September 5, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Anine Vermeulen.
Making headlines:

China says it will help Zimbabwe build special economic zones.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene assures South Africans that Government has no intention of nationalising pension schemes.

And, the Democratic Alliance says it aims to reopen the corruption case against Jacob Zuma with the recently acquired 'spy tapes'.

China will help Zimbabwe build special economic zones and industrial parks to jump-start exports and a struggling economy. China’s ambassador to Harare announced this on Thursday as a Chinese firm started expanding the country's largest hydro-power plant.

The pledge by Beijing's top envoy to Zimbabwe, Lin Lin, comes days after 90-year-old President Robert Mugabe returned from a trip to China during which he sought financial help and investment from the world's number two economy.

Lin told Mugabe during a ceremony to mark the start of work to expand Kariba hydropower station that Beijing was ready to deepen bilateral relations.

Investors in the zones will benefit from special tax breaks. Officials also noted they would not have to comply with black economic empowerment laws that force foreign companies to sell majority shares to black Zimbabweans.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has called on South Africans to refrain from cashing in their provident fund savings when they resign or change jobs. He added that rumours that workers’ retirement savings are under threat were “false”.

The Minister was responding to rumours that have been doing the rounds in the public service circles that government was planning to nationalise employee pension funds.

Briefing the National Assembly on Thursday, the Minister said nationalisation rumours were false, and that government’s plan to reform retirement savings was designed to ensure that members get to withdraw their retirement savings without fund managers, particularly trustees, subjecting them to exorbitant charges.

Opposition parties welcomed the Minister’s statement, with most of them saying they supported strong retirement funds and pension funds, adding that the funds should be protected.

South Africa's main opposition party said on Thursday it would seek a reopening of a corruption inquiry against President Jacob Zuma after the release of secret evidence cited in a 2009 decision to drop the case.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille was handed recordings, known as the Zuma "spy tapes", at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, ending a five-year legal battle against the National Prosecution Authority.

South African prosecutors dropped graft charges against Zuma five years ago, citing "abuses" uncovered in taped conversations involving then-NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka that discussed timing the case to cause political damage to Zuma.

The move cleared a major legal hurdle to Zuma being elected as South Africa's president a few weeks later.

On Thursday, Zille said she was confident the recordings and transcripts from NPA meetings would not exonerate Zuma and that the DA would apply for a legal review application to reverse the decision to withdraw the charges against him.

Also making headlines:

Political parties have agreed that the Nkandla parliamentary committee's terms of reference will remain unchanged.

Mozambique’s opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama has returned to the capital city to sign a peace pact.

And, mining companies are beefing up protection against the spreading Ebola virus in West Africa while maintaining investment in new projects in a region with vast untapped mineral wealth.

Also on Polity:

Don’t miss South African editor and author Ray Hartley speaking about his book Ragged Glory.

Don’t forget to follow Polity on Twitter [@PolityZA]

That’s a roundup of news making headlines.