The Rich kids of the revolution

What’s in the M&G this week [View this email in your browser]( August 6, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, Keeping it in the family: for South Africans the price of freedom means family dynasties built on struggle names. Meet the rich kid revolutionaries born of struggle vets, married to making deals, but completely divorced from integrity. This and more in this week’s M&G. It turns out that giving someone the sack in the political realm is not so easy. Even if the case for doing so is built stronger than a Springbok maul. In a wild week of back-and-forth, Lizeka Tandwa had initially learned that factions of the ANC’s top echelon were united in the view that ousting health minister Zweli Mkhize [may prove disastrous for President Cyril Ramaphosa]( at least if he did so before getting the okay from a special tribunal. Fortunately for Ramaphosa, he didn’t have to do the final push himself. Mkhize [tendered his resignation]( on Thursday afternoon. In his typical combative fashion he went down still flailing — denying the validity of the Special Investigating Unit report against him. By the end of the day, his was not the only move. Ramaphosa shuffled a few of the cards in his pack. Most notably, we bid farewell to Tito Mboweni who was replaced by new Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and her state security counterpart Ayanda Dlodlo both got the axe. Tandwa and Paddy Harper looked at [how the markets reacted to the news](. Here’s a [handy Twitter thread]( by our online team about why some people are doing double takes on the new finance minister. This morning we received further breaking news: Zuma has [been admitted to an outside hospital for medical observation](. The decision had reportedly been made after a “routine observation”. A former funder of the former president, meanwhile, has been[linked to the killings in Phoenix, Durban](. Harper and Tandwa report that a security company owned by Roy Moodley, a benefactor of Zuma, is among four such firms being investigated by police and industry regulators. Staying with KwaZulu-Natal, Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza has [appointed a new chief executive at the troubled Ingonyama Trust Board]( as part of her attempt to reform the institution, which controls nearly three million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal. Advocate Vela Mngwengwe began work at the board’s Pietermaritzburg head office on 1 August. Over at the Durban harbour, the South African Revenue Service has [seized R10-million worth of illicit cigarettes]( that were declared as tissue paper. Chris Gilili notes that the bust followed an operation in Cape Town, in which another lot of illegal cigarettes, valued at R6-million, were seized. And Erika Gibson reports that the South African National Defence Force has shown its first public and maritime presence in Pemba in northern Mozambique this weekend, with the [arrival of the navy’s SAS Makhanda strike craft](. In [this week’s Q&A Sessions]( we feature author and academic Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela — the research chair in studies in historical trauma and transformation at Stellenbosch University. As a psychologist at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she became an authority on remorse and forgiveness. Her book A Human Being Died That Night is her account of her interviews with the former police colonel, torturer and apartheid assassin Eugene de Kock. She spoke to Nicolene de Wee about the government’s failure to heal a broken country. And finally, some good news! The World Bank has ranked South Africa as [one of only two countries to get a perfect score in the latest report on the independence of national audit institutions](. Together with the Seychelles, South Africa was the only country to receive full marks — signaling that “all independence indicators were met”. While Cyril has some work to do putting the final nails into his new cabinet, we hope your long weekend provides plenty of time for rest and reflection. Until Tuesday, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences or unsubscribe here.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa