A team from the National Prosecuting Authority visited police national headquarters three weeks ago, seeking material that they thought might assist their investigation into the criminal syndicates surrounding Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti.

President Thabo Mbeki’s bid to broker a political settlement in Zimbab­we could be an uphill battle, given this week’s insistence by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF that there can be no talks before the opposition changes its ways. An official in the Zanu-PF’s information department said the thinking in the party is that ”elections are around the corner and people will do their talking through the ballot”.

The Mail & Guardian this week secured advance access to an extraordinary attempt to document the African National Congress’s (ANC) anti-apartheid struggle — as well as its devastating internal battles around the figures of its president, Thabo Mbeki, and its deputy president, Jacob Zuma. The vehicle for this penetrating exposé is a study of one of the movement’s most colourful and controversial figures: Mac Maharaj.

Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has moved to remove South African Post Office CEO Khutso Mampeule, dubbed “Mr Clean” for his robust campaign against procurement sleaze. Mampeule’s cancellation of contracts at the parastatal, among them a controversial R100-million deal to revamp branches, earned him powerful enemies and soured relations with his board.

The state has hit back at John Stratton’s attempt to prevent his extradition from Australia to stand trial alongside Glenn Agliotti for the murder of Brett Kebble. Last month Stratton launched an urgent application in the high court in Pretoria to prevent the National Prosecuting Authority from lodging an extradition application with ­Australian authorities.

Arbitrators have dismissed a claim by the SA Post Office for the return of R31-million it believes it overpaid on a project to revamp branches, saying the parastatal had only itself to blame. The arbitration ruling accentuates the breakdown of corporate governance at the post office — an issue also tackled by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-­Casaburri.

The Investec banking group is poised to succeed where Brett Kebble failed: to sweep up the mess left by the biggest corporate fraud in South African history with a minimum of disclosure and accountability, leaving shareholders to grin and bear it.

The Scorpions investigation into Brett Kebble’s murder is shifting focus from Glenn Agliotti as the main target to Clinton Nassif, the mining magnate’s security consultant. Nassif’s house in southern Johannesburg was among the premises raided countrywide by Scorpions investigators this week — even though Nassif’s status has been that of cooperating witness.

The huge scope of the investigation into the Brett Kebble empire became clear this week as details trickled in on a seizure of evidence by the Scorpions on Wednesday. The raids took place under the banner of Scorpions project “Empire K”, which focuses on the fraud carried out in the two main companies controlled by Kebble.

Swedish anti-corruption authorities are poised to join their counterparts in Britain and Germany in probing allegations that their nationals bribed South Africans in the arms deal. The opening of a third international front will increase pressure on the South African authorities to join the investigative offensive.