What’s in the M&G this week [View this email in your browser]( December 3, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, Life on the run: What happens when you are brave enough to expose corruption. This week we look at the stories of the people that are routinely let down by both South Africa’s inefficient whistleblower legislation and dangerous cultural prejudices. We also take a deep dive into how security fell to pieces in July. This and more in the M&G this week. [Subscribe now]( A young South African democracy first welcomed specialised whistleblower legislation at the turn of the millennium when the Protected Disclosures Act of 2000 (PDA) was born and implemented a year later. Fast-forward 20 years and sentiment is swelling that the current dispensation is untenable. President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged as much in the aftermath of the August killing of Babita Deokaran. But what exactly is it that needs tightening? What is the loose screw in the written law that allows a group of people to be victimised for doing the right thing? We look at [how whistleblowing law went wrong](. The talking point impossible to ignore this week is the impending fourth wave of the pandemic. The number of Covid-19 admissions to hospital is on the rise in Gauteng — which may be driven by the newly-discovered Omicron variant. Fatigued health workers, who have battled the pandemic for about 20 months, [are bracing for another deluge of admissions](. Marcia Zali has more. The virus has another potentially devastating consequence. Zali reports that South Africa has [seen a reversal of some of the gains it had made in the fight against HIV/Aids and tuberculosis]( but one expert believes some of the resources used to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic can also be used for HIV programmes. South Africa has the biggest HIV epidemic in the world, with 7.5-million people living with the virus in 2019. HIV prevalence is high among the general population at 19%. On another topical matter, yesterday saw Zolani Matthews fired as Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) group chief executive with immediate effect. Sarah Smit reports that the Prasa board met on Monday to determine Matthews’ fate. Matthews, an investigation found, [deliberately and intentionally failed to disclose to Prasa that he holds British citizenship](. In other news late this week, the supreme court of appeal has [set aside the decision by the speaker of parliament to reject a request]( by the minority African Transformation Movement for a secret ballot on a motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa. In a unanimous judgment of a full bench, written by Judge Trevor Gorven, the appellate court ordered that the request be resubmitted to the speaker and reconsidered and awarded the ATM costs. Emsie Ferreira has the details. Finally, it wouldn’t be the M&G if we didn’t give you something good to read this weekend. In partnership with the [Africa Centre]( and [Brittle Paper]( we are [co-publishing the platform’s annual 50 Notable African Books](. Launched in 2018, the 50 Notable African Books of the Year list is a curated collection of the best African books in a given year. This year, the list continues the tradition of offering something for everyone — speculative fiction, YA, poetry, queer writing, memoirs, political thrillers, as well as books from 20 African countries, including, for the first time, Mauritania and the Central African Republic. The entire list appears in print in this week’s M&G. We’ve reached December, fellow humans. Please be nice to each other as we see out the last couple weeks of the year. Until next week,
Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham 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.
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