Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube has announced the completion of all pit-toilet eradication projects identified in the 2018 Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) Initiative audit. However, civil society groups and non-profit organisations warn that an outdated 2018 database and unpublished audits mask ongoing failures, with estimates suggesting around 3,000 schools still rely on...

Today we debate in law whether animals feel fear, pleasure, pain and distress. In 1872, Darwin was already there – reading emotion in a pawing horse, an affectionate dog, a bristling cat and a chimpanzee pouting over a stolen orange.

It is this kind of rampant malfeasance that crippled Transnet’s capacity for years, a reflection of wider state failure with grave consequences that still hamper South Africa’s fragile economy.

Stephen Grootes is off sick, so I am sitting in the After the Bell chair today. It feels oddly fitting, because after nearly six years at Daily Maverick this is also one of my last chances to speak directly to you, dear reader, from inside the newsroom.