Trade union Solidarity argues that President Zuma's efforts to ramrod through amendments to the Employment Equity Act is an effort to override recent court decisions that challenge the government's application of national racial quotas.

Three of the country's top silks are squaring up against each other in a case that involves the Road Accident Fund, Discovery, and attorney Ronald Bobroff. As David Gleason discovers, the case runs deeper than many suppose, and involves the thorny issue of contingency fees and exclusion clauses in Discovery Health's contracts.

An amendment to the Income Tax Act imposes a 15% withholding tax on cross-border services rendered in South Africa, writes Graeme Palmer of Garlicke Bousfield.

Just 25% of Gauteng freeway users have e-tags, and several court challenges are lining up to test whether SANRAL has acted legally in bringing this massively expensive solution to the residents of Gauteng. It doesn't help SANRAL's case that hundreds of instances of mis-billing are being reported. 

Sports and recreation minister Fikile Mbalula gave Bafana Bafana a tongue-lashing for their capitulation to Nigeria. But as Gareth van Onselen points out, the minister could do with a dose of his own advice.

The DA has called for Tina Joemat-Pettersson's head, and the public protector wants Jacob Zuma to act against the agriculture and fisheries minister for maladministration, improper conduct and wasteful expenditure, writes Chris Barron. 

The US attorney general is investigating what many have long suspected - that the world's currency makets are manipulated by a group of financial insiders known as the "bandit's club."

A fraud complaint by a Cape Town couple against FNB has been handed over by the police to the National Prosecution Authority, after the bank attempted to repossess their home in 2008. Could this end up being SA's first fraud trial against a bank and its executives over the shadowy practice of securitisation?

German anarcho-libertarian Herman Hans-Hoppe believes peace and prosperity would be inevitable if only we were to end the State's monopoly on administering the law. And he provides a few interesting historical precedents where this actually happened.

Winston Churchill was well known for his wit and searing put-downs, but what are the best insults of all time? Here's one list from British Pathe which is worthy of consideration.

Retailers and music copyright owners recently went head-to-head in the Copyright Tribunal - a creatuire of  the Copyright Act - over how much stores should pay for broadcasting music to their customers. The judge eventually settled on R389 per 50 square metres, rather than the R500 music copyright owners demanded.

The ANC's grip on power is slipping and that can be a dangerous thing for the country, particularly in an election year. The radicalisation of South African politics is well underway, and trade unions are amping up their demands for higher wages, knowing their timing is perfect.

Netcare is challenging the Competition Commission's use of KPMG for technical services related to the inquiry into the healthcare industry about to get underway, due to the fact that KPMG previously did work for Netcare.

Only a fraction of the fishing licences applied for have been granted, leaving many well-established fishermen without a livelihood. The situation has been described as a "national disaster" by the Democratic Alliance, which wants the matter investigated.

2013 will go down as the year of living dangerously. Our beloved Madiba passed away, the sign interpreter at his funeral turns out to be a fake with an interesting background, and President Zuma was grateful for the opportunity to change the subject from Nkandla-gate.

The Gauteng Department of Social Development is attempting to bring non-governmental organisations under its control, and this must be resisted, says the SA Institute for Race Relations. It it succeeds in Gauteng, other provinces will follow suit.

President Zuma's Nkandla residence has cost the taxpayer R215 million, with R31 million of work still in progress. Last year, Zuma told parliament his family paid for the buildings, but this is contradicted by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who says the President must be called to account for this spending. 

A series of reports from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela paints a damning picture of corruption within President Zuma's administration. Opposition parties and ANC alliance partners have started feasting on the allegations contained in these reports.

Congress of the People (COPE) leader Mosiuoa Lekota says the attempt by government to push through the National Key Points Act in reminiscent of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the revolutionaries become indistinguishable from the past oppressors.
 

New black economic empowerment requirements are sowing confusion in the mining industry, with some companies being threatened with cancelled contracts due to non-compliance, says Jako Liebenberg.

The e-toll war got a whole lot bloodier this week with news that several court challenges are being launched to test the constitutionality of government's decision to introduce e-tolls from December. Not since the death of apartheid in 1994 has government faced this kind of opposition.

The government has decided to cancel bi-lateral investment treaties with several countries because they interfere with its transformation agenda. It plans to replace this with the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill, now open for public comment, which aims to curtial potential claims from foreign investors.   

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela says her team was frustrated and obstructed in their investigations into the R206 million Nkandla estate, built for President Jacob Zuma. The story played out this week in the courts and in the press.