Apparently spooked by impending floor-crossing legislation, the Inkatha Freedom Party this week demanded loyalty pledges from all its members and pushed five of them from the KwaZulu-Natal legislature to the national Parliament.
”Do you have Aids?” I asked. Most politicians would have slammed the phone down, but not Peter Mokaba. No, he said, he was the victim of a propaganda plot by drug companies. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Every morning several residents of Slovo Park in Boipatong sling plastic bags over their shoulders and make their way to a rubbish dump half a kilometre from their settlement. They sift through the dump for plastic to sell. And for food.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali has outmanoeuvred the African National Congress by insisting that all government business will be conducted from Ulundi — effectively making Ulundi the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.
African leaders are not doing enough for the reconstruction of Africa, says Olara Otunnu, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict. Otunnu said that responsibility for protecting the children of Africa lies with Africans.
North West Premier Popo Molefe’s tardiness in acting against ”under-performing” colleagues and alleged inefficiency and mismanagement are among the reasons cited for his almost certain removal as African National Congress leader in the province.
The African National Congress is looking to seize control of KwaZulu-Natal from its Inkatha Freedom Party coalition partner when floor-crossing legislation kicks in next month.
The presidency is breaking out of its circle of ”yes-men” to hire advisers from the political mainstream. The appointment of three new faces announced last week is being described as an attempt to ”beef up the sensible end of the scale in the presidency”.
A leading African intellectual close to the government may have blotted his copybook by signing a declaration criticising the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). Dr Eddy Maloka is head of the Africa Institute of South Africa.
African National Congress national chairperson and Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota is rapidly emerging as a favourite for the deputy president’s position among disgruntled party groupings across the country