THE HISTORY MAN
By Carol Paton
Thabo Mbeki has always had a thing about history: he wants to make it. Next week he might. If things go his way at the ANC conference, he will be party president of the ANC when it celebrates its centenary. It is more likely, though...

FIRST BATTLEGROUND
By Thebe Mabanga
The ANC will be watched closely to test claims that, whoever wins leadership in Polokwane next week, there will be no purge of the loser's supporters. Party caucus chair Vytjie Mentor says predictions of a fallout after the confere...

RIFTS, SPLITS AND CASUALTIES
By Claire Bisseker
SA and Namibia's failure to initial an interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union, despite the three other Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries having done so, has driven a wedge through the ...

RATES AND WRONGS
By Claire Bisseker
Last week's SA Reserve Bank decision to increase the repo rate by 50 basis points to 11% was not only out of step with global interest rate trends, but is likely to be a blunt instrument in dealing with external pressures that have ...

TIME TO GO HO-HO-HOME
By Matebello Motloung
Anyone familiar with downtown Johannesburg - particularly Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville - will know the joke among illegal immigrants about the department of home affairs' deportation process. They describe it as an all-expenses-paid t...

HIGH HOPES FOR 'NAIVE' INVESTORS
By Ian Fife
Sometimes it takes serious naiveté to trigger a property market revival. Former film producer David Selvan and software developer Nour Ayyoub hope to do so in Johannesburg's inner-city suburbs. Prices in Hillbrow, Berea and Joubert ...

HIGH-PROFILE BACKUP
By Sasha Planting
A Silicon Valley venture capitalist, the chairman of US fast-food chain Burger King, the CEOs of Discovery, Amalgamated Appliances and Taste Holdings, and a local venture capitalist have been locked in debate for the past 40 minutes. ...

IT HURTS TOO MUCH
By Shoks Mzolo
The sharp rise in medical aid tariffs shows no sign of slowing next year. Mostly to blame, say industry leaders, are surging medical costs at private hospitals. Since 2000, tariffs for the medically insured - an estimated 7,1m people ...

FIGHT TO THE DEATH
By Sasha Planting
As the festive season builds up and SA's estimated 5m smokers prepare to puff more than usual, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) CEO Sean Donnelly has given up hope of some extra seasonal cheer. Four years after JTI accused British ...