https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Podcasts RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

Daily Podcast – April 29, 2015.

Daily Podcast – April 29, 2015.

29th April 2015

By: Sane Dhlamini
Creamer Media Senior Contributing Editor and Researcher

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

April 29, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

South Africa falls out of the investment confidence index.

Advertisement

Togo President Faure Gnassingbe wins re-election

And, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says electricity is the biggest economic challenge in the country.

Advertisement

 


Business leaders are increasingly looking for global opportunities for growth, but not in South Africa, according to the 2015 Foreign Direct Investment (or FDI) Confidence Index released this week.

According to the fifteenth annual index from global strategy and management consulting firm AT Kearney, two-thirds of companies plan to return to pre-financial crisis levels of FDI by 2016, but no African or Middle Eastern countries ranked in the top 25 FDI destinations in 2015.

Last year, South Africa ranked thirteenth in the index.

Martin Sprott, principle of AT Kearney Johannesburg, said the main reason for South Africa slipping out of the index was the capital flight to developed markets, as investors move away from emerging markets towards safer destinations for better returns.

Founder of the FDI Confidence Index and chairperson of AT Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council Paul Laudicina said people were moving their capital into markets that were perceived to be more secure, like the EU and the US.

 


Togo President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election to a third term based on provisional results with more than 1.2-million votes or 58.75% of the total, the West African country's election commission head said on Tuesday.

His nearest rival was opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre with 34.95% of the vote.

Commission head Issoufou Taffa Tabiouon said Gnassingbe won the election provided the results are confirmed by the constitutional court.

Gnassingbe was widely tipped to win the Saturday vote, and early results suggested he had secured a comfortable margin. If confirmed, the results will extend the grip of Gnassingbe's family on the country beyond 50  years.

But Togo's opposition complained of widespread irregularities and called for the announcement of results to be halted.

Meanwhile a mediation team led by Ghana President John Dramani Mahama who is also the current head of the Economic Community of West African States, arrived in Togo on Tuesday.

 


The lack of sufficient electricity is the most binding constraint to production and investment in South Africa, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has acknowledged to MPs.

Nene was replying to Democratic Alliance MP David Ross who asked what the structural and competitiveness challenges holding back production and investment in the economy were.

Nene replied by referring to the 2015 Budget Review he presented during the February Budget where he said “the lack of sufficient electricity” had been identified as “the most binding constraint” to production and investment. 

He said other constraints identified were transport and telecommunications infrastructure as well as skills constraints, regulatory uncertainty and concentrated markets that discourage new entrants.

Nene said various steps had been taken “to address these challenges” by the national government, business and labour adding that some of these were outlined in the National Development Plan.

 


Also making headlines:

A Nigerian human rights organisation has asked the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate a complaint of hate speech against Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini.


A total of 144 Gauteng delegates have come out publicly in support of Mmusi Maimane to take over the leadership of the opposition Democratic Alliance.

More than 200 schoolgirls abducted from their school dormitories by Boko Haram militants active in the north of Nigeria and further afield last year are not among the nearly 300 girls and women rescued in an army operation on Tuesday.

The European Union sought to reassure Libya that any action being considered by the 28-nation bloc to stem the deadly flow of migrants across the Mediterranean should not be perceived as an attack against the Libyan people.

And, Burundi's government told diplomats to stay neutral and not side with protesters who accuse President Pierre Nkurunziza of violating the Constitution by announcing that he will seek a third term in office.

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter[@PolityZA]
That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now