There is something sad about visiting your hometown. A decade since you rode those familiar roads and yet the potholes, chopped-down street lights and broken robots resemble more a post-apocalypse scene than a passage of sweet memories. This town could be one of the hundreds across South Africa where governance has collapsed and the city is being stolen piece by piece. This week, suspected cable theft sparked a fire under the heart of Johannesburg. The City of Gold and Prosperity became a literal smoke screen as dark clouds reached to the sky. ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: What are you waitin ..read more

Rulani Mokwena says Mamelodi Sundowns are now targetting a highest ever points total in the 16-team Premier Soccer League era, after wrapping up a seventh consecutive DStv Premiership title with a 5-1 thumping of Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on Thursday. Pitso Mosimane’s Sundowns won the league with 71 points in the 2015/16 season, and while Mokwena’s Masandawana managed 70 points last season, they have every chance of doing better this time around. With six games left to play, Masandawana already have 62 points, meaning 80 points is even a possibility, if they can win all their remaining leag ..read more

 The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party says the African National Congress (ANC) continues to show its “desperation” with former president Jacob Zuma when they should be focusing on their election campaign. The ANC on Thursday confirmed that Zuma is expected to face an ANC disciplinary hearing next Tuesday for contravening party rules. Watch MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela speaking about Zuma’s disciplinary hearing [WATCH] MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela says the former ANC president will be available on Tuesday to face charges brought against him by the ANC. Ndhlela says the party will ..read more

‘Disco Music King” Forsta Teanet has accused the Limpopo government of snubbing him from the annual Marula festival, which runs from today to Sunday. Every year, the small mining and tourism town of Phalaborwa becomes a hype of heritage and cultural activities that culminates into a music festival. ALSO READ: The Cape Town International Jazz Festival returns after four-year hiatus and some postponements The event, which is sponsored by the Limpopo department of economic development, environment and tourism – is held at various venues around Phalaborwa, with the final gig at the Phalaborwa Impa ..read more

While the retrenchment of thousands of SA Post Office (Sapo) staff could not be averted, business rescue practitioners were yesterday bullish about prospects of turning around the state-owned entity to profitability. Juanito Damons and Anoosh Rooplal were confident about taking around the entity, which has cost the government billions of rands in bailouts. ALSO READ: Thousands of post office workers fear ruin The business rescue practitioners have proposed an action to reduce the annual employee cost by about R1.2 billion, coming up with a plan to right size the business through the retrenchme ..read more

Following plans by embattled mining houses to retrench thousands of workers, labour federation Cosatu yesterday launched last-ditch efforts to engage government and the industry over the pending job cuts. Cosatu affiliate the National Union of Mineworkers threatened to embark on mass action over the planned cuts as several mining companies already issued retrenchment notices to workers, with the federation saying it was “deeply concerned” about the implications. ALSO READ: Tripartite Alliance: Cosatu accused of betraying workers “We are engaging government and industry to avoid any job losses ..read more

Fed up residents from the small holdings north of Pretoria have started fixing their own roads. Yesterday, Karneels Smit and his brother Francios were on Coin Road with a small team of workers to repair one of the many potholes in the area. ALSO READ: Hurry up and wait for Human Rights Day? Frantic pothole patching ahead of Ramaphosa’s address Smit, whose father was a livestock farmer, said they had no choice but to jump in and start repairing the road. “The roads impact our business,” he said. “Our clients moan that they can’t get to us. We also have elderly people in our area with small cars ..read more

In today’s news, a government spokesperson said South Africa would never accept migrants from the UK as Rwanda is doing, a man has fallen through a roof and to his death at a shopping centre in Middelburg, and former president Jacob Zuma will be hauled before the ANC National Disciplinary Committee next week. We also look at how a defence lawyer in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial accused the state of being dishonest about needing more time, how the ANC, DA and EFF plan to tackle crime should they win at the elections and former Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has been awarded an honorary doctorat ..read more

Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald said South Africa’s economy declined to such a severe extent under the ANC rule that Workers’ Day should be dubbed Unemployment Day. Groenewald said the ANC does not realise that jobs can only be created if government policies are amended to create a favourable environment for investors. ALSO READ: ‘Workers’ Day should be Unemployment Day’ – FF Plus “Without economic growth, there can be no sustainable job creation,” he said. Yesterday, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said one of the party’s most transformative achievements has been the i ..read more

‘When China needs new places for people to live, they just build a new city. They’ve built 600 of them since 1949,” wrote Nathan J Robinson last month in the Current Affairs magazine, of which he is the editor-in-chief. The article put forward suggested solutions to solve California’s housing and homelessness crisis that has overwhelmed the state over the past two decades. ALSO READ: Vulnerable children tossed out onto the street? There shouldn’t be a housing crisis in California, he states. “It’s not like California is full – the state’s land is vast and mostly sparsely populated. There are e ..read more