The Right2Know campaign (R2K) has released a hard-hitting report on the state of secrecy in South Africa, offering insight into the mysterious national key points, one of which is President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla.

Last week, we again celebrated Valentine's Day but, amid this time of love and romance, the news was heavily dominated by horrible events of violence against women. How does this culture of abuse against women continue to flourish despite all the romantic hype about love? Maybe the answer is to be found in history. 

An African National Congress resolution on ‘transformation and regulation’ of the media, made at its Mangaung national conference, has triggered a new round in the fight for the heart of the media in South Africa. Some claim it is all just hot air and that nothing will come of the ANC’s proposed parliamentary investigation of the media; for others, it signals an intense battle ahead. 

Despite an accord reached last week between the department of mineral resources (DMR), the Chamber of Mines and certain trade unions – to seek, and commit to, a framework for peace and stability in South Africa’s troubled mining sector – lasting peace and labour stability seem unlikely, unless deeper structural and legislative labour relations are addressed soon. 

Issues arising from the affairs of The New Age (TNA) newspaper and the wealthy Gupta family over the past two weeks have caused an egg dance of note among a wide range of prominent and disparate South African political, business and media role-players. From the presidency to opposition leader Helen Zille and her Democratic Alliance, senior members of the ANC, state-owned companies and others – all have been dragged onto the dance floor. 

The decision by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at a summit meeting in Maputo early in February to deploy a peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was a brave one. It challenged existing peacekeeping procedure and could have far-reaching consequences for all future peacekeeping operations. 

Within hours after news broke that the girlfriend of Olympic and Paralympic medallist Oscar Pistorius had died in a shooting incident at his home during the early hours of Valentine’s Day, M-Net announced it was pulling off the air all ads and promos in which he featured. It again exposed the precarious relationship between sport and big money interests, while on a wider front there is a battle raging over the integrity of international sport worth billions. 

It is difficult to put in perspective the South African test dominance of the past 15 months as the Proteas extended their unbeaten run to 15 successive matches and six tests won in a row. Graeme Smith recorded his 50th win as test captain on Sunday, with the emphatic triumph against Pakistan by an innings and 18 runs, with two days to spare. 

A passionate performance and extraordinary defensive effort by the Southern Kings saw them deliver the first surprise of the 2013 Super Rugby season. With a 22-10 victory against the Western Force at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, the debutants confounded the critics who prematurely wrote their epitaphs.