10. Justice Malala's column in The Times on the "good men" in the ANC government

Malala writes that it is important "that we do not forget these individuals. From them there continue to emerge innovative and inspiring attempts to solve our real and urgent problems, such as unemployment, education and health. There are many such individuals - they stand between us and chaos, between us and a precipitous descent into the world of Malema." Yet, such individuals mostly kept quiet in the face of the outrages committed by Thabo Mbeki. The question is why they have gone silent again as "Zuma embarrasses and Malema terrorises"?

9. Tim du Plessis' column in Beeld asking how long President Jacob Zuma will survive

Du Plessis recalls a past discussion with a black editor who noted that the three prerequisites for ANC leaders in the past were that they had to be intelligent (and well-educated), have integrity, and come from prominent families in their community. Du Plessis notes that Zuma is no fool, and that family origin is of less importance than it used to be. However, when it comes to the issue of integrity the big problem arises:

"Iemand met integriteit sou nie gehuiwer het om hof toe te gaan om sy onskuld te bewys as hy werklik in sy onskuld geglo het nie. Pleks daarvan is soveel politieke druk uitgeoefen dat die vervolgingsgesag inligting wat op 'n ongerymde wyse bekom is as verskoning gebruik het om die vervolging teen Zuma te staak. Dit sou iemand met integriteit gegrief het dat Shaik 'n hoogs verdagte mediese parool kry terwyl almal weet Shaik is heeltemal gesond genoeg om in die tronk te wees. Iemand met integriteit sou nie Julius Malema se bombasme en openbare ploertigheid verduur het nie. So 'n mens sou ook nie die Mafia-agtige wyse verdedig waarop Malema hom verryk deur tenderpreneurskap nie. 'n Leier van integriteit sou tewens nooit eens toegelaat het dat Malema die politieke monster word wat hy vandag is nie. Net 'n president met 'n integriteitsprobleem sou 'n gediskrediteerde amptenaar soos Menzi Simelane aangestel het in die kritiek belangrike pos van vervolgingshoof."

8. Anthony Butler's article in Business Day on the route SA politics is likely to take after the World Cup party is over:

Butler notes: "If the stadiums are full and international visitors embrace the vuvuzela as their own, Zuma's popularity may be buoyed by soaring national pride. Should violence or organisational disarray mar the event, however, national shame will be followed by a yearning for recrimination. The months immediately after the tournament seem destined to be filled with desperate power struggles. Yet it is not certain that Zuma is terminally damaged and cannot continue as African National Congress (ANC) president for a second term. The ANC in KwaZulu- Natal has its own plans for the succession and cannot afford to see Zuma depart early. It has invested heavily in the security state that will play a major role in any prolonged contest for power."

7. Derek Schultze's letter in The Times on how preferential procurement policies have allowed tenderpreneurship to take root in the system:

Schultze notes that under the rules adopted in the late 1990s "the evaluation of tenders is based on a portion of the tender price only (80% or 90% as the case may be). The balance (10% to 20%) is assessed on what is known as the ‘preferential procurement point system', which awards points, for instance, for the extent a company is owned by HDIs, women, the disabled and members under 35. Other preferential considerations include labour usage, HDI participation at all levels of management, as well as to what extent other ‘affirmable business enterprises' are involved in the tender. It is quite possible, then, that a client (a government entity) could pay up to 20% more for services rendered in a contract in a case in which the lowest bidder with zero preferential points (for instance) is not awarded the contract. As most of the preferential considerations in the tender documents are highly subjective in nature, the adjudication of tenders has become open to all sorts of manipulation and abuse."

