Richard Calland

Okay, time to draw breath. Where are we at, and what is next? First of all: whatever ulterior political motives may exist, President Thabo Mbeki has made a potent statement against corruption. A new standard has been set, not just for public life and public ethics, but for the government and the African National Congress.

"The idea that you are a moderniser just because you can appear on television without a tie is wrong. It is not just about not wearing ties." So said a man called Tim Yeo, a British Conservative Party MP who, along with what seems to be every man and his dog, is a contender to succeed Michael Howard as Tory leader. It is depressing to see how low British politics has stooped.

There is a New Establishment for the New South Africa, underwritten by a New Network of Influence. Such networks are, by definition, amorphous. There is no list, no membership application form. Nor can one say that there is a formulaic list of characteristics; it is not a dating agency. Richard Calland explores South Africa’s batting order of political power.

The politics of social transformation continue to bedevil South African cricket. Good things are happening, but are not communicated as well as they could be. Instead, turbulence and clumsy words deflect any sense of strategic direction. Much of the time it is hard to detect any common vision for transformation in cricket and its place in wider social transformation.

It is hard not to conclude that 2004 has been a wasted year. Little has changed – and certainly not for the better. Iraq continues to be a bloody mess – but George W Bush has been returned to power. Robert Mugabe still holds power in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, the future of the Deputy President Jacob Zuma remains clouded. Time passes, nothing changes, and the reality again seeps in.

George W Bush’s return to the White House has profound consequences for the world — not all of them as disastrous as they might appear at first glance, especially for progressive forces and governments. The dangerous men and women around him will regard the election result as nothing less than a ringing endorsement of their attitude to the rest of the world.

"Travelgate threatens to drastically undermine parliamentary credibility and public trust in the institution. Speaker Baleka Mbete correctly says ‘innocent until proven guilty’. Of course. But even if no MP is convicted of corruption, enough is already known to be able to say that there has been a substantial systems failure in one of the key institutions of democratic governance," writes Richard Calland.

The 10-year season is over. It was not all party time. A rhythmic pattern of celebration and scholarship emerged, spawning a mini industry of endeavour and entrepreneurship. What is striking about the five main studies of the past 10 years that sit on the table is the conspicuous absence of a consensus about the full range of challenges that will confront democracy over the next 10 years.

Hardly a week has gone by in the past few months without a whistle-blower somewhere around the world breaking news. But a potentially important turning point has been reached for whistle-blowers. Changing public consciousness of their role is crucial and positive publicity is valuable.

Politics can be a brutal profession. One minute you are in the Cabinet, the next you’re not. You might have come in the top 10 in the African National Congress’s national executive committee election not even two years ago, and been picked in the top 10 for the election candidates’ list, but it means nothing in the final choice of The Chief.

Parties place a good deal of weight on the permanent presence of posters. At first it seems like an advertisement for an estate agent. “Come Home!” the poster proclaims, above a photo of an apparently rather geniallooking man, who seems vaguely familiar. Then you realise, as you get closer, that you recognise him …

For the ruling party facing a general election there are huge advantages of incumbency. Many are as unavoidable as they are inevitable. In South Africa, the ANC government can plan its policy roll-out to suit the election timetable. It can publish government studies, as it did last November, which extol the virtues of the government’s performance.

Bolivia. You land at 4 000m above sea level, so it is not just the scenery that takes the breath away. Surrounding the country’s international airport are the poverty stricken shanty towns of the world’s highest capital city, La Paz. Personal popularity will allow Bolivia’s active president a window of opportunity to reinvent his government’s relationship with its people.

President Thabo Mbeki’s is a presidency given to deep philosophical reflection, so it’s surprising that a watershed debate he started on African democracy has been so under-reported.

It has been a bad couple of years for Spin Doctors. As a political species they are on the endangered list, cut down to size pretty much everywhere you look around the world. They have often been architects of their own misfortune — the demise of Tony Blair’s right-hand communicator, Alastair Campbell, being the prime example. In South Africa, thankfully, they soldier on.

Cheeky humour has served the national director of public prosecutions well — at least until now. Bulelani Ngcuka is accused of being a central cog in a more complex plot, the outcome of which is the fatal contamination of the president and his deputy.

Political parties need money to operate. The question is how much and at what level should disclosure be required. Richard Calland draws attention to the number of left-of-centre parties that cosy up to big business and lose sight of their ideological heritage.

You know that the election campaign has begun when the Democratic Alliance mounts its first assault upon the lamp-posts of the nation.

I cannot believe it. That was the reaction of many people when I told them of the appointment of Chris Stals as one of the six eminent persons who will oversee the crucial African Peer Review Mechanism.

A bookshop’s windows are boarded up. You can’t see inside. Then, happily, the shutters are removed and suddenly you can see through the windows. The bookshop is now transparent. But is it open?

American values are at stake. Really, what values? That is the response of many; contempt for the United States has never been higher. Asked, as I was last week, by a group of Americans how the world sees their country, one is forced to reply: you are detested.

Frene Ginwala wants to move the media out of the precincts of Parliament. Not out of Parliament, it must be emphasised, just out of the precincts. They are to be rehoused across Plein Street in an admittedly ghastly building. But moving the press away from Parliament will have dire consequences.

In the build-up to the last general election in 1999, I found myself sitting at a workshop lunch next to the then head of the Independent Electoral Commission, Judge Johann Kriegler. The chief story of the week concerned emigration.

I felt bad for Thabo. So I think did many people. Though most of the delegates in the hall were too busy ululating their praise song for Nelson Mandela to have time to contemplate the feelings of their current president.