The Spotlight: Memes

Cape Town, May 26 2018 – Did an event even happen if there aren’t memes about it? The Royal Wedding wasn’t even over yet and timelines across the world were flooded with quirky reactions. My colleague Pheladi Sethusa rounds up the funniest ones and delves into meme culture.

(Story starts at 05: 40)

Parliamentary work on land expropriation starts

Cape Town, 11 May 2018 – The parliamentary process for land expropriation without compensation, will start in earnest in mid-July. That’s when the window for public written submissions closes. The Constitutional Review Committee has now even pushed back their report back date, as their first mammoth task is sifting through thousands of submissions. eNCA’s Pheladi Sethusa reports.

Get ready to pay more for South African wine

Cape Town, 9 May 2018 – Wine producers in the Western Cape have suffered a 200-thousand ton loss, as a result of the ongoing drought. This year’s harvest is the lowest in12 years. Industry experts say this is why consumer prices have to be increased. eNCA’s Pheladi Sethusa reports.

Earlier this year (19 January 2018), some in the industry was preparing for the worst as job cuts and a smaller than expected harvest predicted.

 

[EXCLUSIVE] Former apartheid agent speaks about targeting #WinnieMandela

George, Western Cape, 8 April 2018 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was the target of the apartheid regime’s most concentrated propaganda campaign. A former security operative of Stratcom has said there were spies planted in the Mandela Football Club. Paul Erasmus has now also claimed, for the first time, that the entire club and others close to Winnie Mandela were spies. Xoli Mngambi sat down with him.

NOTE:  Was lucky enough to help with interviewing Erasmas for this piece, unforgettable experience hearing all he had to say.

 

No April fools as SA reacts to VAT increase

Cape Town, 1 April, 2018 – The recent VAT increase will take its toll on low-income households, which often use most of their money on consumable goods.

Unions and NGOs say the planned review of zero-rated goods is necessary to offset the financial burden of the increase.

There are 19 basic food items that are not affected by the VAT increase.

They include brown bread, milk powder, maize meal and vegetable oil.

This list is meant to be a way of reducing the VAT burden on low-income consumers. Watch full story below.