December,8 2016.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines:
Icasa lays criminal charges against SABC over protest policy
Southern Africa faces worst drought in decades
And, Ramaphosa tells Parliament to deal with absentee ministers,

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has laid criminal charges against the SABC for failing to adhere to a ruling it made regarding the withdrawal of its "protest policy", MPs heard yesterday.

The broadcaster appeared to have reneged on its agreement to abide by the order to withdraw its decision not to air footage of violent protests, Icasa representative Nomvuyiso Batyi told Parliament's ad hoc committee looking into the SABC board.

On May 26, the broadcaster banned the airing of footage of violent protests on its television stations. Icasa held public hearings and, on July 11, instructed the SABC to reverse its decision.

Batyi said the SABC never provided any proof of its withdrawal of the policy, despite agreeing to abide by Icasa's order on July 20.

Nearly 14-million people in southern Africa are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance as the region faces the worst El Nino induced drought in decades.

United Nations humanitarian agencies and partners launched a revised action plan to outlining their response to the needs of an estimated 13.8-million people as the region enters the peak of the lean season with largely depleted food stocks due to poor and failed harvests.

In a Wednesday news release, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the region is suffering “severe” food shortages, exasperating a multitude of existing and increasing vulnerabilities, including weak commodity prices, unfavourable exchange rates and slow economic growth.

If ministers are not fulfilling their duties towards Parliament, the institution should deal with them, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday.

Addressing the National Assembly during his final question-and-answer session, Ramaphosa lauded ministers and deputy ministers for their improvement in accounting to Parliament.

This included during oral question sessions, as well as in answering written questions, he said.

Answering a question on co-operation between the executive authority and Parliament, Ramaphosa said, while the number of questions had increased, the rate of responses had remained high.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today