This is an edited version of author Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s article in the Mail & Guardian, 24 to 29 April 2009.
Sindisiwe Mncube, an Ulundi IEC official, has become the first South African since the 1994 democratic elections to go on trial for electoral fraud.
A presiding officer charged with violating the Electoral Act during the April elections begged the person who caught her red-handed not to expose her.
Media speculation about why ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete was not sworn in as an MP last week was ”distorted”, she said on Tuesday.
Trevor Manuel was appointed to head a powerful new planning body on Sunday, keeping the former finance minister at the heart of policy making.
Johannesburg Metro police will fine political parties if they don’t remove their election posters by Monday, spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said.
Preparations began before dawn on Monday to welcome members of South Africa’s fourth Parliament for a session likely to be more robust than the last.
According to the IFP, ordinary voters were tired of the ANC’s inability to develop, the rural areas especially.
ANC president Jacob Zuma’s security detail has been beefed up ahead of his inauguration next week because there were some people who hated him.
The party’s money troubles have partly been addressed by the fact that it will have 30 paid MPs in the National Assembly.
The victory in the general elections was not a ”blank cheque” given to the ANC-led alliance to rule for another five years, the SACP said on Friday.
The ”Stop Zuma” campaign denied the ANC a two-thirds majority in the recent elections, DA leader Helen Zille said on Friday.
That the press is out of kilter with the voting preferences of the majority of South Africans is not a bad thing for democracy.
The <i> Mail & Guardian</i> learned recently that Jacob Zuma’s administration will expand national ministries from 28 to 32.
The Gauteng African National Congress on Wednesday recommended three people for the position of provincial premier.
The IEC on Wednesday released the official list of MPs and MPLs due to take up their seats in the national and provincial legislatures.
The Freedom Front Plus has its own ideas about why the smaller opposition parties did so badly in the general election last week.
Where the English have football, South Africans have politics. This occurred to me as I stood near the stadium where SA will host the World Cup final.
DA leader Helen Zille will step down as Cape Town mayor on Wednesday when she’s gazetted as a member of the Western Cape provincial legislature.
Before the 2004 elections the Mail & Guardian visited the Mayixhale family in a village outside Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.
