--- title: "Weekend Wrap: Inside the GNU, Halloween horrors, and quiet power in small gestures" type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "Articles" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-11-01-inside-the-gnu-halloween-horrors-and-quiet-power-in-small-gestures/" published: "2025-11-01T00:00:00" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 804 --- # Weekend Wrap: Inside the GNU, Halloween horrors, and quiet power in small gestures Published 1 November 2025, 02:00 SAST ## Content ## The Weekend Wrap Inside the talks that shaped the GNU, Halloween horrors, and the quiet power of small gestures. All in the Weekend Wrap. ## [The Deal — SA leadership and how it fashioned a GNU born ‘with forceps’](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-28-the-deal-sa-leadership-and-how-it-fashioned-a-gnu-born-with-forceps/) Veteran journalist and author Mandy Wiener’s just-published, The Deal: Inside the Talks that Shaped South Africa’s Future, captures the remarkable machinations behind the formation of South Africa’s second multiparty government. By Marianne Thamm ## [Off the grey list, on to the to-do list](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-27-off-the-grey-list-on-to-the-to-do-list/) Getting off the grey list might be a big sign that the government is getting its act together, but will it continue to improve? Meanwhile, not everyone in the financial world is celebrating this ‘victory’. By Stephen Grootes ## [100km in under six hours — SA’s Sibusiso Kubheka stuns the world](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-100km-in-under-six-hours-sas-sibusiso-kubheka-stuns-world/) Kubheka’s run proved that covering 100km in under six hours is possible, as he embodies something essential about South Africa at its best. By Iza Trengove ## The Weekend Wrap Inside the talks that shaped the GNU, Halloween horrors, and the quiet power of small gestures. All in the Weekend Wrap. ![the deal mandy wiener](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ThammWiener2-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=720%2C360&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [The Deal — SA leadership and how it fashioned a GNU born ‘with forceps’](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-28-the-deal-sa-leadership-and-how-it-fashioned-a-gnu-born-with-forceps/) Veteran journalist and author Mandy Wiener’s just-published, The Deal: Inside the Talks that Shaped South Africa’s Future, captures the remarkable machinations behind the formation of South Africa’s second multiparty government. By Marianne Thamm ## [Off the grey list, on to the to-do list](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-27-off-the-grey-list-on-to-the-to-do-list/) Getting off the grey list might be a big sign that the government is getting its act together, but will it continue to improve? Meanwhile, not everyone in the financial world is celebrating this ‘victory’. By Stephen Grootes ![greylist](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ATB-Transactions-scaled.jpg?fit=720%2C360&quality=89&ssl=1) ![Image](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/701826-scaled.jpg?fit=720%2C480&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [100km in under six hours — SA’s Sibusiso Kubheka stuns the world](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-100km-in-under-six-hours-sas-sibusiso-kubheka-stuns-world/) Kubheka’s run proved that covering 100km in under six hours is possible, as he embodies something essential about South Africa at its best. By Iza Trengove ![Cartoon Rico](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Halloween-2025-Col-2000px.jpg?fit=720%2C449&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [Halloween Horrors](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-halloween-horrors/) Trick or treat, SA 2025: NHI monsters, tenderpreneurs, online slots—and a police inquiry’s can of worms. By Rico ## [‘My job is to shoot’ — guns blaze in Westbury as rival gangs battle for turf](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-28-my-job-is-to-shoot-guns-blaze-in-westbury-as-rival-gangs-battle-for-turf/) In Westbury, Johannesburg, the police arrived with promises following a shooting last week that left two teenagers dead and five injured. Residents have heard it all before. By Shaun Smillie ## [President Trump and First Lady host Trick-Or-Treaters at the White House, and more from around the world](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-photo-essay-week-4-pictures/) Moving, tragic, surprising, inspiring, terrifying, shocking… This is a selection of images from our planet,over the past seven days. By Daily Maverick Photo Team ![Image](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Image-6-1.jpg?fit=720%2C449&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [Lobsters, Bitcoin and bribes as a business journalist goes to Mozambique](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-30-waves-of-change-as-mozambiques-coastal-economy-reveals-lessons-beyond-the-beachfront/) A family road trip to Mozambique promised this journalist a much-needed rest but instead delivered a crash course in the country’s economy, taught by fishermen, beach vendors and very persuasive traffic officers. By Kara le Roux ## [Boks to show tactical hand in two New Zealand ‘finals’ in Auckland and Wellington](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-29-boks-to-show-tactical-hand-in-two-new-zealand-finals-in-auckland-and-wellington/) Coach Rassie Erasmus has marked the end-of-year tour matches against Six Nations champions France and northern rivals Ireland as season-defining, but the next two Tests in Aotearoa may well shape this great team’s legacy. By Jon Cardinelli ![Springboks face the All Blacks](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TL_2119588.jpg?fit=720%2C465&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [SA’s provincial nature reserves, and our conservation legacy, are dying](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-sas-provincial-nature-reserves-and-our-conservation-legacy-are-dying/) South Africa prides itself on being one of the most biodiverse nations on Earth, yet a new report reveals that the very lands entrusted to safeguard this wealth are falling apart, in a systemic collapse of provincial conservation governance. By Adam Cruise ## [Wolvaardt and Kapp power Proteas to maiden Women’s Cricket World Cup final](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-29-wolvaardt-and-kapp-power-proteas-to-maiden-womens-cricket-world-cup-final/) South Africa, 319 for 7 (Laura Wolvaardt 169, Sophie Ecclestone 4-44), beat England, 194 (Nat Sciver-Brunt 64, Alice Capsey 50, Marizanne Kapp 5-20), by 125 runs. By Keanan Hemmonsbey ![francesca albanese](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/6I1A1568-scaled.jpg?fit=720%2C480&quality=89&ssl=1) ## [‘Activists are the antibodies of a healthy society,’ says UN’s Francesca Albanese](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-28-middle-east-activists-the-antibodies-of-a-healthy-society-francesca-albanese/) On the eve of giving the 2025 Nelson Mandela annual lecture, an interview with Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. By Mark Heywood ## [The quiet power of small gestures](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-28-the-quiet-power-of-small-gestures/) Giving isn’t always grand. It can be as small as a nod, a moment of recognition, a kindness offered when least expected. At a time when the world turns inwards, acknowledging someone else can be its own quiet form of grace. By Louise Janovsky ![Image](https://i0.wp.com/www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_04_24_CROSSWORDS-GIF-TEST3-1.gif?fit=400%2C217&ssl=1) ## [Daily Mini Crossword Quickie](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/mini-crosswords/) [Play here.](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/mini-crosswords/) ## [Yeoville Dinner Club’s Sanza Sandile brings pan-African cuisine to the States](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-31-yeoville-dinner-clubs-sanza-sandile-brings-pan-african-cuisine-to-the-states/) Founded by former radio broadcaster Sanza Sandile, Yeoville Dinner Club is a curated ‘breaking bread’-style dinner that blends storytelling with food. In August, Sandile’s Dinner Club was recreated in seven major cities in the United States including Boston, which I attended. By Naomi Campbell [Subscribe to First Thing](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/edit-my-profile/) to receive the Weekend Wrap in your inbox every Sunday morning. 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