Newsdeck

Newsdeck

While you were sleeping: 22 April 2016

While you were sleeping: 22 April 2016

Prince found dead at home, aged 57. Obama defends British EU membership, and Polish experts to restore lion statue in Palmyra.

“Everyone has their own experience. That’s why we are here, to go through our experience, to learn, to go down those paths and eventually you may have gone down so many paths and learned so much that you don’t have to come back again.”
 
– Prince

Story of the Day

Original Sin: The arms deal and South Africa’s sullied political story 
When future generations look back at this epoch, the R46-billion defence acquisition will be what triggered our loss of innocence. It was what changed the political story from a miracle nation that triumphed over oppression to a broken nation overcome with rot. It was where we detoured off the sun-dappled road and staggered down the dark, rutted path from where there seems to be no escape. Yet another government commission of inquiry has left South Africans feeling enraged and robbed of the truth, at a high cost. The military hardware, like the president’s Nkandla residence, stand as monuments of our decline. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

While you were sleeping

Prince has passed away
The iconic artist was found dead at his secluded Minnesota house yesterday. Respondents to an emergency call found Prince slumped over in an elevator, and he was pronounced dead at 10:07 am (15:07 GMT).
Read More

Chad re-elects president amid electoral fraud claims
Idriss Déby was announced winner, again, after 26 years in power. Opposition parties have claimed that hundreds of ballot boxes had gone missing, claiming Déby’s win was an apparent fraud. African Union observers, however, had already declared the elections free and fair.
Read More

Obama dives head first into Brexit debate
President Barack Obama has noted with interest the ongoing British debate on its European Union membership. Making an appeal through the Daily Telegraph, Obama mentioned the “deep interest” the US has in the Brexit debate, and strongly urged British citizens to remain in the union.
Read More

Experts to return to Palmyra
Two Polish heritage professionals will be heading back to Palmyra to restore its iconic lion statue. The same pair had worked on the monument in 2005. This time, however, dodging mines and unexploded ordnance will also be part of the job.
Read More

In Numbers

25,000
The dollar amount for a bounty placed on Eleanor Roosevelt’s head by the Ku Klux Klan.

Facts of the Day

Today is international Mother Earth Day. Hugging trees is encouraged, but not strictly observed.

Fact of the day: ‘Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office’ is a title by the British government. It can only be given to a cat.


Weather & Financial Data

BFN: min: 12° max: 27°, cloudy
CPT: min: 16° max: 21°, rainy
DBN: min: 21° max: 30°, cloudy
EL: min: 21° max: 31°, cloudy
JHB: min: 16° max: 28°, cloudy
KIM: min: 19° max: 28°, cloudy
NLP: min: 15° max: 31°, cloudy
PMB: min: 13° max: 27°, sunny
PKN: min: 15° max: 29°, cloudy
PE: min: 18° max: 25°, cloudy
PTA: min: 11° max: 28°, cloudy
Oil=$44.78 Gold=$1,249.55 Platinum=$1,025.95
R/$=14.30 R/€=16.15 R/£=20.50 $/€=1.12
JSE All Share=53,323.58 DJIA=17,982.52 FTSE 100=6,381.44: Source

