Monday, September 21, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The Judicial Service Commission's (JSC's) interview of Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe took a dramatic turn yesterday when the room was cleared of the media and public, during questioning by Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille and Inkatha Freedom Party representative Koos van der Merwe on his dealings with the company Oasis.
Advocate Isak Smuts also wanted Hlophe to explain the apparent contradiction that his "fight" with the Constitutional Court justices who accused him of an attempt at improper influence, was not personal. After some debate, Supreme Court of Appeal Judge President Lex Mpati said that he wanted to avoid such arguments.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court of Appeals judge Azhar Cachalia told the JSC that he is against "the numbers game" when it comes to deciding whether to appoint black or white judges. The focus should rather be on appointing a competent nonracist and nonsexist judiciary.

World leaders are likely to agree this week to work together when the time comes to end massive economic stimulus programmes. Ahead of the September 24 to September 25 summit of Group of 20 (G20) nations in Pittsburgh, leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are pressing for concrete results.
Billions of dollars have been pumped into the global economy in the past year and G20 leaders are anxious to show that they have a plan for withdrawing this stimulus only once a recovery is fully under way and before inflation is unleashed.
Further, US President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said that the methods used to set pay for bankers must be recalibrated to ensure that the same risky behaviour that helped fuel the banking crisis was not swiftly repeated. European G20 members have taken the lead in calling for some restraint on the "bonus culture" of banking, insisting that this must be treated as a key item at Pittsburgh.
Others agree that the Pittsburgh gathering needs to add substance to the London summit's promises to maintain G20 credibility. Another element of the G20 meeting, must be agreement for emerging-market countries, like Brazil and China, to gain a bigger say in global institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will push for propoor economic policies and changes at the Central Bank when it meets with its members and political allies this week.
South African unions launched a series of strikes earlier this year demanding above inflation salary increases, going head-to-head with President Jacob Zuma who refused to pander to their demands. With 1,9-million members in the formal sector and the biggest federation in the country, Cosatu hopes to convince Zuma to change economic policies in order to steer the country out of recession and halt soaring unemployment.
In a draft resolution circulated ahead of its tenth national congress, Cosatu proposes scrapping inflation targeting and urges Central Bank changes. Cosatu President S'dumo Dlamini says that interest rates cannot be the only tool to target and stabilise inflation. The union is pushing for a seat on the Reserve Bank's board and said it would like to see the Central Bank fully State owned to limit its exposure to shareholder influence.

Also making headlines:
The African National Congress says that it is disgusted at international and South African athletics bodies over the treatment of athlete Caster Semenya.
World Bank MD Robert Zoellick calls for a "responsible" Group of 20 agenda.
Former Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha accuses the trade union federation of putting personality clashes above workers' concerns.
And, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn predicts global economic recovery in first half of 2010.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.