Wednesday January 12, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Dennis Ndaba

Making headlines:

According to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) the government's New Growth Path, unveiled late last year, was not enough to fundamentally transform South Africa's economy. Spokesperson Patrick Craven says that "Cosatu's view though is that, overall, the New Growth Path proposed by government falls far short of the comprehensive and overarching development strategy... that will fundamentally transform our economy and adequately address the triple challenges of extraordinary high levels of unemployment, poverty and deepening inequalities."
It was released after a meeting of Cosatu's central executive committee on Monday, during which the plan was analysed. After the release of the plan in October, Cosatu said that it needed time to study the document.

Nigeria's ruling party has approved President Goodluck Jonathan and his main rival ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to contest its primaries, setting the stage for one of the biggest showdowns in its recent history.
A panel from the People's Democratic Party screened and approved three hopefuls on Tuesday for the Presidential primaries in two days time, including Jonathan, Abubakar and veteran politician Sarah Jibril.
"We have cleared all of them to participate as contestants in the Presidential primaries," Aminu Wali, head of the party's screening panel, told reporters in the capital Abuja after the three were vetted one byone in closed-door sessions.
Jonathan and Abubakar had been expected to be the two main candidates but the panel has the power to disqualify aspirants on the basis of background checks or if they have failed to meet party regulations.

Four provinces face the prospect of losing part of their yearly Human Settlements grants after failing to meet monthly delivery targets for low-cost housing, the Department of Human Settlements stated.
The department currently distributes about R14-billion a year to the country’s nine provinces for low-cost housing and related projects.
Human Settlements director general Thabane Zulu said that the four provinces − Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State − were lagging behind with delivery or were under spending and might have to forfeit a portion of their grant. “The funds might have to be redirected to provinces where there is better performance,” he noted.
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale warned the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements in November that a number of provinces were under performing when it came to the delivery of low-cost housing.

Also making headlines:

South Sudan will want to strengthen ties with sub-Saharan Africa, the West and others after its expected secession, but will have to tread carefully if it wants to avoid antagonising its old rulers in Khartoum.
Alassane Ouattara, the man the United Nations (UN) says won the Côte d’Ivoire’s Presidential elections, will soon control the revenues from customs duties on Ivorian cocoa exports, Ouattara's UN envoy said.
And, the sole challenger to Cameroon President Paul Biya for the ruling party's 2011 Presidential nomination said that he had resigned from the party after receiving death threats.
That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.