October 16, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m David D’Oliveira.

Making headlines:           

The row between the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and MPs on her mandate intensifies.

France in demand again as the Central Africa crisis deepens.

And, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa says the employer incentive will not work.

The row between Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and MPs about the extent of her investigative powers intensified on Tuesday against the backdrop of her adverse findings against Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Pansy Tlakula.

African National Congress MP Mathole Motshekga asked Madonsela to explain her understanding of "state affairs", and said it was regrettable that after nearly 20 years of its establishment there was still confusion about the role of the office of the Public Protector.

Madonsela, who marked four years in her post on Tuesday with three to go, responded that her mandate extended to investigating the state "in its entirety" and that she drew her definition from the Public Finance Management Act.

Parliament has asked for legal advice on how to handle the Protector's report on the matter, with some MPs noting that it was unprecedented partly because it involved two chapter nine institutions. Madonsela, however, told the committee there was nothing strange about chapter nine institutions overseeing each other.
 

France, whose troops this year halted an Islamist assault towards Mali's capital, is now in demand from another of its former African colonies.

Plunged into chaos since mostly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in the mostly Christian country in March, the nation is facing sectarian violence, malnutrition and a near total collapse of state rule.

The landlocked nation is rich with minerals ranging from uranium to diamonds. But decades of instability and official corruption have meant those potential riches have been little exploited and have far less been of help to the population.

Fearing their plight has been eclipsed internationally by conflicts in Syria and Mali, some see France as their best hope.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (or Numsa) says offering tax incentives to employers won’t help solve the ticking time bomb of youth unemployment.

Numsa’s first deputy president Andrew Chirwa told members of Parliament's finance standing committee said that South Africa didn’t need incentives or handouts to create employment; but rather that it needed to industrialise and localise.

The committee was holding public hearings on the draft Employment Tax Incentive Bill, which offers an employment tax incentive to private sector companies, encouraging them to take on more young people. The Bill applies to youths aged between 19 and 29 who earn less than R6 000 a month.

Numsa maintained this was a wrong basis from which to proceed. There were already many incentives and related schemes and subsidies in South Africa. Expanding industrialisation was the key to addressing unemployment.  Chirwa said companies were patriotic to profit, not people.
 

Also making headlines:

Eskom says the winning bid to replace six steam generators at South Africa's Koeberg nuclear plant is expected by early 2014.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says South Africa will proactively contest the importation and sale of illegal goods in South Africa.

And, Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto says he will cooperate with the International Criminal Court despite African pressure.
 

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.