Mandy Rossouw

Skills shortages, touted as the critical issue hampering the effectiveness of government, are nowhere more obvious than at local government level, role players in the sector told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>. Although local government has upped its game in the past few years and significant gains have been made by municipalities local government is still not operating at the expected level.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>The countdown to the most fiercely contested battle in the ANC in more than 50 years has started. And the final stretch has been spiced up with dirty talk and mud-slinging in the bedroom. Shortly after the nomination conferences declared Jacob Zuma the frontrunner, the Thabo Mbeki lobbyists launched a campaign to demonstrate Zuma’s alleged moral bankruptcy.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has finally thrown her weight behind President Thabo Mbeki, making up her mind at the last minute about which camp she will support in the upcoming ANC presidential elections. Both the Mbeki and the Zuma camps had tried to persuade her to join their side during the past few weeks and included her on their top-six lists.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Lobbyists for African National Congress (ANC) president Thabo Mbeki stand accused of using increasingly sleazy tactics in a frenzied drive to win over delegates in the run-up to the ANC conference in Polokwane, which starts in nine days. Hitting on individual delegates perceived as hostile to their cause, the campaigners are allegedly using state resources to buy votes.

Who is responsible for developing skills in South Africa? Big business or government? With the new Immigration Amendment Act that comes into operation at the end of this year, the issue of skills development and importing skilled people from foreign countries will be highlighted again.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>If Jacob Zuma wins his bid for the ANC presidency in December, here is what he is likely to do, say close aides, associates and analysts. First, he will draw up a protocol governing how he and President Thabo Mbeki will work: one running the party, the other the Presidency. While the protocol could iron out possible areas of conflict, the big hurdle to overcome will be the question of who runs the country?

When Gender Links was started six years ago, everyone involved knew it was not going to be an overnight success. They knew mindsets on gender and how women are portrayed in the media are not altered quickly. They also understood that time is a crucial ingredient to the process of change. But their commitment to gender issues led to the establishment of one of South Africa’s premier gender organisations.

Presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale’s last-minute campaign in the succession race is gaining momentum and is said to be rattling both the Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma camps, which are preparing to barter with Sexwale. With the formal nomination process that opened this week, all three candidates are seeing shifts in their support. Mbeki’s support in the ANC has dwindled, say sources in the Sexwale camp.

The audit of the ANC’s membership, with the final figures being tallied at Luthuli House, places presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma one step closer to becoming president of the party. The audit, done in August to ensure that only "members in good standing" get to vote at the Limpopo conference in December, was not without its hiccups.