June 6, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Schalk Burger

Making headlines:

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele says the Department of Transport has finalised a project delivery support mechanism with the South African National Roads Agency Limited (or Sanral) for provinces to tackle road capacity and other related challenges.
In his Budget Vote address at the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, the Minister stated that the department was establishing a project management unit through Sanral, to provide support to provinces struggling with road maintenance.
Ndebele explained that the aim of the support mechanism is to call retired engineers back into services to work with new graduates to share expertise, so as to ensure that necessary capacity is available to rollout the road networks.

International Criminal Court (or ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has asked the United Nations Security Council to consider urging countries or regional groups to arrest Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes.
The ICC indicted Bashir in 2009 and has also issued arrest warrants for Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, former Interior Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb for war crimes in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
Bashir's government in Khartoum has dismissed the ICC charges as politically motivated and baseless, adding that the ICC is targeting African leaders and only implementing the agenda of some countries.

Free Market Foundation (or FMF) director Eustace Davie said on Tuesday that the government’s primary economic role is to create an environment in which the private sector can flourish.
At the FMF’s policy briefing on its submission to the National Planning Commission on the National Development Plan, he suggested that this could be accomplished through less government intervention, legislative certainty and lower taxes, among others.
He also pointed out that Apartheid left a legacy of legislation characterised by disrespect for the principles of good law.

Also making headlines:

The Southern African Development Community is looking at ways to implement trans-boundary infrastructure in order to facilitate trade and deepen the process of regional integration and cooperation.
 

And, the Freedom of Expression Institute and nongovernmental organisation Section 16 have jointly applied to the Supreme Court of Appeal to intervene in the appeal of Justice Colin Lamont's judgement in Afriforum's hate speech case against Julius Malema.

That’s a round up of news making headlines today.