March 12, 2013.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.

Making headlines:  

National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel says corruption is threatening the National Development Plan.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon wants Ireland's Mary Robinson for a key Africa special envoy post.

And, the Egyptian parliament is set to draft a new law to an avoid election delay.

National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel has identified corruption as the biggest threat to the National Development Plan (or NDP).

Manuel, said that, the NDP had been accepted by everyone from President Jacob Zuma to the broad public as an exciting roadmap to South Africa's future. However, he noted that its implementation started in the engine room,  or "the machinery of the state", which was being jammed by "fundamentals".

He said that some of the problems included public servants who did business with the state, corruption in supply chain management and unionised teachers not being held accountable for their under-performance.

Manuel said the country couldn’t build a national plan without support from all South Africans, which is why South Africa needed a national conversation.”

UN sources said on Monday that the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson is the top candidate for the post of UN special envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region, where she would help implement a peace deal to end the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition to having been Ireland's president from 1990-1997, Robinson, was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002.

The sources said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hoped to make an announcement soon, although they said there was a slight possibility that Robinson could decide for some reason not to take the post.

The UN Security Council is considering creating a special intervention force, which one senior council diplomat has said would be able to "search and destroy" the M23 rebels and other armed groups in the country.

An Egyptian parliamentary panel has decided on Monday to draw up a new election law which aims to avoid delays after a court cancelled President Mohamed Mursi's decree calling for parliamentary elections in April.

The prospect of an election delay raised by the court ruling is something Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties wish to avoid as they seek to draw a line under the transition from Hosni Mubarak's rule.

The new law has to be put to the Supreme Constitutional Court- a process that might cause further delay.

Some of Mursi's secular opponents have welcomed the idea of a delay. However, the main non-Islamist parties had said they would boycott the election, saying there were no guarantees it would be free and fair.

Also making headlines:

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says South Africa is more  focused on lifting economic growth and reducing inequality than on cutting spending to appease investors.

Audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG says there is more investment interest in Africa than anywhere else on the global market.

And, Sasol warns South Africa of possible unintended carbon-tax consequences.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.