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 – August 29, 2014

29th August 2014

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

August 29, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

The NDPP gets a tongue-lashing from the Supreme Court of Appeal for the “spy tapes” order.

Advertisement

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa’s economic transformation requires ‘mutually supporting initiatives.’

And, Mali’s rebel factions agree to end hostilities ahead of September talks.
 

Advertisement

The office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (or NDPP) received an unprecedented tongue-lashing in the "spy tapes" order handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal (or SCA) on Thursday.

The SCA said it recently, in another matter, criticised the office of the NDPP for being "less than candid and forthcoming". 

It said the criticism in the present case referred to the then [acting] NDPP, [Nomcobo] Jiba, who provided an ‘opposing' affidavit in generalised, hearsay and almost meaningless terms. Affidavits from people who had first-hand knowledge of the relevant facts were conspicuously absent, it ruled.

The SCA ended its ruling by saying that the "conduct wasn’t worthy of the office of the NDPP as it undermind the esteem in which the office of the NDPP ought to be held by the citizenry of this country."

The NPA, in reaction to the judgment, said on Thursday afternoon it would diligently and swiftly implement the order of the SCA in regard to the so-called spy tapes. Spokesperson Nathi Mncube said the NPA stated throughout the applications that it would abide by the order of the court.

 

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that South Africa’s economic transformation and inclusive growth won’t result from a single intervention but rather from a range of mutually supporting initiatives. He added that in many cases this didn’t require new strategies, but rather better implementation of existing ones.

Speaking at the South African Reserve Bank leadership conference, he noted that the key challenges to economic growth in South Africa were domestic, with the economy having contracted by 0.6% in the first quarter of the year and barely having grown in the second quarter, as mining and manufacturing production fell sharply and growth in other sectors remained modest.

“Government is acutely aware of the challenges in our economy,” Ramaphosa said, pointing out that government sought to develop an economy that grew at no less than 5% a year.

He said, therefore, government would accelerate the implementation of the National Development Plan to deal with both the immediate challenges and the long-term structural problems that constrained the country's development.

 

Representatives of two platforms of rebel groups from northern Mali agreed on Thursday in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou to end hostilities and present a united front for talks with the Malian government in Algeria in early September.

In recent months, there has been fighting between the Tuareg-led National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (or MNLA) and the Arab Movement of Azawad (or MAA), and even clashes between rival MAA factions.

Mali's northern desert region – called Azawad by the Tuareg rebels – has risen up four times in the last 50 years, with various groups fighting for independence or self-rule. The last uprising in early 2012 prompted a coup in the southern capital, Bamako, and allowed Islamist groups to seize northern Mali.

MAA leader Ahmed Ould Sidi Mohamed and Tuareg elder Alghabass Ag Intalla, representing the MNLA and allied groups, signed a statement following four days of talks agreeing to end hostilities between rival factions and present a united front at the Algiers talks to seek greater autonomy for northern Mali.

 

Also making headlines:
 

With its economy sinking, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe sets his hopes on 'old friend' China.

Ebola fears halt rotations of Sierra Leone forces into Somalia.

And, key players in South Africa’s tourism industry are concerned that the country’s new immigration rules, which came into effect in May, could damage the country’s tourism sector.
 

Also on Polity:

Watch Polity’s interview with award-winning singer and songwriter PJ Powers as she discusses her memoir “Here I Am.”

Don’t miss the new report by the South African Institute of International Affairs on the multi-faceted partnership between South Africa and China.

Follow us on twitter @PolityZA

That’s a roundup of news making headlines.

 

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