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While you were sleeping: 20 November

While you were sleeping: 20 November
Mugabe clings to last vestiges of power, Germany struggles to form coalition, and Napoleon's leaf fetches a fat sum.





Monday, 20 November 2017


“If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself.” 
Mikhail Bakunin




 



 













LAST CHANCE to book your seat at The Gathering! Click here for ticket info.





 












STORY OF THE DAY


Zimbabwe: A Fistful of Hours – Mugabe survives, for now


By PETER FABRICIUS





Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe stunned his country by refusing to resign on Sunday night, despite being warned by his own ruling Zanu-PF party that he would be impeached if he did not do so. 





 



 



 










WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING










Mugabe remains defiant, stays in power



He was supposed to announce his resignation, making a final, dignified exit into retirement. Instead, on Sunday night Robert Mugabe appeared to read a statement prepared for him by the military, missing a few pages along the way. A few pages that may well have held the part where Mugabe's non-resignation became a resignation. For a not-coup that's a coup, an awkward public statement that lets Mugabe sip the presidential tea for one more morning became par for the course.





 





ZANU-PF clean house



Despite the presidential shenanigans, ZANU-PF was not waiting for the military or Mugabe to tell them what to do. On Sunday the party announced it would be banning Grace Mugabe for life, and appointing Emmerson Mnangagwa as their new president. All those previously expelled under the Mugabe regime would have their sentences lifted, and Robert Mugabe would be given an ultimatum to resign or be impeached. If nothing else was resolved at the weekend, it's that Zimbabweans loathe Grace Mugabe almost as much as avoiding calling a coup a coup.





 









Germany struggles to form coalition



Immigration and tax cuts appeared to be two major issues preventing Angela Merkel's CDU from forming a coalition government with the FDP. Without said alliance, Germany's government is plunged into effective uncertainty. With nobody in the driving seat, more space is created for the disturbingly militant AfD party in parliament.





 





Napoleonic golf leaf fetches princely sum



A gold laurel from Napoleon's crown has sold for $735,000. The leaf went on auction in Paris on Sunday, being one of six cut from Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation crown. An estimated 400 works relating to France's former emperor went on auction over the weekend, including an engraved box belonging to his wife that managed to fetch 150,000 euros.





 









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IN NUMBERS


$5



The fine for anyone who works at the Top Gun school in the United States who quotes the movie.





 









FACTS OF THE DAY



Today in 2007 Ian Smith died of a stroke in Cape Town.


Microwave popcorn is nothing special. You can have the same effect with normal popcorn kernels and a brown paper bag.





 
















 









FEATURED ARTICLES



















Zimbabwe: When is a coup not a coup?


BY J BROOKS SPECTOR



 














OPINIONISTAS


















From liberators to villains and looters


A column by BRIJ MAHARAJ



 












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Weather
BFN: min: 17° max 33°, cloudy
CPT: min: 12° max: 19°,  rainy
DBN: min: 21° max: 31°, cloudy
EL: min: 17° max: 37°, cloudy
JHB: min: 15° max: 24°, cloudy
KIM: min: 19° max: 36°, cloudy
NLP: min: 16° max: 32°, sunny
MHK: min: 19° max: 32°, sunny
PMB: min: 18° max: 36°, cloudy
PE: min: 16° max: 33°, cloudy
PTA: min: 17° max: 32°, sunny








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