The Weekend Wrap

Unpacking the Colombian cocaine kidnapping saga; the myth-making of Ray McCauley; plus images of a young humpback whale that washed ashore – all in your Weekend Wrap.

Earlier this year it emerged that suspected Cape Town gang boss Peter Jaggers and an associate may have been kidnapped in a saga involving Colombian cocaine traffickers. Now their bodies have been found bound and cuffed in a Free State river.

By Caryn Dolley

Earlier this year it emerged that suspected Cape Town gang boss Peter Jaggers and an associate may have been kidnapped in a saga involving Colombian cocaine traffickers. Now their bodies have been found bound and cuffed in a Free State river.

By Caryn Dolley

The story of the late pastor Ray McCauley is something like the narrative of the Rainbow Nation: steeped in myth, partly inspirational, and partly a bit of a con.

By Rebecca Davis

The parties are over.

By Richard Poplak

Medical schemes have started announcing their annual contribution increases for 2025 and at least four big schemes are in double-digit territory with another two not far behind.

By Neesa Moodley

After years of taps running dry and a system that often looks like a Day Zero scenario (when water runs out), the Coronationville community took to the streets on 16 October, stopping traffic and setting fires to protest against their plight. 

By Ferial Haffajee

There are no geographic boundaries when it comes to organised crime. It permeates every area of society, but it ‘cannot operate or survive’ without the help of the state. This was a key message from a Daily Maverick webinar that was held to launch a book by investigative crime journalist Caryn Dolley.

By Victoria O’Regan

It’s whale season in South Africa, a time when locals and tourists usually marvel at seeing these fascinating creatures breaching gleefully in our bays or floating calmly beneath the surface of the ocean. However, Tuesday morning brought a heartbreaking scene – the sight of a dead humpback whale beached along Long Beach in Simon’s Town. 

By Gunnar Oberhosel

Be thankful we have escaped the ravages that afflict our neighbours for they are worse than those that afflict us, though Panyaza Lesufi is smoothing the path for more affliction, while the commies cry, “Long live the king”.

By Shaun de Waal

Having championed the VW Kombi and red veldskoene, taught us songs that made us laugh at ourselves, and discovered incredible folk musicians during his forays into the Karoo and Kalahari, David Kramer this month brings to the stage his first collaboration with Cape Town Opera, illuminating a near-forgotten musical impresario named Orpheus McAdoo.

By Keith Bain

‘He is the most incredible man,’ says a new fan of the freshly minted minister of sport, arts and culture. Perhaps it’s true, but Gayton McKenzie risks developing a new addiction to adulation.

By Marianne Thamm

Brighton have had a solid start to the league campaign under new manager Fabian Hürzeler, and appear set to defy the odds once more.

By Yanga Sibembe

Sewage contamination incidents around parts of Cape Town’s coastline, and the City of Cape Town’s marine outfalls in Camps Bay, Hout Bay and Green Point, where sewage is pumped into the ocean daily, have sparked debate about public health, pollution and infrastructure failures.

By Kristin Engel

Frieze Sculpture, set against the backdrop of London’s Regent’s Park, features works from 22 artists spanning five continents. Curated by author and writer Fatoş Üstek, this year’s public art exhibition includes two commanding sculptures by South African artists Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa.

By Emilie Gambade

This years’ winners find democratic institutions and the rule of law are more likely to have been established in countries in which European colonisers faced little resistance.

By John Hawkins

It’s 1889, a time when Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and Antonin Carême were long dead but Auguste Escoffier was only starting as director of London’s Savoy Hotel kitchen, in the nascence of his fame. In this world, at the dawn of a new age of French cuisine, a beautiful romance is danced around the making, and eating, of food.

By Tony Jackman

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