Monday, November 30, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.
Making headlines:
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has criticised the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, of neglecting municipalities that are in dire straits.
Addressing residents of Shayamoya in the Kokstad municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, Zille said that Shiceka was targeting municipalities that work, adding that he should focus on Kokstad and not Cape Town where her party governs and is rated number one in the country for service delivery.
Zille said that Shiceka's "obsession" with Cape Town had nothing to with conditions on the ground, but everything to do with trying to smear his political opponents.
Zille added that the reason service delivery was lagging behind in the Shayamoya area was because 90% of officials were appointed not for their skills but for their connections with the African National Congress.

Commonwealth States representing one-third of the world's people said on Sunday that momentum was growing towards finalising a global climate deal, but nagging doubts remain over funding levels and degrees of commitment.
Seeking to successfully tip the outcome of United Nations (UN) climate talks in Copenhagen, the group of more than 50 nations from across the world made the climate change issue the centrepiece of a three-day summit in Trinidad and Tobago. They declared firm support for an "operationally binding" deal to be achieved in Copenhagen that would cover tougher greenhouse gas emissions targets, climate adaptation financing for poorer nations and transfer of clean-energy technology.
The Commonwealth group called for a full legally binding climate treaty to be adopted "no later than 2010" and insisted that fast funding be made available to poor States to counter the global warming threat.

Developing countries yesterday called for a quick deal in the World Trade Organisation's (WTO's) Doha Round of talks to help poor nations by removing unfair distortions in the global trading system.
Trade ministers from Brazil, India and Indonesia issued the call after a meeting on the eve of a WTO conference in Geneva. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said that the deal should be "friendly to development".
Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma said that developing countries have much at stake, the most to gain and much to lose in the process of trade negotiations.

Also making headlines:
The South African Communist Party says that it respects the African National Congress's ‘multiclass character'.
Equatorial Guinea incumbent President Teodoro Obiang Nguema wins a much-criticised election.
President Jacob Zuma is kept busy during the weekend's Commonwealth summit.
Namibian election results trickle in with the South West People's Organisation set to win.
And, the treason trial of Movement for Democratic Change heavyweight Roy Bennett is postponed until January.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.