Jacob Zuma presided over the most dishonourable epoch in post-Apartheid South Africa.   EPA
Jacob Zuma presided over the most dishonourable epoch in post-Apartheid South Africa. EPA

After Zuma, South Africa must restore faith in the state hallowed by Mandela's stewardship



Asked about the cloud of mistrust hanging over his candidacy in the run up to the 2009 elections in South Africa, Jacob Zuma replied: "We have no cloud. Nothing. Not even the mist." The chutzpah was characteristic of a man who, despite facing 700 charges of fraud and corruption, worked his way to the top of the African National Congress and became a contender for South Africa's presidency. The ignominious termination of Mr Zuma's reign on Wednesday night is a glorious triumph of the democratic values bequeathed by Nelson Mandela. That it came days after the 28th anniversary of Mandela's release from prison ought to prompt an honest reckoning among South Africans with their recent history.

It is easy to ascribe South Africa's decline to Mr Zuma alone. Such a view, however, obscures the structural issues within the ANC, which not only enabled Mr Zuma's ascent but also protected him in office even as accusations of graft and nepotism piled up. Mr Zuma is symptomatic of the ANC's degradation. Incarcerated alongside Mandela for his anti-racist activism in white-supremacist South Africa, Mr Zuma was once an embodiment of hope.

The ANC shielded Mr Zuma against credible allegations that he had allowed the rise of a parallel government run by the Guptas, a family embroiled in scandal. It stood by Mr Zuma when, in 2017, youth unemployment reached almost 60 per cent. It had Mr Zuma's back when proof of the country's rising disaffection with their president presented itself in the form of major electoral losses in urban areas. Had the internal election to the presidency of the ANC in December swung in favour of Mr Zuma's former wife, he would still be in power. It is her narrow defeat at the hands of Cyril Ramaphosa, an anti-corruption crusader and a rival of Mr Zuma's, that re-energised the values that had gone into retreat over the past decade.

Mr Ramaphosa became South Africa's acting president on Thursday. The job before him is to restore faith in the state that was once hallowed by the stewardship of Mandela. This will not happen if Mr Zuma is allowed to evade the law: the interests of the ANC must be subordinated to the interests of South Africa. Mr Zuma's exit coincided with the death of Morgan Tsvangirai, the courageous opposition leader of Zimbabwe who saw South Africa as a role model for his own country. The task before the ANC and Mr Ramaphosa is formidable: to make South Africa a blossoming source of pride for its own people and a shining model for others.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Director: Mahdi Fleifel

Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa

Rating: 4.5/5

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

Know your cyber adversaries

Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Business Insights
  • As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses. 
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Types of bank fraud

1) Phishing

Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.

2) Smishing

The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.

3) Vishing

The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.

4) SIM swap

Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.

5) Identity theft

Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.

6) Prize scams

Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Ticket prices
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  • Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
  • Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
  • Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
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  • Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH INFO

Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')

Leicester City 2 (Maddison 55', Tielemans 72')

Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5