When errant African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema and his foul-mouthed league spokesman Floyd Shivambu – plus possibly a few more league leaders it seems – finally face disciplinary action at the end of this month, the parent ANC itself will be faced with a number of potentially dangerous outcomes. Some of it could even, as we report on a potential youth revolt, have serious repercussions for the entire country.

In line with what has become a global trend, started at the end of last year in Tunisia and most recently exploding on the streets of United Kingdom cities, South Africa could be on the brink of its own youth revolt, driven by the ANC Youth League around the emotive slogan of economic freedom in our lifetime.

All this looting with the riots in England and the municipal workers strike in South Africa, took us on an interesting voyage of discovery, starting in the heart of the West – France to be more precise – but ending with  rich language booty from the East. There was also an ironic South African twist in the tail.

When ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema talks of economic freedom he means the opposite, argues Eustace Davie, a director of the Free Market Foundation, in an article in which he accuses the league of a perversion of language to “interpret plunder in the form of expropriation without compensation and pervasive state control to mean economic freedom.”

The question on everyone’s lips this past week was: what lies behind President Jacob Zuma’s surprise nomination of Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng as the preferred candidate for the position of Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court and  head of South Africa’s judiciary as the independent third branch of government?

With global greenhouse gas emissions at record highs in 2010 according to the International Energy Agency, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has released a report written by KPMG on South Africa’s carbon chasm, setting the tone for meaningful conversations between business and government. Meantime the report shows that large industry players are proactive in seeking innovative solutions to decrease South Africa’s carbon emissions.

The reaction of the British government to the present riots and the accompanying looting, with extended powers to the police and encouragement to courts to issue the harshest sentences possible, is in many ways a step back
in time to the early 18^th century – a move which civil liberty groups and some senior barristers claim could damage the reputation of the criminal justice system.

It was ‘first strike’ to Ajax Cape Town and Orlando Pirates in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final against their high-profile opponents Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns, but the Amakhosi might still hold sway as the second leg semi-finals will be in Cape Town, where they enjoy equally passionate support.

Last week marked 40 years since the then president of the United States, Richard Nixon announced that America was suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold at $35 an ounce; bringing to an end the so-called Bretton Wood system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates. Clouded in much uncertainty the world is again facing a fundamental change in its monetary system.

South Africa’s strike season continues, having shifted from the private to the public sector as thousands of municipal workers have been on strike since last Monday against a background of worsening levels of unemployment, weak economic growth, skills shortages. One international report after the other show how South Africa is falling behind in global competitiveness.

If points are awarded for resilience, commitment and magnificent defence, the Springbok-team of Victor Matfield would have received a full-house of points for their Castle Tri Nations-effort on Saturday when they beat New Zealand 18-5 in Port Elizabeth. But it was far from flawless performance and there is no room for complacency.

The rumour mill, as was to be expected, almost immediately went into overdrive when the news of the gruesome and mysterious death of one of Zimbabwe’s most influential,  well-known and wealthiest citizens became public knowledge. It even overshadowed the crucial SADC talks on Zimbabwe’s political future that were taking place in Luanda, Angola.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s remarks last week about the need to review labour legislation in South Africa in order to achieve job creation targets have set the cat among the pigeons. Predictably he has been attacked by labour and praised by business, even if his remarks were not entirely new and have previously been echoed by others in the ANC and government.

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