South Africa’s main opposition party called for an inquiry yesterday into allegations that the ruling African National Congress may have used kickbacks from Saddam Hussein’s regime to fund its current election campaign. Two of the ANC’s most powerful officials – the secretary-general Kgalame Motlanthe and the party’s treasurer-general Mendi Msimang – have close links to a Johannesburg businessman on a “black list” published by an Iraqi paper. The newspaper, al-Mada, last month published a list of 270 companies and businessmen accused of buying millions of barrels of Iraqi oil at a lower rate than the market price, via the UN’s oil-for-food programme. Full Story