June 7, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Reggie Sikhakhane

Making headlines:

Clarity regarding the employment status of suspended police commissioner Lieutenant General Bheki Cele remains in question, following contradicting reports by both The Star and The Times publications respectively.

The Star reported that Cele was informed of his axing on Wednesday, he was told to vacate his office, and that his replacement was due to report for duty on July 1.

Meanwhile, The Times reported that Cele was told about the decision on Tuesday.

The Presidency declined to comment on Thursday on reports that the suspended Cele had been fired.

United Nations (UN) secretary general Ban Ki-moon has submitted his first report to the Security Council detailing grave crimes committed against children by Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his feared Lord's Resistance Army, the UN announced on Wednesday.

Kony has evaded the region's militaries for nearly three decades, kidnapping tens of thousands of children to fill the ranks of his Lord's Resistance Army and to serve as sex slaves as he moves through the densely forested area. Thousands have been killed by his brutal army.

The UN report revealed that, between July 2009 and February 2012, Kony's group kidnapped at least 591 children - 268 girls and 323 boys - mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as in South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The Department of State Security on Wednesday dug in its heels on criticism of the Protection of State Information Bill and ignored amendments proposed by the ruling party.

Acting director-general of State Security Dennis Dlomo rejected calls to rewrite Section 1 (4) of the bill, to limit the power of the ministry to delegate classification powers, reduce penalties and limit the heavy onus placed on the accused in the draft law.

Dlomo also stood firm on pleas, made again during public hearings on the Bill, in March, to include a public interest defence clause in the draft Act to shield whistle-blowers and journalists who publish classified documents to reveal State wrongdoing.

Also making headlines:

Almost two-thirds of the R76.6-billion owed to South Africa's municipalities by consumers is owed by households, says National Treasury.

And, a plane crash in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos is likely to have killed six people in the building that the airliner struck, bringing the toll from Nigeria's worst airline disaster for two decades to 159.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.