Election results for the ANC’s additional 80 members of the national executive committee (NEC) were finally released in the early hours of Thursday morning. With the allegiances of the top six officials split, the NEC will be crucial moving forward. But the results point to a stalemate, with the two different factions taking a similar number of positions. By GREG NICOLSON.
It was shortly after midnight on what was technically the sixth day of the ANC’s 54th conference when new party president Cyril Ramaphosa was able to deliver his first address, and the conference’s last. Ramaphosa’s message preached the strength and unity of the ANC, but also sketched a picture of a party bent on renewal. He promised a more responsive ANC, more respectful of its people, and re-committed to its Alliance partners. But lest anyone be in doubt, Ramaphosa also stressed the party’s commitment to radical economic transformation – and its unanimous decision to expropriate land without compensation. By REBECCA DAVIS.
The ANC national policy conference decision dropped a bombshell just as reportbacks from the other 10 commissions largely endorsed the July policy conference resolutions with a tweak here, and a deadline there. Land redistribution without compensation on Wednesday evening was the last stand in the ANC factional proxy battles. It’s now a thing. By MARIANNE MERTEN.
The ANC’s 54th policy conference at Nasrec is over. It’s been a long five-and-a-bit days: high on drama, delays and uncertainty but fairly low on political substance. As exhausted delegates and journalists wend their way home, it’s time to take a look at the moments we’ll remember. By REBECCA DAVIS & GREG NICOLSON.
Over the course of the last five days, our movement has grappled with the challenges and tasks of this critical moment in the history and life of our people and our country. We are still here. Standing almost 106 years later. United. Rejuvenated. Galvanised. By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA.
And so, Dear Reader, it came to pass that the laws of space and time, in the end, apply to ANC conferences too. The conference is now ending. I will return home, shout at the pool pump and spend a happy half-hour picking up dog poos. Spock will watch with disdain and Vulcan detachment, making the odd comment about Romulans, and the fact that their ears are a little bit funny. Later, at around the time Cyril Ramaphosa will give his first address as ANC President, the wife and children will be returning home. I can’t wait, and may later be accused of dereliction of duty by leaving this conference early to be with them. It's been a long conference, and a crazy year. By STEPHEN GROOTES.
It was a long journey to every announcement at the ANC conference. Journalists waited and waited and after that, did more waiting for the ANC officials to announce anything, to give an inch of information about proceedings of the day. By NKATEKO MABASA.
In January, Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini will have to explain why she should not be personally liable for legal costs of the Black Sash and Freedom Under Law application to the Constitutional Court with regard to the extension of the illegal CPS contract in March this year. In her witness statement Dlamini denies that work streams she set up at the cost of R47-million and which were declared irregular by treasury, had acted as a parallel structure to Sassa and undermined the agency's work. Dlamini, unsurprisingly also takes no responsibility for her role in the mess. By MARIANNE THAMM.
While confusion reigned at the ANC national elective conference this week, the City of Cape Town stared down an uncertain future of its own. Beleaguered Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille was granted a brief reprieve on Monday, but scandal-fatigued residents should brace themselves: this is not over. Expect a battle – if she’s going down, she’s going down swinging. By MARELISE VAN DER MERWE.
This is the full text of our live blog of the fifth and final day of the ANC's 54th Conference at Nasrec.
The Trump administration is about to close on its first, tumultuous year in office. As far as legislative accomplishments go, the sole success has been a tax reform bill that a majority of Americans seem to dislike – or distrust – immensely. For the administration’s international approach, the question is whether there actually are strategic ideas and ideals at work besides a slogan or two; or, rather, if it is all just the result of the president’s late-night impulses. J. BROOKS SPECTOR takes a look.
Monitoring and evaluation provides us with tools that can help unlock the potential of a capable developmental state. Outcomes-based evaluation can potentially change the way in which governments work, and South Africa has invested heavily in building the systems to achieve this. The Executive and bureaucracy have driven these initiatives from the centre of government in the Presidency. By RICHARD LEVIN.
SG position threatens entire conference, US tax reform to be rammed through, and Saudi king targeted in Houthi attack.
In closing, comrades...
German police said they arrested Wednesday a man planning to carry out a ramming attack in the name of the Islamic State group on the crowds outside a skating rink.
Politics is just like cricket, really.
Events of November 2017 in Zimbabwe represent the culmination of a crisis whose tenets include a crisis of legitimacy. One of the most urgent tasks for Zimbabwe’s new government is the restoration of legitimacy, in its various forms.
Stock markets mostly fell Wednesday as investors took a breather following recent gains, while US senators voted for a controversial tax overhaul which traders expect to boost corporate profits.
by Danny KEMP / Alex PIGMAN The EU's top court ruled on Wednesday that Uber is an ordinary transportation company instead of an app and should be regulated as such, in a decision that is being closely watched around the world.
Toxsix
by Michael Mathes The US Senate was poised to approve a sweeping tax overhaul Tuesday, putting President Donald Trump on the brink of his first major legislative victory nearly a year after he took office.