Tuesday, November 25, 2008
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shona Kohler.
Making headlines:

Zimbabwe's political rivals are to meet in South Africa today for talks to end a political deadlock. This comes amid mounting pressure from regional leaders for a deal to prevent the country's humanitarian crisis from worsening.

Negotiators from President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and a breakaway MDC faction will meet former South African President Thabo Mbeki to discuss a draft constitutional amendment paving the way for a new government. Mbeki has been reviewing the draft law, which many hope will assist in ending a crippling economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
The MDC had threatened to boycott the meeting, but announced yesterday that it would attend the talks with the aim of addressing all the issues stalling an agreement.

In South African news, transport parastatal Transnet has issued a statement that its outgoing chief executive and new Absa boss, Maria Ramos, attended the African National Congress National Executive Committee meeting on the weekend in order to brief President Kgalema Motlanthe about her decision to step down from Transnet.
There has been much speculation about Ramos's presence at this meeting. The ANC said that Ramos and Absa's chairperson Gill Marcus attended the NEC meeting merely to keep relations "warm" between the party and the private institution.
Leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, however, has questioned the need for "warm relations" between the parties. She said that the ANC has already eroded the boundary between party and State and now seems determined to blur the distinction between party, State and business.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said in explanation, however, that disciplined ANC members do inform the party when they are moving. He added that what the party does with the information is "not a big deal".

In other news, home financing giant ‘ooba', formerly known as MortgageSA, said in a statement that interest rates need to be cut by 1% to help already overburdened consumers and kick start the stricken property market.
Stef Fourie, managing executive of property finance at ooba, said that the country should follow the international lead and cut rates at the next monetary policy meeting, to be held in December. He said high interest rates are threatening to undermine South Africa's economic progress because of the onerous debt servicing burden.
Fourie added that the global rate cycle has turned, and to keep rates high in the face of an international economic meltdown is not the right path for South Africa to follow. Cutting interest rates will go a long way to restoring consumer confidence and the faltering housing market.

Also making headlines:
A Harvard report urges rich nations to lead the way in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter say that Zimbabwe may soon collapse.
And, the ANC prepares for elections.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit polity.org.za.