The firing of Free State African National Congress chairperson Elias ”Ace” Magashule from the provincial Cabinet last week is seen as the first step in eliminating him from provincial politics. The Mail & Guardian was told this week that powerful figures are plotting to oust Magashule as Free State chairperson at the provincial congress in June.
Equatorial Guinea on Thursday flatly denied charges by Amnesty International that scores of prisoners at a jail in the capital Malabo, including alleged mercenaries, were at risk of dying of starvation. Jailers at Black Beach prison have stopped providing at least 70 prisoners with meals and blocked all contact with their families, the group said.
A planned media briefing on Friday morning to articulate the latest developments surrounding taxi violence in the Western Cape was called off at the last minute to accommodate a march by one of the protagonists, Codeta. Provincial transport minister Mcebisi Skwatsha decided to postpone the meeting to allow all parties a chance to express their concersn.
This whole white male/baboon matter has been shockingly one-sided. It’s one thing to sit, bathed in academic reverie in some university, composing long self-pitying tirades about the behavioural equivalences between certain cabals among Homo sapiens europeanus, and Papio ursinus in general. It’s quite another to take the trouble to canvass the opinions of the latter side of the equation.
Communist youth and leaders appear sharply divided over the South African Communist Party’s weekend decision to establish a commission to inquire into the party’s electoral future. Communist League secretary general Buti Manamela insisted that there was consensus at the SACP’s special conference in Durban that the party would go it alone in elections, in opposition to its ANC ally.
Ending the ‘haemorrhaging’ of Transnet and South African Airways (SAA) has been achieved, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin told members of Parliament on Friday. Speaking in his Budget vote, Erwin said: "I believe that we have achieved these objectives and are now moving beyond to greater efficiency."
Both the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress believe they can benefit from the demise of the New National Party (NNP), but the electoral impact may be barely tangible — particularly for the opposition. The NNP decided last weekend to dissolve itself as soon as the results of local government elections are certified.
There is, as Dorothy observed, no place like home. For South African rugby teams home means winning close games rather than losing them, enjoying the benefit of those 50/50 refereeing decisions and playing in front of crowds that do not believe you to be humourless, cultureless and clueless automatons. Last Saturday both the Stormers and the Bulls set out on a bold quest to reach the semifinals of the Super 12.
Grintek chief executive officer Shaun Liebenberg will take over from Victor Moche as CEO of Denel, the state-owned military equipment manufacturing company, from "the end of May", Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin announced on Friday.
Trade unions welcomed SA Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s announcement of a repo rate cut of 50 basis points on Thursday. ”The action of the MPC [Monetary Policy Committee] must be welcome and the governor congratulated,” National Union of Mineworkers secretary general Gwede Mantashe said in a statement.