Mail & Guardian

The Mail & Guardian is a weekly newspaper based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and published by M&G Media. It specializes in political insights, in-depth investigative journalism, news from Southern Africa, as well as coverage of local arts, music, and cultural trends.

National

English

Newspaper

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#47927

South Africa

#337

News and Media

#27

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

Three accused are going to jail but Joslin’s fate remains unknown

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus

The judge has handed down sentences — but a little girl is still missing and a community’s anguish remains raw This content is restricted to subscribers only. Join the M&G Community Our commitment at the Mail & Guardian is to ensure every reader enjoys the finest experience. Join the M&G community and support us in delivering in-depth news to you consistently.
Joslin Smith: Life in prison for Appollis, Van Rhyn and Kelly Smith

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus

Judge Nathan Erasmus on Thursday sentenced Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, Steveno van Rhyn, and Kelly Smith, convicted earlier this month of kidnapping and trafficking Joslin Smith, to 10 years in prison for the former, and life imprisonment for the latter. The sentences are to run concurrently. There were whoops of joy from the multi-purpose centre in Saldanha Bay, where the trial has been sitting for the past two months, when Erasmus handed down the life sentence.
Kelly Smith’s mother uses victim impact statement to confront daughter about parenting, indifference

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus

Kelly Smith sat hunched, her expression almost unreadable as her biological mother, Amanda Daniels, delivered a searing victim impact statement before the Cape Town high court on Wednesday. When Smith raised her eyes, the shimmer of tears from a prior impact statement betrayed her attempts at a stoic composure. The courtroom was silent as Daniels spoke of the pain and permanence of the loss she felt since Kelly’s middle child, her granddaughter, Joslin Smith, went missing in February 2024.
State seeks life sentence for accused in Joslin Smith kidnapping

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Umamah Bakharia

Sentencing proceedings in the Joslin Smith trial are underway in the Western Cape High Court, with the state calling for life imprisonment for the three accused in the disappearance of the child. On 19 February 2024, then six-year-old Joslin disappeared from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay. Her mother, Kelly Smith, reported the child missing that evening, claiming she had left Joslin in the care of her partner, Jacquin “Boeta” Appollis.
Dragonflies: Ancient insects helping to save modern ecosystems

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Sheree Bega

Long before there were dinosaurs, there were dragonflies. That’s one of the things about the ephemeral insects, with their long, slender bodies and gossamer-thin wings, that fascinates entomologist Charl Deacon. Dragonflies, known for their striking aerial acrobatics and near 360-degree vision, are one of the oldest groups of winged insects on Earth.
Special Investigating Unit’s anti-corruption forum to tackle South Africa’s water sector scandals

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Sheree Bega

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU)’s new water sector anti-corruption forum is a critical intervention to confront entrenched corruption across South Africa’s water value chain. So said Ferrial Adam, the executive director of WaterCAN, a civil society organisation on water rights which has welcomed the establishment of the forum earlier this month. “But let’s be clear. This forum must deliver,” she said. “South Africa’s water crisis is not about a lack of resources; it’s about corruption.
Red alert for South Africa’s birds: 147 bird species threatened in South Africa, Lesotho & Eswatin

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Sheree Bega

There are 147 bird species categorised as threatened or near-threatened in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, according to the revised Red Data Book of Birds (RDB-online) launched by BirdLife. The figure is up from 132 species from the previous data book of birds of the region published in 2015. Most notably, 39 species were uplisted, indicating a worsening in their conservation status, while only eight species have been downlisted, reflecting positive conservation outcomes.
South Africa’s biggest polluters accused of derailing climate policy for 20 years

1 week ago | mg.co.za | Sheree Bega

South Africa’s largest corporate polluters have worked persistently over the past two decades, in public and in private, to derail an effective climate policy response by the government, according to non-profit shareholder activism organisation Just Share.
Trump confronts Ramaphosa over farm murders in White House exchange

2 weeks ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus

A meeting between United States President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday night South African time veered sharply off course when Trump abruptly turned the focus to farm attacks in South Africa, relegating trade discussions to the sidelines.
Ramaphosa in Washington: Charm offensive or collision course?

2 weeks ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Washington DC this week on a mission few would envy: to rescue a bilateral relationship that has descended into open hostility. For months, his government and United States President Donald Trump’s administration have traded accusations and recriminations — each viewing the other’s policies and ideologies as fundamentally misaligned with their national and international interests.