South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 10 January 2018
Zuma makes last-minute Cape Commission call, Steve Bannon bails Breitbart, and DRC struggles to handle cholera outbreak.
Wednesday, 10 January 2018
“Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?”
Pope Julius III
STORY OF THE DAY
ANC’s 106th: As tectonic plates are shifting, Zuma pulls State Capture Commission move
By CARIEN DU PLESSIS
The ANC kicked off the week by celebrating its 106th birthday, but it could be a different organisation by the time its birthday rally comes around on Saturday. The ground is shifting to favour the party’s new leadership, and President Jacob Zuma’s late-night announcement on Tuesday that he’ll be appointing a state capture probe is one sign of that. Then there is also news that two African presidents will, unusually, grace the former liberation movement’s weekend celebrations.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Corruption probe given a delayed Zuma thumbs-up
Embattled President Jacob Zuma announced late on Tuesday that the much-delayed, Zuma-challenged investigation into state corruption would begin. Making the announcement just hours before the ANC NEC could start discussing Zuma’s removal, the presidential thumbs-up was less voluntary and more the culmination of exhausted options by Saxonwold’s number one.
Steve Bannon has resigned as chief of Breitbart news in the wake of a conservative backlash that clearly enjoys eating their own. Bannon was cited in a new book by Michael Wolff as calling President Trump’s son “treasonous” for meeting a Kremlin associate. In 2018, the alt-right term this criticism unacceptable. Bannon attempted to walk back his comments in an effort to salvage his lunch ticket, but evidently remains persona non grata amongst the Trump supporter base.
Trump shines in rare bipartisan compromise
President Trump, possibly for the first time in his term, has acted presidential. Trump hosted a high-level meeting on reaching a compromise on undocumented migrants. Finding a middle ground between democrats and republicans, Trump stated that he was amenable to a more constructive immigration reform policy, which could allow for 11 million immigrants to access citizenship. Though actively contradicting his 2016 campaign platform, at least Tuesday showed that even a broken president could get it right once in a while.
Cholera threat escalates in DRC
The DRC’s capital Kinshasa has experienced widespread flooding and mudslides, resulting in a major outbreak of cholera. Medecins sans Frontieres stated that over 100 Congolese a week are being added to the list of cholera cases. While California deals with 13 dead in their own mudslides, Kinshasa has seen at least 48 dead in the recent rains and landslides. As latrines and a crumbling sanitation system buckle under the waters, a major cholera outbreak looks to be unavoidable.
IN NUMBERS
1707
The year in which a castle in the Czech Republic first filled its moat with bears. It remains stocked with the finest Czech bears to this day.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1946 the first General Assembly of the United Nations opens.
An Oxford University study established that highly religious people and atheists are the least afraid of death.
FEATURED ARTICLES
Cape Town faces hefty revenue shortfall due to water-saving tactics
BY AYANDA CHARLIE AND LEILA DOUGAN
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