The police version of events surrounding the arrest of Scorpions investigator Ivor Powell appears increasingly questionable, as evidence mounts suggesting a planned operation against him, and of links to the wider battle over the future of the unit.

Gauteng’s top official, provincial Director General Mogopodi Mokoena, co-owned a company with Brett Kebble’s murderer, Clint Nassif, and accepted a R250 000 cheque from him. Mokoena’s links with Nassif were among issues raised by Glenn Agliotti in an affidavit the National Prosecuting Authority submitted to court last week in response to Jackie Selebi’s application to block his prosecution.

The new government strategy to tackle crime in South Africa will be flawed from the outset unless individuals in key positions are removed, role players in the criminal justice system said this week. The strategy, masterminded by Deputy Justice Minister Johnny de Lange and non-executive director of FirstRand Laurie Dippenaar, aims to overhaul the crime-fighting system.

A series of critical challenges looms for the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) as the embattled organisation prepares to re-charge presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma. The Mail & Guardian has established that the Zuma prosecution team has prepared a revised indictment in the light of last week’s Supreme Court of Appeal decision ruling on the legality of the searches of Zuma and his likely co-accused, the French Thint group.

A concerned bidder has blown the whistle on other tenders awarded to controversial security firm African Strategic Asset Protection (Asap) in the wake of the Mail & Guardian exposé last month. Mike Smiles, managing director of security technology company Masc Solutions, released correspondence he had directed to the KwaZulu-Natal department of public works both prior to and following the M&G story.

The Spear of the Nation — Umkhonto weSizwe — is emerging as a potent weapon in the battle for the hearts and minds of delegates to the ANC’s national conference in December. And the backing of MK veterans could be the ace up Jacob Zuma’s sleeve in his bid for the party presidency.

A nasty little reputation problem has emerged for financial services group FirstRand Bank and its subsidiary, Discovery. This comes as Discovery has been trumpeting its results while downplaying disputes with doctors and the registrar of medical schemes — and as FirstRand has been talking up its proposal to unbundle its majority shareholding in Discovery.

Crucial security functions at Parliament, the South African Revenue Service, the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and two parastatals are in the hands of a firm with a history of corrupt practices, the Mail & Guardian can reveal. Africa Strategic Asset Protection won multimillion-rand contracts for Parliament in what appear to be clear cases of tender-rigging.

Crucial security functions at Parliament, the South African Revenue Service, the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, two parastatals and several big private companies are in the hands of a firm with a history of corrupt practices, Friday’s Mail & Guardian reveals.