ANC Youth League (ANCYL) Julius Malema’s apparent obsession of late with nationalisation and his so-called "study tour" to controversial destinations on the subject may have much less to do with South African reality and policy than has been recognised by most observers. The party disciplinary problems and the alleged struggle song controversy in which Malema landed himself probably contributed toward deflecting attention away from the most likely reason for his nationalisation fixation and study tour – his own and the ANCYL's international ambition.

One of the real and hopefully lasting benefits of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup is that it has jolted the South African Government into action to do something about the sorry state of security along most of the country’s borders with its neighbouring states. The timing and highly publicised concern shown by the government, however, is somewhat ironic.

In line with that which is occurring in most parts of the world, a serious socio-economic fault line has developed in South Africa around the remuneration packages of chief executive officers. According to a very recently released report by forensic auditors: “No single business factor… emerged as the main determinant of CEO remuneration. Other, less rational factors probably override the role that business factors play in CEO remuneration.” These findings come at a time of increasing concern about the country having one of the starkest divides between rich and poor in the world.

The members of the National Planning Commission, headed by Presidency-based National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, were announced last week, showing a strong pro-business bias. It stands in stark contrast to the Left-leaning advisory panel announced earlier by the Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel and which is packed with opponents of Manuel’s more conservative economic policies of the past.

The bitterly contested leadership battle in the African National Congress (ANC) Gauteng region has far wider implications than simply deciding who will lead the ruling party in South Africa’s business and financial hub. The outcome will directly affect wider power relations in the ANC and the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). It could further have a decisive bearing on the future of controversial ANCYL president Julius Malema, who faces stiff opposition in the Eastern Cape.

Integrating transport networks across borders as a means to drive economic development is a stated goal of the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), yet a recent announcement by the Department of Home Affairs seems to go against the grain of this intention.

The assessment made more than 50 years ago in the early 1960s by then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, that “a week is a long time in politics”, has been made truer than ever in the United Kingdom by the advent of the first television election debates between the leaders of the major parties. Within a week, predictions of the first hung parliament in almost 40 years turned into speculation about a possible outright win by the Conservative Party after the final of three television debates. But the impact of modern media was even wider.

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In the professional sport arena, with its fierce competition for television viewership and match attendance, cricket – in particular the shortest format of the game – seems to be in trouble, as was evident the past weekend when at least three weekend newspapers (mainline and traditional cricket-loving) hardly mentioned the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies. And the two highest ranked teams in the world, India and South Africa, had played on Sunday!

Carlos Parreira has given journalists and Bafana Bafana supporters some food for thought when he announced his squad for the fourth and final training camp in Gauteng. In fielding the experienced Benni McCarthy and some other seasoned veterans, he has indicated that experience would be paramount if Bafana Bafana is to survive the first round – or perhaps he has taken a leaf out of the book of his adviser Jake White who, at the previous Rugby World Cup, fielded players such as Bobby Skinstad.