November 26, 2012.

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

Making headlines:

Democratic Alliance shadow Finance Minister Tim Harris says the ANC believes in State capitalism.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to meet judges over power grab.

And, Congress of South African Trade Unions general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says the  ‘ANC’ must not stand for ‘Absolutely No Consequences.’

The Democratic Alliances' shadow Finance Minister Tim Harris said on Sunday that the dominant faction of the ruling  African National Congress believes in State capitalism.

He said on the second day of the party's federal congress in Boksburg, that the state acts as the dominant player, and uses markets for its own political gain. He gave the examples of Malusi Gigaba and Ebrahim Patel's New Growth Path as well the motivation behind the idea of a state mining company, a state bank and a state housing company.

Harris said the DA's vision was for an open society and that the DA would give more money and more power to the competition authorities than the current government does. The opposition wanted to break up the most monopolistic companies in the country.

He also said that the Congress of South African Trade Unions masqueraded as a social movement whose real goal was to maximise the salaries of the union’s members. He also said he was sick of South Africa appearing on the front page of international newspapers for all the wrong reasons.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will meet senior judges on Monday to try to ease a crisis over his seizure of new powers. This has set off violent protests reminiscent of last year's revolution that brought him into power.

More than 500 people have been injured in clashes between police and protesters who are worried that Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era after winning Egypt's first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

Egypt's highest judicial authority hinted at compromise to avert a further escalation. However, Mursi's opponents want nothing less than the complete cancellation of a decree they see as a danger to democracy.

The Supreme Judicial Council said that Mursi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters", suggesting it did not reject the declaration outright, and called on judges and prosecutors, some of whom began a strike on Sunday, to return to work.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (or Cosatu) general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi argues that the governing African National Congress should avoid morphing into a party of ‘Absolutely No Consequences’ and regain its political legitimacy by heeding lessons from Brazil and particularly its former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Vavi, speaking at the Daily Maverick’s Gathering 2.0, argued that there were remarkable similarities between the two countries. Particularly as both were former colonies, rich in natural resources and have massive problems of poverty and inequality. He added that South Africa suffers from exactly the same problem as Brazil, which is what economists call under-consumption or the low level of effective demand for goods and services. This means that too many people have no money to spend.

He said that South African businesses, and their economic commentators, in their short-sighted obsession with short-term profits, cannot see that their preferred option of low wages, inadequate collective bargaining and weak trade unions will make the South African economic crisis even worse.

Vavi pointed out that by making the increase of the incomes of the poor the government's top priority, Da Silva assisted the giant wheel of the economy to start turning.

Also making headlines:

The Democratic Republic of Congo say it won’t negotiate with M23 rebels unless they pull out of the city of Goma.

Sierra Leone's defeated main opposition party says elections were flawed.

And, UN talks are seen to be falling short despite climate change fears.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.