President Thabo Mbeki wants to stay the course as country president despite increased pressure exerted on him by the new ANC leadership. The Mail & Guardian spoke to four people close to the president. They say Mbeki is willing to listen to the ANC but will not implement any party decision that he thinks is impossible or could undermine the rule of law.

Ministers, directors general and senior government officials are now at risk of getting the chop if they don’t improve in running their departments. This follows a decision by Cabinet not to accept the perennial excuses that departments give Parliament when called to explain their qualified audit reports, writes Mandy Rossouw.

”This is not the first time the ANC is in a situation where its president is a different person from that of the republic. From 1997 to 1999 we went through a similar transition. The difference then was that Madiba voluntarily stepped down and handed over power to comrade Thabo, who was his deputy in government at the time,” says ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.

She looks down while washing dishes in a bucket as we enter the house where she lives with 56 people scattered around the house and on the property. “Please sit down. Sorry, the couch is a bit wet,” she says. It is striking how dignified she looks while sitting up straight in a pink dress with her hands folded on her lap.

If it’s not energy efficiency, it’s power rationing; if it’s not power-rationing, it’s load-shedding; if it’s not load-shedding it’s blackouts; and if it’s blackouts – well it’s just one big gemors. South Africa’s power crisis has commercial, industrial and domestic power users pulling their hair out in frustration as they search for ways to save power. But what can be done, and how?

Despite a national energy crisis in South Africa, the country’s energy-saving strategies remain fractured and lacklustre, several analysts told the Mail & Guardian this week. At a time when South Africans, both in industry and in the private sector, should be working together to save power, there seems to be a fractured response to what needs to be done.

While Eskom heads rake in about R35-million a year, a large number of the company’s general workers could be out of pocket. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (Numsa) are protesting against Eskom’s implementation of a new job-grading programme late last year.

At the second appearance of accused Skielik murderer Johan Nel recently in Swartruggens, it was clear that racial tensions in the town had not died down. His appearance at the town’s magistrate’s court attracted different groups, each with its own agenda. Local politicians insisted that Nel’s shooting spree was a ”racially charged” crime.