Never let a crisis go to waste.

That may seem heartless, but the Covid-19 pandemic is both a warning and an opportunity.

It is a warning that the world is interconnected in ways that we cannot unravel.

We cannot insulate ourselves from the global threats that are a consequence of the fact that we ourselves are a virus, too lazy and selfish to see that we are destroying our host, the planetary ecosystems on which we depend to survive.

amaBhungane’s EarthCrimes series:

Government’s plan to develop a R40-billion Chinese-controlled energy and metallurgical industrial complex at the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone is dicey, however you look at it

The department of trade and industry (DTI) outsourced the development and management of a coal-burning, water-guzzling, capital-soaking heavy industrial zone in Limpopo to an obscure Hong Kong-based businessman, Yat Hoi Ning, who was removed as chief executive of his previous company amid allegations of misconduct and fraud.

The postponement of the Spar vs Spar court case in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg has not prevented a well-placed whistleblower from coming forward with shocking information about the food retail giant’s leadership. The information he supplied rang a bell because two owners of Spar stores had made similar claims about the conduct of the Spar Group’s CEO, Graham O’Connor.

“I am by no means a disgruntled employee; in fact the contrary is true,” our whistleblower tells Noseweek.

‘We will overcome this and we’ll realise we are a communion of nations more than we think,’ says Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Dr Thabo Makgoba

I am seated in a spacious, sunny boardroom at the official residence of the Anglican archbishops of Cape Town since 1851. At a safe distance, many metres away at the head of the table, is the Most Reverend Dr Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town.

Last month, in an 11-page letter posted on an American pharmaceutical company’s website,  Martin Shkreli called for his temporary release from a Pennsylvania prison to enable him to use his special skills “to assist in research work on Covid-19”.

American health activists have rushed to oppose his application, citing his past history, and have launched a social media campaign to gather signatures for a mass petition to ensure his application for release from prison is not allowed.

For readers who love a conspiracy, meet...

Larry Klayman – Conspiracy Litigant

He has been called a nutbag lawyer, pathologically litigious and a serially vexatious litigant.

For good reason.

True to his reputation, Larry Klayman has recently launched a US federal lawsuit based on the latest conspiracy theory. The American advocate and former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor wants to see China in the International Criminal Court, explaining the origins of the current Coronavirus pandemic and paying $20 trillion in compensation.

Our school was in the middle of the bush, ten miles from the nearest town in the harsh beauty of the Zimbabwean highveld. It started life in World War II as No 26 EFTS Guinea Fowl, a Royal Air Force elementary flying training school and I arrived there in 1954, just seven years after it became an all-white co-ed state boarding school.

From Ronald Wohlman’s New York Corona Diary

Day 30. A Lazy Easter Sunday afternoon

Happy Easter to all my friends celebrating this chocolaty holiday. I hope you’ve all had a great day. Blessings. But back to me now. (It’s funny, I just received a review of this diary from a new reader in Spain, and she said, “ ...you have the perfect blend of narcissism and paranoia.”)

I am hesitant to go into the pub today. Not because it’s illegal, but there is a crème coloured 1985 Mercedes 300D parked behind the pine tree. This means the devil is inside; that’s what we call Dr De Villiers. You don’t know whether you will encounter the good doctor with the charming bedside manner or the violent, bipolar bully. The problem is, most of the time, you can never be sure which it is, so it’s best to always keep a social distance.