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Daily podcast – June 26, 2014

26th June 2014

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June 26, 2014
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:
 

National Planning Commission commissioner Dr Miriam Altman says growing the manufacturing sector won’t reduce unemployment.

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The UN Security Council blacklists Boko Haram’s leader as well as a splinter group.

And, South African central bank chief Gill Marcus forgoes her salary hike.

 

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National Planning Commission commissioner Dr Miriam Altman has warned that while it’s important for South Africa to grow its manufacturing output, the sector is unlikely to be a major source of employment in future.

Altman said it was unlikely that more than naught to three per cent of employment created in South Africa over the next 20 years would come from the manufacturing sector.

She explained that, for the manufacturing sector of a middle-income country, such as South Africa, to compete on a global scale, productivity had to be increased. This was because middle-income countries were generally not truly competitive from a pricing point of view.

 

The United Nations Security Council sanctioned the leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram and a splinter group on Wednesday. This was the first individual and entity to be designated by the world body since the Islamist militant group was blacklisted, diplomats said.

Leader Abubakar Shekau and Boko Haram faction Ansaru will be banned from international travel and their assets frozen under the UN al Qaeda sanctions list.

Russia placed a "technical hold" on the designations two weeks ago because it needed more time to review the listings, but diplomats said they lifted the hold on Wednesday, allowing the sanctions to come into force.

The Islamist militant group was described in the UN listing as an affiliate of al Qaeda and the Organization of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It is subjected to a travel ban, an asset freeze and an arms embargo.

 

South African central bank governor Gill Marcus received a 0.4% pay rise this year, indicating that one of the most prominent opponents of excessive executive pay in Africa's most advanced economy practises what she preaches.

With inflation at 6.6% in May, Marcus' tiny increase amounts to a pay cut in real terms, although her annual R5.007-million salary is still 70 times that earned by entry-level platinum miners who have just ended a crippling five-month strike.

Marcus' deputy, Daniel Mminele, went one step further by receiving an actual reduction in salary to R3.8-million a year. The pay levels were given in the South African Reserve Bank's annual report.
 

Marcus has frequently castigated the pay hikes granted to senior executives in South Africa in the last few years. She has said hefty increases fuel labour unrest in what remains one of the world's most unequal societies by pushing unions to demand wage rises way above inflation.

 

Also making headlines: 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his first trip abroad since taking office, seeking Algeria's support to counter Islamist militancy in north Africa.
 

JSE-listed construction firm Group Five has been awarded the R400-million contract to help make former President Nelson Mandela’s “lasting wish”, the construction of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, in Parktown, a reality.

 

And, a report released by the South African Human Rights Commission reveals that child poverty in South Africa has declined, but more still needs to be done.

 

Also on Polity today:

Be sure to check the latest Acts, Government Notices and Proclamations on our Legislation page,  and peruse through the latest legal briefs, some of which include the question of whether employees can interdict their intended dismissals.

Don’t forget to watch the informative interview with Constitutional Court judge Justice Edwin Cameron on his latest book, as well as the weekly Suttner’s View with analyst Professor Raymond Suttner.

 

For news at it unfolds and the latest in analysis go to our twitter handle
@PolityZA and the Polity website.

 

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.

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