March 14, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines: 
 

The Public Works Department is expected to table a report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in Parliament.

A social sciences professor at the Vrije University Amsterdam says the ANC's love-hate take on business is rooted in exile.

And, the Competition Commission is set to proceed with the private healthcare market inquiry.

National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu announced at the start of proceedings in Parliament on Wednesday, that the report of the Public Works Department's task team appointed to probe spending at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead is to be tabled in Parliament soon.

The task team was appointed in November last year after the costs of Zuma's residential complex caused a public outcry. The matter was also raised in Parliament.

Sisulu told MPs that he had received a letter in this regard from Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, requesting that the report be considered with utmost sensitivity, as the residence has been declared a national key point.

The announcement was welcomed by Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer, who said it followed the DA's repeated calls for the full report to be tabled, scrutinised and debated in Parliament. The DA is also expected to push for Nxesi to table the full, unexpurgated report, with no omissions or deletions.

Author of the recently published book 'External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960-1990' Stephen Ellis says the African National Congress has never really come to terms with the realities of the world that it found when it came home to South Africa, which coincided with the end of the Cold War."

Ellis notes that the love-hate relationship South Africa's ruling ANC has with business and capital was formed during its decades in Cold-War era in exile. He adds that the ANC was enormously influenced by Soviet and east European socialism, and when it came home to South Africa it discovered that that world in which its cadres had been educated no longer existed."

The book goes a long way to explaining much of the ANC rhetoric that investors find jarring, including the frequent references to "comrade" and the citing of Marx and Lenin in speeches delivered by Cabinet Ministers to business gatherings. A world view formed in Moscow, Luanda and Lusaka during the Cold War also provides context for the ANC's rows with business and its acute sensitivity. The new book, thus, sheds light on this period, providing fresh insight into current policy debates and behavior that often rattles markets, information which, investors would continue to be perplexed without.

The Competition Commission confirmed on Wednesday that it would proceed with a market inquiry into the private healthcare sector amid concerns about pricing, costs and the state of competition and innovation in the private healthcare sector.

The confirmation follows President Jacob Zuma’s announcement in the Government Gazette on March 8, that Section 6 of the 2009 Competition Amendment Act would come into effect on April 1, granting the commission the power to conduct formal market inquiries, including the selection, initiation, conduct and outcomes of such inquiries.

Manager of the commission’s advocacy and stakeholder relations division Trudi Makhaya told members of the media that key stakeholders had called for an assessment. On the basis of information obtained during a market inquiry, the commission would initiate a complaint, which would be settled or referred to the Competition Tribunal without further investigation. Alternatively, it would lead to further investigation.

Also making headlines:

Standard & Poor's affirms South Africa's sovereign credit rating at BBB with a negative outlook, citing policy continuity and gradual fiscal consolidation.

The National Assembly's ad hoc Committee on the Protection of State Information Bill will convene for a series of meetings to consider the far-reaching changes to the bill.

The Eastern Cape Development Corporation approves R46.7-million for disbursement through its Job Stimulus Fund.

And, renowned professor of climate strategy Jorgen Randers says the world will be forced to spend more on climate adaptation over the next 40 years.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.