Friday April 01, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

Leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community called late on Thursday for an end to political violence in Zimbabwe. Tensions are rising in the resource-rich state as an uneasy unity government comes apart at the seams and as President Robert Mugabe pushes for elections this year. "There must be an immediate end to violence, intimidation, hate speech, harassment, and any other form of action that contradicts the letter and spirit of dialogue," the leaders from the regional bloc said in a statement after meeting in the Zambian resort of Livingstone.

Fighters loyal to presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara attacked the residence of controversial incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan early on Friday and seized control of State television of Côte d’Ivoire, a Ouattara spokesperson said. A military source in Gbagbo's camp confirmed the attack on Gbagbo's residence but said that pro-Gbagbo forces were still putting up resistance at state broadcaster, RTI. Residents in the area confirmed heavy fighting. Fighting between the rival factions raged for hours on Thursday and heavy weapons fire rang out in the centre of the commercial capital of the world's top cocoa producer.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has recommended May 1 to the Presidency as implementation date for the Companies Act of 2008. This comes after the DTI announced that there should not be any more delays in the implementation of the Act, and that the Companies Amendment Bill had only to go through the necessary approval processes, which would culminate in President Jacob Zuma’s assent. However, the DTI said in a statement later in the day that the Presidency should be allowed to “apply its mind sufficiently in processing” the bill before signing it into law.

Also making headlines:
Algeria's Prime Minister has denied the country is in a political crisis sparked by unrest in the Arab world but acknowledged public anger over unemployment and a lack of housing.
Rebels cheered the defection of a Libyan minister as a sign that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule was crumbling, but US officials warned he was far from beaten and made clear they feared entanglement in another painful war.
And, more than 60 roads with potholes in the Limpopo province are expected to be repaired by the end of this week.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.