Zim opposition member of parliament Eddie Cross reports on the events of the last few days, culminating in the resignation/removal of Robert Mugabe and his coterie of "criminals" from power. There is a palpable sense of freedom in the country, but we should be modest in our expectations. Zanu-PF has signalled its intention to go it alone in government, without inviting opposition parties to the table. A million people gathered on thre streets of Harare in the last few days to bid the old man good riddance. The genie of freedom has been uncorked and will not go back in the bottle. Long-suffering Zimbabweans are in no mood to entertain another dictator dressed up as a saviour, if that is what Mugabe's successor Emmerson Mnangagwa has in mind. These are interesting days indeed.

Billionaire entrepreneur Magdalena Wierzycka has won a defamation suit against ANN7 owner Mzwanele Manyi, who acused her of economic terrorism. Manyi argued that this was robust discourse and any attempt to stifle debate would have a chilling effect on free speech.

Zimbabwe opposition member of parliament Eddie Cross reported a week ago that the era of Robert Mugabe was coming to an end. Little did he know just how prescient that prediction was. A few days later the army had taken over in a soft coup and placed Mugabe and his family in "protective custody". The old man refused to go, but it now seems he has no say in the matter. As Eddie Cross argues in this article, the fired vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa is likely to lead a transitional government, which will have to act quickly to restore credibility to the country. This means opposition members may be included in any interim cabinet. We also find out from Cross that Mnangagwa has a history of human rights abuses, but is not known particularly for corruption.

A week ago Eddie Cross, an opposition member of parliament in Zimbabwe, predicted that the end of Robert Mugabe's reign in Zimbabwe. In this article he outlines the forces at work in that troubled country, as the military takes control of the political structures and holds the 93 year-old president under virtual house arrest while ostensibly battling "criminal elements" trying to sieze control. Who will replace Mugabe? Enter Emmerson Mnangagwa, fired last week by Mugabe and now invited back to the country. Or, as Eddie Cross suggests, will this open the door to free and fair elections next year? 

Reports from Zimbabwe this morning say the army has arrested several cabinet ministers and there are unconfirmed reports that President Robert Mugabe and his family are under virtual house arrest in Borrowdale, a suburb of Harare. The official opposition ambassador to SA, Austin Moyo, says all indications are that Zimbabwe is headed to military rule.

Eskom spokesperson Khulani Qoma laid into public enterprises minister Lynn Brown yesterday, saying "she lies all the time." What is she supposedly lying about? Well, just about everything, including the influence of the Guptas in making Eskom board appointments, to the true financial health of the state-owned electricity provider. Brown hit back with a few jabs of her own, calling the parliamentary inquiry into state capture a "kangaroo court".

Michael Komape died in a toilet at school. Now James and Rosina Komape are going to court to compel the state to provide decent sanitation to schools across Limpopo.

Jacques Pauw's new book The President's Keepers has lit up the country, with PDF versions making the rounds in case the state tries to ban the book. As well they might. It details how President Zuma avoided filing tax returns before and during his presidency, because to do so would illuminate that he was a fatally compromised man. He was and is, in fact, a kept man, receiving payments for his upkeep from some truly dodgy characters. Then, of course, Pauw details how the intelligence and other organs of government have been captured and looted.

Former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni has been removed from her position at the airline but will not go quietly. She has now insinuated that Bidvest is one of several companies supposedly looting SAA, and had a dig at her old boss - former finance minister Pravin Gordhan - for holding shares in Bidvest. This is rather desperate stuff from the woman under whose watch SAA clocked up losses of more than R10bn. James Person of the Moorfield Storey Institute unpacks the problems at SAA and concludes the airline, far from being a national asset, is a national liability where the poor are subsidising the rich.

South Africa is at the tipping point: hopelessly in debt, with economic decline as far as the eye can see, and captive to a government clueless as to what do do next. Temba Nolutshungu takes us through the prognosis, and it isn't pretty.

Ernest Mashaba and his family were evicted from their home four times after Nedbank repossessed the property at auction for R10. By Nedbank's version, the family was R1,105 in arrears. But independent legal and financial expert Leonard Benjamin looked into the case and believes the Mashabas were in credit on their account soon after the bank started legal proceedings.

