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/ 13 October 2003
A scandal over an exclusive contract for the sale of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) diamonds has exposed a rift in that country’s unity government and cast a pall over the implementation of the Kimberley Process, designed to stem the trade in conflict diamonds.
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/ 5 September 2003
The new director general of the national Treasury is only likely to be officially announced in a few months. Despite the importance of the post, the government has to go through the entire official process to fill the position, including advertising the job, interviewing and having Cabinet make the appointment.
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/ 5 September 2003
The war of attrition between Bulelani Ngcuka and Deputy President Jacob Zuma this week verged closer to an assumption of full public hostilities when the deputy president filed suit in the Pretoria High Court against the national director of public prosecutions. But there are some questions the public may well want answers to.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s statement that the African National Congress owns a 10% stake in Schabir Shaik’s Nkobi Holdings — meaning the party stood to benefit from the arms deal — seems to reinforce suspicions it has moved into business it would rather keep from the public eye.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has cleared Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota of a charge that his undeclared business interests exposed him to a conflict of interests, leading President Thabo Mbeki to close the book on the matter.
The National Intelligence Agency has taken an interest in the Nigeria-South Africa oil saga and has visited some of those involved, including the wife of Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile.
Sharp new questions over conflicts of interest have emerged about the controversial private company that secured a "government-to-government" deal to buy Nigerian crude oil.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=15749">DA wants Scorpions to probe oil deal</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=15713">We told you so</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=14927">Oil scandal rocks SA</a>
Last week the Mail & Guardian revealed how a lucrative Nigerian crude oil contract, allocated in 1999 to ”the Republic of South Africa” after lobbying by President Thabo Mbeki, was scooped by a private company registered in the Cayman Islands. However, responses to the exposé leave much to be answered.
Oil scandal rocks SA
Questions remain about how well apartheid-era biological warfare material is secured after a document obtained by the Mail & Guardian shows US agencies negotiated to buy remaining stocks.