EDITOR’S NOTE

WHO needs fiction or reality TV when there’s so much live bombshell dropping on national TV?

Veteran journalist Don Makatile unpacks the past few days’ State Capture hearings (page 4).

A blessing of minerals can also be a curse for the community where they are found and mined, leading to “irreparable harm” to the environment. Is this what’s happening in the Zululand area near Richards Bay? See the report on page 6 and be the judge.

Still on matters of the environment, a warning is being sounded about what’s happening along our coastline. This is coming from this week’s Game Changers profile candidate, Di Dold (see page 13). It’s a call for help to you and I.

Not much is known about antiapartheid struggle heroine Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, who was born in Kwazulu-natal and buried in Graaff-reinet in the Eastern Cape yesterday.

And the chaos and petty politicking that erupted and marred her state funeral may have robbed you of a chance to learn more about her.

Someone who knows her well pays tribute to the Mother of Azania (page 16).

I complained too early last week about US President Donald Trump’s fake-news-based tweeting. Now the dangerous demagogue is on our case (see page 17).

Dr Siphamandla Zondi warns us about the footsteps of the monster coming our way after that first infamous Africa tweet (page 20).

If Cyril Ramaphosa were Robert Mugabe he’d now be saying: “Keep your USA and let me keep my South Africa.” But luckily we’re not going the Zimbabwe way.

Victor Kgomoeswana reflects on our northern neighbour’s election ruling in his column on page 20.

He says we’d be talking a different story had the country’s diaspora that numbers in the millions been allowed to vote from wherever they are.

You might ask: Why didn’t they go home for just one day to vote?