Left-wing populist Jacob Zuma has won the leadership of South Africa’s ruling ANC, lining him up for the presidency of the country but creating deep uncertainty about his policies.The African National Congress dominates South African politics, so Zuma is almost certain to become head of state when his ousted ANC rival, Thabo Mbeki, has to step down as president in 2009.

Zuma’s win on Tuesday raises the question of whether Mbeki will become a lame duck president, paralyzing decision-making because the country’s two most powerful posts will be split between rivals once united in the fight against apartheid.

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A severe asylum backlog has meant that just 52,000 asylum cases have been processed at the British Home Office during the last 18 months. The backlog is prevalent to the extent of 450,000 cases, but slow processing has meant that many illegal immigrants who might otherwise have been deported are permitted to stay in the UK.

The permission to stay for 19,000 immigrants who were due for deportation has triggered fears that an additional 164,000 people may also be allowed to stay in the country regardless of their illegal status. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, confirmed that many illegal immigrants had been allowed to stay put in the country due to the slow processing of their asylum requests.

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The review of the visa system - which currently allows visitors from outside of the European Union to stay for a maximum of six months - comes at a time when the government has been attacked for allowing numbers of immigrants to spiral.

New plans would force families to make a cash payment of up to £1000 for any relative who comes to the country. If they do not return within the three month period, the money would not be handed back.

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The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has been allocated Z$10-trillion in the 2008 national budget for the construction of the new Parliament building, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The contractor — Chinese company Nantong International — is already on site, the report said.

The ministry had requested Z$15-trillion for the Parliament to be built in the Kopje area.

Giving evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the post-budget analysis, acting chief accountant in the ministry Gibson Mangwiro was optimistic that the new Parliament building would take shape next year, the government mouthpiece said.

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A third day of cool, rainy weather in Polokwane did little to quench the fiery support for the front-runners in the ANC presidential race: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

Voting for the party’s top six officials started later than the scheduled time of 6am on Tuesday morning due to computer-related delays. Voters continued to stream in to make their mark just before midday.

A long queue snaked around the voting station on the University of Limpopo campus outside Polokwane, but security officials kept journalists and photographers at a distance.

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — President Robert Mugabe suspended Zimbabwe’s attorney general and appointed a three-member tribunal to investigate allegations that the state’s highest law officer abused his powers, official media reported Saturday.

Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was arrested and charged with misconduct in the case of a fugitive banker on Nov. 8. But he returned to work a few days after his release from police questioning.

Misheck Sibanda, secretary to Mugabe’s cabinet, said Gula-Ndebele was formally suspended effective Friday. He named Judge Chinembiri Bhunu as head of the tribunal.

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President Thabo Mbeki is to begin trying to unblock the deadlocked talks between Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Saturday when he returns from Polokwane.

Negotiators for the ruling Zanu-PF and opposition MDC were in Pretoria last Saturday reporting that talks begun eight months ago had stalled and South African intervention was needed to resolve the dispute.

African diplomats now in Polokwane say they understood that Mbeki reassured the Zimbabweans he would return to unblock negotiations on the Zimbabwean crisis at the first opportunity, which they say will be on Saturday.

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Police in riot gear were called to an asylum detention centre early this morning after reports of a disturbance inside the building.Internees at the Campsfield House facility, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, are understood to have smashed lights and CCTV cameras after officers tried to remove a man from his cell shortly before 5.30am.

More than 20 police officers formed a cordon around the building following the disturbance. They were assisted by fire crews, a spokeswoman for the Oxfordshire fire and rescue service said.

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Zimbabwe has struck a deal to import crude oil from Equatorial Guinea and is planning to reopen a refinery to process fuel and ease acute shortages, state media reported on Monday. Crunch shortages of fuel, foreign currency and food are a sign of the southern African nation’s deep economic crisis, blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s policies, and also marked by the highest inflation rate in the world at nearly 8,000 percent.

The official Herald newspaper reported on Monday that Zimbabwe had signed a deal to buy crude oil from Equatorial Guinea, with which it has forged close ties after it helped foil an alleged coup in the oil-rich west African country in 2005.

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The Zimbabwe government is to ease its tough security and media laws as part of a deal with the main opposition aimed at resolving the country’s crises, the government announced on Monday. In an extraordinary gazette obtained by AFP, the government published bills with proposed changes to the Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Broadcasting Services Act.

The amendment to the Public Order and Security Act will compel police to meet with organizers of rallies if they intend to ban the gatherings.

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