Mary Alexander 🇿🇦

Ethics company told to pay back Lottery money ProEthics and its director Dr Janette Minnaar tried to stop us publishing this article

The National Lotteries Commission used ProEthics to circumvent procurement processes. The NLC paid ProEthics. ProEthics then paid a large portion of this money to NLC suppliers, who were therefore shielded from competitive processes to get the NLC’s business.

Trump is making China – not America – great again, global survey suggests.
In South Africa, 19% consider the US an ally ... and 15% think it's an adversary.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Africa from A to Z: Fast facts on the 55 states | South Africa Gateway Africa is home to 55 countries, an ancient and complex history, modern cities, some 3,000 languages and over a billion people. From Algeria to Zimbabwe, here’s a snapshot of each country on a continen...

A snapshot of each country on a continent you need to know more about ...
Carbon emissions, gender inequality, history, human development, income inequality, internet access, languages, LGBT+ equality, trade partners, population density, size, urbanisation, women in parliament and much more.

LGBT Equality Index in Africa | Equaldex Equaldex is a collaborative knowledge base for the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement, visualizing LGBTQ+ rights through maps, timelines, and data.

South Africa has the 10th-largest disparity between legal protections (77%) and public opinion (58%) in Africa, giving us an Equaldex LGBT equality score of 67%.

From the UNDP Human Development Report 2025
hdr.undp.org/system/files...

The improvement is substantial. Viral suppression in kids on treatment aged one to four increased from 58% in June 2023 to 76% in June 2025, based on a cut-off of around 1 000 copies/ml. Using the much stricter cut-off of 50 copies/ml, viral suppression was 34% in June 2023 and 54% in June 2025.

The ‘Nerd Reich’: how tech billionaires infiltrated the White House – podcast This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the journalist Gil Duran about his upcoming book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy

"Nerd Reich". Hilarious if it weren't so floccing scary. Wilfully, gleefully, boastfully ignorant men. Jissis.

A comic on the bridge from Star Trek the Next Generation. Picard: COMMANDER DATA, PLEASE IDENTIFY THAT ROMULAN VESSEL. Data: THAT'S A GREAT IDEA CAPTAIN! IDENTIFYING A VESSEL IS A GREAT PLACE TO START - IN ANY TACTICAL OR STRATEGIC OUTER SPACE SITUATION. THIS VESSEL APPEARS TO BE A 23rd CENTURY KLINGON BIRD OF PREY! 🚀🦅✨ Picard: ARE YOU SURE? LIKE I SAID WE'RE... PRETTY SURE IT'S ROMULAN. Data: ... Data: OF COURSE! SO SORRY ABOUT THAT, YOU'RE RIGHT! ON CLOSER EXAMINATION IT'S A ROMULAN VESSEL! CAN I RECOMMEND SOME SOONG™ BRAND PRODUCTS THAT CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT? Picard cradles his face in his hand in a gesture of frustration. Data: DID I MENTION THE PLIGHT OF OPRESSED WHITES IN SOUTH AFRICA?

realistic Star Trek

Understanding the Gaps in Africa's Archaeological Record Sites and artifacts are revealing clues to the continent’s recent history. An archaeologist explains the findings and threats to this heritage

The 400 years of slavery had a huge effect. Africans were being invaded both from the Islamic world and, of course, the Western world. Up to that point, communities had settled in comfortable places, such as plains and valleys. But then, suddenly, they all disappeared ...

No evidence Uganda has discovered 320,000 tonnes of gold worth $12 trillion – and evidence against it - South Africa Gateway The claim that the small African country of Uganda has discovered 31 million tonnes of gold ore with a yield of 320,000 tonnes of refined gold is going viral. But its numbers are, simply, impossible.

The problem is, 320,158 tonnes is more than all the gold produced since we started mining the stuff about 6,000 years ago. The best estimates suggest that around 216,265 tonnes of gold have been mined throughout history. That’s only two-thirds of what’s promised in Uganda.

Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000

If this isn't genocide, then what is?
"Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare."

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event - The Atlantic Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.

"This strange brew of shock, confusion, and ambivalence, I’ve realized, is the defining emotion of the generative-AI era. Three years into the hype, it seems that one of AI’s enduring cultural impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it."

African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size Member states back Correct the Map campaign that urges governments and organisations to use more accurate map

“The current size of the map of Africa is wrong,” said Moky Makura, the executive director of Africa No Filter. “It’s the world’s longest misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it just simply has to stop.”

The graphic? So cool. The data? Not cool.

