Friday November 18, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) has again threatened legal action if a public interest defence clause is left out of the Protection of State Information Bill. Sanef said it was concerned over State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele's refusal to allow such a defence in the bill. "Such a clause would enable a journalist, whistle-blower, or citizen who disclosed classified information, if charged, to enter a defence plea of publication in the public interest," Sanef said in a statement. Last week, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe voiced appreciation for Sanef's view that it would be for the courts in every case to decide whether the public interest defence held.

Swaziland's King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, is personally funding a bailout of his government in a manoeuvre to acquire control of the local arm of mobile phone firm MTN and SwaziBank at knock-down prices, dissidents said. The emergency loan may ease an immediate public funding crisis. But Mswati's broader plan could inflame public anger against the British-educated monarch, who has at least a dozen wives and a personal fortune estimated at $200-million. The impoverished Southern African nation's appointed government, which has been shut out by commercial banks, and the IMF and the World Bank, admitted last week that civil servants would be paid late this month because it had run out of money.

Cash-strapped Sudan plans to expand food exports to help compensate for the loss of oil revenues, a government Minister told State media. The African country is fighting a severe economic crisis with spiralling inflation and a scarcity of dollars which has triggered small protests in the capital Khartoum. Sudan lost most of its oil production, the main source of State revenues, when its former civil war foe South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement.

Also making headlines:

An IFP last-minute tabling of 123 amendments to Protection of State Information Bill turned to farce as the ANC and all other opposition parties swiftly voted down every proposed change.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said that he remains available for any mission decided by his MPLA party, signalling he is ready to lead the party in a general election scheduled for the third quarter of next year.

And, troops and police have been deployed in President Goodluck Jonathan's home state in the oil-rich Niger Delta to boost security amid an escalating row over the incumbent governor's exclusion from a re-election run.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.