Tuesday, July 13, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

Threats of an outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa are still just rumours, said President Jacob Zuma on Monday. "Let us make a distinction between a rumour and a real concrete report with a clear source of information."
He said that the government had established a Ministerial commission to deal with the situation and was "working on this issue" in the normal course of its duties.
In 2008, 62 people died and 15 000 were displaced in a wave of xenophobic attacks that started in Gauteng province, while it was reported on Monday that there had been attacks on foreigners and foreign-owned businesses in the Western Cape.
Zuma said that it was unlikely that South Africans would welcome World Cup visitors on the one hand and threaten foreigners on the other.

Somali allies of Al-Qaeda have taken their bloody push for power onto the international stage for the first time, with a deadly bombing in Uganda that displays a well-practised, publicity-savvy sense of timing and targeting.
The Sunday night attacks that killed 74 soccer fans watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup final may point to weaknesses in security in Uganda, and perhaps other regional States also seen as enemies by al Shabaab, the group that claimed the attack.
Al Shabaab's change of tactics to strike beyond the borders of the failed State appears to have been decided to press home in the most dramatic way its opposition to an African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission that it sees as Western inspired. An al Shabaab spokesperson in Mogadishu said that the bombings would continue until Uganda and Burundi withdraw troops from the AU force, which is trying to help Somalia end two decades of chaos.

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan defended the government's inflation-targeting policy on Monday, saying that it gives investors confidence and the central bank options in times of crisis.
Labour unions have repeatedly urged the government to scrap or change its policy of targeting an inflation rate of between 3% and 6%, saying that this strict adherence has led to higher interest rates that hurt the poor.
Gordhan's statement to Parliament also defended the country's flexible exchange rate policy, another bugbear for unions that want the government to weaken the rand. "The flexible exchange rate also acts as a buffer against shocks and helps to reduce the volatility of interest rates," he said.

Also making headlines:

South African President Jacob Zuma says that the country's investment in the 2010 FIFA World Cup will lead to increased tourism, trade and investment.
The Côte d'Ivoire's electoral commission announces an enlargement of its provisional voters list to 5,77-million, making slow progress towards much-delayed elections.
South Africa's revised energy-efficiency strategy will go before Cabinet by the end of the year.
And, Zimbabwean Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe says that international donors could soon approve large-scale aid to Zimbabwe.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.