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

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe says low labour productivity is stifling local economic expansion.

The International Finance Corporation boosts lending to Africa as private sector interest rises.

And, the Department of Basic Education says it will approach the Press Council over a story about textbooks.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said low levels of labour productivity were among the most binding constraints of economic growth and of South Africa’s international competitiveness. He said local labour productivity had declined by 41.2% since 1993, referring to a report by JSE-listed human capital group Adcorp.

Motlanthe said labour productivity was tied up in a history of unequal education, a lack of skills and an exclusion from mainstream economic activity. He said these wereissues that could only be dealt with through the development of education as a long-term solution and improved participation from the private sector.

Meanwhile, he noted, that the goals of the National Development Plan, would only be achievable through the support of an engaged private sector, whose role should be seen in the context of a wider dialogue in which labour, civil society and government were engaged.

Motlanthe added that the private sector’s corporate social investment plans offered “enormous benefit” in a country characterised by enduring socioeconomic challenges.

The World Bank's investment arm will increase lending to sub-Saharan Africa by up to a quarter this year as private sector companies flock to the fast-growing region.

International Finance Corporation (or IFC) vice-president Jean-Philippe Prosper said the finance institution would make new investments of between $4.5-billion and $5-billion for the fiscal year ending in June, up from $4-billion the previous year.

He said projects to upgrade infrastructure for the region's one-billion people were attracting yield-hungry investors, while governments were keen to share the costs to free budget resources for poverty relief.

The World Bank sees sub-Saharan Africa's GDP accelerating to more than 5% over three years, driven by investment and commodity prices.

The Department of Basic Education says it will approach the Press Council regarding a weekend report in the City Press that some schools in Limpopo still don’t have textbooks.

The department has refuted claims by the newspaper, saying the reporter ignored proof provided to him by the department regarding the delivery of textbooks.

According to the department, comments attributed to the department were “false, economical with the truth and grossly misrepresented”, with specific reference to claims that the department said there was nothing it could do about the situation and that learners would just have to share textbooks until 2014.

It said it is on record as saying that schools in Limpopo, unlike last year, had indeed received their textbooks for this academic year.  It also asserted that the shortages that were reported earlier this year have been attended to through the department’s district offices.

Also making headlines:

The Competition Tribunal’s long-running hearing into the alleged excessive pricing of propylene and polypropylene by Sasol Chemical Industries gets started.

South Africa and Lesotho strengthen their bilateral relations.

And, construction group Stefanutti Stocks is fined R323-million by the Competition Commission for collusion in the local construction industry.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.