The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is to probe black empowerment mining tycoons accused of cheating the Mpumalanga government out of millions of rands in royalties and share dividends. Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (Mega) chairperson Phillip Dexter declined to name either the individuals or the companies, but confirmed he had requested the probe.

Phillip du Toit, the man behind the city council spy saga involving Cape Town mayor and leader of the opposition, Helen Zille, is a colourful man. Du Toit has worked for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA); has supplied the Scorpions with information; and has been employed on contract by former police commissioner George Fivaz.

A clash between secular and religious conscience could unfold in South Africa’s education system — and different interest groups are set to line up against one another. The teaching of evolution to grade 12 learners from next year might trigger an uproar among South African parents, teachers and religious sectors.

The controversial clause in the Children’s Amendment Bill, which allowed for parents to be fined R300 for spanking their children, has been removed. This week the parliamentary portfolio committee on social development agreed to remove Section 139 from the Bill after the ANC caucus moved to block the Bill being approved last week.

”It’s true that we are getting resistance from the executive. For instance, I served in one committee for six years and left it because I got tired of wasting my time with a minister who refused to listen to me.” With his head bent in despair chairperson of the environmental affairs portfolio committee Langa Zita recently told a panel of experts how African National Congress MPs struggled to get their voices heard by ministers.

The appointment of veteran Democratic Alliance (DA) politician Douglas Gibson as ambassador to Thailand signals a thawing in relations between the DA and the ruling party, a senior African National Congress MP told the Mail & Guardian recently. Gibson tended to confirm this reading.

Saeed Jalili, who replaced Ali Larijani as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator at the weekend, is a man of strong moral views who believes spiritual values should inform political actions. His absolute conviction of the rightness of Iran’s cause, and his loyalty to his old friend, Iran’s hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, may make him an awkward interlocutor in nuclear talks with the European Union in Rome.