Storms literal and figurative lash South Africa

[Daily Maverick] WEEKEND THING with JOHN STUPART Saturday, 14 October 2017 “The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault.” Henry Kissinger What kind of president will Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma be if she is chosen at the ANC’s December 2017 congress? [Carien du Plessis]( takes a closer look at her past and ambitions. PICTURE OF THE WEEK By Andrew Hagen/VWS. A volunteer crew leader is pictured fighting the head of #12ApostlesFire this week. As of Friday, the fire remained out of control. [ THIS WEEK'S WRAP-UP [SCA rules Zuma's charges are fair game]( A political storm of epic proportions brewed on Friday. The Supreme Court of Appeal declared that President Zuma's 783 criminal charges were open for trial. The ruling removed every possible excuse for NPA Shaun Abrahams to delay pressing charges against Zuma, but if you're hoping to see the president in a courtroom anytime soon, you might want to wait for the inevitable legal dilly-dallying. [Apartheid wounds ripped open in Timol judgement]( Meanwhile, in the Pretoria High Court, a ruling on Thursday declared that anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol's death in South Africa's police headquarters was murder and not suicide as previously claimed. The court ruled that Timol was tortured and abused daily from the moment he set foot inside the Security Branch's lair. Justice delayed, but justice delivered of a sort. [KZN rocked by major storm]( It's not often Durban gets in the news for its poor weather, but Tuesday's storm in KZN brought torrential rains and gale force winds. Eight people were killed as hospital roofing was torn asunder, cargo ships turned about in port, and an entire section of the N2 flooded. All told, it was about as bad a storm as Durban has seen in recent years. [Cape Town's water crisis gets murkier]( While Durban was flooding, Cape Town introduced water-shedding. Drought-stricken Western Cape appeared to have no answer to ongoing poor rainfall. General confusion as to how bad the drought is and why the Cape got to this point was exacerbated by a City statement that did not really shed much light on the matter. From the outside, one gets the impression that the city's watercrats may well be looking in the yellow pages for a rain shaman for all the good they've done. — What kind of president will Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma be if she is chosen at the ANC’s December 2017 congress? [Carien du Plessis]( takes a closer look at her past and ambitions. FACT OF THE DAY Baby chimpanzees are more cognitively developed than human babies until six months of age. EDITOR'S PICKS [Analysis: State President, Accused No 1, 18 counts, 783 watertight charges]( By MARIANNE THAMM [Timol inquest opens a door, but apartheid victims might find it hard to emulate]( By GREG NICOLSON [SADC’s delay over Lesotho triggers fears of violence]( By PETER FABRICIUS [The SADC wrap: Plague hits urban areas in Madagascar, politics get dirty in Zim]( By KRISTEN VAN SCHIE — [Video of the week]( VIDEO OF THE WEEK [Eminem Rips Donald Trump In BET Hip Hop Awards Freestyle Cypher]( By BETNetworks What kind of president will Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma be if she is chosen at the ANC’s December 2017 congress? [Carien du Plessis]( takes a closer look at her past and ambitions. IN OTHER NEWS A man in Wisconsin has earned this week's 'badass' award. Doug Bergeson accidentally fired a 3.5 inch nail into his chest while building a fireplace frame. Upon seeing the nail move with the beat of his heart, Bergeson recalled thinking "I’m not going to get anything done today." Bergeson then drove himself almost 20km to a nearby hospital, where he received open heart surgery. Bergeson clearly received a shot to the heart, but he's ok. He didn't give love a bad name. [FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO A FRIEND]( Copyright © 2017 Daily Maverick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this mail because you are awesome and on the Daily Maverick First Thing subscriber list. Keep up to date on all DM activities by [clicking here](. [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](