Drew Forrest
Drew Forrest is a former deputy editor of the M&G
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/ 16 November 2007

From beachboy to spearhead

When Chris Martin was selected to play his first Test match for New Zealand, in
Bloemfontein in November 2000, one cricket writer suggested he ”had been plucked from the beach”. Once wavy-haired, with a reputation for roistering, Martin now has the shorn aspect of a Buddhist monk.

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/ 2 November 2007

Lessons in leadership

In a stirring tribute to former African National Congress president Oliver Tambo, ANC elder statesman Kader Asmal has delivered what reads as a veiled criticism of the leadership styles of both Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Asmal does not specifically name either man in his address, given at the launch of the book, Oliver Tambo Remembered, in Johannesburg.

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/ 2 November 2007

Media blamed for personality circus

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan fears that the politics of the African National Congress is being "Yankeefied" by a growing fixation on personalities rather than policies. And he blames the media for fuelling the process. "You have to get away from this personalised contest between [Jacob] Zuma and [Thabo] Mbeki," he said this week.

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/ 26 October 2007

Good sign or good riddance?

The appointment of veteran Democratic Alliance (DA) politician Douglas Gibson as ambassador to Thailand signals a thawing in relations between the DA and the ruling party, a senior African National Congress MP told the Mail & Guardian recently. Gibson tended to confirm this reading.

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/ 20 September 2007

Cosatu’s list riles Lekota

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has thrown its considerable weight behind Jacob Zuma as its preferred candidate for the ANC presidency, in defiance of objections by ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota. At its central committee meeting on Thursday the federation also endorsed ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe for the ANC deputy presidency.

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/ 14 September 2007

Cosatu list process set to target Mbeki

Cosatu’s push to break President Thabo Mbeki’s hold over the African National Congress (ANC) is set to move up several gears next week, as it lists its preferred candidates for the ANC leadership and firms up a radical election pact with the ruling party.