Monday, February 9, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe has conceded that there are flaws in the current practice whereby the National Director of Public Prosecutions is exclusively appointed by the President.
Motlanthe said that the appointment process would be more credible if it was carried out by an independent body such as the Judicial Service Commission. He suggested that the JSC could short-list candidates and submit a list to the President for appointment.
Under the current National Prosecuting Authority Act, Motlanthe can appoint a person of his choice to replace suspended National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli.

In other news, human rights groups say that Zimbabwean opposition activists who have been detained on terrorism charges, are in life-threatening danger as they have been denied medical treatment for months. This comes as reports of torture continue to circulate.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights allege that the government has defied several court orders to release the detainees and allow them to seek medical treatment.

President Robert Mugabe's government has charged more than 30 members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change with bombing police stations and recruiting people for an insurgency, charges which all the accused have rejected.

A Zimbabwe court last month ordered an investigation into the torture allegations, but prison and police authorities have continued to defy court orders to admit the accused to hospital for treatment.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said that the opposition is still pushing Mugabe's Zanu-PF party to release the activists, not because of their dire need for medical treatment, but because they are innocent.

In other African news, a top United Nations aid official says that the situation in Congo's war-torn east is beginning to improve, but that the thousands of displaced Congolese should not expect "miracles".
Last month's arrest of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda marked a dramatic improvement in relations.
However, there are fears of further violence in the region where aid groups say some 1,2-million civilians have been displaced in previous waves of fighting, and the UN has been repeatedly accused of failing to protect them.

Also making headlines:

The Sudanese government is to meet with Darfur rebels in their first official peace negotiations in two years.

The African Union imposes sanctions on Mauritania where a military coup ousted the country's first democratically elected Presiden

Former South African Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, is rumoured to be joining the breakaway Congress of the People.

And, the Pretoria High Court rules that South Africans abroad should be allowed to vote.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit polity.org.za.