Michael Benjamin (on the music midnight makes)

Failing to notice...

Cape Town is NOT the only apartheid city in our country and probably not the worst offender in relation to spatial injustice of all our cities and towns. @CityofCT and @WesternCapeGov and @OurDA work hand-in-glove with property power mainly White developers. But, I would argue that anyone who fixates on Cape Town totally misses the point, movements who do this betray the working class in other parts of our country. And, fail to understand global property power and the struggles of working class and middle class people in Luanda, London, Nairobi, Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Windhoek, Paris, New York, Barcelona and Dubai for spatial justice. The #Tafelberg judgment is perhaps the most important land, property and spatial justice judgment since 1994 despite its focus on state owned assets. When read with the Commando decision(Bromwell Street judgment) which deals with gentrification (class-based forced removals), private developers and the duties of the state, the @ConCourtSA has revolutionised the law in relation to property power. Both the Adonisi (Tafelberg) and Bromwell judgments arose from radical struggles by working class people in Sea Point, Woodstock and Salt River organised in @ReclaimCT and supported by @NdifunaUkwazi and those of us who worked on it saw it as a national struggle. From Franschhoek to Dainfern, Sandhurst, Waterkloof, Umhlanga, Ballito, Mayfair Estate (Mthatha) and Mbombela (Mpumalanga) working class people - Black working class people who slave in these suburbs and estates face extreme forms of spatial violence especially people who live in informal settlements. The @MyANC and its various crooked coalition partners in those provinces and municipalities steal people’s (state-owned) land, property or other assets for private property power - developers. So accuse me of being an apologist for Cape Town but help build movements to revolutionise spatial development, if you agree. groundup.org.za/media/uploads/… @pierredevos @zilevandamme @ferialhaffajee @ThabisoTema @brettherron @SongezoZibi @geordinhl @RediTlhabi @samkelemaseko @RediTlhabi @AxolileNotywala @thabomoetji @BoschDeena63396 @becsplanb @kunenephindz

Balvenie Caribbean Cask music. music.youtube.com/watch?v=2iH1zX… @nothembaujx @Enghumbhini @Almostconvinced @marangdream @LolaMonareng @capemanchris @Chrispin_JPhiri @ShareenSingh8 @JCharlesLeonard @debbieflorence @julianrademeyer @noelndhlovu10

100%. All digital development must be subjected to human rights impact assessments. Hopefully the investigation leads to data-centre-specific regulations and/or a digital-infrastructure law. Really impressed with the @SAHRCommission’s fore-thought on this.

One thing I've found weird about this and past World Cup TV coverage is the lack of B-roll from host cities to highlight local color, fans, etc. The event moves around the world yet TV coverage never shows anything outside the stadium. (Compare this to Olympics, which does.) 1/2

WOW -- Danish reporter *goes there* with Mark Rutte "You sit next to Donald Trump at moments when he talks about conquering Greenland, talks about lashing out at allies like Spain -- things it doesn't seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of. Does this have any affect on your self-respect when you sit there and say nothing?"

Gently does it instagram.com/reel/Dah6-PrIQ…

@sphiwemhlambi Such a cool pic.💚

Busi Mhlongo and Hugh Masekela were two legendary figures in South African music who shared a deep artistic, professional, and personal connection spanning several decades. Both artists used their music as a powerful tool for anti-apartheid activism, spent many years in international exile, and later influenced the sound of post-apartheid South Africa. Mhlongo, an initiated sangoma and the queen of Urban Zulu, blended traditional Zulu styles with jazz, rock, and reggae. Masekela was a renowned trumpeter and anti-apartheid activist. Their most notable collaborations include touring together on Masekela’s 1994 homecoming tour and performing at the Africa '95 festival in London in 1995. They also collaborated on Mhlongo's acclaimed music catalog, leaving a lasting legacy on African music.

Police Forensics: How "Deleted" and View Once Messages Are Retrieved Law enforcement worldwide, including South Africa's SAPS, routinely recovers such content—not by breaking server-side encryption, but through device forensics. Tools like Cellebrite or custom extractors pull data from SQLite databases, caches, and unallocated space. On Android, write-ahead logging aids recovery of deleted records; iOS is harder but not impossible. View Once items often survive as thumbnails, partial files, or in backups. Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner, publicly highlighted this capability. In parliamentary hearings and commissions (e.g., Madlanga Commission around 2025), he stated that SAPS can retrieve View Once and disappearing messages. His comments, made amid discussions of crime syndicates and political killings, served as a deterrent: "You can delete, but we will retrieve." Critics and privacy advocates reacted with alarm, especially on social media, interpreting it as proof that "no encryption is safe." National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola later faced questions on whether SAPS uses in-house equipment or outsources forensics. The statements underscore a key truth: Physical device access often trumps encryption. Lawsuits Challenging Meta's Claims These practical vulnerabilities have fueled legal action. In 2026, Texas AG Ken Paxton sued Meta and WhatsApp, alleging deceptive marketing. The suit claims the companies access "virtually all" communications despite E2EE promises, citing a Commerce Department probe (abruptly closed) where an agent allegedly found Meta employees could view plaintext. Class-action suits from international plaintiffs echo similar accusations of internal access via whistleblowers. I wonder whether we will see similar challenges in South Africa. Meta denies everything, calling claims "frivolous" and "absurd." Cryptographers note a lack of concrete technical evidence that the Signal Protocol is broken, though closed-source clients and group chat weaknesses raise questions. Reverse-engineering studies have generally validated WhatsApp's core claims, but device-side and metadata issues tell a different story. Broader Implications for Privacy WhatsApp delivers strong protection against passive eavesdroppers and server breaches. However, it offers less against determined adversaries with device access, legal warrants, or technical savvy. Features like View Once provide convenience theater rather than ironclad security. Users should: Enable encrypted backups. Avoid sensitive content on mainstream apps. Use disappearing messages cautiously. Recognize that "deleted" rarely means gone forever on seized devices. As lawsuits unfold and forensics advance, the gap between marketing and technical reality will likely face more scrutiny. For now, treat WhatsApp as reasonably private for everyday use—but not anonymous or future-proof against investigation. In the words of security experts, trust but verify, especially when powerful institutions publicly demonstrate their retrieval capabilities. Thanks to my grandson's input. He's the aspirant IT guru and as for me, I evaluated this from privacy, contractual and constitutional law perspectives. #GranniesDiaries How quickly they grow

