Sailing serenely from her DA congress triumph, where she won 80% of the votes for the DA leadership, Helen Zille ran straight into heavy waters. Zille faced a threatened eighth attempt to remove her as Cape Town mayor, with suggestions that some minority parties in her ruling council coalition were planning a vote of no-confidence.
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma says his association with Durban businessman Schabir Shaik "spans more than 20 years" and he trusts the man — who is at the centre of a Scorpions investigation into alleged wrongdoing during the country’s arms deal — "completely".
Two top-level officials in the Cape Town unicity administration have been axed from their posts by the 10-month-old African Nation Congress/New National Party coalition, which governs the city. This was done to "streamline the top management team", said city manager Dr Wallace Mgoqi.
Author and academic Hermann Giliomee says he believes that former South African president FW de Klerk was outfoxed by events leading up to democratic changes in South Africa.