Monday January 17, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe defended President Jacob Zuma's decision to appoint Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba as one of the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions (DNDPP), the SABC reported on Sunday.
Radebe said Zuma should be commended for appointing two women of the calibre of Jiba and Advocate Nomvula Mokhatla. Mokhatla was also appointed as a DNDPP. "There is no controversy about the appointment of two women, when everybody talks about women empowerment and advancement of women. But when the President appoints two competent, fit and properly qualified women, people cry.” The Democratic Alliance on Friday expressed dismay at the appointment of Jiba.

The European Union (EU) on Saturday increased the pressure on Côte d’Ivoire leader Laurent Gbagbo to step down, freezing the assets of the West African country's cocoa-exporting ports, its State oil firm and three banks. The latest move in international efforts to persuade Gbagbo to quit after an election that he is widely held to have lost, the EU announced a sanctions list that included State refiner SIR, the country's rubber sector body, energy utility SOGEPE and national broadcaster RTI. Gbagbo's camp brushed off the tighter sanctions and said that he still had access to accounts at West Africa's central bank, even though regional leaders recognise his rival Alassane Ouattara as the legitimate leader of the world's top cocoa grower.

Cabinet on Sunday began its annual January lekgotla in Limpopo to discuss government's programme for the coming year with growth and jobs high on the agenda, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said. The four-day meeting will focus on the international and local economic outlook with a view to creating jobs after President Jacob Zuma told the African National Congress national executive committee lekgotla last week to come up with a plan of action to create work. The President told ruling party officials to create a blueprint on how the government could achieve the ambitious target of creating employment for five-million people by 2020, set out in the government's new growth path. This should include identifying public sectors that could yield more jobs.

Also making headlines:
South Sudan's polling centres closed their doors on Saturday after a week-long vote on independence from the north.
Tunisia's new leadership moved to form a coalition government to gain the upper hand over violent looters and quell arson and shooting that broke out after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by protests.
And, Nigeria began the mammoth task of registering an estimated 70-million voters on Saturday, a process which will be key to ensuring that nationwide elections in April are more credible than in the past.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.