Many fine journalists have quit the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Many have left for greener pastures. But many have quit in disgust after becoming entangled in the labyrinthine (some might say Machiavellian) politics of the public broadcaster.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief executive Dali Mpofu on Thursday announced an official inquiry into whether certain commentators had been banned from the airwaves. Speaking on SAfm, Mpofu pledged that ”if we find that they have been arbitrarily banned, we will come back to the public [to inform them]”.
In 23 days, the Jacob Zuma rape trial has shaken our world. Regardless of the outcome, we are in an altered state. The political damage is incalculable, with the ruling African National Congress now an openly divided and faltering movement. This has had a domino effect on the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
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/ 14 October 2005
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s populist grandstanding outside the court in Durban this week has angered President Thabo Mbeki and prompted a stony Cabinet statement. The fight with his deputy has weakened Mbeki, and the burning of a T-shirt bearing his image outside the court by his own party’s supporters is likely to put him on the offensive.
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/ 27 September 2005
Are global oil supplies about to peak? Are they, in other words, about to reach their maximum and then go into decline? There is a simple answer to this question: no one has the faintest idea. Consider these two statements: 1. "Last year Saudi Aramco made credible claims that as much as 500-billion to 700-billion barrels remain to be discovered in the kingdom." 2. "Saudi Arabia clearly seems to be nearing or at its peak output and cannot materially grow its oil production."
With almost half the Cabinet comprising women, the face and shape of power has changed in South Africa. Many of the women lead the clusters, the groupings of individual ministries through which policy implementation increasingly takes place. The country is a world leader in female public representation and last week’s briefings by the full Cabinet provided an opportunity to assess their performance.
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/ 19 November 2004
Andile Ngcaba will still get a slice of Telkom, but both his personal stake and his clout will be substantially reduced after Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel and Brian Molefe, who runs the Public Investment Commissioners (PIC), intervened to stop his empowerment consortium from winning a R7-billion share in the fixed line monopoly.
Cabinet welcomes PIC buyout
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/ 15 October 2004
Part of the strategy of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), when it proclaimed that while there was a prima facie case of corruption against Deputy President Jacob Zuma it would not charge him, was that he would be tried in the court of public opinion. But why is it that ‘vrot’ politicians always get off in the court of public opinion?
Schabir Shaik will tell the Durban High Court next week that there was nothing improper in his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but that they were bound together by deeply personal ties of family and political struggle. Central to the fraud and corruption charges Shaik faces is the allegation that he had a corrupt relationship with Zuma, who facilitated contracts for Shaik’s company in return for bribes. Both Zuma and Shaik have disputed this.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-National&ao=123337">Politics of patronage</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-National&ao=123340">Zuma’s popularity undented</a>
She is the first South African Public Service Minister to declare a dispute with powerful public service trade unions — and Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi’s audacious move a week ago has now divided the representatives of 900 000 public servants. Public service unions are on the back foot as the minister plays hardball.