DA sniffs out rebels as fowls slain and court curbs faith

In a mini dress rehearsal for the August 3 vote of no-confidence on President Jacob Zuma in parliament, Mogale City, on Gauteng’s West Rand, slipped back into the hands of the ANC. DA councillors “voluntarily” submitted to a lie-detector test to see which of them had voted for the ANC mayoral candidate. One failed, and resigned.

In the High Court in Johannesburg, a judge ruled that it would henceforth be illegal at state schools for one religion to be advanced at the expense of others, a ruling interpreted as allowing “at least five minutes each” for prayer by different religious groups. Religious “education” rather than “instruction” is the new vogue.

Spare a thought (or prayer) for 500 000 chickens set to be slaughtered on two farms in Mpumalanga to prevent the spread of bird flu. It will be South Africa’s largest mass culling, and means we will lose 1% of our eggs, which Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana says is “worrying”. Details of how the creatures are to be dispatched are too gruesome for a family newspaper, but we are assured it’s in their best interests.

In Joburg, Monika Pon-su-san, who was immortalised by artist Vladimir Tretchikoff in his painting Chinese Girl in 1952, has died. She was 86.