Debates and space for critical engagement is essential for democracy. There can never be enough emphasis on this point. It is therefore unfortunate that African National Congress (ANC) has chose to stifle debates by resorting to use of derogatory terms to describe opposing voices in the Congress of South Africans trade Unions (Cosatu), South African communist Party (SACP) and ANC alliance.

COSATU welcomes the comprehensive report tabled to the people of South Africa today and welcomes the exoneration of government from any wrongdoing or corruption.

South Africa is moving on many fronts to combat corruption.

South African Anglican Bishop Peter Lee recently sent a letter to Cedric Mayson, the African National Congress' religious affairs director, saying that President Thabo Mbeki's questioning of the causal link between HIV and AIDS has led many men in the rural KwaZulu-Natal province to erroneously believe that sex and AIDS are "not linked," the Daily Mail & Guardian reports.