10. Pierre de Vos' post on Constitutionally Speaking on how the Jackie Selebi trial has highlighted the importance of cross examination as a method of getting to the truth:

De Vos writes: "As I followed the crumbling of Selebi's various stories under relentless cross-examination, I was reminded of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and wondered whether the members of that august group were taking notes and whether they felt embarrassed at all for deciding not to proceed to establish the truth of the complaint of gross misconduct levelled against Judge President John Hlophe by the judges of the Constitutional Court and not to consider the counter-complaint by Hlophe either. Remember, the majority of members decided that although there were fundamental disputes of fact between the version put to it by Hlophe and the versions put to it by other judges of the Constitutional Court (in other words, although the JSC admitted that either Hlophe or the judges of the Constitutional Court were lying), the JSC was not persuaded that cross-examination would ‘necessarily lead to more clarity on the disputed issues'."

9. Karima Brown's analysis in Business Day of the first stage of the Malema disciplinary inquiry:

Brown notes that the ANCYL president " appeared despite youth league boasts that he would not have to answer for any transgressions since he had already ‘apologised' to the party's top brass. [Mathews] Phosa's appearance in Malema's corner also fuels speculation that others in the party's top six have tried to extricate themselves from the decision to discipline Malema.

Phosa's backing of Malema suggests President Jacob Zuma does not enjoy unanimous support at the top of the party in trying to bring Malema to order."

8. The Mercury report on how the ANC had put up an ex-convict as a candidate in a municipal by-election in Kloof, Durban:

Nompumelelo Magwaza reported that "Former policeman Dumezweni Ndlovu, 41, a convicted hijacker, is the party's candidate for the Ward 10 by-election. The election follows the resignation of DA councillor Terence Palmer earlier this year. Ward 10 includes Gillitts, Kloof, Winston Park, Everton and St Helier. The DA is fielding Gillian Noyce in the by-election. The Mercury has discovered that Ndlovu, of Hillcrest, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for theft, hijacking, armed robbery and car theft. He was dismissed from the SAPS in 1999 after having served for 13 years."

7. The Carte Blanche report on Aurora Empowerment Systems' dreadful mismanagement of the Grootvlei gold mine at Springs on the East Rand:

The programme notes that "Since October the mine has racked up debts running into tens of millions of rands. It's said to owe millions to Rand Water; it apparently owes Eskom as much as R16-million; and it's in debt to the security company that guards the mine, as well as to mine equipment suppliers. And there are allegations surrounding the disappearance of provident funds." The programme aired allegations that much of the gold being mined has been stolen. It quotes Solidarity's Gideon du Plessis as questioning Aurora's declared output and sales: "there's a lot of gold that is getting sold through the back door and somebody else is pocketing that money."

6. Agence France-Presse (AFP) article on how South Africa's violent criminals tend to leave foreign tourists alone:

Charlotte Plantive notes that "Crime remains one of the chief concerns in the run-up to the Soccer World Cup... But South Africa ranks only 10th among the most dangerous countries for British tourists, according to the Foreign Office. Of the 870 000 Britons who visited or lived in South Africa last year, only 139 needed consular assistance, against 5 500 in Spain and 2 000 in France. Britons also have a greater chance of becoming hospitalised in Thailand, Greece, Egypt or India, where they can get mixed up in sexual or drug crimes, the ministry said." The AFP quoted Martin Schafer, spokesperson for the German embassy in Pretoria, as saying: "In the first quarter of this year, there was not one incident of a German tourist travelling to South Africa that we know of that has become the victim of violent crime."

5. Tim du Plessis' column in Beeld on what the recent British election says about our own politics:

Du Plessis writes that if he was a Brit he would have voted for Tony Blair in 1997 and for David Cameron this time around. "For what occurred back then, and now again, is a democracy's brightest moment. This is when the voters, ordinary people, with a peaceful act like the drawing of a cross, discipline baneful politicians with the punishment they fear the most: to be voted out of office." Du Plessis says it is an open question how long it will be before black voters realize that their most powerful weapon is a vote against the ANC. There may be no immediate prospect of this happening, but "people and things change, these days ever more quickly." And one day the ANC will wake up and realize that race and uhuru is no longer a trump card for rotten administration.

4. Julius Malema making Time Magazine's 100 "least influential" people list:

In the listing, the ANCYL president is allocated to the "morons" category. Time describes him as follows: "Malema is just like Joe Biden - if instead of innocuous, silly slipups, Biden delivered violent, racist, misogynist rants. It got so bad, he's been censured by his party and convicted of hate speech. So he just said violent things about the party." Meanwhile, Graça Machel who was part of the Frelimo regime which actually did all that Malema has only threatened to do (and more) is ranked by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world under the "hero" category.

3. The Times story on how a cash strapped Tshwane municipality wants to annex Midrand from Johannesburg:

Amekelani Chauke reported that "Tshwane, under embattled mayor Gwen Ramokgopa, took a resolution last week to lobby for the inclusion of wealthy Midrand under its jurisdiction in an attempt to boost its income. Council documents say the city's ‘political representatives [were thereby] mandated to formally raise the possibility of the inclusion of the Midrand area in the proposed new City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality with the Gauteng MEC for local government and housing [Kgaogelo Lekgoro]'. However, the ‘Midrand area' also includes the wealthy northern Johannesburg suburbs of Kyalami Estate and Buccleuch."

2. Jacob Dlamini's column in Business Day on the patronizing attitude of Defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu to youth discontent:

Dlamini writes that he has studied protests in four towns across two provinces and every case there have been legitimate grievances behind them. "In Standerton, young people see council officials driving ‘yachts' - cars so expensive everyone is forever asking how people working for one of the poorest municipalities in a depressed part of the country can afford such possessions. It is the same in Hazy View and Katlehong, where corruption has become a part of daily life. In these places, young people have little or no hope of ever getting state jobs unless they "know" someone important or are willing to pay for one."

1. The Star story on how not even the City of Joburg's land is save from theft:

Anna Cox and Anel Lewis report that the City :has admitted that 33 tracts of prime real estate, including parks and a nature reserve, have been sold fraudulently, without its knowledge. These have been bought by four companies, which have shared directors. Included are Norscott Koppies and the Kingfisher Nature Reserve in Sandton. The value of the reserve is R14m, but it was sold for R5m. The park's value is R11.6m, but it was sold for R2m to Zambrotti Investments 31 Pty Ltd by Eildoug Investments. The Mushroom Park Farm has also been sold. This property in Sandown is nearly 7 000m2. It was sold for R1.1m. About 4 000m2 of the Ernest Ullman Park was sold for R700 000. In most cases, transfer took place within a day."

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