The Water Crisis Committee has called on the government to declare Johannesburg’s worsening water crisis a national disaster after a multisystem failure left parts of the city without water for more than seven days.

The South African Weather Service has warned people to brace for a wet and potentially dangerous day, with flooding warnings in place across several provinces.

While foreign analysts find it easy to focus on those destructive, mercurial words and deeds of US President Donald Trump and a few of his senior officials, they should also pay attention to those in the ‘engine room’ of government, such as Frank Garcia, just nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s coalition swept to a landslide election win on Sunday, paving the ‌way for her tax cuts that have spooked financial markets and military spending aimed at countering China.

Last week in this column, I wrote about the retailers and the Real Estate Investment Trusts as a great example of a value chain on display on the JSE. I particularly enjoy reading updates from companies at different points in the chain and seeing what the top-down and bottom-up views look like. This week, I’m looking at a different (but closely related) value chain: food retail and food producers.

Although contractors have been appointed to restore operations at the dysfunctional Driftsands Wastewater Treatment Works, vandals and thieves are still targeting the critical municipal facility, stripping cables and equipment unimpeded.

A small team of volunteers has kept 50 wildfires from destroying homes in six fire-hit villages in the Overberg in recent months.