Defend Truth

The Weekend Wrap

A preventable disaster all but wipes out Jagersfontein, the Rising Star caves are about to reveal a new scientific breakthrough and Discovery poses an investment riddle – all in this weekend’s wrap of the week.

Jagersfontein is a small town in the Free State that sprung up during the diamond rush of the 1870s. In the early hours of Sunday, 11 September, tragedy struck after a slime dam wall collapsed near the open-pit mine, causing a mudslide and devastating flooding in several areas in the town. 

By Felix Dlangamandla

Jagersfontein is a small town in the Free State that sprung up during the diamond rush of the 1870s. In the early hours of Sunday, 11 September, tragedy struck after a slime dam wall collapsed near the open-pit mine, causing a mudslide and devastating flooding in several areas in the town. 

By Felix Dlangamandla

Professor Lee Berger, one of the world’s most prolific human fossil finders, is on the brink of revealing a major breakthrough in the Rising Star cave system.

By Yves Vanderhaeghen

A multi-year tax evasion investigation found the company was making a fortune in cash from illicit tobacco sales. GLTC laundered the money through cash-in-transit and gold companies and then allegedly paid off at least five Sasfin employees with cash to sneak more than R3-billion out of the country – without alerting the authorities.

By Pauli van Wyk

WhatsApp messages show how R3bn in dirty money was washed through Sasfin Bank accounts
Sasfin sign on a building in Sandton, Johannesburg. (Photo by Gallo Images/Charles Gallo)

A multi-year tax evasion investigation found the company was making a fortune in cash from illicit tobacco sales. GLTC laundered the money through cash-in-transit and gold companies and then allegedly paid off at least five Sasfin employees with cash to sneak more than R3-billion out of the country – without alerting the authorities.

By Pauli van Wyk

Markets are almost, by definition, a catalogue of inconsistencies. Because they are based on the decisions of hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of people, they are affected by a cacophony of views and expectations, sometimes in agreement, often in conflict. They are by definition right and by definition wrong.

By Tim Cohen

Former president Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II got along because they were both preserved from a previous age by their vastly different circumstances – he by his imprisonment and she by the straitjacket of tradition.

By Ray Hartley

Former President Nelson Mandela seated in Parliament with Queen Elizabeth II. March 1995. (Photo: Gallo Images / Oryx Media Archive)

Former president Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II got along because they were both preserved from a previous age by their vastly different circumstances – he by his imprisonment and she by the straitjacket of tradition.

By Ray Hartley

A year after moving to Stellenbosch and being placed in the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport in 2018, Brown was on the verge of making his Blitzboks debut in April 2019 in Los Angeles. But the fleet-footed player’s career was brought to a halt as it was about to take off.

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

After the Bell

Markets are almost, by definition, a catalogue of inconsistencies. Because they are based on the decisions of hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of people, they are affected by a cacophony of views and expectations, sometimes in agreement, often in conflict. They are by definition right and by definition wrong.

By Tim Cohen

climate change tipping point

Fresh water is the bloodstream of the biosphere. Until recently, only Blue Water — on land and in the atmosphere — has been intensely studied. But Green Water in the soil is vital for ecosystem functioning and has been insufficiently researched and understood.

By Don Pinnock

Fresh water is the bloodstream of the biosphere. Until recently, only Blue Water — on land and in the atmosphere — has been intensely studied. But Green Water in the soil is vital for ecosystem functioning and has been insufficiently researched and understood.

By Don Pinnock

Mother and baby from the Waterfall baboon troop, Simon's Town.
(Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

In some South African communities it is crime, in others it is crumbling infrastructure. Right now in Simon’s Town, on the Cape Peninsula, it is baboons bringing the community together. A volunteer initiative among residents hopes to tilt the scales through patient dialogue.

By Paul Willis

In some South African communities it is crime, in others it is crumbling infrastructure. Right now in Simon’s Town, on the Cape Peninsula, it is baboons bringing the community together. A volunteer initiative among residents hopes to tilt the scales through patient dialogue.

By Peter Willis

The head of general surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, Professor Lydia Cairncross is a sharp thinker and a straight talker. Whether it is on issues of equity and social justice or how to strengthen quality healthcare, Cairncross speaks her mind.

By Tiyese Jeranji for Spotlight

The head of general surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, Professor Lydia Cairncross is a sharp thinker and a straight talker. Whether it is on issues of social justice or how to strengthen quality healthcare, Cairncross speaks her mind.

By Tiyese Jeranji for Spotlight

'Angry artist', an AI-generated image, created in Midjourney. Image: Malibongwe Tyilo

As newsrooms and would-be artists increasingly dabble in AI-generated images, artists and illustrators have raised concerns about the software’s potential risks.

By Malibongwe Tyilo

As newsrooms and would-be artists increasingly dabble in AI-generated images, artists and illustrators have raised concerns about the software’s potential risks.

By Malibongwe Tyilo

In the old kitchens of the Karoo, puddings were always made from scratch and with love, by hands that well understood the traditional implements of every farm kitchen.

By Tony Jackman

Subscribe to First Thing to receive the Weekend Wrap in your inbox every Sunday morning.

If you value the work our journalists do and want to support Daily Maverick, consider becoming a Maverick Insider.