February 6, 2014
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Natalie Greve.
Making headlines:

Government entities rack up more than R2-billion in wasteful expenditure.

Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will run for president in the upcoming elections.

And, cash-strapped Zimbabwe needs $27-billion to fund a five-year revival plan.

Government entities racked up more than R2-billion in wasteful expenditure in the past financial year and incurred another R26.4-billion in irregular spending, the Auditor General said on Wednesday.

In both instances, the transgression increased by more than a third since the previous financial year, AG Thembekile Makwetu told Parliament's watchdog public accounts committee, Scopa.

Makwetu reported that unauthorised expenditure came to R2.3-billion, noting that little progress had been made in reducing the extent of this since 2011.

The home affairs department was the biggest culprit, contributing R301-million to that sum, followed by public works with R166-million.

A Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday that Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who deposed the country's first freely elected leader, has said he will run for president.

The widely expected move is almost certain to increase political tensions and anger Islamist militants who have stepped up attacks on the state since Sisi ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against him.

It will also deepen concerns that military men will again dominate Egypt after a 2011 popular uprising raised hopes of a civilian democracy.

The newspaper quoted Sisi as saying that he had no alternative but to meet the wishes of the Egyptian people for him to run.

Zimbabwe requires $27-billion – more than twice the size of its economy – to fund a five-year plan to improve basic services and rebuild the impoverished country, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

President Robert Mugabe's government wants to invest in food security, social services and infrastructure to reduce poverty and expand the economy an average of 7.1% a year by 2018.

But the ambitious plan, known as ZimAsset, requires massive capital, in a country shunned by Western governments and funding institutions such as the World Bank, because Harare has already failed to repay billions of dollars of debt.

Zimbabwe forecasts an optimistic growth rate of 6.4% this year from 3.4% in 2013, but analysts say the economy has lost steam, hit by a dollar crunch, company closures and electricity shortages.

Also making headlines:

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa says platinum strikers are holding firm to their wage demands.

Three ministers quit Burundi’s government in a constitutional row.

And, African cities Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi join the C40 network.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.