The bitter war for the soul of the ANC is reviving interest in politics among ordinary people in the Eastern Cape. ANC membership in the province’s seven regions has more than doubled ahead of the four-day provincial party conference, . The conference will elect a new provincial ANC leadership which will, in turn, have a major impact on the national leadership struggle.

Political divisions in the SACP have exploded to the extent that a central committee member has described last weekend’s central committee meeting as a kangaroo court in which he was racially abused. The Mail & Guardian has obtained written correspondence between party leaders in which Gauteng provincial secretary Vishwas Satgar said he was ”politically murdered”.

Taxpayers are to foot a massive bill for the government-mandated inquiry into Corpcapital after inspectors exonerated the company on every major charge levelled against it by former director Nic Frangos. That is because the Companies Act has no provision to compel people who bring spurious complaints to the minister of trade and industry to pay for any investigation he may order.