Mbeki's government has stumbled from one crisis to the next, argues Sipho Seepe, acting vice-chancellor of Vista university. There was the arms deal investigation, the plot hatched against senior members of his party, the controversy around HIV/Aids, heightened tensions within the tripartite alliance highlighted by embarrassing anti-privatisation protests, the Treatment Action Campaign against government and the continued stand-off between government and the media. And tendencies displayed by Mbeki show that a third term may not be out of the question.