When the Constitutional Court returns a verdict in the case pitting Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang against pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists, it will in effect be ruling on the duel between the government’s developmental economics agenda and the conventional market approach.

Judging by recent key appointments to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, it is inevitable that Peter Matlare’s successor will be drawn from within the ranks of the African National Congress. Three people are said to be in the running: Nkenke Kekana, Mandla Langa and Snuki Zikalala.

The controversial African National Congress statement on the transformation of the judiciary reflects an unresolved debate on the judiciary in the ANC leadership, with one important faction under Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang believing that judges are thwarting the government’s will.

The South African government has strongly denied that it was slow in reacting to the tsunami disaster in South-East Asia. Opposition parties and the public have criticised the government for taking too long to help victims of the disaster, comparing it with civil society organisations that sprang into action when the extent of the devastation became apparent.

If you lived in Dobsonville, the real Soweto could prove quite elusive, writes Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya. ”I had never heard anyone ask a taxi driver whether the cab was going to Soweto. And nobody I knew ever said they were going to visit their relatives in Soweto. It was always ko-Central, eS’godiphola or Mgababa. Never Soweto.”

With the festive season regarded as heist season, police are bracing themselves for a growing headache: their own members acting as bounty hunters. According to senior police sources, the drive to catch heist kingpins as soon as possible arises from the prospect of robbing the robbers before they have had time to stash their loot. But the state is tightening the screws on the beneficiaries of corruption.