Staff Reporter

Not every former coal miner and farmer dreams of taking on Citibank, but maybe they will after hearing the story of Jiang Jianqing. Jiang’s name first appeared in the local press as a result of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) purchase of a 20% stake in Standard Bank for R36,7-billion. This is not incidental; Jiang is ICBC’s president and chairman. But despite his power relatively little is known about him locally.

In September 2006 I sought to prevent the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> from publishing a story detailing allegations of possible fraud, violations of tender rules and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act that took place while I was head of the South African Post Office, writes Maanda Manyatshe.

<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>African National Congress (ANC) leaders will not agree to a compromise candidate in the party’s presidential race because this could spark a rebellion among members, ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota said this week. Lekota also accused Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi of knowing nothing about the workings of the ANC.

<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>Party intellectual Pallo Jordan has made his most public call yet on both President Thabo Mbeki and the party’s deputy president Jacob Zuma not to contest the top job. He says the party needs fresh minds to lead it in the 21st century. Jordan argued that Mbeki has effectively been leader of the movement and the government for 15 years.

A couple weeks ago, the United States delegation circulated a draft resolution in the United Nations General Assembly calling for the elimination of rape by governments and armed groups. This draft ­concentrates on rape used for political and military purposes, and remains pending action before the third committee of the General Assembly, writes Dumisani Kumalo.

I’ve been following the student protests at the University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand with some interest. I have been doing so not because there’s anything new on show, but purely for the theatre of this annual fracas. It was a bit surprising that it came around earlier this year — normally the open season for student fees is early February.

The book <i>Academic Mothers</i> is about women who are middle class, who have some form of access to child care, who live in a democracy and who have legal rights and protections. More specifically it is about academics who are mothers. It is about the freedoms that we have not yet achieved, writes Venitha Pillay.

“Change and transformation in our country is far-reaching and its effects should be long lasting. In the legal profession we have but started the process,” says legal firm Bowman Gilfillan’s CE, Leon Kruger. “Although the direction is being indicated by the department of justice and constitutional development through the draft Legal Services Charter, as a firm we have engaged in our own process to establish a transformation charter for ourselves."

Research conducted by Virgin Money has highlighted a number of credit-card interest-rate "secrets" that South African banks would prefer their consumers not know about, resulting in a pretty dreadful deal for consumers when it comes to the interest rates they receive and are charged on their credit cards.

As a leading commodity producer and exporter, South Africa’s current account deficit appears uncharacteristic given the backdrop of strong commodity price performance. This is due mostly to a combination of rising imports and poor exports during this commodity cycle. There are various factors, but regulatory risk remains the greatest concern.

There are new signs of life in the domestic nuclear industry as United States-based Westinghouse announced an acquisition, saying it was increasing its local presence to supply South Africa’s new nuclear power programme. Government has said that it wants nuclear power to supply 30% of the country’s energy needs by 2025.

<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>It was during Chief Albert Luthuli’s presidency that the ANC national conference adopted the Freedom Charter as its programme in December 1956. That was a nodal point in a process of internal transformation the ANC had undergone since the 1946 African mineworkers’ strike.