November 16, 2012.

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

Making headlines:

Members of Parliament finalise the Constitution’s 17th Amendment Bill.

Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product growth slows as elections linger.

And, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba says infrastructure is needed to boost entrepreneurs.

Lawmakers finalised the Constitution’s 17th Amendment Bill on Thursday after agreeing to extend the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court to hear any matter that it deems to raise an arguable point of law in the public interest.

Parliament's portfolio committee on justice, in the report it adopted to table to the National Assembly, said that the increased jurisdiction confirms that the Constitutional Court is the highest court in the land.

The bill simultaneously restricts the power of the Supreme Court of Appeal by retracting its jurisdiction to review decisions of the Labour Appeals Court and the Competition Appeal Court. This is in line with existing labour legislation.

The bill is intended to settle the apex court debate that ensued following the creation of the Constitutional Court. It’s expected to be passed next week.

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti said that the country expects growth of 5% in 2013, following a sharp slow down this year. However, a violent election campaign could dampen prospects for a sustained recovery of the fragile economy.

Biti said in a budget presentation to parliament that Zimbabwe's growth prospects in the coming year were based on a normal rainy season to boost agriculture and firming commodity prices for its minerals.

He said the economy was now expected to grow 4.4% this year, less than half the 9.3% expansion recorded last year, due to a decline in agricultural output. Inflation, which quickened to 3.38% in October, is expected to remain below 5% in 2012.

Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said that South Africa needed to diversify its economy and invest in infrastructure to encourage entrepreneurship.

He said that the structure of the South African economy has been constraining and that there has been an asymmetry of information. He added that the department of public enterprises recognised that the demand created by State-owned companies' investment and spend played a pivotal role in promoting or inhibiting entrepreneurship.

Gigaba said that large-scale investments in infrastructure had the potential to create jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship. In this regard, Transnet and Eskom would include targets for developing their suppliers in their infrastructure build programmes and also pay particular attention to women- and youth-owned enterprises.

Also making headlines:

The Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance says the public has rejected e-tolls.

Mining strikes fallouts are likely to haunt South African manufacturers into 2013.

And, Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma eyes a new term amid a mining boom in the country.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.