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/ 8 November 2007

Zuma’s future hinges on NPA’s next move

With just more than a month to the African National Congress presidential election, Jacob Zuma will be waiting to see whether the National Prosecuting Authority will recharge him for corruption. Court rulings on Thursday clarified the status of searches and documents related to the investigation against him concerning alleged corruption in the arms deal.

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/ 31 October 2007

Ramaphosa keeps mum on nomination

Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa refused to be drawn on his nomination as African National Congress president on Wednesday night at the launch of a fund-raising campaign for the University of Venda. He was hounded for an answer from the minute he set foot through the door of Gallagher Estate, in Midrand.

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/ 28 October 2007

Cosatu: Alliance won’t survive Mbeki re-election

The tripartite alliance will not survive if Thabo Mbeki is re-elected president of the African National Congress in December, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Sunday. ”A status quo will see the destruction of the alliance itself,” he told what was in essence a Jacob Zuma election rally in Kimberley.

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/ 26 October 2007

Cosatu says there’s no ANC wish list

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has not compiled a ”wish list” of candidates for the national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC). This follows the Mail and Guardian publishing a list on Friday that it said named the 57 people Cosatu wanted as ANC leaders.

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/ 16 October 2007

Hani killers chase presidential pardon

Lawyers acting for Chris Hani’s killers said they would proceed with an application to the high court, asking it to compel President Thabo Mbeki to make a decision on their application for a presidential pardon. Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis unsuccessfully sought amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1999 for the 1993 assassination of Hani.

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/ 11 October 2007

ANC meet: No room at the inn

Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.

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/ 10 October 2007

Union concerned about exodus of police in N Cape

The exodus of police officers out of the Northern Cape must be addressed, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the province said on Wednesday. Popcru provincial secretary Glisson Itebogeng said union members had expressed their dismay and concern over the ”massive transfer of members” who leave the province after being employed or promoted.

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/ 5 October 2007

Madisha offers to step aside for a month

Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha has offered to step aside for a month while an independent commission of inquiry probes the R500 000 donation controversy. The commission of inquiry would consist of independent labour experts and was expected to report back in November.

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/ 4 October 2007

Cosatu to pronounce on Madisha on Friday

The outcome of a Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) central executive committee meeting held to discuss the fate of its beleaguered president, Willie Madisha, will be announced on Friday. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said a statement would be issued but he would not be drawn out on the meeting held at Cosatu House on Thursday.

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/ 3 October 2007

Scorpions under spotlight again

The Scorpions crime unit is in the political spotlight again amid reports it was preparing to arrest the nation’s police commissioner, the latest high-profile official targeted by the elite force. Unease over the unit has been building within the ruling African National Congress since President Thabo Mbeki announced the formation of the FBI-style crime unit in 1999.

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/ 28 September 2007

Madisha on the carpet over R500 000 donation

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has called for a special meeting next week to ”discuss and finalise” the fate of its president Willie Madisha, a media report said on Friday. Earlier this month, Madisha came under fire from his own executive for the way he handled the matter of a R500 000 ”donation” to the South African Communist Party.

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/ 26 September 2007

SACP ‘donor’ in court on fraud charges

The businessman who complained about an alleged cash donation to the South African Communist Party that went missing appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Charles Modise’s court appearance relates to charges of alleged fraud, forgery and defeating the ends of justice in relation to tenders awarded to him.

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/ 19 September 2007

Vavi predicts union backing for Zuma

The head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday the union federation is likely to name controversial politician Jacob Zuma as its candidate to head the ruling African National Congress. ”I must say that he has become a very important symbol among workers,” Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.

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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

Cosatu critical of Madisha statements

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha came under fire on Monday from his own executive for the way he handled the matter of a R500 000 ”donation” to the South African Communist Party. The executive was particularly critical of the public statements he made on the issue, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.

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/ 16 September 2007

SACP takes ‘dim view’ of Madisha

A South African Communist Party (SACP) task team set up to investigate a controversial alleged donation by businessman Charles Modise has found no credible evidence that the donation ever existed, the party said on Sunday. The SACP said its political bureau took a ”dim view” of the conduct of Willie Madisha in the way he had handled the controversy.

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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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/ 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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/ 5 September 2007

Banking group goes after SACP

The Banking Association of South Africa is trying to have money it accidentally paid to a lobby group led by South African Communist Party head Blade Nzimande returned. The managing director of the Banking Association of South Africa, Cas Coovadia, confirmed that the industry body had accidentally paid its quarterly fees of R360 000 in June last year to the Financial Sector Campaign Coalition.

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/ 4 September 2007

Tributes pour in for Gift Leremi

Mamelodi Sundowns player Mpho Gift Leremi, who died in a car accident on Monday night, would have been a star in 2010, the minister of sport said on Tuesday. ”There is no doubt that Gift formed part of a nucleus of the Bafana Bafana plans for the 2010 Fifa World Cup establishment,” Makhenkesi Stofile said in a statement.

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/ 1 September 2007

Tutu reflects on joy, shame of SA today

Archbishop Desmond Tutu berated South Africa’s government on Friday over delays in introducing an HIV/Aids drug treatment plan and said its leaders’ unorthodox views had led to unnecessary deaths. Recalling fallen anti-apartheid heroes, the Nobel peace laureate said they would be shocked by the devastation caused by the pandemic, which he said was killing 900 people every day.