November 30, 2012.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

Former Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon says South Africa needs competitive politics.

The World Bank says global food prices are stable but still high.

And, the opposition cries foul as Egypt’s constitution is finalised.

Former Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon says that South Africa's democratic and constitutional health relies on a more competitive political sphere. He said that the sooner this happens, the sooner South Africa’s fine constitutional prospectus will start to live and breathe again and be rescued from the torpor of one-party domination.

The former South African ambassador to Argentina said when he led the DA between 1999 and 2007, the opposition was going up against staunch ANC history, as a party that held all the moral and political high ground.

Leon said that today the opposite is true, and that the opposition now has the wind behind its back and the ANC juggernaut is showing signs of decay and sclerosis. He said that these are symptoms of a house divided and whose inevitable right to rule is now under both question and strain.

The World Bank said on Thursday that global food prices remained stable, although they are close to 2008 record levels. It warned that a "new norm" of costlier food was setting in and threatening to increase hunger and malnutrition in the world's poorer regions.

In an update of its quarterly "Food Price Watch" report, the World Bank said the absence of "panic policies," such as food export restrictions, have helped stabilise commodity prices since price spikes in July.

The World Bank food price index shows that while prices have stabilised they are 7% higher than a year ago. In particular, grains are up 12% from a year ago and close to the all-time high set during a global food price crisis in 2008, when food riots broke out in Asia and Africa.

World Bank vice president for poverty reduction and economic management Otaviano Canuto urged countries to boost investment in agriculture to increase food production, which would help reduce prices.

An Islamist-led assembly was expected to finalise a new Egyptian constitution on Friday. The assembly was aimed at transforming Egypt and paving the way for an end to a crisis that erupted when President Mohamed Mursi gave himself sweeping new powers last week.

Mursi said that his decree halting court challenges to his decisions, which provoked protests and violence from Egyptians fearing a new dictator was emerging less than two years after they ousted Hosni Mubarak, was "for an exceptional stage".

Mursi's critics argue it’s an attempt to rush through a draft they say has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood, which backed Mursi for president in June elections, and its allies.

Seeking to calm protesters, Mursi said he welcomed opposition but it shouldn’t divide Egyptians. He said that there was no place for violence in the country.

Also making headlines:

The National Council of Provinces adopts the Protection of State Information Bill draft.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz says he is returning to France for treatment.

And, analysts say calculated moves by ANC members disrupt conferences.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.