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/ 5 April 2008

Zuma pays tribute to ‘courageous’ Kondlo

Struggle stalwart Ncumisa Kondlo was a warrior, revolutionary and patriot, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma said at her funeral in the Eastern Cape on Saturday. It was with ”deep sorrow and sadness” that she was laid to rest, Zuma told dignitaries, families and friends who gathered to mourn her at her village of Ndwayana.

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/ 1 April 2008

Allies slam ‘dastardly’ attack on Zuma

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s allies have rallied to his defence in the wake of University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana’s indictment of his character on Monday. The Young Communist League said it had noted the ”disrespectful and dastardly remarks made by the deplorable” rector.

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/ 28 March 2008

A red bud about to bloom

Most of us are multifaceted beings — we expose our different sides in our interaction with different people. Others might have known Ncumisa Kondlo differently, but I was among those who experienced her as an open, lively, engaging, funny, perceptive, determined person.

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/ 26 March 2008

De Klerk confident about SA, but warns on crime

South Africa’s economy and civil society are strong, ensuring the country will not follow the downward spiral of Zimbabwe, FW de Klerk, the last white president of the country, said in an interview published in Germany on Wednesday. De Klerk also predicted a period of great uncertainty and warned that crime was driving skilled white people out of the country.

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/ 25 March 2008

Tributes pour in for Kondlo

Ncumisa Kondlo, a member of the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC) and deputy chairperson of the South African Communist Party, died in East London on Monday, the ANC said. Kondlo was elected to the NEC in December 2007 and also served on the party’s national working committee.

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/ 20 March 2008

No decision on disciplining Scorpions boss

A decision on what disciplinary measures, if any, will be taken against Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy over the Browse Mole report is expected ”soon”, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said on Thursday. ”A recommendation has been made to the minister and she will act,” said spokesperson Zolile Nqayi.

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/ 14 March 2008

Union members march to UFS over racism

Nationalising the University of the Free State (UFS), ”to protect the national asset”, must start immediately, the African National Congress and its alliance partners said on Friday. About 1 000 workers from various unions marched to the UFS to hand over the demand, contained in a memorandum on racism at the institution.

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/ 10 March 2008

Govt halts Zuma’s legal payments

The government has suspended further payments of Jacob Zuma’s legal costs over his impending corruption trial, it was reported on Monday. The Star quoted the head of the state attorney’s office as saying that the government would not pay future legal costs until Zuma provides a detailed account of how he had spent money previously received from the state.

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/ 7 March 2008

Western monitors barred from Zim poll

European Union member states and the United States have been excluded from a list of observers who will be invited to monitor the March 29 general elections in Zimbabwe, the government announced on Friday. The only European country that had been invited to send monitors was Russia, while the Commonwealth was also left off the invitation list.

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/ 7 March 2008

Zuma asserts ANC power over Mbeki

African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki. ”Power lies in the ANC,” Zuma — who ousted Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest three months ago — told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper.

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/ 3 March 2008

SACP condemns mining job-cut threats

The South African Communist Party (SACP), a partner in the governing alliance, said on Sunday it would not tolerate threats by mining companies to cut jobs in the country’s politically-charged power crisis. ”If heads must roll we cannot allow it be the workers who take the knock,” it said in a statement after its central committee met over the weekend.

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/ 3 March 2008

SACP urges police to finalise donation probe

The South African Communist Party has asked the South African Police Service to finalise its investigation into a donation scandal after an internal audit cleared their secretary general Blade Nzimande. The SACP audit was set up to investigate the whereabouts of R500 000 donated to the party by controversial businessman Charles Modise.

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/ 28 February 2008

Cosatu: ‘Rescue mission post-Polokwane is on’

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Thursday said it will no longer take a ”triumphalist” approach to the outcomes of the African National Congress (ANC) Polokwane conference. ”The campaign to save the ANC from the clutches of the technocrats who sought to bureaucratise the liberation movement is far from being over, ” he said.

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/ 27 February 2008

Cosatu’s Madisha given marching orders

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) axed Willie Madisha as its president on Wednesday over his involvement in a missing donation scandal. This comes after a commission probing the matter presented its findings and recommendations to Cosatu’s central executive committee at its meeting this week.

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/ 22 February 2008

Alleged SACP benefactor Modise denied bail

Controversial businessman Charles Modise was denied bail in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Modise is being investigated by the Scorpions and faces various charges, including fraud, forgery and corruption in the Northern Cape. Magistrate Andre Williams postponed the matter to July 9 for further investigations.

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/ 15 February 2008

Mbeki on tightrope as left’s influence rises

South Africa’s left is riding high as the government prepares to unveil a budget that is expected to raise spending on social programmes and shift policy more towards fighting unemployment and poverty. Powerful trade unions and the South African Communist Party have recently seen their influence within the ruling African National Congress rise.

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/ 6 February 2008

Zuma and the press: Soft or hard?

Newspapers are beginning to deal with whether Jacob Zuma and his backers will be magnanimous in his victory … or vengeful towards them. Last week, the new ANC president pruned his legal actions against the press. He can now afford to do so politically, and many of the cases were probably unlikely to succeed anyway.

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/ 3 February 2008

Nzimande launches stinging attack on City Press

South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande has accused City Press newspaper of adopting an ”extremely hostile attitude” towards African National Congress president Jacob Zuma. Nzimande tears into the paper in an open letter published on Sunday for ”deliberately” writing about the party in a ”provocatively factionalist, divisive and highly subjective manner”.

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/ 27 January 2008

If it has chosen badly the ruling party will cleanse itself

Is it our business as journalists to pronounce on who is best placed to lead the ANC? If you look at some of the personalities in the party’s new leadership, such as unrepentant convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni, or former Mpumalanga health minister Sibongile Manana, who tried to frustrate provision of treatment to people with HIV, the temptation exists to damn them all.

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/ 26 January 2008

Mourners stream to Skielik funerals

Mourners streamed to marquees set up on a patch of land next to the highway past the informal settlement of Skielik on Saturday to bury three people killed there by a lone gunman last Monday. There was a heavy police presence at the marquees, where women stirred pots of food in readiness for the funerals.

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/ 22 January 2008

Govt: Mbeki still in control after losing ANC role

South Africa’s government said on Tuesday it remained firmly under the control of President Thabo Mbeki, dismissing concerns that his defeat in the battle to lead the party had made him a lame duck. Mbeki lost control of the African National Congress last month when delegates chose Jacob Zuma as the party’s new leader.

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/ 20 January 2008

Mahomed was an architect of the UDF

It is no accident that a meeting held to commemorate the life of Yunus Mahomed was attended by scores of luminaries from the African National Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF). Current and former Cabinet ministers paid tribute to their comrade, who died of a heart attack on January 6.