Tuesday January 17, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

Several government departments have come under fire in a report by auditor-general Terrence Nombembe who found a series of irregularities, poor financial controls and reporting by departments. Nombembe yesterday released details of audit findings for the 2010/2011 financial year and revealed that while most government departments received unqualified reports, more needed to be done to improve supply chain practices and adherence to the Public Finance Management Act. There were significant concerns in the prevention and detection of wasteful expenditure in several departments and the newly created Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says petrol prices will be reduced to 97 naira a litre and labour unions agreed to suspend mass protests to allow further negotiations with the government. Tens of thousands took to the streets last week, striking over five successive days in protest against the sudden removal of a fuel subsidy on January 1 that more than doubled the pump price of petrol to 150 naira per litre from 65 naira. Jonathan met unions late on Sunday to try to find a compromise to end the strikes. He says talks have "yielded no tangible results" but pledged to continue along the path of removing subsidies.

The remaining leg of the Gautrain route, running between Rosebank and Park station in downtown Johannesburg, is, as a best-case scenario, expected to open between “March and early April”, says Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe. This was three to four months later than the forecast provided by the Gauteng government in July last year, when it said the last stretch of the 80 km route would be in operation by the end of 2011. The Rosebank-Pretoria link of the R26.4-billion Gautrain project opened on August 2. However, Park station remained off limits following the more-than-expected water ingress in the tunnel connecting Rosebank and Park stations.

Also making headlines:

State-owned power utility Eskom reports that it continues to make progress with its maintenance programme, and that the performance of its power stations has improved since last week.

And, the South African government is hoping its new Special Economic Zones Bill and policy will create the framework for the development of new industrial nodes outside of the traditional industrial heartlands of Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, while improving the performance of the existing Industrial Development Zones.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.