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The Roedean and King David Linksfield tennis saga has moved well beyond a cancelled match. In the week since we last told you about it, the fallout has deepened, leading to two resignations. What started as a dispute between two prestigious schools has become a full-blown national debate. But did it have to be this way?
In politics, we look at reports that Russia had plans to discredit the DA, and break down what the president actually said during the State of the Nation Address (Sona), beyond the applause and the carefully timed pauses. We also cover the senseless murder of an e-hailing driver in Tshwane and the arrests that followed. And we can’t help but roll our eyes and sigh as Imogen Mashazi finds herself back in the headlines. Again.
Abroad, China seems to be taking a page from the “do the opposite” playbook when it comes to Trump-era politics. We honour the life of a fallen civil rights icon, and examine whether social media is addictive or just good at keeping us scrolling.
Finally, there’s a new documentary featuring Tyra Banks out. Let’s just say, it’s not quite picture perfect.
So, let’s dive into these stories and more in this week’s wrap, brought to you by the explain.co.za team. 😄
Format:
▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █BRIEFS
NATIONAL
- Russia may have had its sights set on the DA ahead of South Africa’s 2026 elections. 👀 An analysis of leaked documents published last weekend suggests Russian-linked operatives were plotting a coordinated disinformation campaign to paint the DA as a “white party” and inflame racial tensions. A 2024 Institute for Security Studies investigation had already flagged nearly 80,000 coordinated anti-DA posts during the last election cycle. It’s not clear who the campaign is linked to locally. But it raises uncomfortable questions about foreign meddling in our elections.
- One million vaccines are en route to SA to tackle the cattle foot-and-mouth outbreak. 💉Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said the first batch from Argentina will arrive this weekend, with another five million doses in March. About two-million cattle have already been vaccinated as part of efforts to contain the outbreak, which was declared a national disaster during Sona. Some farmers argue mass vaccination won’t stop the spread, but the government maintains it is key to controlling the outbreak.
- Imogen Mashazi’s London flex is raising eyebrows.👀 A new exposé reveals the former Ekurhuleni city manager’s lavish three-day holiday back in 2022 cost R3.5 million – eclipsing her annual salary. Mashazi denies using public funds for the “private social engagement”, but… won’t say who paid. It matters because she’s linked to tender kingpin “Cat” Matlala. This is the same Mashazi who delivered a disdainful testimony at the Madlanga Commission recently – complete with a mid-hearing lipstick touch-up. The shade was immaculate. Her scruples? Not so much. 🤨
- Last week’s Sona was overshadowed by the water crisis gripping the country. President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the annual address last Thursday. Wins from the past year include the successful November G20 summit, economic growth, and rising investment in renewable energy, along with the start of a turnaround for our rails and ports. But Ramaphosa said outright that the water outages reflect a local-government system that is not working… bold for an election year. Read our full takeaway on explain.co.za.
- The Proteas are in the Super 8 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026! It’s the second phase, where the top eight teams move into a tighter mini-league from Saturday – three games each, with only four spots in the semi-finals up for grabs. SA qualified before playing their final Group D match, thanks to Afghanistan beating the UAE. They still finished four from four, sealing it with a six-wicket win in New Delhi. 💁🏾♂️ Next: hosts India on Sunday – a 2024 final rematch. 🥵
INTERNATIONAL
- Social media giants are facing a US jury over claims they built “addiction machines” for children. A 20-year-old woman says years on Instagram and YouTube left her depressed, with body dysmorphia. Her lawyers say platforms keep users hooked, sparking comparisons to Big Tobacco in the 1990s. TikTok and Snapchat have settled, but Meta and YouTube remain on trial, with more than 40 US states pursuing similar lawsuits. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg pushed back in court on Wednesday, but… we all know his track record. Finally, a reckoning.
