Thursday April 12, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shannon de Ryhove

Making headlines:

The appeal hearings of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and his spokesperson Floyd Shivambu are expected to be held today. These will take place at the party's Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg, ANC national disciplinary committee of appeals chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement on April 3. Should Malema's appeal fail, he can ask the ANC's national executive committee to review his expulsion. Should this also fail, he could attempt to raise the matter on the floor of the ANC's elective conference in Mangaung in December.

South African Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has confirmed that the country will increase its naval budget. Answering a question at a press conference at the 2012 Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in Cape Town yesterday, Sisulu stated that the amount would be announced in her department’s budget. “When we adopted the SADC Maritime Security Strategy, we committed ourselves to giving more money to the navy. This is a top priority for us.” This comes against the backdrop of growing SADC concern about piracy and other forms of maritime crime and insecurity.

Government has assured South Africans that it is intent on ensuring that the commission of inquiry into the strategic defence procurement package, also known as the arms deal, delivers on its mandate in a transparent manner. The Department of Justice said in a statement that while it understood the urgency that was attached to this process, it was also important to ensure that proper infrastructure and support systems were in place, given the projected life span of the commission as well as the magnitude of the task that the commission would undertake. The commission, led by Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Willie Seriti, was set up by President Jacob Zuma in October last year to look into allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the strategic defence procurement package.

Also making headlines:

The UN Security Council warned Sierra Leone's government against over-reacting to security threats after a UN envoy questioned why it bought millions of dollars worth of assault weapons to equip police ahead of a November election.

And, Sudan said it would use "all legitimate ways and means" to oppose what it said was South Sudan's assault on an oil-producing border region disputed by the two countries and long marred by clashes.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.