Is it our business as journalists to pronounce on who is best placed to lead the ANC? If you look at some of the personalities in the party's new leadership, such as unrepentant convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni, or former Mpumalanga health minister Sibongile Manana, who tried to frustrate provision of treatment to people with HIV, the temptation exists to damn them all.
The runway of the country's most prominent air-force base has to be repaired ahead of next year's election in South Africa to accommodate world leaders who will attend the inauguration of whomever is elected president. This was revealed at a visit on Tuesday of Public Works Minister Thoko Didiza to the Waterkloof Air Base in Pretoria.
While welcoming the outcome of Tuesday night's election of Jacob Zuma as African National Congress leader, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has come out against the notion of President Thabo Mbeki stepping down as the country's president before 2009. Zuma's victory should not be a signal for revenge or retribution, the ANC's alliance partners said.
An attempt to get the principle of gender parity elevated to the top structures of the ANC was trounced on Monday night, the Mail & Guardian has learned.
The policy, also known as the 50/50 principle, is a steep change in empowerment in the ANC and requires that every alternative position available for leadership be reserved for a female candidate.
Jacob Zuma is the new president of the African National Congress. The announcement was greeted by an outpouring of joy and ecstatic cheering by ANC delegates at the party's conference in Polokwane shortly before 9pm on Tuesday. Thabo Mbeki received 1 505 votes and Zuma received 2 329.
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said he has no interest in joining the African National Congress presidential succession race -- this after the Sunday Times reported that Ramaphosa had joined the race. "I have no interest in standing for this position," he said in a statement.
