Tuesday, August 24, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

Trade unions have reacted angrily to the government's claim that it had made a new wage offer to public servants. South African Democratic Teachers Union deputy general secretary Nkosana Dolopi said that the government's offer is still 7% and that it is "misleading the public."
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Monday that there was only one-tenth of a percentage difference between the unions' demands and the State's offer. He said that the government was "in real terms" offering an 8,5% increase, while the unions were demanding an 8,6% hike. This is because there is a 1,5% pay progression in addition to the 7% increase offered.
Unionists slammed his statement as "mischievous". Dolopi said that the pay progression is performance related, and pointed out that teachers only qualified for a 1% pay progression. Maseko acknowledged that the 1,5% "was always on the table", but there had been a "delay in highlighting this fact", and the government now wanted to make this clear to both the public and workers.

The United Nations (UN) panel of climate scientists should be more nimble at highlighting global warming trends and at fixing mistakes, experts said ahead of the planned August 30 release of a review of the group's work.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon asked for an independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after the group came under fire for errors such as wrongly stating that Himalayan glaciers could all melt by 2035 and overstating the area of the Netherlands that lies below sea level.
Experts say that the IPCC, which guides government climate policies, could play a greater role in assessing extreme weather, such as Pakistan's floods or Russia's heat wave, in real time.
The IPCC's problems have been mirrored by scant progress in climate negotiations this year. Another issue is whether the way that the IPCC works needs to be reformed. Under the current system, scientists and government officials agree on reports together, which binds governments to the conclusions but can bring suspicions of political tampering.

The proposed media appeals tribunal (MAT) is receiving "overwhelming support" from South Africans, said African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson Jackson Mthembu during a debate on the matter at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on Monday, adding that most South Africans feel that the self-regulation of the media industry "left much to be desired".
He explained that the ruling party is looking for an independent body to promote media freedom, not to muzzle it, but to discourage irresponsible reporting. Responding to Mthembu's comments, South African National Editors Forum media freedom committee chairperson Thabo Leshilo said that there is overwhelming opposition to the MAT. Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe said that the media is not against an inquiry into the possibility of a statutory MAT. "We would gladly participate if there wasn't this implied threat," he said. Wits School of Journalism head Anton Harber said that the media should be accountable, but not to politicians.

Also making headlines:

Foreign direct investment in Rwanda doubled to $1,6-billion in 2009, after it was named top global business reformer by the World Bank.
The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League in the Eastern Cape will lobby for former league president Fikile Mbalula to replace Gwede Mantashe as ANC secretary-general, in defiance of an ANC decision that it is too early to engage in debate over succession.
Hundreds of mainly Ugandan troops have arrived in Mogadishu to strengthen an African Union peacekeeping force helping Somalia's government battle Islamist insurgents.
And, Equatorial Guinea has executed four ex-military officers convicted of a failed coup last year, in what rights group Amnesty International says was an unfair trial without an opportunity to appeal.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.