November 8, 2012.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.

Making headlines:

Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela is suspended.

A Constitutional amendment is expected soon.

And, the Minister of Human Settlements says small and medium-sized enterprises are the key to South Africa’s growth.

Police said on Thursday that Hawks' spokesperson McIntosh Polela has been suspended. This comes three weeks after making a controversial reference to prison rape on Twitter.

Brigadier Phuti Setati confirmed that the Hawks spokesperson has been suspended. However, she said that the details of the suspension wouldn’t be discussed, as this is a purely internal matter.

Setati also wouldn’t comment on a report in an Afrikaans language daily newspaper that maintained that Polela's suspension was the direct result of his tweet in October about kwaito star Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye, after he was convicted of murder.

Political parties on Wednesday neared accord on the Constitutional 17th Amendment Bill and said it should be passed this month still.

In the latest draft of the bill, the question was resolved in a compromise whereby the Constitutional Court would become the highest court on constitutional matters and any other matter the court decided to hear in the interests of justice.

However, the Democratic Alliance continued to press for the bill to anoint the Constitutional Court as the highest court on all matters, while the African National Congress argued more conservatively to widen its jurisdiction.

The DA and ANC said they believed they would clinch a compromise on the definition of "other matters" next week, and the bill would then be sent to the National Assembly, where supports of two-thirds of the house is required for it to be adopted.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said that finding ways of developing South Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprise (or SME) sector is an important factor in its “inward look” in search of sustainable solutions for the country’s economy.

He said at the 2012 Enterprise Development Conference that developing the country’s small business sector would contribute largely to its economic recovery, as SMEs were “indisputably recognised as engines of growth”.

Sexwale also noted that the National Development Plan stated that most of the additional 11-million jobs it aimed to create by 2030 were in this sector. This would be in the domestic-orientated activities and services sector, with about 90% of jobs to be created in small and expanding firms.

Sexwale said that SMEs had to set their sights on becoming globally competitive. He alluded to companies such as Apple and Microsoft, which also came from humble beginnings.

Also making headlines:

The Industrial Development Corporation concludes a R5-billion private placement with the Public Investment Corporation for a 'green bond'.

And, Trade and Industry deputy director-general Sipho Zikode says concentrated ownership is hampering  small and medium-sized enterprise development.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.