New in Vrye Weekblad: Ace Magashule, elephant culling, Sunnyside, and dads

Elias Sekgobelo (Ace) Magashule, 60, is one of SA's toughest and craftiest political operators of the past two decades. For 20 years the Parys-born politician has built a private empire in the Free State to ensure he and his children would always be wealthy.

Magashule is as much of a Teflon man as his "comrade in crime", Jacob Zuma, writes Jacques Pauw in the latest edition of online Afrikaans weekly Vrye Weekblad.

From being elected as provincial ANC chairman in 1998, through his years as MEC and as premier from 2009 to 2019, he has made short shrift of his opponents and survived scandal after scandal.

Read the full report in Vrye Weekblad (only R25 per edition or R20 per edition for pensioners): 

Five other must-read articles in this week's Vrye Weekblad

SWEARING | Do you swear in Afrikaans? Elsabé Brits writes about the origin of our favourite Afrikaans swearwords and explains how the brain reacts to these taboo words.

FATHER'S DAY | Being a dad has nothing to do with receiving socks and handkerchiefs on Father's Day, writes Fred Pheiffer.

SUNNYSIDE | No one dies of jealousy when they hear you're moving to this part of Pretoria, writes Gielie Hoffman.

ELEPHANTS | Botswana is home to about one-third of the world's elephants, partly due to a ban on hunting for the past five years. Now the country's government wants to lift that ban, apparently to address conflict between the elephants and in particular small-scale farmers. Angus Begg writes that this decision does not bode well for SA's elephants either.