6. Alec Russell's article in the Financial Times on how the cartoonish caricature of Jacob Zuma obscures far more serious issues:

Russell notes growing concern among Western investors at the direction the Zuma government is taking. These investors want Zuma "to go beyond equivocating and mollifying the feuding powerbrokers of his rowdy alliance" and start leading. "Julius Malema, the demagogic leader of the ANC's powerful Youth League, is touring the country with incendiary demands, including nationalising South Africa's mines. The government has belatedly said this is not policy, but business is concerned that Mr Malema has not been hauled over the coals. At the same time, party barons are sparring over the appointments of chief executives to the major state entities as if they were personal fiefs - these sectors need competent qualified managers, not apparatchiks. For all Mr Zuma's talk of a new broom, the voracity of ANC bigwigs for business deals, apparent under his predecessor, grows apace."

5. John Kane Berman's column in Business Day on the ferment within government over labour market reform:

Kane Berman argues that COSATU's loud protests against any possible changes are a reflection of weakness. The power of the union federation is waning as employers and job seekers cut deals outside the rigid formal labour market system. Its strength, he argues, is eroding in other ways. "Its penetration of the workforce is declining thanks to the rise in unemployment, which its own insistence on an inflexible labour market has helped to cause. At the same time, it is becoming more dependent on the state as public-sector unionisation increases while private-sector unionisation declines. Third, Cosatu is so obsessed with politics and patronage that it has neglected grassroots organisation. This is one of the reasons it relies (with impunity, given government timidity) on violence to ensure participation in strikes."

Kane Berman warns: "Cosatu should take a look at the history of white trade unions in SA. They too were dependent on their alliance with the ruling National Party (NP) to protect their jobs from (black) competition. When the growth of black grass-roots unionism changed the configuration of power on the factory floor in the 1970s and 1980s, the NP withdrew its support from the white unions and they were done for."

4. Rob Brand's post on his weblog critiquing the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment ruling that it was defamatory for The Citizen to call Robert McBride a criminal and murderer

Brand argues that the SCA's ruling is "based on a misunderstanding" of the amnesty process of the TRC. Perpetrators were "offered a trade-off: amnesty in return for full disclosure. The legislation did not require us to forgive the perpetrators or condone their actions. The intention was to set the record straight; to find out the truth so that we will never repeat the abuses of the past. To argue, as SCA did, that we may now not rely on that truth to express negative opinions about people who have been granted amnesty is just plain wrong. Am I not allowed to comment with distaste about the past of, say, Brigadier Jack Cronje, the former security policeman who, along with four of his henchmen, was granted amnesty for 47 killings of activists? If Cronje were to be offered a high-level post in the police in the new South Africa, would I be liable for defamation if I commented that he would be unsuitable for the position?"

3. The Daily Maverick's photo of ANCYL President Julius Malema being poured a glass of pink Moët et Chandon in front of the impoverished masses bussed into his birthday celebrations:

It is a scene that if made up would, as P.J. O'Rourke once put it, get you "drummed right out of the Subtle Fiction Writers League". Phillip de Wet reports that Malema told the assembled gathering: "I was made by the struggle of the poor. I'm a product of a poor family, and I'll remain humble before the poor."

2. The Mercury report on how SARS had taken possession of R16,5m worth of luxury vehicles belonging to the prominent Durban tenderpreneurs S'bu and Shauwn Mpisane:

Wendy Jasson da Costa reports that the couple quietly handed over a Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible (valued at R7m) and two white Lamborghinis (valued at R9,5m) to the taxman as surety for outstanding debts. "It is understood that the Mpisanes separately and through their various business ventures owed the taxman close on R50m, but it is unknown how much they have coughed up already or what amount is outstanding. The Mercury reported last month that among the couple's woes was a demand from the taxman for them to pay. Although it was speculated that the matter could go to court, it appears that the Mpisanes opted to co-operate and have struck a deal."

1. The Star report on Jacob Zuma's intemperate response to the nasty personal attacks directed against him in the British press ahead of his state visit to the United Kingdom:

Zuma told Moshoeshoe Monare: "When the British came to our country, they said everything we are doing was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in whatever way. Bear in mind that I'm a freedom fighter and I fought to free myself, also for my culture to be respected. And I don't know why they are continuing thinking that their culture is more superior than others, those who might have said so. The British have done that before, as they colonised us, and they continue to do this, and it's an unfortunate thing."

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