Tuesday, February 17, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The office of the Gauteng Premier states that the Democratic Alliance's plan to lay criminal charges against Paul Mashatile was a "publicity stunt", meant to divert attention from his State of the Province address.
This comes after the opposition DA yesterday vowed to lay charges over the failure of Mashatile, Gauteng MEC for finance at the time, to report African National Congress stalwart Carl Niehaus's attempted fraudulent actions.
Gauteng government spokesperson Simon Zwane emphasised that the provincial administration respects the law and will cooperate with any investigation by law enforcement agencies. He said, however, that there was never an attempt to cover up Niehaus's forging of signatures of senior Gauteng officials.
The DA says that Mashatile will be charged with obstructing justice and with failing to report corruption in terms of Section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

In other news, the United Nations Environment Programme says that Group of 20 leaders meeting in London in April should initiate a "Green New Deal" to fight climate change and revive the crippled global economy on a sustainable basis.
The Environment Programme says that political efforts to curb pollution, protect forests and avert global warming have failed. UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said at a gathering in Nairobi, that the world needs to learn from US President Franklin D Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression.
The question is, Steiner said, whether the environment can afford to be put in the waiting line, or be part of the solution.
Steiner said that the world should ensure that huge amounts of money are not spent by this generation to save its economy today, without any answers as to what the next generation, that has to repay the debt, will do in terms of jobs in the future.

In South African news, Control Risks analyst Anne Fruehauf says that the financial team selected by African National Congress President Jacob Zuma, should the party prevail in the upcoming election, will arguably be the most crucial signal to investors as to the future direction of government policy.
Fruehauf said that there is significant uncertainty as to South Africa's future economic policy emphasis under Zuma, particularly given that he is in the process of "having to renegotiate the party's relationship with its increasingly forthright alliance partners on the left wing".
Potential investors will pay particular attention to the Finance Ministry appointment, especially given recent signals that the current Minister might not be retained, as well as uncertainty about South Africa's macroeconomic policy trajectory.

Also making headlines:
A British newspaper reports that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has bought a $5-million home in Hong Kong.
The National Prosecuting Authority's Mokotedi Mpshe is implicated in a police labour investigation.
Sudan and Darfur's rebel faction take the first step toward peace talks.
And, ANC Councillor Lungi Cele becomes the latest politician to defect from the ruling party to join the Congress of the People.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.