Conspiracy confirmed?
It seems that a conspiracy has been confirmed on the Pikoli suspension, but not the one we had thought. It turns out that Pikoli had issued a warrant for arrest for police chief Jackie Selebi over alleged links with crime syndicates. Now, as the latest conspiracy theory goes, Mbeki suspended Pikoli as he was unhappy with Selebi being pursued for arrest.

His reasons for this only Mbeki can explain. Perhaps the international embarrassment of Interpol's chief being arrested? The Cape Argus reported on Tuesday that Mbeki was about to commence a probe into Selebi's dealings, but if the Scorpions and the NPA had already concluded that there was enough evidence to issue a warrant for arrest, why would this be necessary? Or does it come down to a simple fact of Mbeki being a control freak, in that neither himself, nor the Justice Minister were notified of plans to arrest Selebi?

In any event, this is certainly a story that is gaining momentum with every second, and Thabo Mbeki has a lot of explaining to do.