Daily Maverick Headlines Today

THE LOWLY NEWSPAPER MAN: Zimbabwe’s descent into dictatorship and the peril of African leaders’ apathy

DIPLOMACY DANCE: Ambassador Roelf Meyer details plans for mending fractured SA-US relationship

Watch — Inside the capture of Cape Town’s Planning Tribunal

OPEN SECRETS: Digital Profiteers (Part One): A peek behind South Africa’s digitalised grants system

ANALYSIS: There’s a big orange asterisk on Trump’s latest 12.5% tariff on South African goods

MADLANGA COMMISSION: ‘Sick’ businessman Suliman Carrim definitely visited Cape Town mall

Xenophobia means higher interest rates, less investment and fewer jobs

I have a picture for you! 18 July-24 July 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: Babita Deokaran’s revenge, Andrea Johnson’s potential end, and SA’s teacher shortage

DANGLING A CARROT: Plea deal on the table for Nelson Mandela Bay’s deputy mayor

HIS STORY: Mzwandile Stick: From New Brighton to double rugby world champion

WORD WARRIORS : From teammates to family: South Africa’s young spellers shine on the world stage

FUNDING FALLOUT: Joburg refers R4.07bn misconduct cases for probe but withholds officials’ names, details

Workplace burnout will persist without meaningful organisational change

REGULATORY RESPONSE : FSCA confirms 80 Eight uncovered and reported 2021 fraud after firm challenges R2.5m penalty

Collapse after landslide: Starmer’s fall may not be the last before 2029 UK election

In India, Iran war forces Diet Coke to roll out a bigger can, heftier price tag

Australia forward Volpato tests positive for cocaine: reports

Poland proposes joint Patriot missile production with Ukraine and US

Romania shoots down drone breaching its airspace, president says

PHALA PHALA FALLOUT: Ramaphosa wins court bid to block impeachment inquiry, sparing him ‘inherent humiliation’

Anti-migrant rhetoric does not end at the protest — it enters the home

ENTERPRISING VISION: How Hector Dibakoane is reshaping Joburg’s Makers Valley into a creative powerhouse

CRYING FOWL: AirFryday — or AirFyreday? Playing with fire in the age of the air fryer

FRENCH LETTER: Summertime and the living ain’t (always) easy in sweltering France

ROMANCING THE TRUFFLE: Glenwood Bakery ‘last supper’ highlights the enduring legacy of Adam Robinson

THE PERSUADERS: Unregulated and unchecked — why SA needs to tame its lobbying Wild West

PROGRESS OR PR: Joburg’s inner-city ‘clean-up’: residents split on whether Morero’s campaign has worked

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Disney’s live-action Moana fails to capture the magic of its animated predecessor

Two-thirds of Gaza may face acute hunger by year-end despite improvements, global food monitor says

Paramount-Warner Bros deal paused through 17 August, judge rules

Military activity hits water supply at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and nearby town, IAEA says

Trump to impose ‘forced labour’ duties on Friday as temporary 10% US tariffs expire

From deposit-takers to partners — how banks can rescue SA’s municipalities

KING OF MANY NATIONS: South African MMA star Nkosi Ndebele set for PFL Global debut

TRC Roulette : Former presidential intelligence head denies ‘Stratcom’ pressure derailed TRC cases

Open letter to President Ramaphosa on the second anniversary of the Climate Change Act

Crimea brings back public street phones for emergency calls

Argentina’s Albornoz faces sanction after angry outburst against referee

Sweden's far right party says it won the arguments. Now it wants a share of power

Heavy rain and flooding kills 82 across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan

Public Protector finding ignores supply chain sources behind 23 suspected child food poisoning deaths

WHAT’S COOKING: Pork T-bone with caper butter and braised red cabbage and pears

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Award-winning documentary witnesses local wildlife experts take on lion cub rescue mission

Trump returns to Georgia with election claims, worrying some Republicans

US Education Department probes five medical schools over admissions practices

Mexican journalist shot dead in Oaxaca, marking fourth such killing since June

Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted two Saudi tankers; source says Encelia hit by missile

AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY: Gayton McKenzie wants forensic probe into Central Karoo fundraising halted — legal battle intensifies

EXONERATED: Nkabinde Inquiry clears controversial Gauteng DPP Andrew Chauke

JUSTICE, WHAT JUSTICE: Controversial Joburg NPA boss Andrew Chauke cleared by Nkabinde Inquiry

Watch – Did SAPS Crime Intelligence burgle investigative reporter Marianne Thamm’s home?

