Tuesday November 30, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has called for the public to take part in hearings into the government's 20-year energy plan. Peters said in a statement on Monday that the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2010) public hearings, currently under way in Cape Town, were giving the public the opportunity to make submissions on a wide rage of energy topics such as renewable and nuclear energy. "As we move closer to the deadline of December 10, 2010, for the inputs, I urge all South Africans, private sector, investors, labour and community structures to utilise this space and contribute positively to strengthen this process," Peters said. The IRP2010 is a 20-year electricity capacity plan aimed at providing an indication of the country's electricity demand, how the demand will be supplied and what it will cost.

The European Union (EU) and African States will urge Sudan to accept the results of next year's referendum on whether the south of the country should secede, according to a draft joint declaration seen by Reuters. The January 9 referendum in the oil-producing south is likely to produce a vote in favour of independence, diplomats and analysts have said, but it could also be a flashpoint for renewed conflict. Concerns over the referendum, part of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war, were reflected in a draft final declaration drawn up for a summit of EU and African Union States in Libya."On Sudan, we emphasise the urgency and importance of ensuring that all elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ... are implemented in a timely, peaceful and credible manner, in particular the referendum on South Sudan whose results should be accepted by all," the draft said. It also said that all sides should respect the provisions of the 2005 peace agreement on Abyei, an oil-producing region which is supposed to hold a simultaneous plebiscite on whether to join the south or the north.

Judgment was reserved in an application by the African National Congress (ANC) for leave to appeal an order that the lyric "shoot the boer" was an incitement to crime after an unusual day in the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday. Proceedings began with Judge Leon Halgryn defending his order declaring that the words, prima facie, were an incitement to crime. "It has a place in the proud history of the ANC ...but for goodness sake, is there still place for it today?" he said to advocate Gilbert Marcus, who was arguing for leave to appeal on behalf of an application by ANC deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise. Earlier this year, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema sang the lyrics at a University of Johannesburg rally, sparking outrage, particularly among Afrikaners and farmers, who believed that the song was directed at them.

Also making headlines:
Efforts to treat everyone in Africa infected with the HIV/Aids virus are virtually futile, and public health experts should instead focus on preventing new cases, a committee of experts reported on Monday.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi warned the European Union (EU) on Monday that Africa would turn to other trade partners if the EU continued to impose terms for cooperation.
The US said on Monday that reports of "irregularities" in Egypt's Parliamentary elections raise questions about the "fairness and transparency" of the process.
And, the Côte d’Ivoire's Presidential election was conducted democratically despite isolated violence and disruptions, the United Nations said on Monday.

That a roundup of news making headlines today.