Hot Spot technology, the position of the third seam bowler and using spin bowling resources to maximum advantage will be the vital ingredients of the second cricket test between South Africa and Pakistan, starting on Valentine’s Day at Newlands in Cape Town.

The Super Eagles ended a 19-year wait to regain the African Nations Cup when a goal from forward Sunday Mba gave Nigeria a 1-0 win over Burkina Faso in the final at Soccer City on Sunday. For South Africa there is much to be learned from the tournament it hosted but some immediate action is required. 

South Africa’s construction industry has fallen under scrutiny with reports that top firms rigged contracts worth at least R30 billion, including those for Soccer City in Johannesburg, the Coega development zone in the Eastern Cape, Cape Town stadium and the Gautrain.  

Before someone is about to testify in a court of law he or she is usually asked to place the right hand on a Bible and take an oath to speak the truth. Usually such a person is called a witness. This custom and the two terms, 'testify' and 'witness', are quite appropriate considering their origins, although there is an interesting twist to it all. 

Within the week that it was announced, the new nation-wide minimum wage for farm workers triggered the start of a fundamental restructuring process in the agricultural sector. There are already signs that it is going to be a volatile and painful process that will suck in the retail and related sectors involved in the national food supply chain. 

Instead of moving closer to achieving the government’s ambitious job creation targets, labour statistics show exactly the opposite trend with thousands more jobs currently under threat. The recent rounds of labour unrest and wildcat strikes on the mines and Western Cape fruit farms may have secured higher wages for workers, but many of those 'victorious' workers may soon be unemployed.

The favourable international and African reaction to the intervention in Mali by its former colonial power, France, to prevent the country from being overrun by Islamic extremists is significant and might signal a new more accommodating attitude towards external support for weak governments fighting unconstitutional regime change. 

Has the alliance relationship between South Africa’s ruling African National Congress  and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) entered the phase of 'divorce proceedings'? This question arises in light of the fact that Cosatu last week had to swallow a number of defeats on policy issues.