AFRICA’S BEST READ October 11 to 17 2019 Vol 35 No 41 mg.co.za @mailandguardian Ernest How rugby After 35 Mancoba’s just can’t years, Africa genius give has a new acknowledged racism tallest at last the boot building Pages 40 to 42 Sport Pages 18 & 19 Keeping the lights on Eskom burns billions for coal And YOU will be paying for it Page 3 Photo: Paul Botes Zille, Trollip lead as MIGRATION DA continues to O Visa row in Vietnam Page 11 OSA system is ‘xenophobic’ Page 15 tear itself apart OAchille Mbembe: No African is a foreigner Pages 4 & 5 in Africa – except in SA Pages 28 & 29 2 Mail & Guardian October 11 to 17 2019 IN BRIEF ppmm Turkey attacks 409.95As of August this is the level of carbon Kurds after Trump Yvonne Chaka Chaka reneges on deal NUMBERS OF THE WEEK dioxide in the atmosphere. A safe number Days after the The number of years Yvonne Chaka is 350 while 450 is catastrophic United States Chaka has been married to her Data source: NASA withdrew troops husband Dr Mandlalele Mhinga. from the Syria The legendary singer celebrated the border, Turkey Coal is king – of started a ground and couple's wedding anniversary this aerial assault on Kurdish week, posting about it on Instagram corruption positions. Civilians were forced to fl ee the onslaught. President Donald Trump’s unex- Nigeria's30 draft budget plan At least one person dies every single day so pected decision to abandon the United States’s that we can have electricity in South Africa. allies in the fi ght against the Islamic State has for 2020, as announced by This is a conservative number. already seen aid workers leave the area. The President Muhammadu Hundreds of thousands more spend every Turkish assault puts hundreds of thousands R1.5m Buhari this week. The rec- The amount in damages day sick — coughing and moving lethargi- of lives at risk. In defending his move Trump former president Jacob ord budget plan is based cally, their bodies strangled by chronic argued that the Kurds “didn’t help us with on a projected price for conditions — because of the air pollution Normandy”. The US president somehow man- Zuma's son, Duduzane, is reportedly seeking from crude oil of $57 a barrel created when coal is burned to move the aged to avoid having to serve in his country’s and output of 2.18-million turbines that generate our electricity. military at least fi ve times. the state over his arrest at barrels a day in Africa's We accept this because most of us don’t OR Tambo International Graphic: JOHN McCANN leading producer by:Compiled SARAH SMIT see these people. Jail corrupt politicians, not activists Airport last year That’s why we have elected offi cials to The #FeesMustFall movement may have set policy, and civil servants to enact that largely ended for most. But for Kanya Cekeshe, policy. But, as we have reported ad infi ni- who is serving a fi ve-year sentence for his R434.7bn tum over the years, and again this week, involvement in the protests, it is very much coal is a dirty and expensive industry. The a case of “the struggle continues”. He was in story of coal is a story of the big industries court this week, arguing for bail. He is ask- The2 number000 of women that that built the stock exchange — without ing that his conviction be overturned, in part die because of cervical pricing in the damage that they did to because his defence attorneys were inept and cancer in Zimbabwe each anyone who wasn’t white. that a video showing him trying to set a police Decisions taken about coal are rarely in vehicle alight was never properly introduced year. The country has been ranked among the top 10 the public interest. as evidence. Supporters of the Economic The number of domestic workers that As we report this week, Eskom is pay- Freedom Fighters showed up at court en 151 000 in Africa with the highest ing some mines more than double what masse, with EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni have reportedly found jobs through number of people dying of they should be paying for coal. Coal was Ndlozi reminding the faithful that corrupt the SweepSouth app. According to cervical cancer also a site for profi teering by the Gupta politicians belong in jail, not the activist Business Insider SA, the Uber-style app family. Corrupt elites understand that, in fi ghting to ensure black youth have access to has raised R50-million in funding, this country, we don’t question coal. It is a education. which will be used for expansion into “necessity”. It “keeps the lights on”. other African markets Even if it kills people. And even if it’s tak- Out now: ‘Iqbal and ing away any chance for a liveable future. the Invaders’ Eskom is responsible for nearly half of The fi nancial regu- this country’s carbon emissions; a quarter lator swooped on of the