Friday, April 3, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The African National Congress said yesterday that it is "increasingly disturbed" by archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu's comments on Jacob Zuma.
The ruling party said that the tone of Tutu's comments on the National Prosecuting Authority's consideration of representations on Zuma's case, indicate that he was either "knowledgeable of the decision" or seeking to pre-empt the outcome of the case.
Tutu had said that he hoped the NPA would decide to continue with Zuma's fraud and corruption prosecution.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, an ally of the ANC, described Tutu's comments as "despicable".

In world news, at yesterday's Group of 20 summit in London, world leaders agreed to a trillion-dollar deal to combat the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Plans to commission blacklists of tax havens and tighten financial rules to bring hedge funds and credit rating agencies under closer supervision, were also signed off.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that while there are "no quick fixes", the decisions made at the summit meant that the recession could be shortened and jobs saved.
The G20 has committed new resources of $1-trillion, that are available to the world economy through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.
The group asked the IMF to bring forward sales of its gold reserves, in order to raise funds to help the poorest countries. There was also agreement on a trade finance package worth $250-billion over two years, to support global trade flows, which have shrunk under the impact of the credit crunch.
The final communique forecasts that the measures taken will raise world output by 4% by the end of 2010.

Back home, the National Prosecuting Authority is expected to make an announcement today, related to the corruption prosecution of African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma.
Some media reports suggest that the NPA will announce whether the charges against Zuma will be dropped or not, but the NPA has said that it will only give an indication "as to when the actual decision will be communicated".
As the ANC goes into its final stretch of campaigning for the April 22 election, a decision to drop the case would mean Zuma no longer has 16 criminal charges looming.
In terms of the Constitution, the NPA can review a decision to prosecute after taking representations from the accused, the complainant and any other interested parties.

Also making headlines:
ANC president Jacob Zuma woos the Afrikaner community.
A world diamond body wants to stop the Zimbabwe diamond trade.
And the G20 puts the International Monetary Fund at the centre of its crisis response.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.