April 30, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

Department of Trade and Industry director-general Lionel October says a new Businesses Licensing Bill will standardise business licences.

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela looks frail in his first TV footage in months.

And, Mali breaks up a suspected militant cell in Bamako.

Department of Trade and Industry director-general Lionel October said that a new business licensing Bill will merely extend and standardise the issuing of licences, which already exists across the country, but isn’t being implemented uniformly. He said the bill was aimed at anyone that sells services or products to the public, mainly those in the informal sector that had no licence of any kind.

October said his department had engaged with the business sector, which had understood the need for the Bill, but pointed out that the public had a knee-jerk reaction to the word “regulation”, assuming it was socialism.

Business associations have criticised the Licensing of Businesses Bill, which the department has released for public comment, saying it would increase the amount of red tape for businesses.

However, October said the bill would involve a simple registration process. He pointed out that licensing in one form or another already exists in much of the country, adding the department was in the process of finalising an informal-sector strategy, and that registration of informal businesses would help the department to target support at such businesses.

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela made his first television appearance in almost a year on Monday, looking thin and frail in his Johannesburg home where he has been resting after a bout of pneumonia.

The SABC exclusive footage showed Mandela sitting next to President Jacob Zuma with a pillow behind his head and his legs propped up under a blanket. The ANC described the 94-year-old as “in good health and good spirits”. However, the veteran leader stared mostly straight ahead, his face showing little expression.

Mandela's lung problems date from his time as a political prisoner when he contracted tuberculosis.

Two senior security sources said on Monday that Malian security forces have arrested at least eight people suspected of plotting an attack in the capital Bamako for the Islamist militant group MUJWA.

Malian officials said the arrests were the first sign that Islamist rebels battling French and African troops for control of Mali's desert north have activated cells in Bamako, which is located in the south.

A high-ranking military officer told a news agency that a group made up of 15 people had been trained by al Qaeda-linked MUJWA in Gao, a northern town, and were planning to commit bombings in Bamako when they were arrested. He said the group was made up entirely of Malian nationals and that they had been living in Bamako's Banankabougou district near a mosque.

Mali was once viewed as an example of a working democracy in Africa but its north has been plagued by rebellions and become a centre of cross-desert trafficking of drugs, stolen goods and Western hostages.

Also making headlines: 

Germany reaffirms its plans to invest about R3.4-billion in South Africa.

The Carbon Disclosure Project’s Water Disclosure Report 2012 reveals that South African companies face water-related risks.

Kenya's chief justice Willy Mutunga denies taking bribes to rule in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta in a petition challenging the outcome of last month's election.

And, Cameroon's ruling party wins 56 of the 70 seats contested in the country's first senate elections held on April 14.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.