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/ 7 November 2003

Blade wields intellectual scalpel

SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande has taken a side-swipe at President Mbeki in an article in the party’s online publication, <i>Umsebenzi</i>, this week, accusing Mbeki of "avoiding taking the [ruling Tripartite] Alliance for granted", and "gambling with its unity willy-nilly, as some within our ranks are opportunistically tempted to do nowadays".

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/ 7 November 2003

Home affairs set for shake-up

"In the private sector they have a slogan: ‘The customer is always right.’ In home affairs we have an unwritten slogan that the customer is always wrong." This was the observation of the new Director General of the Department of Home Affairs, Barry Gilder, who this week ignored the common practice among senior government managers of hiding problems.

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/ 7 November 2003

Fighting for kwaito

CD OF THE WEEK: Mapaputsi: Kleva

We can now safely say we have another kwaito star to speak of. Mapaputsi’s follow-up album Kleva (Ghetto Ruff) will solicit a sigh of relief that, after the runaway success of his debut Izinja, Mapaputsi did not sink like a lead balloon, according to Thebe Mabanga.

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/ 7 November 2003

Poll pressure mounts

Political parties are becoming increasingly worried by estimates that as many as 9,5-million South Africans are not registered for the 2004 election. ”There’s a massive amount of work to be done,” African National Congress communications coordinator Steyn Speed told the Mail & Guardian. ”I don’t think we can go to an election with this number of unregistered voters.”