Vol 44 No 20 | SOUTH AFRICA Spies pop out of the past 10th October 2003 Allegations that the official chief prosecutor was once a spy have split the leadership South Africa's ruling African National Congress risks sinking deeper into a quagmire of spy-naming and mutual suspicion amidst suspected corruption in a multimillion pound arms dea...
Vol 44 No 20 | SOUTH AFRICA An awkward embrace 10th October 2003 The ovation given to Deputy President Jacob Zuma at last month's national conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions points again to the very odd nature of the Tripar...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA Struggling to succeed 12th September 2003 Mbeki moves the chess pieces as the 2004 elections draw near and scandals rage The African National Congress had studiously avoided an open succession struggle since going into exile four decades ago. Now no holds are barred as it prepares for April's electio...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA BAE's role in SA's big arms deal 12th September 2003 A public inquiry into contracts awarded for South Africa's arms purchasing programme, the Strategic Defence Procurement Package, found in 2001 that most bids required closer scruti...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA Butter on those guns 12th September 2003 The Strategic Defence Procurement Package was signed in November 1999, six months after Thabo Mbeki took over from Nelson Mandela as president. The largest arms procurement program...
Vol 44 No 17 | SOUTH AFRICA Busy bees 29th August 2003 The Oppenheimer mining dynasty clambers on to the black empowerment bandwagon Steam is building in the empowerment debate. Now the Oppenheimer family, which for 100 years has dominated South African gold and diamond production, has made another of its 'str...
Vol 44 No 17 | SOUTH AFRICA Background to Brenthurst 29th August 2003 In 2002, the draft of government legislation on a mining charter was leaked to reveal that 51 per cent of the mining industry was earmarked for black ownership by 2014. This cau...
Vol 44 No 16 | BURUNDISOUTH AFRICA Zuma's other hotspot 8th August 2003 Two rebel factions hold the SA-backed peace process to ransom Hopes that the installation in late April of President Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu, would hasten an end to the fighting have not been realised. Instead, the conflict has worsened an...
Vol 44 No 15 | SOUTH AFRICA Peacekeepers and peers 25th July 2003 Mbeki finds peacekeeping a better bet than dictating democracy to dictators Defying the ever extending setbacks to Africa's peace and security agenda, South African President Thabo Mbeki has again shown his impatience with fellow African leaders over their...
Vol 44 No 15 | SOUTH AFRICA Sticky US relations 25th July 2003 South Africa's relations with the United States reached a low point over the invasion of Iraq, with both President Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor Nelson Mandela sharply criticisin...