On this day in 1987, Dr. Federik van Zyl Slabbert led a group of fifty-two mainly Afrikaans-speaking intellectuals, to meet with the then-banned African National Congress (ANC) in Dakar, Senegal. Delegates were drawn from academic, professional, cultural, religious and business fields. Source: SAHO, Wikipedia

@WandileSihlobo Guavas have 4 times more Vitamin C than oranges! Perfect immune booster and cold fighting super fruit.

Increase bus fares by 100% so now Disabled People cant afford the bus & now they can shut it down as lack of demand And there is NOTHING we can do about it because Disability Rights are not Constitutionally recognised in this country Fyi

Last year, the City of Cape Town said it was decreasing the Dial a Ride busses (which have a 5yr waiting list) & they asked that Disabled People who use the bus, must provide work contracts to show that they need the service When that got a backlash, they decided to wait &

A Friday evening reminder of just how transportative jazz can be. youtu.be/MAxdTSc_fts?si… @nothembaujx @capemanchris @Enghumbhini @ShareenSingh8 @Almostconvinced @marangdream @LolaMonareng @gstrachan1 @thamintuli @julianrademeyer @JCharlesLeonard @debbieflorence

In the EU. Competition and leaving space for local operators. In SA. No competition plans are in place. No feasibility studies. No national security assessments. No data sovereignty protection plans. All serious democracies that approved Starlink went through these processes. Over here it’s just vibes and “whatabout the poor blacks” “Is it because he is white,” reducing every argument to race and BEE and lies about “faster, cheaper and more reliable internet,” that Starlink is said to provide. It does not. This is not tiddlywinks. You’re not seeking approvals for a company to provide wheelbarrows. These are serious democratic existential questions that need to be carefully considered and answers provided. Take us seriously. Publish policies, conduct studies etc and then we can talk. Until then, akho Starlink eza la. Nis’jwayela kabi. x.com/zilevandamme/s…

When Isaac Nota arrived at his landlord’s house in Gugulethu on Monday to pay his rent, he expected another routine month. Instead, he was told to leave. The Malawian said his landlord refused to accept the rent, claiming he could face a R10 000 fine for renting to foreign nationals. READ| news24.com/southafrica/ne… WATCH| youtube.com/watch?v=0ET77u…

Migrants continue to arrive at the Home Affairs centre, where hundreds have taken refuge. Many are travelling from towns including Worcester, De Doorns and Robertson, seeking safety as the number of people at the site continues to grow.

Ah ah ah ah. The saga continues. 🙆🏾‍♀️ Per this story, concerning a document said to have been submitted by the DA as part of the GNU negotiations, the DA is said to have demanded that Starlink be selected as a LEO service provider. The ANC reportedly said no, that’s not how service providers are appointed. At the same time, mind you, Amazon was also seeking a licence, so Starlink was not the only player in the game. But because Starlink was a Resolve client, and Tony Leon was part of the GNU negotiations, the ANC is said to have been pressed to give his client preferential political treatment. If accurate, that would mean a political negotiation was being used to influence what should have been an independent regulatory outcome involving the private client of a political player. The DA would have endorsed that approach. What was allegedly being sought was essentially the substitution of a political process for the independent regulatory process entrusted to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. A constitutional body. That is an extraordinary allegation. If true, what would you call it? That would be: corruption. Political interference in an independent institution? An attempt to secure political preference for a private client? Those are serious questions that demand serious answers. INSANE. I genuinely don’t know what to say. 🤯 I happen to like Geordin. He inherited this, but leadership now owns the response. It needs to be dealt with immediately. He needs to clean house and restore order. Right now, it is chaotic. The DA also needs to decide who speaks for the party. The messaging has been disastrous, as has the tone. Ryan increasingly acts as the GNU spokesperson. Is that messaging party-approved? Is he authorised to speak on behalf of DA Ministers on here? Do the respective Ministers approve his statements before he posts? Gareth acts as an attack dog, at times positioning himself as speaking on behalf of the DA. There are multiple competing voices, often contradicting one another, and a tone that is crass, dismissive, and quick to label anyone who disagrees as “stupid.” Is that really how the DA wants to communicate with the public? Is that party-sanctioned? Kubi! I hope the DA caucus demands answers and insists this is fixed. The longer these questions go unanswered, the greater the damage to the DA’s brand. The longer a clear blue line is not drawn in the sand, the greater the reputational cost. Good luck.

So. We have confirmation that Starlink is a client of Resolve. This means that the former Leader of the DA, facilitated a meeting with a prospective “tender” applicant which resulted in the Minister beginning changing rules to fit the requirements of said “bidder.” That, my dears is corruption.