Friday, September 10, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is eyeing changes to the property clause in the Constitution after its ardent push for the nationalisation of mines, the organisation's president Julius Malema said on Thursday.
Briefing reporters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, Malema said that the "property clause should be amended and that proper legislation should be passed by Parliament to regulate how the State should expropriate private property in the interests of the people."
The government has admitted that the willing buyer, willing seller policy for land expropriation was not working. Malema said that an "unambiguous policy position" was needed for the State to take whatever land necessary for the people and then decide on the compensation. He added that the ANCYL would push for a change in the ANC's policy position on land after the ANC national general council later this month.

A set of United Nations (UN) goals aimed at drastically reducing poverty and hunger worldwide by 2015, are achievable despite setbacks caused by the global financial and economic crises, according to a draft declaration on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), expected to be formally adopted at a summit meeting at the UN later this month.
The draft says that the MDGs can be achieved, even in the poorest countries, with renewed commitment, effective implementation and intensified collective action by all UN member States and relevant stakeholders. The economic and financial crisis represented a serious obstacle for the goals, which were agreed in 2000 and aim to halve poverty, slash hunger, improve gender equality and advance access to healthcare and education.
The draft expresses "deep concern at the multiple and interrelated crises, including the financial and economic crisis, volatile energy and food prices and ongoing concerns over food security, as well as the increasing challenges posed by climate change and the loss of biodiversity."

South Africa slipped to 54th position from 45th in the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) latest Global Competitiveness Index, but remained the highest ranked country in sub-Saharan Africa, while Switzerland continued to top the ranking, followed by Sweden and Singapore. The WEF says that South Africa's performance has remained "stable" and that the decline reflected improvements in other countries.
South Africa performed well on intellectual property protection (27th), property rights (29th), the accountability of private institutions (third) and goods market efficiency (40th), with its financial market development ranked a creditable ninth. The authors warned that, for South Africa to further enhance its competitiveness, it would need to address its poor labour market efficiency (97th), inflexible hiring and firing practices (135th), a lack of flexibility in wage determination by companies (131st), and poor labour-employer relations (132nd). Further, South Africa's infrastructure, which ranked 63rd, required upgrading, while the "poor security situation" remains an obstacle to doing business in South Africa.

Also making headlines:

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says that there are no plans yet to make up for schooling time lost during the long public sector strike.
Sudan's dominant National Congress Party says that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was wrong when she said that Sudan was facing a "ticking timebomb" in the countdown to the "inevitable" secession of the south.
President Jacob Zuma's special communications adviser Zizi Kodwa says that the real threat to South African media freedom is not the mooted media appeals tribunal, but the media's denial of serious inefficiencies.
And, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that the slowdown in the pace of the global economic recovery is "more pronounced" than previously anticipated.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.