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A sign of SA�s inner turmoil THE SKELETONS are rattling in South Africa�s intelligence community, with South Africa�s top three spooks being suspended by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in a move which goes to the very heart of the succession and leadership crisis currently raging within the ruling ANC. Between stability and labour The ANC would sooner gargle with wasps than admit to a crisis of confidence in the party�s leadership. However, recent events have exposed gaping cracks in its once-unified tripartite alliance with the SACP and Cosatu. The great labour debate rages on A topic currently enjoying much debate among trade unions, the press and policy wonks in South Africa is the notion of labour markets and the extent to which they assist, or hinder, government�s employment creation and poverty eradication efforts. SA's poor losing patience As delegates to the World Economic Forum's Africa Summit discussed hefty issues of the world economy in Cape Town's exclusive Conference Centre last month, several hundred members of a squatter settlement were protesting against the lack of housing and general service delivery hardly 20 minutes down the road. Time to tell more tales Over the last month, I have watched the development of the Mandela art fraud story with fascination. It is a relatively straight-forward narrative that many people have recognised as fishy from its earliest days. And yet through fear of causing offence, our media have been afraid to ask basic questions Is Zuma fit to succeed? Even if corruption is ultimately not proven, the trial has brought to light a tangle of conflicts of interest and lapses of judgement-Yet � perhaps in an attempt to shift the focus of the public � some voices are suggesting that the trial is not fundamentally about corruption but about succession within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) Another strange alliance for SA Why the apparent apathy? Could it be because trade between the two countries is almost insignificant, and does not, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, include any trade in weapons? Deputy President Jacob Zuma, disingenuously, appealed to the media not to misinterpret the visit � apparently a viable possibility � as South Africa has ties with �many countries with nuclear capacity We can�t afford petty squabbles 
Recent comments by Davo Oluyemi- Kusa, a director of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Settlement, which falls under the Nigerian presidency, have sparked an unfortunate debate Millions still wait for freedom
On January 8, South Africa�s ruling African National Congress (ANC) celebrated its 93rd birthday in the Eastern Cape, the birthplace of both past president Nelson Mandela and current president Thabo Mbeki. It is also South Africa�s poorest province - home to 6.3 million people, of which an estimated 72% live below the poverty line, Empowerment or enrichment?
A senior government official is reported to have said that he could not understand why anyone was complaining: no-one took exception when Jonathan Oppenheimer, the heir to the Oppenheimer empire, bought a private jet. It is a somewhat mundane argument, but it does drive the point home. Mortgaging a nation
While Mandela and his comrades laid Nkobi to rest, they publicly declared their grief for the fallen hero as a �lump on their throats�. Freemarket hypocrisy How nice! But then how do you explain that, in the same week that De Rato pontificated about what�s economically prudent and not, US-based group SBC Communications, one of the single largest investors in the state-owned telecommunications operator Telkom, hinted that they may exit the market next year? Midrand is the place to be
Welcome to South Africa, where over the next few weeks you shall quickly learn about the rewards of political loyalty/expediency, travel voucher scams and downward mobility. The coup plot thickens As you read this, the fate of 70 suspected South African mercenaries held in a Zimbabwean jail - for allegedly plotting to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema - hangs in the balance. The same goes for another 15 purported plotters being held in the tiny west African country itself. Blowing the whistle on politicians It is one of life's truisms that whoever you vote for, you'll always end up with a politician. Post-elections SA Make no mistake, it's a well-balanced cabinet. with clear focus on gender equality, service delivery and continuity.... Democracy Promises The tub-thumping is over. The election posters are hanging forlornly. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) can't stop grinning, and the once-mighty National Party, now the New National Party (NNP) is on the brink of extinction. SA's rainbow slow to rub off on Africa
In April 2004, South Africa will hold its third democratic elections - almost 10 years, to the day, since the Berlin Wall of apartheid crumbled for once and for all with the dissolution of the country's last white government. Government parties the poor eat dirt Has South African President Thabo Mbeki lost touch with his people? To judge by his refusal to explain his policies on HIV, Zimbabwe and even Haiti, it would certainly appear that he regards the public as a nuisance. Fair play In short supply on eve of poll
It's national election year in South Africa, and the media is agog with lurid tales of murky undercurrents, rampant backstabbing and unseemly public rows. And that's just in the country's most popular sporting codes, which stumble from one crisis to the next, much to the dismay of this sports- crazed nation. | | 
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