Molefe's budget day swearing in

[Daily Maverick] AFTERNOON THING with JOHN STUPART Tuesday, 21st February 2017 Thursday, 23rd February. Cape Town. [Click for details and to book your seat for this live interview experience.]( WHILE YOU WERE WORKING [Molefe to be sworn in on Budget speech day]( While Brian Molefe's appointment as an MP following his hurried exit from Eskom may have been a slap in the face for South Africans, his appointment date can only be seen as a slap in Pravin Gordhan's face. Molefe is set to be sworn in on Wednesday, precisely as Gordhan is set to deliver the crucial national Budget speech. If somehow the timing was accidental, someone needs to double-check their diary. [Zuma addresses troops on Armed Forces Day]( A rainy Durban saw President Jacob Zuma pay respect to the fallen members aboard the SS Mendi, a troop ship that sank in WW I 100 years ago on this day. In addition, Zuma also expressed his condolences for the families of three SANDF members who died last week while trying to rescue three public works members from a pit filled with toxic fumes. [Bodyboarder killed by shark in Reunion]( A bodyboarder has been killed in a shark attack in the Reunion Islands. The bodyboarder, himself a shark spotter, was attacked in an area where water sports and swimming had been prohibited. This is the region's 20th attack in six years. [Le Pen refuses veil in cleric meeting]( French presidential candidate and notoriously far-right conservative Marine Le Pen refused to don a headscarf when visiting Lebanon's top Sunni cleric. Le Pen had embarked on an international tour to restore some semblance of credibility after voicing harsh views on immigration. The snub of Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan's headscarf requirement, while entirely deliberate, probably dismantled the entire trip's purpose to begin with. — Thursday, 23rd February. Cape Town. [Click for details and to book your seat for this live interview experience.]( [New podcast every Tuesday]( FEATURED ARTICLES [House of Cards: Did SAPS Commissioner Phahlane mislead Parliament?]( [House of Cards: Did SAPS Commissioner Phahlane mislead Parliament?]( BY Marianne Thamm [TRAINSPOTTER: Chronicle of a banking scandal foretold]( [TRAINSPOTTER: Chronicle of a banking scandal foretold]( BY Richard Poplak [Analysis: Temperature rising in the ANC’s pressure cooker]( [Analysis: Temperature rising in the ANC’s pressure cooker]( BY Stephen Grootes OPINIONISTAS [Balancing Budgets and Cabinet appointments]( [Balancing Budgets and Cabinet appointments]( A column by Judith February & Anthea Gardner [Why Norway is not a defence of statism]( [Why Norway is not a defence of statism]( A column by Ivo Vegter [FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO A FRIEND]( Copyright © 2016 Daily Maverick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this mail because you are awesome and on the Daily Maverick First Thing subscriber list. [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](