emissions for the African continent. Sekunjalo’s offi ces pupil was stabbed and killed by three fellow Coal isn’t unique in the family of fossil this week as part pupils at a high school in Mossel Bay. A day fuel industries. In an investigation pub- of an investigation later a 15-year-old was stabbed at school after TWEET OF THE WEEK lished this week, The Guardian said that into market manipu- an argument with a fellow pupil at a high just 20 companies have been responsible lation that saw the school in Durban. The father of the 14-year-old for a third of all the carbon emissions since Public Investment Sebokeng pupil later said that his child and 1965 — a date when those companies knew Corporation (PIC) pay R4.3-billion for a 20% the attacker were friends, and that the stab- burning fossil fuels was heating the planet. stake in subsidiary Ayo Technology Solutions. bing had been an accident. Charges against the This is an industry that has been killing Numerous commentators have suggested 15-year-old accused have provisionally been people, and driving the climate crisis, for the PIC hugely overpaid. The head honcho withdrawn. decades, even though it knew at what cost at Sekunjalo, Iqbal Survé, who also runs it was profi ting. Independent Newspapers (which includes Dual teaching at Stellenbosch ruled out We should have a fi nal version of the The Star, The Mercury and the Cape Argus), The Constitutional Court has affi rmed national energy plan this month — the immediately decried the raid as an attempt Stellenbosch University’s right to use English Integrated Resource Plan. The cheapest by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Public as its main language of instruction. The appli- version of how the national grid should Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to stop cation to try to compel the university to intro- work is for a mix of renewable energy the publication of damning information on the duce a dual English/Afrikaans language policy, sources. With Eskom R450-billion in debt, two that his newspaper group planned to pub- as proposed in the 2014 university plan, came the cheapest option would make sense. lish this weekend. Popcorn anyone? from Afrikaner lobby group Gelyke Kanse That’s also the option where people aren’t and the president of convocation (which dying every day because of air pollution. Police watchdog under the cosh represents graduates), among others. “The But a powerful lobby, from petroleum Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane 2014 policy created an exclusionary hurdle and mining companies as well as corrupt has agreed to suspend her remedial action for specifi cally black students. The university Ex-mayor misses Hawks raid elites, seems to have ensured that new against the Independent Police Investigative showed that classes conducted in Afrikaans, The Hawks and the Asset Forfeiture Unit coal plants are included in the plan. Directorate (Ipid) pending a review. with interpreting from Afrikaans into English, raided the Umhlanga home of former eThek- We know the costs of coal. Our elected Mkhwebane had found the police watchdog made black students not conversant in wini mayor Zandile Gumede on Thursday offi cials — and their business comrades — guilty of procurement irregularities, malad- Afrikaans feel marginalised, excluded and stig- morning. She and other senior city offi cials, are just doing a diff erent kind of account- ministration and the irregular appointment of matised,” said Justice Johan Froneman. as well as a contractor, are accused of fraud in ing. — Sipho Kings deputy director Theresa Botha at an the awarding of a refuse removal tender worth annual salary of nearly R1.2-million. Rooney snares fellow WAG Vardy about R208-million. During the raid luxury In the umpteenth appeal of a With Coleen Rooney’s personal life con- sports cars and other assets were confi scated. public protector ruling, Ipid has stantly the fodder of tabloid fare, the Gumede’s bail could also be in jeopardy. The taken the matter on review to footballer’s wife decided to do some police said she had broken her bail conditions the high court in Pretoria. New investigating. Acting on her suspicions, by not informing them that she had moved Published by M&G Media Ltd, SUBSCRIPTIONS investigative journalism unit she narrowed access to her Instagram from her Umhlanga home. Gumede’s arrest Eighth Floor, Metal Box, Inquiries: 011 447 0696 or Viewfi nder this week revealed stories to only one account. Next has plunged local ANC branches into turmoil, 25 Owl Street, Braamfontein SMS “subs” to 34917 Werf, Johannesburg, South Complaints: 0860 070 700 that in 2016 Ipid prematurely up Coleen put up some far fetched with supporters claiming the charges are noth- Africa.