Blogger on Leave
It's nearly time for my annual leave, which couldn't have come at a better time for me, but a worse time for political coverage in the lead-up to the ANC conference. The few weeks that I'm away will no doubt be seminal in deciding who's the seat-holder come December. However, I will leave you in the capable hands of my colleagues at Thought Leader whilst I'm away.

I'll be back in three weeks, where normal service will resume. If you'd like me to email you when the first post is back up, please use the "Email Me" link at right.

Tokyo: A Late Charge
After media reports earlier in the week asserted that Tokyo had no branch nominations, the Business Day reports that he may have been written off too soon:

Business Day independently verified that Sexwale ha d secured more than a dozen presidential nominations from branches in the party’s Waterbe rg region in Limpopo. A Sexwale lobbyist in Limpopo said yesterday he had managed to gain support in the region by “weakening” an already “disillusioned” Mbeki support base.

“The simple fact is that TM (Thabo Mbeki) has not done enough as ANC president — the party is on its knees, as the country’s president — our people are still living in poverty. They have bought into the Sexwale dream.

He has an almost impossibly long way to go, but if there's a sliver of hope for Tokyo, I'll take it.

Thabo Mbeki was quick to turn on Tokyo though, stating that leaders who were campaigning for the presidency would be rejected by the party at the elective national conference next month.

According to the Business Day, Mbeki has thus far received 270 nominations to Zuma's 80.