Iconic Joburg library reopens after years But the City still has a list of public libraries that remain closed

Finally! I worked there when I was 18. A magical, irreplaceable resource.
"The central library was closed in May 2021 ... Residents were not able to access the library which holds over 1.5-million books as well as a vast collection of archived material not available anywhere else."

Trump orders homeless he passed en route to golf course to leave Washington DC President demands unhoused residents leave US capital or face eviction and vowed to use officers to make arrests

A headline that sums it all up.

AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.

The crux of their argument is that if they're found liable, then the consequences of their own actions that no one forced them to take could ruin them and the rest of their industry that undertakes similar practices.

To which I say motherfucker did you never hear about Napster

Small news companies pin their hopes on new Google fund. But already there’s controversy Large chunk of R114-million fund to go to administrators

Out of the R114 million in Google's new fund to help small, local and independent news publishers, Tshikululu Social Investments will get a R16 million management fee. That's 14%. A local publisher has described sum as “obscene”.

Trump ally uses four-year-old footage of South Africa’s Zuma riots to justify ‘white oppression’ - South Africa Gateway Alex Jones posted an old video of a historic crisis with the suggestion it was a typical day in South Africa – and “the future of ALL Western countries if changes are not made fast”.

In its entirety, Jones’s claim is false. The clip is from a moment four years ago, when the country faced the unprecedented crisis of the arrest of a former president. And it could be said that the July 2021 riots were ultimately caused by the “White Oppression” of apartheid, not by its removal.

A wasteland of rubble, dust and graves: how Gaza looks from the sky The Guardian joins a Jordanian military airdrop for a rare chance to observe a landscape devastated by Israel’s offensive

The destruction is beyond imagining, but there it is.
"From the skies, it is striking just how small Gaza is – a sliver of land that has become the stage for one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts ... more than 60,000 people have been killed ... Thousands more ... remain buried under the rubble."

South Africa's population | South Africa Gateway South Africa is home to 63 million people. About 81.7% of them are black, 8.5% coloured, 2.6% Indian/Asian and 7.2% white. Find out more about birth, death, age, HIV, migration and other population tr...

The 1996 census recorded a population of 40.6 million. Black people made up 76.7% of the total, coloured people 8.9%, Indian/Asian people 2.6% and white people 10.9%. In about 2013 the coloured population overtook the white population as South Africa’s second-largest group.

Kippie Moeketsi at 100: the soul-stirring story of a South African jazz legend - South Africa Gateway Dismissed as the “sad man” of South African jazz, Kippie Moeketsi was in reality as a brilliant player and stern mentor, fiercely defiant of his racist world.

Moeketsi was no unschooled, mad, untameable “natural” genius sprung from squalor. He came from a home filled with music books. He studied and practiced devotedly to master his craft. His irresponsible youth had been no different from many of his peers’.

The plain language guide to South Africa’s Bill of Rights - South Africa Gateway It protects everyone in the country – not just citizens. The Bill of Rights safeguards dignity, equality and freedom, and demands that basic needs are met.

Do you really know your rights? Our no-nonsense guide will help you understand your rights, and the rights of everyone else. You can also read the full text of the Bill of Rights in 11 of South Africa’s official languages.

High scores for African countries in new ‘flourishing’ index - South Africa Gateway Several African nations rank higher than the US and Europe in a new scientific measure of wellbeing, thanks to strong community ties, purpose and resilience.

The idea of wellbeing often carries a Eurocentric emphasis on the individual – personal satisfaction, autonomy, achievement. Flourishing accounts for how whole a person is in relation to their environment, such as their values within their community.

The workers who hunt for fossils in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind - South Africa Gateway They have found important fossils in the human family. They have no degrees but instruct visiting researchers. Now the fossil technicians of the Sterkfontein Caves may get the recognition they deserve...

Their important contributions have been relegated to the footnotes of the pages that document their findings. “These guys might not have degrees, but they actually know everything. In fact, a number of them have actually taught the professors and researchers who come to the site."

There are no “anatomically modern” elephants. Why do we treat humans differently? A quote from Phillip Tobias illustrates the strange way that we talk about human variation compared to other species.

Fair point

www.johnhawks.net/p/there-are-...

How evolution favoured costly and frivolous animal play | Aeon Essays Here’s a puzzle: how could evolution favour such a costly, frivolous and fun activity as animal play?

I am very happy to share this piece with you, exploring the link between inventiveness and play in nonhuman animals. It was written with care and a sincere desire to convey what science and philosophy can teach us about this fascinating topic.
I hope you enjoy reading it!

aeon.co/essays/how-e...

Elon Musk's fascism is American fascism.