Monday March 28, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma on Friday named Lesetja Kganyago as the new deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, with effect from May 16. Kganyago has been with the National Treasury since 1996, serving as director-general since 2004. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been tasked to immediately start the process of appointing a new director-general for the National Treasury to ensure that there is a smooth transition, Zuma told journalists at a briefing in Pretoria. "Kganyago leaves behind a strong team at the National Treasury, one of the most stable in government," Gordan stated.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has vowed his party would not back down from its controversial drive to force foreign-owned companies to sell majority shareholdings to local blacks. Addressing supporters at the burial of a senior government official, Mugabe said his Zanu-PF party regarded black economic empowerment as a key part of the national liberation struggle, dismissing fears it would hurt economic recovery.
Mugabe has said previously that Zanu-PF will nationalise firms from countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, arguing they cannot operate freely while Western powers punish his party over charges of rights abuses.

Libya's ramshackle rebel army has pushed west to retake a series of towns from the forces of Muammar Gaddafi who are being pounded by Western air strikes. Emboldened by the air strikes, the rebels have rapidly reversed military losses in their five-week insurgency and regained control of all the main oil terminals in eastern Libya, as far as the town of Bin Jawad.
Rebels said on Sunday they now had their sights on the coastal town of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown and an important military base about 150 km further along the coast. Rebels said they had captured Sirte on Monday, but there was no independent confirmation of the report.

Also making headlines:

Three opposition groups in Madagascar led by former presidents have rejected a new unity government named as part of a road map to end the Indian Ocean island's two-year political impasse.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan promised thousands of his supporters that he would create jobs, improve infrastructure and give women a larger role in government if he wins elections in two weeks.
And, Uganda and Burundi said they have committed 3 000 extra troops to the African Union mission in Somalia, bolstering the fight against insurgents.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.