Now on Daily Maverick

FEATURES
Photo: South African and ruling African National Congress (ANC)
President Thabo Mbeki (L)and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma (R) arrive for
the opening address of the 52nd ANC National Conference at the University
of Limpopo in Polokwane, South Africa, 16 December 2007. EPA/JON HRUSA Original Sin: The arms deal and South Africa’s sullied political story 
By Ranjeni Munusamy
Photo: A Gripen fighter jet performs at the 2006 Africa Aerospace and
Defence show in Cape Town, South Africa Tuesday 19 September 2006. EPA/NIC
BOTHMA Arms Deal Report Op-Ed: More prevarication, less truth, no justice 
By A FEINSTEIN, P HOLDEN AND H VAN VUUREN
Photo: South African Navy corvettes built by German company Thyssen
Krupp at anchor ahead of the Presidential Fleet Review in Simonstown, South
Africa 05 September 2008. The Presidential Fleet Review showcased the
entire South African navy fleet to the president. German company Thyssen
Krupp were suppliers of corvettes and submarines to South Africa. EPA/NIC
BOTHMA Arms Deal: The military side of the equation 
By John Stupart
Photo: A South African Airforce helicopter flies above the new South
African Navy submarine SAS Queen Modjadji as it arrives in Simonstown,
South Africa, 22 May 2008. This is the latest submarine supplied by German
shipping company Thyssen Krupp Marine to South Africa. The Class 209
submarine is one of three that were part of the massive 4.8 billion US
dollars (3 billion euro) South Africa spent modernising its military when
the United Nations arms sanctions were lifted at the end of apartheid. 
EPA/NIC BOTHMA Seriti Commission findings on Arms Deal: It ain’t over till ConCourt sings 
By Marianne Thamm
Photo: Second SA Navy Corvette arrives at South Africa Naval
headquarters in Simonstown south of Cape Town South Africa on Wednesday, 25
February 2004. One of four, the SAS Isandlwana, arrived from Kiel in
Germany via France and Spain. The corvettes is part of the South African
controversial 7.3 billion euro arms deal scandal. EPA/Wayne Conradie Seriti Commission findings on Arms Deal: But what about those two shipping containers full of documents? 
By Marianne Thamm
jerm-arms-deal-commission.jpg Cartoon: Seriti Commission’s Operation Clean-up 
By JERM
Photo: Then Justice Minister Jeff Radebe speaks at a briefing in
Pretoria on Friday, 21 September 2012. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA Oakbay Resourceful: Gupta business gets a lifeline, and Cabinet’s helping hand 
By Greg Nicolson
Photo: South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC)
president Jacob Zuma speaks at an election rally after his appearance in
the Pietermaritzburg High Court in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 4
February 2009. Zuma’s case of fraud, racketeering, corruption and
money laundering related to allegations of impropriety in an arms deal was
postponed until 25 August, enabling his possible election as president of
the republic, as he is the ANC's presidential candidate.  EPA/JON HRUSA Op-Ed: Yes, Zuma must go. But what are the reasons? 
By Raymond Suttner
Photo of Stellenbosch University by Chronon6.97. Op-Ed: Language, Knowledge and the Stellenbosch Dilemma 
By Lloyd Hill
Photo by GroundUp. Letter to the Editor: Appeasing the UCT Taliban 
By Daily Maverick Staff Reporter
Photo by ZME Science. Rooftop Solar PV will be a game changer 
By Dirk de Vos
Photo: School children stand in a line as they wait for a soap handout
near King Williams Town, South Africa, 01 March 2016. EPA/KIM LUDBROOK Op-Ed: A 5-point plan to fix the basic education crisis 
By Faranaaz Veriava
Photo: (Left) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures
and declares ‘Youre fired’ at a rally in Manchester, New
Hampshire, June 17, 2015.  REUTERS/Dominick Reuter; (Right) Tears well up
in South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob
Zuma’s eyes as he listens to speeches in his honour at an election
rally after his appearance in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 4 February 2009. EPA/JON HRUSA Trump: A Lesson for South Africa? 
By John Matisonn
Photo: Students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) protest in
Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa 20 October 2015. EPA/NIC BOTHMA Higher Education: Saving the ‘missing’ middle 
By Marianne Merten
Photo: A handout photograph made available by the African
Union–United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (Unamid) on 16 March
2011, shows Sudanese Internally Displaced Persons who fled their village,
following clashes between the Government of Sudan and rebel movements at
Zamzam IDP camp, North Darfur, Sudan, 15 March 2011. According to the
Unamid tens of thousands of internally displaced people arrived to take
shelter at IDP camps following the clashes. EPA/OLIVIER CHASSOT/UNAMID Sudan: Could the UN’s biggest peacekeeping mission leave Darfur? 
By Nuba Reports
Photo: Grippen fighter plane. (Reuters) Arms Deal: Struggle for accountability continues 
By A FEINSTEIN, P HOLDEN AND H VAN VUUREN
Photo: President Jacob Zuma. (EPA) Statement by President Jacob Zuma on the release of The Arms Deal Report 
By President Jacob Zuma
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers carry the tusk of an
elephant, arranging them at a burning site after offloading them
from a container at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, 20 April 2016.
Containers loaded with ivory tusks from various parts of the country like
Mombasa, Voi, Nanyuki and other places were offloaded at the burning site
ahead of the ivory burning event on 30 April 2016 where 105 tonnes of ivory
is set to be burned. This would be the single biggest haul ever to be
burned. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU While you were sleeping: 21 April 2016 
By John Stupart

OPINIONS

paul-hoffman.jpg Freedom Day: Then. And Now. 
By Paul Hoffman
Jarred-Cinman.jpg Hillary and Discrimination: Why she Must Win 
By Jarred Cinman
Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.