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/ 19 September 2007

Ambitious floor-crossers out in the cold

Too much ambition might leave a politician without a seat on a council — this was the lesson that some councillors learned the hard way during the recent floor-crossing period. Figures released by the Independent Electoral Commission on Wednesday showed that 30 councillors would have no seats on individual municipal councils.

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/ 18 September 2007

ANC: Discussion not an attack on labour movement

The African National Congress (ANC) is not attacking the labour movement when it says it needs to be strengthened, the organisation said on Tuesday. ”Comments suggesting that the ANC is trying to belittle, abuse, ridicule or undermine the contribution of workers in the fight for freedom are wrong and misplaced,” said the ANC in a statement.

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/ 18 September 2007

Blade: ‘Palace politics’ threatening revolution

”Palace politics” are the biggest threat facing the national democratic revolution, South African Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday. ”Like all palace politics, it is the politics of backstabbing, the pursuit of individual wealth,” he told delegates at the Congress of South African Trade Unions central committee meeting.

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/ 17 September 2007

ANC denies interfering in SABC board selection

The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday dismissed as ”mischievous and fanciful” suggestions that it interfered in the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board-selection process. The Sunday Times reported that ANC headquarters had ordered the party’s MPs to accept a list of new SABC board appointees.

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/ 16 September 2007

Sexwale warns against ANC infighting

Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has reiterated that infighting within the African National Congress (ANC) would destroy the party, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Sunday. Sexwale was addressing the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Association in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

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/ 15 September 2007

Zuma: Judiciary must remain independent

The judiciary must and should always be independent from the executive and Parliament, and be resistant to influence from any quarter, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma said on Saturday. In an address to the Gauteng Law Council, he said the country should guard against passing legislation that could give investigating powers to the judicial system.

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/ 15 September 2007

Manto pays tribute to Madiba, Biko

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Friday paid tribute to former president Nelson Mandela and the late Steve Biko at a South African Medical Association award ceremony. Tshabalala-Msimang said Mandela highlighted the importance of access to basic services such as water, food, housing and sanitation in determining the health status of a population.

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/ 14 September 2007

ID tops in last-minute floor-crossing flurry

The Independent Democrats (ID) came out winners on Friday in a last-minute flurry of applications to the Cape High Court by ID defectors to retain their seats. The party said bids by four former ID local councillors in the Western Cape to keep their seats were rejected by the court with costs. Two of the four were members of the Cape Town city council.

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/ 14 September 2007

Skwatsha cleared on land deal

The Western Cape legislature’s public accounts committee has cleared African National Congress provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal, the ANC said on Friday. Allegations that Skwatsha had interfered in the sale of a province-owned 2,4ha erf in Tamboerskloof were referred to the committee by the Democratic Alliance.

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/ 14 September 2007

FF+ and FA join forces

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and Louis Luyt’s minuscule Federal Alliance (FA) have amalgamated, party leaders announced on Friday. At the same time, Luyt also announced his retirement from active politics at the end of September. Luyt and FF+ leader Pieter Mulder agreed that greater cooperation between opposition parties was the only way to challenge the African National Congress.

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/ 14 September 2007

Zille: Cops conducting a smear campaign

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accused the police and Western Cape provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane of trying to justify their actions by disseminating misinformation and conducting smear campaigns. ”Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” she said in her weekly online newsletter on Friday.

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/ 13 September 2007

ANC and ID in floor-crossing spat

The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape has accused the Independent Democrats (ID) of attempting to lure ANC councillors to cross the floor with job offers. ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha told a media briefing on Thursday the ANC was in possession of a letter in this regard, signed by ID provincial chairperson Sakkie Jenner.

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/ 13 September 2007

ANC grapples with Biko legacy

South Africa on Wednesday marked the 30th anniversary of Steve Biko’s murder as the country’s current leaders face accusations they have neglected the poor masses. His legacy is a rallying cry for some of the discontented, who believe the ANC leadership have placed the interests of the business community above those of the country as a whole.

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/ 13 September 2007

Court told of ANC ‘counter-revolution’

Former director general of the National Intelligence Agency Billy Masetlha has implicated Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in a ”counter-revolution” meant to destroy the African National Congress (ANC). ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe had said that certain things happening in the party bordered on ”counter-revolution”, Masetlha testified on Wednesday.

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/ 12 September 2007

ANC gets majority rule — in Morkel family

Thanks to floor-crossing, the African National Congress (ANC) has at last secured a clear two-thirds majority in the Morkel family. The decisive moment came on Wednesday when the last of the Morkel brothers, Craig, joined the party. But the patriarch, former premier Gerald Morkel, has no intention of following in his sons’ footsteps.

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/ 12 September 2007

Floor-crossing Travelgate MP accepted by ANC

In the latest twist in the current floor-crossing saga the African National Congress (ANC), despite all its previous protestations about taking firm action against members of Parliament convicted of fraud, on Wednesday accepted into their ranks Craig Morkel, who was convicted of fraud and theft in the Travelgate debacle.

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/ 11 September 2007

Cosatu: Leadership squabbles hurt alliance

The working-class movement in South Africa is eating itself alive because of its leadership squabbles, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha said on Tuesday. ”The way many are conducting themselves is not proper,” he told a Food and Allied Workers’ Union conference in Randburg.

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/ 11 September 2007

Cosatu sounds alliance warning

The African National Congress leadership contest can make or break the tripartite alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. The warning comes in draft policy documents to be discussed at the trade-union federation’s central committee meeting, which takes place in Esselen Park next week.

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/ 11 September 2007

Committee finalises SABC board nominees

The National Assembly’s communications committee on Tuesday recommended 12 names for the new South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board, including six current board members. The six are Alison Gilwald, Andile Mbeki, Fadila Lagadien, Khanyisile Mkhonza, Christine Qunta and Ashwin Trikamjee.

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/ 11 September 2007

Court postpones Zille case

A Mitchells Plain court on Tuesday postponed a hearing for Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and 10 others who were arrested on Sunday during a protest against drug lords in a suburb of the city. Zille made a brief appearance in a magistrate’s court to face charges that she had participated in an illegal gathering.