December 11, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The IMF highlights South Africa’s persistent competitiveness problems as the growth outlook is cut.

Companies should engage in the training of young people by offering apprenticeships for economic reasons.

And, ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani says the first six months of parliament was tarnished by "rampant anarchy”.

The International Monetary Fund (or IMF), which expects the South African economy to grow by only  2.1% in 2015, warns that even this “lackluster” outlook carries considerable downside risks. This is owing to the country’s high current account deficit “reflecting persistent competitiveness problems, soft terms of trade, supply bottlenecks and subdued external demand”.

The 2.1% gross domestic product (or GDP) growth outlook for 2015 also represented a further downward revision from the 2.3% forecast by the IMF in the October World Economic Outlook (or WEO).

The 1.4% growth expectation for 2014, meanwhile, was in line with the WEO, but below the 2.3% forecast earlier in the year and well below the 5%-plus being targeted in the National Development Plan (or NDP).

The IMF said that, although weak trading-partners growth contributed to the slowing of the economy in recent years, “binding structural constraints”, such as protracted strikes and electricity shortages, have been increasingly important factors.

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research and Education director Professor Stefan Wolter says companies should engage in the training of young people through offering apprenticeships for economic reasons and not only because they felt obliged to serve their country.

Wolter was a addressing a delegation from South Africa where he explained that it would not make economic sense for all companies to take in apprentices and, therefore, these companies should not be expected to do so.

Companies benefited from offering apprenticeships in two main ways, namely through using apprentices to substitute unskilled workers in the company, which led to short-term benefits, as well as by ensuring that the future skills needed by the company would be available through training enough people.

In addition, companies could also save on hiring costs if apprentices were offered permanent positions upon having completed their apprenticeships – which in Switzerland lasted between three and four years, and was done in conjunction with theoretical classes attended at a vocational college. This was known as the dual system.

Further, keeping apprentices as permanent employees also allowed a company to cut out the four to five months adjustment period usually required by a new employee to get used to a company and its internal systems.

African National Congress Chief Whip Stone Sizani said the first six months of the fifth Parliament was tarnished by "rampant anarchy, disorder, and roguishness".

He said the unquenchable thirst for headlines by some opposition parties through relentless stunts, rather than substance and robust debates that would take South Africa and the people forward, has unfortunately seen the regression of this six-month-old fifth parliament.

He claimed that these [stunts] simply sought to erode the integrity and the confidence South Africans had in Parliament. He added that parliament's rules and the country's laws would ensure that unruly behaviour didn’t go unpunished, insisting that the law be applied consistently, fairly, fearlessly, and without prejudice.

Also making headlines:

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe names justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as the official deputy of the Zanu-PF.

Mauritians lined up to vote on Wednesday in a parliamentary election that could lead to more powers being granted to the president if the ruling Labour Party wins.

And, a treasury report shows municipalities spent only 19.8%, or R66.7-billion, of the total adopted budget of R336.8-billion in the first three months of the municipal financial year.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.