As the general election draws closer, the battle for the support of South Africa’s working class has begun.
The South African Communist Party, alliance partner of the ruling African National Congress, has condemned Zimbabwe’s ”low-intensity democracy”.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) wants to resume building additional chambers for the House of Traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal despite objections from the African National Congress (ANC), which argues that the vacant, former homeland legislature building in Ulundi could be used instead.
Government leaders have embarked on a nationwide charm offensive, apparently spurred by mounting criticism of their handling of the HIV/Aids crisis, Zimbabwe and unemployment.
Angry African National Congress members in KwaZulu-Natal are threatening to use the party’s majority in the legislature to undermine the Inkatha Freedom Party-led provincial executive if it does not drop a Democratic Alliance cabinet member.
Inkatha Freedom Party strongman Celani Mtetwa, one of the key brokers of last week’s détente between his party and the African National Congress, will be dedicating his energies to shuttling between his party and Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini ahead of next year’s general elections.
Winnie Madikizela was sentenced to five years in jail on Friday after her conviction on dozens of fraud and theft charges. She will serve eight months of her sentence in prison.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, could be sentenced to 15 years in jail today after being convicted for fraud and theft in a bungled banking scam.
Anton Ackermann, the man who prosecuted the apartheid regime’s chemical and biological warfare chief, Wouter Basson, is to head up a unit to oversee apartheid-era prosecutions.
The African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party are unlikely to win a clear majority on their own in next year’s general election. Both parties, against the will of many of their members, will have to start negotiating with each other