Tuesday, February 16, 2010
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.
Making headlines:
Opposition parties yesterday lambasted President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address, saying that South Africa had lost the hope held out by former President Nelson Mandela.
Speaking during the debate on last week's State of the Nation address in Parliament yesterday, Democratic Alliance Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said that Zuma's call for 2010 to be a year of action "rings hollow in our ears". The "current crop of African National Congress (ANC) leaders is not comparable to the previous generation," he said. Congress of the People Parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala said that South Africa has lost the hope provided by Mandela, but was optimistic that many challenges could still be defeated. Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille agreed that the government has failed Mandela's legacy and called for a permanent commission to monitor and expose corruption in the government. While the African Christian Democratic Party called on Zuma to respond to reports that the ANC stood to reap billions from power utility Eskom's proposed tariff increases, and Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder drew a comparison with Mandela in his plea for wider consultation on name changes of places with historical value.

Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of antigovernment protesters in eastern Côte d'Ivoire yesterday. The demonstrations followed President Laurent Gbagbo's dissolution of the government and electoral commission on Friday, in a move that is almost certain to delay long-awaited Presidential elections set for March.
Rising tensions in West Africa's former economic powerhouse threaten to disrupt the cocoa industry that accounts for about one-third of global supply, and could prevent an election that the World Bank warns is necessary for debt relief.
The Côte d'Ivoire's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro met with the heads of a United Nations mission and Gbagbo's party yesterday over the country's deepening political crisis. Aides close to him have said that he will name a new Cabinet in the coming days.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) confirmed yesterday that it will meet with the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Thursday to discuss policy issues.
ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu says that the nationalisation of South Africa's mines and "the way to move forward with the issue" will be on the top of the agenda.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven confirmed that the labour federation will meet with the ruling party's youth league and said that the issue of nationalisation would "quite likely" be discussed.

Also making headlines:
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says that South Africa's new industrial policy will boost employment.
Three main opposition candidates in Togo's Presidential elections withdraw from elections in protest at what they fear will be a rigged result.
Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula says that African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema is a "jewel".
And, Guinean Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore names a caretaker government to take the country to elections.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.