Friday, October 1, 2010

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

Making headlines:

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi did not make reference to the African National Congress (ANC) or any individual leader of the ANC when talking about "political hyenas" earlier this week, the union federation said on Thursday.
Cosatu was responding to criticism by ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema, who urged the ruling party to take action against Vavi over his remarks. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said that Malema was "completely mistaken in interpreting this comment as an attack on the ANC or ANCYL or as ‘public spats'."
Vavi told an affiliate gathering on Monday that should "tenderpreneurs" succeed in making corruption acceptable in society, the country would slip into a "predator State" controlled by "political hyenas" who made looting acceptable.
Malema said that the "spirit of [last week's ANC national general council] was completely undermined by the general secretary of Cosatu."

Economic growth in Africa is expected to reach 6% in 2011, but the continent continues to battle to attract foreign investment, said World Bank African chief economist Shantanyanan Devarajan on Thursday.
Speaking at a lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Devarajan said that this was mainly as a result of infrastructure and educational deficits playing a deterring role. Interestingly, he pointed out that these deficits are being brought on by governmental failures rather than a lack of capital. Nevertheless, Devarajan said that the continent had made some "impressive" strides in the past two decades as far as policy reform goes.
Devarajan said that Africa is at the brink of a growth offtake, similar to where China found itself 30 years ago, or India, 20 years ago. However, the continent still needs to work on some of the developmental challenges that it is faced with and pull increased foreign investment going into the future.
In South Africa, calls have recently been made for increased State intervention in the country's economic policies, mainly from labour unions. The country has also been plagued with continuous industrial action in recent times. Devarajan said that foreign investors are always looking for economic and political stability, paired with a competitive labour environment and added that these recent issues could be seen as a deterrent for foreign investment into the country.

Rwanda has presented seven objections to a United Nations (UN) report accusing its troops of committing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and said that publishing it could threaten regional stability.
The UN High Commission for Human Rights report details some 600 serious crimes committed by various forces from a number of nations in Congo from 1993 to 2003. In August, Rwanda threatened to pull its 3 500 UN peacekeepers out of Sudan's western Darfur region, following the leaked report's accusations that the crimes committed could be construed as genocide.
Rwandan government spokesperson and Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo described the draft document to be released today, as flawed and dangerous. Its official publication will include comments from concerned countries, including Rwanda. She says that the UN's Mapping Exercise has been a "moral and intellectual failure - as well as an insult to history."

Also making headlines:

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica signs a contract agreement with provincial Members of the Executive Council responsible for the environmental portfolio to ensure service delivery.
Fears that some countries may resort to currency depreciation to boost exports will be one of the hottest issues at the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting next week.
And, a website reports that Julius Malema will step down as president of the African National Congress Youth League next year, but the League denies this.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.