A court in New Jersey in the US has hammered a giant nail in the coffin of banks involved in securitisation. An attorney specialising in home loan foreclosure and securitisation in SA says the case should be liberally quoted in our local courts where banks are attempting to foreclose without the original documents. The website Living Lies explains the importance of this recent decision.

The murder of President John F Kennedy 54 years ago has been described as the “crime of the century”. If US and Western news media cannot discuss this seminal event openly and honestly, let alone investigate it, then what does that say about their credibility? For half a century, the mainstream press has clung to the story that the killing was done by a lone nut, Lee Harvey Oswald. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) invented the "conspiracy theory" slur to prevent honest investigation of the JFK crime scene. Finian Cunningham systematically dismantles this implausible lone nut theory and shames the media in the process.

Professor Normal Finkelstein is a renowned US academic and champion of human rights. So it came as something of a surprise when earlier this month he was arrested in New York, apparently for his defence of a former student, Dr Rudolph Baldeo, who Finkelstein was assisting in a rather messy divorce. Here is a case where the plaintiffs' attorneys perjured themselves and intimidated Dr Baldeo under threat of losing his medical license to hand over his life's work and savings. When Finkelstein promised (and did) expose the corruption in the case, he suddenly received a visit from the police. Incidentally, Dr Baldeo had been to South Africa as a volunteer doctor, just as he had been in half a dozen other countries. Mary Serumaga details the story, and what it says about men's rights, and how easily these are traduced in the rush to defend women - even if their testimony is fake.

Sooner or later the government is going to have to confront selling off SAA, the national airline, just as it is now considering selling its shares in Telkom to meet its groaning revenue targets. This would not mean the end of the national airline. It is something multiple airlines around the world have faced with stunning success, as James Peron points out.

Finance minister Malusi Gigaba's medium term budget is bereft of ideas. In the words of former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other's people's money. Here is a budget that makes it clear the money has run out and the government has no idea how to solve the problem - so, all major decisions have been deferred to February next year. The welfare state continues to grow, government hopes spending on infrastructure will ignite growth, and the projected revenue shortfall of R50bn may have to be settled through the sale of Telkom shares and other state-owned assets. 

Eskom’s latest annual financial statements record irregular expenditure of almost R3bn. Irregular compensation funds, shady tender processes and the link between the company’s financial director, Anoj Singh, to the Gupta family are all part-and-parcel of the Eskom story. Eskom’s long-term debt is now R336.8bn – the South African taxpayer is going to have to foot this bill along with every other tax imposed on them. Nothing will change if we do not end Eskom’s iron grip on the energy industry, with its state backing and continued taxpayer-funded bailouts.

The Sunday Times reported on the weekend that a Russian delegation had slipped into SA from Mozambique to coerce President Jacob Zuma in appointing David Mahlobo as energy minister last week to be the Russians' "eyes and ears" and to push through a costly nuclear deal through parliament. 

Employment laws are among the most comprehensive and complex laws in the country. These laws not only enumerate the rights and obligations of both employers and employees, but they also provide means to protect these rights and the steps by which the aggrieved may air his concerns. 

The inevitable passage of time, and the relative absence of key witnesses, means President Jacob Zuma may never face a successful prosecution, says City Press.

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan has called on Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to sack President Jacob Zuma in January, and warned South Africans to be vigilant against state capture of institutions now under threat, such as the Reserve Bank, Treasury and the Public Investment Corporation.

The Guptas might be on the back foot, but the project to capture the state is proceeding apace. Over the past few weeks, the looters have been emboldened again.

Nedbank has been accused of reckless lending after a Port Elizabeth woman was lent R30,182 - more than 5,5 times her monthly salary - and ended up paying back more than double this over four years at an annual interest rate of 35,4%.

The heartbreak of watching the home that you have lived in for more than 30 years taken away from you is difficult to imagine. Even worse is being sent to prison for “trespassing” in your own home. This is the story of Soweto resident Steven Ngoepe, now 75 years old.

The Foreclosure Machine is engaging in a deliberate strategy of emotional abuse towards desperate homeowners who are looking for an equitable solution (when most simply want an opportunity to meet the terms of their mortgage). The bank representatives may speak professionally, and even appear to be concerned, but their words are meant to deceive and may even kill. The stress created from corporate psychological abuse often culminates in health problems that may result in a silent death or even suicide. The banks do not play fair, and they will do whatever is necessary to take a home - including the destruction of a life if necessary.