a natural response because of the injustices I have suffered,” she told Daily Maverick on Thursday, saying the charges were “trumped up”. And the issues she regards central to her removal, the Secretary to Parliament’s use of blue lights and recruitment of SAPS members into the PPS, remain unresolved. Her comments come as the Labour Court is set to hear PPS staff grievances over preferential salary and employment conditions afforded to those recruited from the SAPS. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

Is Donald Trump’s partial lifting of sanctions against Khartoum cynical realpolitik or effective diplomacy? By Peter Fabricius for ISS TODAY.

Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol was murdered, ruled the Pretoria High Court in a unique inquest on Thursday, overturning a 1972 ruling that he committed suicide while in detention in 1971. The Security Branch officers who could face charges for pushing him from the police’s John Vorster Square, however, have died. By GREG NICOLSON.

D-Day for apartheid jail killing, SpaceX lands reused rocket, and Dutch police foil helicopter escape.

Both South Africa and the United States experienced mass shootings recently. Eleven young black men were shot and killed in Marikana, Phillipi East, an informal settlement 25km from Cape Town on Friday 29 September; on Sunday 1 October 59 concert-goers attending a country music festival in Las Vegas were gunned down. While worlds apart, in more ways than one, both mass-shootings have three things in common. By PETER STOREY and ADELE KIRSTEN.

South Africa has been avidly watching one of the world’s strangest political campaigns ever to grip a democratic country. People have been criss-crossing the land, making strange claims and suggesting that the sky will fall in (or worse … remain as it is) should someone else get elected. And yet some of the arguments advanced are specious. One of the most heard is that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa must become the new leader of the ANC “because it is ANC tradition” that the deputy becomes the leader. In a campaign of weak arguments, this is surely one of the weakest. Yet, that it is made at all illustrates the strange world inhabited by the ANC’s candidates. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

Acting Chief Procurement Officer Willie Mathebula proclaimed his office’s automated supplier register as “quite an achievement”, but was evasive regarding the review of contracts at SAA. The official list of reviews of contracts worth more than R10-million presented to finance committee MPs included troubled state-owned entities Eskom and Prasa alongside the SABC. SAA slipped in during questions by Parliament’s finance committee. That’s not unsurprising as the national airline received R5.2-billion in government bailouts in the past three months. By MARIANNE MERTEN.

Thanks to an electronic monitoring device that went missing, Dineo Kgatle spent 26 months behind bars for doing nothing wrong. In a ruling that could see a precedent-setting damages claim, his arrest and incarceration have been declared unlawful. By CAROLYN RAPHAELY for the Wits Justice Project.