Andrew Feinstein

Two London-based critics won't testify at the Seriti commission of inquiry, despite the commission saying that it will reissue their subpoenas.

The Seriti Commission has dismissed "baseless and malicious assertions" that it is a cover-up, and began issuing subpoenas to three of its critics.

Expectations will be high as ex-DA MP Raenette Taljaard testifies on whether the House was undermined to ensure there was no probe into the arms deal.

Arms deal critics represented by Lawyers for Human Rights have accused the Seriti commission of making it impractical to cross-examine key witnesses.

Arms deal activists say the commission must be allowed to complete its mandate as anything less would be a "betrayal of the South African public".

The commission has not declassified all the documents before it, and legal teams are still not given adequate time to prepare for cross-examinations.

Arms deal commission critics say government witnesses are not being cross-examined, leading to one-sided evidence before the inquiry.

What is meant to be a public process may end up behind closed doors as documents at the commission have not been declassified, adding to its problems.

Arms procurement commission witness Terry Crawford-Browne says claims that the ANC is not implicated in corruption are "disingenuous".

The terms of reference for the arms deal inquiry commission have been praised as broad, while at the same time criticised as not broad enough.

The tepid statement made by the Hawks reveals the pitfalls of creeping hegemonic power.

At last Mark Gevisser's long-awaited biography of Thabo Mbeki is out. For a project that began in 1999 and took eight years to complete, the title <i>The Dream Deferred</i> seems especially apt. As a subject, Mbeki is a walking "writer's block". Not only is he a densely complex person, as the book confirms, but he shimmers in the light, making it all but impossible to have a single thesis to explain the man.