June 30, 2014
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Jonathan Rodin.
Making headlines:

Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele is suspended as president of the party.

Libya says it needs two weeks to publish its election results.

And, Minister Buti Manamela says the wage subsidy isn’t the only answer to unemployment.

Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele was suspended as president of the party on Sunday, with a disciplinary hearing pending, deputy president Andries Tlouamma said.

Tlouamma said the hearing should be held within 14 days.

Ramphele was suspended because she allegedly made major decisions without consulting the national executive committee (or NEC).

Tlouamma said Ramphele appointed a task team and dissolved the NEC without consulting the party. She allegedly also made a decision of who should go to Parliament without consultation.

However, Agang interim spokesperson Philip Machanick said the suspension had no standing. He said the process to reconstitute the NEC was constitutional and that the discipline committee to deal with a matter like this wasn’t consulted.

Libya’s elections commission said it would need around two weeks to count the votes of last week's parliamentary election and publish final results.

On Wednesday last week, the North African state elected a new assembly in a vote marred by a low turnout and violence, opening a new chapter in Libya's bumpy transition toward democracy since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi to an armed uprising.

Emad Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, said it was expecting to announce the final results in mid-Ramadan. He was referring to the holy Muslim fasting month that started on Sunday.

The commission published partial results from some cities but Sayeh said more time was needed to count votes and produce accurate results.

Deputy Minister of Performance and Monitoring in the Presidency, Buti Manamela, said on Monday that the youth wage subsidy wasn’t the only remedy for youth unemployment.

The Employment Incentive Bill, also known as the youth wage subsidy bill, was enacted last year.

Manamela said it was important to ensure that the youth wage subsidy didn’t undo the progress that had already been made in the workplace.

He insisted that the bill not increase tension in the workplace, where employers replaced older workers with young people.

Manamela said the subsidy should be located within government's policy of eradicating unemployment. He noted that it would be interesting to see what impact the youth wage subsidy would have in this regard.

Also making headlines:

VFS Visa Processing South Africa insists there is nothing irregular about a home affairs official joining the international company that was awarded a tender to receive and manage South Africa's visa applications.

The US has decreased its surveillance flights in the search for more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist militants in Nigeria.

And, Gauteng Premier David Makhura has committed to establishing a panel to review the impact of e-tolls on the province and its citizens.

Also on Polity today:

On the Opinion page, analyst Raymond Suttner’s latest column unpacks the ethical component in our politics, while a recommendation by the International Crisis Group questions whether elections are simply a cosmetic end to Madagascar’s crisis.

Also, be sure to take a look at Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s State of the Province address on the Speeches page.

For news at it unfolds and the latest in analysis, follow us on Twitter (@PolityZA).

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.