The decision about whether to re-charge Jacob Zuma may be taken only after the African National Congress’s watershed leadership conference in December, sources close to the National Prosecuting Authority have told the Mail & Guardian. Legal and political considerations mean that National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli may postpone his decision until after the first round of the succession battle is settled.
Suspended South African Communist Party member and former treasurer Phillip Dexter confirmed this week that he could find no bank statements reflecting at least R1,1-million cash, allegedly given to the general secretary of the party, Blade Nzimande. Dexter said that ”on the face of it there appears to be a connection” between his suspension and the missing funds.
Strict conditions placed on the merger of two giant publishers of school textbooks have not eliminated concerns that the market still fails to provide schoolchildren with reasonably priced, high-quality books. The Shuttleworth Foundation, which strongly opposes the merger, has recommended that the government investigates the whole school textbook
The Sunday Times legal team plans to counter legal action by the health minister on the grounds that her right to privacy is overridden by the public’s right to know whether she is competent to exercise her duties. At the core of the newspaper’s defence is debate over whether she is fit to hold office in the Cabinet.
Bertin Wafio sits in a village clearing sipping tea from a flask, his teenage bodyguards self-consciously examining their ancient rifles and wearily scanning the horizon. ”We have been in the bush for two years now, fighting to bring peace and security to our country,” said Wafio, one of the leaders of Central African Republic’s Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy.
Lolling on a ragged carpet in his cupboard-sized shop in the heart of old Peshawar, Wahhab the money-changer beckoned customers with a sly smile. ”Best rate,” he said, fingering a fat wad of banknotes over a low glass counter. The portly man also offered another, more discreet, service: black market money transfers, any amount, to anywhere, in almost no time.
A notorious security policeman, retired Lieutenant General Sebastiaan ”Basie” Smit, might soon rue the day that he turned down an offer from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to join former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok in the dock recently. Speculation about whether Smit will be prosecuted has been rife.
Click on image for full-size view.
Authorities in southern Nigeria on Thursday officially extended a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Port Harcourt, the region’s oil capital, for a further week. ”The curfew is being extended for a further one week,” the state executive council announced. The curfew was put in place last Friday after the military battled local gangs, leaving dozens of people dead.
South Africa’s Cabinet has approved R6,1-billion in funding for a national literacy and numeracy campaign. ”Eighty thousand tutors will be engaged to enable 4,7-million adults to achieve basic literacy and numeracy by 2012, at a cost of R6,1-billion,” Themba Maseko, government spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday.