Monday, April 6, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
Chairperson of the Electoral Court, Justice Kenneth Mthiyane, says that "shoddy papers" submitted to the court for clarity on candidates not on the voters' roll, could delay the election timetable.
Mthiyane added that the Court had not yet come to a decision on whether 110 election candidates whose names are not on the voters' roll, are eligible to stand for the election.
The Court was meant to decide last week on the eligibility of the candidates objected to by Independent Electoral Commission chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula, who charged that the candidates could not stand as they were not qualified to vote.
The Electoral Act does not stipulate whether or not a candidate should be registered as a voter. The matter was referred to the Electoral Court for clarity.
In regional news, Zimbabwe's new government hopes to start seeing results from an economic recovery plan after 100 days.
The unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai faces the daunting task of reversing years of economic decline marked by hyperinflation and severe food and fuel shortages.
The administration has said that its short-term emergency recovery programme will require $8,5-billion in funding over the next two to three years. It will depend heavily on help from Western donors. However, Harare is also seeking financial assistance from countries in the regional grouping, the Southern African Development Community.
SADC leaders have backed the plan, although there are doubts that they can offer anything substantial. Mugabe says that Zimbabwe must depend on itself
Back home, Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile has said that the National Prosecuting Authority should earn respect by dropping the charges against African National Congress president Jacob Zuma.
Mashatile explained that the ANC president has always respected South Africa's laws, and gone to court when called to do so. He thus urges the NPA to do the same thing if they want to earn the country's respect, and drop the charges against Zuma.
The NPA will announce today how it intends to proceed with Zuma's corruption case. However, the Sunday Times reported yesterday that Zuma had already been informed that the case against him would be dropped in a decision that reportedly divided the NPA.
Opposition political parties have spoken out strongly against this development.
Also making headlines:
A survey shows that the ANC is set to win this month's election, with an estimated 64,7% of the vote.
The US envoy to Sudan says that Darfur is on the brink of a deeper crisis.
And, ANC president Jacob Zuma will learn his fate in the graft case against him today.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.