Business and government departments are to blame for more than a third of the R25-billion in municipal debt, according to a study by the Department of Provincial and Local Government. The findings were tabled at an, called to discuss the crisis of municipal finances.

The dirty war in the New National Party is expected to escalate when former deputy minister David Malatsi and former Western Cape premier Peter Marais appear before a party disciplinary hearing over corruption in a controversial golf development with apparent Mafia connections.

More than 20 000 township bondholders have fallen into bond repayment arrears since 1997 — but no mechanism exists for dealing with their plight, according to Servcon Housing Solutions MD Manye Moroka. Moroka said Servcon had resolved half the 33 000 bond default cases referred to it.

The political careers of Deputy Social Development Minister David Malatsi and former Western Cape premier Peter Marais are set to end over the R300 000 donation from Count Riccardo Agusta, a friend and distant relative of Mafia boss Vito Palazzolo.

Parliament faces a gruelling year, with a slew of controversial but important delivery-orientated measures on its lawmaking agenda. On the security front, the long-delayed Anti-Terrorism Bill will finally go before the House, two-and-a-half years after a first draft.

Although the ANC remains the dominant political party — and leads the popularity stakes in all nine provinces — its support has declined sharply while the number of people who will not vote in future elections has increased dramatically .

Afrikaner political leaders say they are concerned that the recent spate of bombings and the plot by extreme rightwingers to overthrow the government has wrongly resurrected outdated stereotypes of the disgruntled laager mentality steeped in violence.

The ghost of German tax fugitive Jurgen Harksen is set to continue haunting the Democratic Alliance — despite its attempts to exorcise it by nudging Gerald Morkel to quit as Western Cape party leader.