It is like something Lewis Carroll might have written: "Beware the fearsome information peddler; he lurks, waiting to catch the unsuspecting Democratee …" The <i>Browse Mole</i> saga, and Parliament’s role in it, is a work of similarly unrestrained imagination. What are we to make of all this?

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will get a last chance next week to convince a court that potentially damaging evidence seized from him and his lawyer in 2005 should not form part of his corruption trial. Adriaan Basson and Sam Sole present a bluffer’s guide to Zuma’s latest court antics.

Uncertainty surround government’s proposals for merging the Scorpions with the police organised crime units — under South African Police Service control. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told Parliament on Tuesday: “The Scorpions will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new amalgamated unit will be created.”

A key figure from South Africa’s scandal-plagued arms deal is embroiled in a new investigation by German prosecutors involving Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems, the company that led the consortium supplying four corvettes to the South African Navy. Former Rear Admiral Johnny Kamerman features prominently in a new probe by the Dusseldorf Prosecutors office

Eskom board chair Valli Moosa presided over the parastatal giving contracts worth billions to African National Congress (ANC) funding company Chancellor House — while also serving on the ANC’s fundraising committee. Eskom would not say this week whether Moosa had declared a conflict of interest or recused himself when his board decided on the contracts.

A consortium that includes ANC investment company Chancellor House has signed another mega contract with Eskom, almost doubling the ruling party’s stake in — and expected profit from — the parastatal’s drive to build new power stations. Eskom’s five-year capacity expansion programme, designed to catch up with rising electricity demand and prevent further blackouts, has been ramped up and will now top R300-billion.

Information pieced together by the Mail & Guardian suggests the Presidency, the Justice and Constitutional Development Department, National Intelligence Agency and South African Police Service joined in a desperate effort to prevent police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi from being charged.

Government’s fiery bid to get rid of suspended prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli is slowly losing steam, with indications that a shutdown of Frene Ginwala’s inquiry might be on the cards. President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli four months ago pending an inquiry into his “fitness to hold office”.

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.