A debate on the internal and external damage inflicted on the African National Congress by Jacob Zuma’s rape trial will top the agenda of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in a fortnight’s time. Four senior ANC leaders, three of them members of the NEC, confirmed that the NEC had decided last weekend to scrutinise the trial fallout.
Close political allies of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma are preparing to relaunch his presidential campaigns in a series of tripartite alliance forums in the next few months. These campaigns include pressing for his reinstatement as South Africa’s deputy president if he is cleared of the corruption charges, or the charges are thrown out on an application planned by his defence.
South Africa’s ”buy South Africa campaign”, Proudly South African (PSA), is floundering. Hundreds of disillusioned members have withdrawn their annual subscription fees, key staff members have resigned and revenue from founding sponsors has run dry. The PSA campaign flowed from the Presidential Job Summit in 1998.
A task team appointed by the African National Congress to probe the authenticity of the alleged ”hoax e-mails” began its investigation from Luthuli House quietly this week. It has been received with mixed responses from senior party members, and is likely either to worsen tensions in the ruling party or be used as a trouble-shooting mechanism to neutralise fractures in the ANC.
In 23 days, the Jacob Zuma rape trial has shaken our world. Regardless of the outcome, we are in an altered state. The political damage is incalculable, with the ruling African National Congress now an openly divided and faltering movement. This has had a domino effect on the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is battling to contain serious internal divisions over the party’s stance on African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma, with rumours circulating that next year’s SACP congress will be used to weed out the anti-Zuma lobby in the party.
A ruling to dismiss the Mangaung municipality’s top two officials last Friday has highlighted how a group of senior councillors and officials ran an "organised corruption syndicate" that allegedly looted tens of millions of rands from the local authority. The Mangaung Local Municipality ranks among the country’s top 10 biggest councils, with a budget of R1,5-billion.
The African National Congress e-mail spy saga has widened the ugly developing rift between President Thabo Mbeki and the party’s secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe. The differences over the authenticity of the e-mails are seen as a microcosm of a new struggle between the two.
The Western Cape Department of Education will appoint 500 teaching assistants as part of its literacy and numeracy strategy. Children and teachers in the foundation phase are set to benefit from the pilot project, which aims to improve the reading and mathematics skills in the vital first years of formal schooling.
Auditor General Shauket Fakie has hit back at criticism by Parliament that his report on the declaration of interests by ministers, deputy ministers and government employees was based solely on outdated company information. The report revealed that 14 ministers and deputy ministers, and 1Â 678 provincial ministers and senior public service managers had not fully disclosed their financial interests in the 2003/04 financial year.