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Daily podcast – August 25, 2014

25th August 2014

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August 25, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:
 

CASAC says President Jacob Zuma's failure to respond to the Nkandla report shows contempt.

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The Basic Education Department says the South African Human Rights Commission report on school infrastructure is misleading.

And, Sierra Leone makes harbouring Ebola victims a crime.

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The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (or Casac)  said in a statement that President Jacob Zuma's failure to account properly on the Public Protector's report on his Nkandla homestead shows contempt for Parliament.

"The president's failure to account properly, and fully, to Parliament, specifically in relation to the Public Protector's report on Nkandla, has shown a contempt for Parliament and, therefore, for the Constitution," it said in a statement issued on Sunday.

This comes after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela wrote to Zuma in a  letter that he was second-guessing the recommendations she made in her report.

Casac also criticised the "heavy-handed" decision to call the riot police to the National Assembly and the cutting of the live feed following a Parliamentary disruption after EFF leader Julius Malema objected to Zuma's reply to a question about when he was going to repay part of the money spent on the upgrades.

The council noted that there was "a history of gradual but persistent erosion of executive accountability to Parliament".
 

The Basic Education Department stated on Sunday that a report on school infrastructure released last week on behalf of the South African Human Rights Commission and the Centre for Child Law was inaccurate and misleading.

"The report entitled 'Mud to Bricks: A review of school infrastructure spending and delivery' dated January 2014, but released last week, is inaccurate, misleading and unhelpful," spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said in a statement.

He said the authors of the report, Carmen Abdoll and Conrad Barberton, did not contact the department to obtain the very latest information on progress made to address school infrastructure matters.

Mhlanga said the report relied on disparate sources of data and opinion to produce adverse findings.

Barberton, however, said the learner-school ratio (or LSR) used by the basic education department was not an accurate way to evaluate education quality.

According to the report, the LSR raised the question of whether its use was creating a "perverse incentive" that drove provincial education departments to close small schools.
 

Sierra Leone's justice minister says that parliament has made the harbouring of Ebola victims a crime punishable by two years' jail in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

The decision came as the World Health Organization warned that the hiding of victims and the existence of "shadow zones" where medics cannot go had concealed the true scale of the epidemic.

Fear, stigma and denial have led many families to hide their infected loved ones from health officials. In other instances, patients have been forcibly removed from treatment facilities and isolation centres, creating the risk of the disease's further spread.

Lawmakers in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown voted overwhelmingly in favour of the 2014 Public Health Amendment Act, which amends a 54-year-old public health ordinance.

 

Also making headlines:
 

Health authorities say cholera has killed at least 67 people in Ghana since June and infected more than 5 000 others in an outbreak that highlights the health and sanitation challenges facing one of Africa's fastest-growing economies.

Mozambique's Frelimo government and the Renamo main opposition party have signed a formal end to hostilities, sealing a peace pact ahead of a presidential election scheduled for October 15.

And, Japan could offer an unapproved drug under certain circumstances to help treat the deadly Ebola virus even before the World Health Organisation has decided to make a request for the drug.

 

Also on polity:

 

Polity speaks to Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings about his book 'The Missing Piece', which seeks to solve South Africa's economic puzzle.
 

Don’t miss the latest episode of Suttner's View, where researcher and analyst Professor Raymond Suttner discusses whether corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma will be reinstated.

Be sure to follow @PolityZA on Twitter for breaking news.
 


That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.
 

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