--- title: "While you were sleeping: 17 November 2017" description: "#GuptaLeaks team takes top honours at Vodacom awards, Mugabe resists stepping down in tense meeting, and Japan suffers \"tremendous\" delay." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "South Africa" author: "John Stupart" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/johnstupart/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-11-17-while-you-were-sleeping-17-november-2017/" published: "2017-11-17T05:48:14" updated: "2017-11-17T05:48:15" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 813 --- # While you were sleeping: 17 November 2017 > #GuptaLeaks team takes top honours at Vodacom awards, Mugabe resists stepping down in tense meeting, and Japan suffers "tremendous" delay. By John Stupart · Published 17 November 2017, 07:48 SAST · Updated 17 November 2017, 07:48 SAST ## Content **TGIF, 17 November 2017** *“If some lives form a perfect circle, others take shape in ways we cannot predict or always understand. Loss has been part of my journey. But it has also shown me what is precious. So has love for which I can only be grateful.”* **Nicholas Sparks** ![Image](https://i2.createsend1.com/ei/d/86/188/1B8/csimport/849x493q70carien-branches-anc1.050143.jpg) STORY OF THE DAY [ANC Leadership Race: Desperate moves at branch level as clock ticks to December](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-x/) By CARIEN DU PLESSIS Less than a month stands between sometimes chaotic branch meetings, a rising number of disputes, a consultative gathering by angry party veterans, and the ANC’s much-anticipated elective conference that starts at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on 16 December. Still, so tight is the race that no party insider in the know would dare to bet on a front-runner. [Daily Maverick takes top award at Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-m/) It was a good night for Daily Maverick at the 2017 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards in Midrand on Thursday night. The Daily Maverick reporting on #Guptaleaks, carried out in collaboration with amaBhungane and News24, won the national Financial/Economic category - and also took the coveted top prize of Overall Winner. A judges' panel led by Ryland Fisher had glowing words for the #GuptaLeaks work, saying that the Daily Maverick-amaBhungane-News24 team was a shining example of collaborative work in a competitive environment. [AU to let SADC take the lead on Zimbabwe](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-c/) As Robert Mugabe stalls for his future in Harare, the African Union has said that it will let the SADC bloc take the lead actor role. SADC has had issues in this role before, having yet to deploy a military force to Maseru months later. Nonetheless, with Mugabe stalling, and the Zimbabwean military[still in power](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-q/) on Friday morning, SADC will certainly have its job cut out for it. Nobody in its Gaborone headquarters gets a weekend, in other words. [Massive defence budget increase for US](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-a/) The United States Congress has submitted a whopping $700-billion defence budget for President Donald Trump's signature. The figure is $26-billion more than even Trump requested, and if signed it will signify a 15% increase in spending. The budget makes allowance for new F-35 fighter jets, new M1 Abrams tank variants, a military pay increase, and - one expects of this budget - a fully operational laser-eyed T-Rex. [Japan Railway apologises for 'delay'](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-f/) While Zimbabwean politics have embroiled Southern Africa in a crisis this week, Japan has been battling its own existential torment. Japan Railway deeply apologised for one train departing 20 seconds too early. The "tremendous nuisance" left rail chiefs in a flurry of crisis at the ridiculous non-delay. Japanese trains have been notoriously efficient, meaning your average Tokyo conductor would spontaneously combust should they be transferred to Cape Town Station for a rush-hour shift. — IN NUMBERS 10 The number of times more waste generated using coffee capsules instead of ordinary drip coffee. FACTS OF THE DAY Today is**Cyril Ramaphosa's birthday**. No clues for what he'll be wishing for when he blows out his candles. **Tea**was used as a currency in Siberia up until the 1940s. ![Image](https://i5.createsend1.com/ei/d/86/188/1B8/csimport/GleakswN24.190025.jpg) FEATURED ARTICLES ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70ThammHSBCreply.jpg) [State Capture: HSBC continues to investigate its links to Gupta family](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-yd/) BY MARIANNE THAMM ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70greg-DA-Gauteng.jpg) [DA’s 2019 Gauteng ambitions divide party ahead of provincial election](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-yk/) BY GREG NICOLSON ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70peterFab-zim-ENDgame-mugabe.jpg) [Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s exit strategy on the high-level negotiation table](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-jl/) BY PETER FABRICIUS ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70ZimDay1-6-MAIN-PHOTO.jpg) [Harare: Business as usual (Photo Essay)](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-jy/) BY SHAUN SWINGLER ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70rebecca-AFriforum-jiba.jpg) [AfriForum’s private prosecution plan under way with Jiba in sights](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-jt/) BY REBECCA DAVIS ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70yelland-electrictysales.jpg) [Op-Ed: Eskom’s sales, revenue and debtor management challenges](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-jd/) BY C YELLAND & Y GROENEWALD ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70merten-parlynotebook-mgidlana.jpg) [Parliamentary Reporter’s Notebook: Furore erupts over audit report undermining Gengezi Mgidlana’s disciplinary](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-jk/) BY MARIANNE MERTEN ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70sally-zim-beatrice.jpg) [Zimbabwe: No point in military intervention if Mugabe retains power – human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-tl/) BY SALLY NYAKANYANGA ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70muller-sportingnotebook.jpg) [Reporter’s Sporting Weekend Notebook: A week of epic World Cup fails](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-ty/) BY ANTOINETTE MULLER ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/849x493q70chroicle-dayzero-MAIN.jpg) [Water Crisis: City of Cape Town reveals plan for 200 distribution points in the event of ‘Day Zero’](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-tt/) BY AYANDA CHARLIE AND LEILA DOUGAN OPINIONISTAS ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/190x170q707fc6b61188b1c5c5e41f8b57f7356f0c.jpg) [The Other News Round-Up: Paranoia Will Destroy Ya](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-td/) A column by MARELISE VAN DER MERWE ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/190x170q70David-N.jpg) [Hostility towards any section of society is a betrayal of the ANC character](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-tk/) A column by DAVID KA-NDYALVAN ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/190x170q70KaressaGovender.jpg) [Are South African health workers being silenced into malpractice?](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-il/) A column by KARESSA GOVENDER ![Image](https://images.www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/190x170q70vuyokazi.jpg) [Sleeping with a feminist is not a conquest: My relationship with a banker](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-uhslht-l-iy/) A column by VUYOKAZI FUTSHANE — **Weather** BFN: min: 7° max 21°, sunny CPT: min: 13° max: 22°, sunny DBN: min: 14° max: 21°, cloudy EL: min: 11° max: 19°, cloudy JHB: min: 8° max: 21°, cloudy KIM: min: 9° max: 22°, sunny MHK: min: 9° max: 24°, cloudy PMB: min: 9° max: 22°, cloudy PE: min: 9° max: 22°, cloudy PTA: min: 10° max: 23°, sunny **Financial Data** Oil=$61.36 Gold=$1,278.56 Platinum=$933.04 R/$=14.15 R/€=16.65 R/£=18.67 $/€=0.86 JSE All Share=59,549.22 DJIA=23,458.36 FTSE 100=7,386.94