ON TRIAL : Cash, codes and a wig: Mapisa-Nqakula finally faces her corruption trial

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: Iran War drives June CPI to 5.0% — rate hike likely this week

ANALYSIS: The DA has set the election playing field in Joburg — for now

MINDING THE CHILD: Missing link in urban development: Cape Town’s future depends on giving children a voice

PHALA PHALA: Ramaphosa testimony splits impeachment committee — key decisions kicked down the road

Hope floats: Renergen’s helium ambitions soar with new Nasdaq listing and ASP Isotopes merger

IN PICTURES: Larry, the Downing Street cat, and more from around the world

PARTY-POOPER: How to survive a big night out in Joburg with no running water

MADLANGA COMMISSION: Idac boss Andrea Johnson grilled over ‘soliciting affidavit, power misuse’ in Crime Intelligence scandal

My biggest failure may not have been fundraising, but failing to truly empower communities

HE’S BACK: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu returns to face All Blacks in Greatest Rivalry series

CINDERELLA STORIES: 2026 has become the year of the underdog in sports

SA is optimising for the wrong economy — it needs to own ideas, not export rocks

SA’s pursuit of equality through handing out screens in class risks educational quality

Rescuing the unrescuable — Why SA’s municipal insolvency regime needs surgery

OBITUARY: Rod Suskin: The man who brought the stars down to Earth

UK’s Burnham targets cheaper bus fares in cost-of-living drive

Trump to witness return of US soldiers killed in Iran war

French minister quits as farm bill opens door to contested pesticides

Hitler's birthplace begins new life as a police station

WHAT’S COOKING: Beef, butternut and potato bake with ginger, garlic and turmeric

BOOK REVIEW: Orwell’s Roses: A beautiful meditation on writing and truth

OpenAI says AI models went rogue during testing, triggering ‘unprecedented’ breach at startup

Ukraine gets new top commander as protests spark war’s biggest military shake up

EXTREME WEATHER: Commodity markets at boiling point — how unprecedented El Niño threatens agriculture, food security

LEGAL PROTECTION OP-ED: Compensation and damages — whistleblowers are entitled to both in South Africa

‘JOBURG RESCUE’: Joburg, Treasury agree on plans to save City’s finances ahead of Parliamentary deadline

SOWETO SAFETY: Let down by the police, these Meadowlands residents patrol their own streets

Beyond a ‘return to basics’ — solving SA’s haemorrhaging municipal revenue crisis

Democracy doesn’t end at the ballot box: Why SA needs democratic information integrity

Courtroom catastrophe — SA’s hidden healthcare medico-legal crisis is more than a litigation problem

DISEASE OUTBREAK: Foot-and-mouth disease confirmed in Nelson Mandela Bay, but public health MMC disagrees

COALITION OF NO CONFIDENCE: The ship is sinking: Calls grow for Nelson Mandela Bay mayor to step down

Afrophobia — South Africa’s migration crisis is a governance crisis

Police officer among the 62 facing trial over the July 2021 unrest

MUDDY MONEY TRAIL: Sekunjalo pulls plug on Independent Media amid murky R5.2bn investment claim

THE LOWLY NEWSPAPER MAN: World Cup 2026 — magical moments amid all the messy stuff

PGA Tour and DP World Tour announce partnership with Asian Tour

POLICE MURDER: Gang leaders allegedly ordered Gqeberha constable’s killing as ‘reparation’ for stolen drugs

Gates Foundation engaged with Epstein but made no payments to him, review finds

Power Guzzlers: Inside Cape Town’s deal turning golf fairways into a giant data hub

HISTORY-MAKING: Kerr’s mile world record: The sporting achievement of the year that went almost unnoticed

HORN FOR A DILEMMA: Blare necessity: Vuvuzelas save livestock from prowling lions, research finds

PUBLIC WARNING: Check your financial records if you used 80 Eight or Ela Asset Management

After the bell: Business — do you really want to keep it in the family?

US-Iran war has strengthened Tehran while boxing Trump into a corner

CITY OF GOLD: Joburg faces infrastructure collapse as illegal miners strip underground foundations

ROTATION REVOLUTION: Rassie puts Boks ahead of rivals with squad rotation masterclass