- As the US keeps hitting countries with steep tariffs, China is moving the other way. President Xi Jinping announced on Saturday that Beijing will scrap import tariffs for 53 African countries starting on 1 May, up from 33 previously. That’s everyone on the continent except Eswatini, which recognises Taiwan, a stance China is notoriously salty about. Meanwhile, a new study by the New York Fed shows US consumers and businesses bore 94% of the costs of Trump’s infamous tariffs in the first eight months of 2025. 🤐
- An exposé on America’s Next Top Model dropped on Monday – and it doesn’t look good. The docuseries revisits the noughties’ reality juggernaut and its toxic underbelly: body-shaming, humiliating “challenges”, and one contestant alleging she was too drunk to consent while cameras rolled. The show’s creator and supermodel host, Tyra Banks, is cast as both pioneer and villain – owning the show’s legacy, yet sidestepping accountability by largely blaming production for certain artistic choices. The phrase the show popularised, “smize then apologise”, isn’t quite cutting it. 😐
- U2 released new music on Wednesday, honouring Renée Good in a powerful tribute. 🎸The Irish band’s surprise six-track EP, Days of Ash, their first major release in nearly a decade, opens with American Obituary, dedicated to the Minnesota mother killed in January during a Minneapolis immigration crackdown. Good’s death came amid intensifying ICE raids across cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles. As tensions between federal agents and residents escalate, U2 channels the grief and resistance into a call for unity and peace.
- US civil rights icon Rev Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday at 84. The lifelong activist was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and was hospitalised in November for observation. Jackson was a protégé of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and a towering figure in the American civil rights movement. Locally, he supported Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid struggle, pulling huge crowds in Soweto and urging global leaders – and even Harvard University – to sever ties with the apartheid regime. A powerful voice for justice, now at rest. 🕊️
▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ BIG STORIES
1️⃣Roedean vs King David: Schools cannot hide from politics
The Roedean and King David fiasco could have been handled better by both schools.
As we told you last week, Roedean, one of Joburg’s most prestigious private girls’ schools, ghosted the first and second tennis team from the elite Jewish King David school when they arrived at Roedean’s Parktown campus for a fixture on 3 February.
A leaked voice note from King David’s deputy head did the rounds, alleging that Roedean pupils had refused to play because of antisemitism. Roedean denied this, claiming it didn’t field a team because of “prior commitments”, including a “compulsory academic workshop”. But… that wasn’t entirely true.
Another recording, this time between Roedean principal Phuti Mogale and King David’s principal, Lorraine Srage, recorded the day before the fixture, revealed there WERE, in fact, political concerns.
During the 2 February call, Srage asked Mogale whether parents of pupils were objecting to Roedean playing against King David.
Mogale replied:
“Yes, they are basically saying because of the stance that the government took, we are supposed to support that. I keep having to remind them that schools are apolitical first and foremost, particularly in SA – we don’t take a stance like that.” South Africa has an ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of breaching the Genocide Convention in Gaza.
It’s a helluva thorny issue, and one Mogale and the school should have handled better. Instead, Mogale, who was appointed last July, reached out, in good faith, to King David’s head for advice. What could have been an opportunity for dialogue and a way forward was obscured as Roedean effectively lied, and King David’s leaned into escalation, spectacle, and victimhood.
Mogale and other school heads, hoping to keep schools apolitical spaces, are fooling themselves. There is no running away from complexity.
Crisis management expert Nicola Kleyn told Currency News the situation may not have spiralled had earlier concerns from pupils been properly addressed. Some Roedean pupils who had previously played King David had apparently been “traumatised” by the presence of posters of Israeli hostages and armed security at that school, Currency reports.
That was also a finding of the first phase of Roedean’s independent forensic investigation, shared with parents on 16 February: concerns raised by pupils before the match were not escalated through the proper leadership channels.
Phase two will now examine governance, accountability, and decision-making structures.
It has led to the black female principal of Roedean resigning last Thursday, a decision that many social media users have criticised, saying Mogale was scapegoated. Her career may be forever impacted.
She was followed by the school board chairperson, Dale Quaker, resigning on Monday, citing safety concerns for himself and his family. Last week, Roedean apologised to King David’s, saying “its action was deeply hurtful to the Jewish community”.
South Africa is not new to difference. We are a country built on negotiation, uncomfortable conversations and the hard work of coexisting. We do not have to agree, but we do have to talk.
When institutions retreat into half-truths and outrage cycles, everyone loses. Especially the pupils watching it unfold.
Look out for our report unpacking this story in more detail on explain.co.za tomorrow.
