1. President Jacob Zuma has heralded the "wonderful opening" of the policy conference and says he is impressed with the quality of debate among delegates. His apparent challenger for the throne of the ANC, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, stuck to the same script. Watch here.
2. Swift action against corruption and state capture is integral to pulling South Africa out of a technical recession, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said at the Progressive Business Forum's business breakfast this morning. Read the four things he said need to happen for the turnaround to begin here.
3. Ferial Haffajee -- The ANC, Africa's oldest liberation movement, has been "more than moderately successful" in achieving a coherent state. A highly securitised policy conference, heightened fears of regime change and an emerging "colour revolution show an "icy grip of fear around its heart" roughly 27 years since the party's first policy conference in 1990. Read about it here.
4. ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini has come under fire for allegedly saying women can be "too emotional" during debates, justifying the inclusion of six men in the league's delegation at the policy conference. The league has backtracked on their stated commitment to ending patriarchy and are showing themselves up as patriarchal princesses, writes Zimkhitha Mvandaba. Read it here.
5. Journalists at the policy conference have largely been restricted to a media "chicken run", with delegates much more than the arm's-length away of previous conferences. Judging by the escorting of journalists by security guards on golf carts and in closely monitored minibuses to hear Cyril Ramaphosa speak during his walkabout of businesses in a main hall, it is clear the ANC doesn't want the press anywhere near delegates. Watch and read about it here.