Friday, February 20, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille yesterday called on African National Congress president Jacob Zuma to step down as his party's Presidential candidate in the coming elections. In an open letter addressed to the Presidential frontrunner, Zille called for Zuma to put his personal ambitions aside and "act in the interests of the country and the Constitution by publicly stepping down".
Zille said that if Zuma is elected President without being exonerated in court, the Constitution would be seriously undermined. She explained that it would be a conflict of interest if Zuma was head of State and being prosecuted by the State at the same time.
She added that Zuma's election to the Presidency could well be challenged in the Constitutional Court for this reason.

In world news, global powers yesterday began negotiations to expand the 15 -nation United Nations Security Council to reflect present day realities.
The council currently has five permanent members with the power of veto, and ten non-permanent members. Developing countries have long resented the power of the veto holders on the council, the composition of which stems from the post war balance of power. Most nations agree that the body needs to be enlarged, but there is no consensus on how it could be done.
Regional rivalries and a concern by the big powers that their preeminence might be diluted are likely to drag out the talks on key details of how to achieve the goal of better representation.

In Southern African news, media reports have hinted that Zimbabwe is to request a $1-billion rescue package from South Africa and the right to adopt the rand as the struggling country's currency.
Rand Merchant Bank currency strategist John Cairns says that the proposed adoption of the rand by Zimbabwe is possibly "a negative by association".
Both the proposed aid and the adoption of the rand are on their own mostly
meaningless for the rand. Cairns explained that because Zimbabwe will never have the ability to print anything but Zimbabwean dollars, South Africa need not worry about what happens there.
However, Cairns said that because the move is negative by association, the rand is likely to suffer.

Also making headlines:
A methodist bishop tops the Congress of the People's election list.
Western powers say that the G8 must work more closely with emerging States.
And, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says that it is up to the courts to deal with the case of Movement for Democratic Change heavyweight Roy Bennett.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.