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/ 15 February 2007
The presidency and the national treasury are in discussions about how to soften the South African currency, which the government admitted this week was overvalued and was adversely affecting the growth of the non- commodity export sector, which has the potential to soak up thousands of semi- and low-skilled job seekers.
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/ 15 February 2007
The general secretary of the South African Communist Party, Blade Nzimande, is likely to face a stiff challenge to his leadership at the SACP’s congress in July this year. Party sources say there is widespread dissatisfaction over his outspoken support for ANC deputy-president Jacob Zuma and his management of ideological differences in the party.
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/ 8 February 2007
A year after the launch of Asgisa, the government’s blueprint to achieve 6% growth by 2014, the panel of international economists commissioned by the national treasury to advise on the initiative has warned that it could fail if “serious macro inconsistencies” in the plan are not addressed.
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/ 2 February 2007
A week before President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address, his “age of hope”, trumpeted in last year’s speech, is at risk. Despite 96 straight months of economic growth his recent dismissal of concerns about of two of South Africa’s most pernicious social ills — crime and corruption — have undercut public confidence in his presidency.
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/ 10 November 2006
This week, we expose a new business front set up by the African National Congress (ANC) to seek profit on its behalf. The Chancellor House group of companies has acquired ”empowerment” stakes in a range of businesses. Often these opportunities have depended on the government’s discretion. This means the ANC, as ruling party, has been both player and referee.
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/ 10 November 2006
Was the government swayed by diplomatic expediency and ruling-party funding needs when it granted strategic mineral rights to an African National Congress business front and Russia’s third-richest man? Vicki Robinson and Stefaans Brümmer report.
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/ 16 September 2006
After months of speculation that former National Intelligence Agency chief Billy Masetlha would be charged for his role in the alleged fabrication of ”hoax” e-mails, Masetlha was this week only charged with failing to cooperate with investigations by the Inspector General of Intelligence.
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/ 8 September 2006
The R7,2-billion in foreign direct investment promised by the Russian investment group Renova may not be quite what it seems, documents detailing the financial structure of the deal suggest. The most prominent among the business people accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin on his first visit to South Africa was Renova chairperson Victor Vekselberg, Russia’s third-richest man.
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/ 4 September 2006
The Department of Minerals and Energy has undertaken to investigate industry complaints that the deluge of prospecting applications received since the promulgation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (2004) had seriously hindered investment in the mining sector.
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/ 1 September 2006
A document presented to President Thabo Mbeki by the Eastern Cape provincial executive committee has painted a grim picture of leadership paralysis, political infighting and rebellion in the ranks of the African National Congress that could thwart the crucial provincial conference later this month. ”The ANC has never experienced such high levels of ill-discipline, defiance [and] infighting within members of the ANC,” the document says.