2️⃣Brutal murder of Bolt driver shocks South Africa
South Africa is still reeling after the murder of 22-year-old Bolt driver Isaac Satlat in Pretoria, captured in widely shared dashcam footage.
The footage, which went viral on social media on Friday, showed a female suspect strangling Satlat, allegedly with the help of a male suspect. The brutal attack had occurred about a week before, when the suspects allegedly initially posed as passengers. They then turned on Satlat, strangling him to death before taking charge of the vehicle. Satlat’s body and the hijacked car were discovered in Atteridgeville on the same day.
By Saturday, Dikeledi Mphela handed herself over to the police in Atteridgeville. She appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday, together with the other suspects, Goitsione Machidi and McClaren Mushwana. A fourth suspect appeared separately, and the case was postponed to 23 February.
Satlat was just days away from celebrating his 23rd birthday. He had been working as a Bolt driver to support himself while completing an internship.
And that’s where this story gets bigger than one horrific crime.
His death has once again brought the spotlight onto safety in the e-hailing industry. Drivers have long raised concerns about attacks and hijackings, warning that existing protections are not enough.
This comes as the National Land Transport Amendment regulations, introduced in September 2025, require all e-hailing platforms, including Uber and Bolt, to register with authorities. The rules mandate proper vehicle branding, panic buttons, and licensing for both drivers and platforms.
The intention was to formalise and safeguard the sector. Yet, with the compliance deadline looming, reports indicate major platforms have not completed the registration process.
Members of the E-hailing Federation of South Africa protested outside court during the suspects’ first appearance, calling on platforms to strengthen verification processes for app users.
For years, the conversation around e-hailing safety has centred on passengers. Satlat’s murder is a stark reminder that drivers, too, remain vulnerable, and that regulation without enforcement offers little comfort.
Whether platforms act decisively now may determine the future stability of South Africa’s e-hailing industry.
adrian8_8/ Flickr
3️⃣The joy of the Winter Olympics in 3 stand-out moments
It’s almost curtains for the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, and what a two weeks it’s been. There’ve been victorious comebacks, surprise proposals, and an iconic first win for country and continent. 🥹
Let’s start with the fairytale stuff.
American alpine skier Breezy Johnson didn’t make the last Winter Olympics in Beijing back in 2022. A serious training crash in Italy just weeks before the Games forced her to withdraw. Fast-forward to Tuesday, and Johnson returned to the very same slope that saw her crash out four years ago, this time taking GOLD. And just in case that wasn’t cinematic enough, her boyfriend surprised her with a proposal at the finish line. The internet debated whether he was stealing her shine. But Johnson called it “everything I dreamed of”.
Then came history.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen earned Brazil and South America their first-ever Winter Olympic medal in any sport and gender. And look, we’re taking it too on behalf of the snow-deprived Southern Hemisphere. 😅 Braathen has also had quite the journey. He retired from racing in 2023, switched national allegiances from Norway to Brazil and then went on to win Brazil’s first-ever Alpine skiing World Cup victory in 2025. Most of South Africa’s five-person Winter Olympics team were also born or raised in the Northern Hemisphere, but chose to represent South Africa thanks to Saffa parents. Alas, Team SA didn’t podium, though it was our largest delegation ever.
A special shout to Eileen Gu shutting down a reporter who seemed to suggest her two silver medals were an underachievement. The San Francisco-born skier, who represents China internationally, entered the Games with tons of pressure after winning two gold medals and a silver at the 2022 Olympics. The two silver medals she added to her collection in these games make her the most decorated female freestyle skier in Olympic history. But during a press conference, a reporter asked: “Do you see these as two silvers gained or two golds lost?”
Gu wasted no time in answering with a perfect response: “I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself”. 🔥
As the Games come to an end, it’s Norway that once again tops the medal table, as they did in 2022, with 33 medals, including 15 golds. And maybe it’s that home-ground advantage, but Italy is currently sitting second on the table, with nine golds and 26 medals.
Winter sports may feel far from Mzansi’s summer, but the drama? Very relatable.
That’s it from us at The Wrap, an award-winning product of explain.co.za – simple news summaries for busy people. 💁🏾♀
The Wrap is sponsored by explain’s agency division. We specialise in content marketing for purpose-driven organisations, often with a pan-African reach. Mail info@explain.co.za for a quote.
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