Trump makes two more cabinet choices

Puggles enter a brave new world [Daily Maverick] FIRST THING with JOHN STUPART Thursday, 24th November “My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 now, and we don't know where the heck she is.” Ellen DeGeneres [Elections aftermath: Why did the ANC ignore its own research?] STORY OF THE DAY [SASSA Grant Switchover: Minister Dlamini fumbles her way through Scopa, displays no clear grasp of issues] By MARIANNE THAMM A submission by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) with regard to a R316-million irregular payment to Cash Paymaster Services turned into a farce on Wednesday as officials fudged tough questions, blamed former officials and generally indulged in a game of Olympics-grade buck passing. Even more alarming was Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini’s presentation. Among other things, she admitted wasting around R1-million after failing to pitch up at a planned event because she had been “redeployed” by President Jacob Zuma at the time. Dlamini seemed to have no clear grasp of the status of the crucial April 1, 2017 handover to SASSA by Cash Paymaster Services of responsibility for the distribution of R10-billion a month in social grants to 17-million recipients. By MARIANNE THAMM. [Trump adds two more to his cabinet] Donald Trump has made some additional cabinet choices. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was nominated as US envoy to the UN and Betsy DeVos as education secretary. DeVos is a wealthy Republican who was critical of Trump, calling him an "interloper". Not so critical, apparently, she would refuse a cushy cabinet post. [China power plant accident kills 22] A cooling tower platform at a power plant construction site has collapsed in China, killing at least 22. Massive concrete slabs crashed to the ground at the Fengcheng site, leaving an unknown number of people trapped underneath the rubble. [Clashes flare up in CAR] Warring factions of Seleka rebels clashed violently on Wednesday night 400km north of Bangui. Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC) and the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) are both fighting over taxation rights of local herdsmen. Sixteen people have been killed in the clashes thus far. [A handful of puggles born in Australia] An Australian zoo is celebrating the birth of three echidna babies from three separate mothers. Known as 'puggles', they are the first such newborns in 30 years at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. The spiky cross between a hedgehog and an anteater is notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. At least you can go forth today knowing that a 'puggle' is an actual thing. — PICTURE OF THE DAY BY EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS US President Barack Obama (back) awards US television host Ellen DeGeneres (front) the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, 22 November 2016. IN NUMBERS 4-10 inches The amount the earth's axis tilted due to the 2011 Japan tsunami. FACT OF THE DAY Today in 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. A crevasse is in ice and a crevice is in rock. Now you know. FEATURED ARTICLES [SASSA Grant Switchover: Minister Dlamini fumbles her way through Scopa, displays no clear grasp of issues] [SASSA Grant Switchover: Minister Dlamini fumbles her way through Scopa, displays no clear grasp of issues] BY Marianne Thamm [Save SA lays down the gauntlet: ‘We have the power to remove Zuma’] [Save SA lays down the gauntlet: ‘We have the power to remove Zuma’] BY Greg Nicolson [SARS Wars: Moyane covers his back in letter to Treasury about his new unit] [SARS Wars: Moyane covers his back in letter to Treasury about his new unit] BY Marianne Thamm [Op-Ed: People’s Motion of No Confidence – ‘Say no to Zuma, corruption, state capture’] [Op-Ed: People’s Motion of No Confidence – ‘Say no to Zuma, corruption, state capture’] BY SIPHO PITYANA [House of Cards: IPID to charge National Police Commissioner over R8 million mansion] [House of Cards: IPID to charge National Police Commissioner over R8 million mansion] BY Marianne Thamm [Analysis: ANC will have to toil hard before reclaiming Metro power] [Analysis: ANC will have to toil hard before reclaiming Metro power] BY Stephen Grootes [Hlaudi: Thuli Madonsela never investigated white people] [Hlaudi: Thuli Madonsela never investigated white people] BY News24 [A Trump Datenbank? Attitudes to US Muslims recall internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II] [A Trump Datenbank? Attitudes to US Muslims recall internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II] BY J Brooks Spector OPINIONISTAS [Getting Away with Murder: The case against the death penalty] [Getting Away with Murder: The case against the death penalty] A column by Pierre de Vos — Weather BFN: min: 20° max: 28°, rainy CPT: min: 15° max: 23°, cloudy DBN: min: 21° max: 30°, PM rain EL: min: 19° max: 26°, cloudy JHB: min: 17° max: 26°, rainy KIM: min: 21° max: 31°, cloudy NLP: min: 18° max: 30°, rainy PMB: min: 16° max: 34°, rainy PKN: min: 18° max: 29°, PM rain PE: min: 16° max: 23°, cloudy PTA: min: 17° max: 27°, rainy Financial Data Oil=$49.00 Gold=$1,187.62 Platinum=$926.43 R/$=14.25 R/€=15.04 R/£=17.71 $/€=1.05 JSE All Share=50,616.43 DJIA=19,051.56 FTSE 100=6,817.63 [FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO A FRIEND] Copyright © 2016 Daily Maverick, All rights reserved. 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