Thursday November 17, 2011.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah.

Making headlines:

State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele has dispelled any hope that the State would heed pressure to include a "reckless" public interest defence in the Protection of State Information Bill.

Cwele told the often heated National Assembly debate on the Bill that the ANC had agreed to many changes to the draft law but wouldn't budge on calls to allow publication of secret information because it was in the public interest, or had already found its way into the public domain.

He said that, for the completeness of record and for the truth's own sake, there were two demands that had been made which were impossible to accommodate in this Bill. Those demands were 'public interest defence' and 'public domain defence'.

The vote on the Bill was delayed because the Inkatha Freedom Party tabled 123 amendments, forcing Parliament to reconstitute an ad hoc drafting committee until next Tuesday to consider them.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says a Budget crunch in Swaziland has reached a "critical stage" with the government struggling to maintain spending on HIV/Aids, education and the elderly.

In a damning assessment of the landlocked Southern African nation, the IMF said proposed spending cuts had been undermined by "overruns" in defence outlays, leading to a 2011/12 budget deficit projection of 10% of GDP.

Swaziland's original target had been 7.5%. This was still a massive gap, although it would have been a big improvement on the 14% seen a year ago when the fiscal crisis first hit with the drying up of receipts from a regional customs union.

So far, King Mswati III's appointed administration, which oversees what is officially Africa's most bloated bureaucracy, has kept its head above water by running through central bank reserves and delaying payment of bills, including State wages.

The National Development Plan, or NDP, says that the running of certain types of private business by civil servants should be made illegal.

If Minister in The Presidency Trevor Manuel has his way, they won’t be allowed to do any business at all, other than serving the public.

He was briefing members of Parliament's Public Service Portfolio Committee on the newly released NDP. Manuel noted that the draft plan called for a prohibition on some private business by public servants.

The NDP document, in a chapter titled 'Promoting Accountability and Fighting Corruption', recommends the establishment of an 'accountability framework' for public servants.

Also making headlines:

African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema said on Wednesday that the ANC was out to discredit youth league leaders during their recent disciplinary hearing.

China is set to loan Ethiopia $100-million and donate a fleet of 90 vehicles to help the African State complete its water supply projects.

And, Minister for Environment and Water Edna Molewa says a Durban climate deal is unlikely.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.