Last year, 973 children under five have died of severe acute malnutrition in South Africa’s state hospitals. Activist Mark Heywood estimates the real number is ten times as much at around 11 000. Daily Maverick’s Estelle Ellis explains.

A firefighter battles with painful eyes after fighting the runaway blazes in Kouga, Kromme River, Eastern Cape, that led to destroyed properties and evacuations. (Photo: Deon Ferreira) Residents in Kouga faced terrifying fire ordeals, with rapid evacuations and heartbreaking losses. Community support shone as brave neighbours helped one another escape, showcasing resilience amid destruction.

Durban’s giant bronze statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, still wrapped in plastic, have become unlikely festive-season punchlines and a lightning rod for anger over service delivery. Critics call the R22m commission vanity spending amid sewage failures and potholes, while Mayor Cyril Xaba insists the unveiling is imminent.

Egypt’s Pharaohs, led by Mohamed Salah, aim for Afcon glory after reaching the semifinals against Senegal, seeking a title win that eludes the superstar.

US policy towards its Western Hemisphere neighbours historically has oscillated between interventionism and cooperation and protection since 1823. The Monroe Doctrine was issued to ward off the possibilities of European meddling in the Western Hemisphere. President Donald Trump is now sanctioning interventions – but only those by the US.

The Constitutional Court has dismissed a last-ditch effort by the Nelson Mandela Bay metro to avoid paying damages to a family whose toddler drowned in a broken drain in Kariega. The metro’s lawyers argued that the parents should be held accountable for the death as they were negligent in leaving the toddler at home in the care of another child.

After concerns were raised about an unsuccessful audit due to waterlogged payment documents affected by a flood, both the Auditor-General and the Nelson Mandela Bay metro have confirmed that the audit was not affected. An investigation commissioned by the safety and security directorate found that the flood was due to a burst pipe in the laboratory services unit.

Former presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki have objected to the presence of retired Justice Sisi Khampepe as chair of a commission inquiring into decades-long delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes.

The year has barely kicked off and we already have a blockbuster deal on the table to salivate over. Will it happen or will it fizzle out? Either way, you can be sure that the Glencore-Rio Tinto opportunity is going to be a feature of some of the major headlines this year.

Forget about large language models and chatbots, Physical AI is where the action will be for the next few years – everything from humanoid robots to kitchen appliances… and self-driving vehicles.

As the 2026 academic year approaches, the Competition Commission warns that restrictive supply deals and price disparities are turning basic education into a financial hurdle for many families.