Performance is way more important than size. At least that is what South Africa is proving in the world of economic and diplomatic influence, with its first meeting as a member of the club of the world’s top emerging countries, Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa) behind it. Huge opportunities, but challenges also, lie ahead for the country in this new role.

No-one seems to know how long the nine yards of the expression the whole nine yards really is supposed to be. In fact it must be one of the expressions with the longest explanation. With some sources  the answer  must be close to nine yards itself.

Just over a year ago, Bafana Bafana became the first host-nation in a Soccer World Cup to be knocked out in the group stage. The national team was ranked 90^th in the world, and because of persistent board-room squabbles, many fans thought that the national team would not  get back to winning ways.

“I have read the ANC Youth League’s arguments about the Freedom Charter's authorisation, as it were, for the nationalisation of the mines and the banks and the monopoly industries. I have also read their arguments about the struggle songs.  But Julius Malema seems unaware of who the real authors were,” writes Piet Swanepoel.

For the people of Swaziland the road to democracy is proving to be a long and testing one. It took a long and mostly lonely struggle of 38 years to reach the defining moment where the people of Swaziland might soon have the right to decide their own future. A couple of days ago, however  it seemed as if those marching for democracy were set for a hiding second to none and that Swaziland would continue to be referred to as “the last absolute monarchy in Africa.”

The natural disasters to hit Japan clearly demonstrate the importance of effective risk management and disaster recovery planning. According to the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa (IoDSA) this event can be classified as a black swan ­– an event that is highly improbable, yet with a catastrophic impact should it occur.

The adoption of the proposal embodied in draft legislation to be considered by Parliament later this session that the Constitutional Court should be accorded the status of the apex court for all matters, whether constitutional or otherwise, will amount to the reversal of an important policy decision taken by the Constitutional Assembly and will undermine a valuable constitutional purpose sought to be achieved by the framers of the Constitution, without any compensating advantage, writes judge Ian Farlam.

AfriForum’s hate speech case against ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema in the Equality Court in Johannesburg has been turned into a public show outside the courthouse to such an extent that the case itself seems to have been reduced to a sideshow. In fact much of what has been happening outside the court probably amounts to little more than contempt of the court.

The still unfolding nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan is but the latest offspring of a long lineage of nuclear incidents that have already left radioactive deserts strewn across the globe, often shrouded in cover-ups many decades after they originally occurred. A chilling, comprehensive report of nuclear power’s history since 1945 reveals a sobering picture of how dangerous this technology really is.

The Stormers have entrenched their position at the top of the South African conference in the Super Rugby competition, and produced a slightly unconvincing performance against the Lions, yet deserve kudos for the way they played without many of their senior players. But the weekend’s Super Rugby performances should leave many South African fans concerned about the prospects of the Springboks in the Rugby World Cup in September and October.

The country’s fresh water resources will be fully depleted by 2030 and unable to meet the needs of people, industry and our neighbours if we continue to exploit our water resources by following a ‘business as usual’ approach. Radical improvement to water quality management and treatment technologies are needed, CSIR researchers warn.

With 30 days to go to South Africa’s all-important municipal elections, it seems that probably the biggest election battle since 1994 is looming. The political temperature is rising, with a number of important trends and tendencies emerging.

It was the picture of Andries Tatane dying in his friend’s arms after a brutal police assault during service delivery protests in Ficksburg that shocked the world but, in fact, police brutality has been steadily rising in South Africa for quite some time. In March, we posed the question: Is South Africa’s police force becoming a rogue force?

The Great Eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami left nearly 13 400 people dead and almost 5 000  injured when it struck on  11  March 2011.  Just three weeks earlier, an earthquake hit the Canterbury-area in New Zealand and left 172 people fatally injured. What are the changes of such an event occuring in South Africa?

We wish all our readers a safe, peaceful and blessed time over the upcoming Easter weekend with its very special days for many. May it be a most enjoyable break. Leadership Intelligence Bulletin will also be taking a break next week, and our next edition will go out on 3 May.
Piet Coetzer, Editor

“Worth a read?” is not your ordinary book review; it is a meta-review. In other words, it provides an overview of the opinions contained in a variety of book reviews published in the media at large. This week we look at “Killing Kebble: An Underworld Exposed”, written by Mandy Wiener and published in April 2011.

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