South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – In the run-up to the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) June policy conference, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) plans to lobby aggressively for a change to the current public service framework allowing government officials to sustain their private business interests – a situation that the union federation believes is facilitating and sustaining large-scale corruption. Speaking at the launch of Corruption Watch, a new, independent anti-corruption watchdog, general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says Cosatu is of the firm view that individuals should be forced to “choose whether they want to pursue their business interests, or serve the public”. “They cannot do both at the same time,” he says. At its most recent congress, Cosatu agreed to lobby for a separation between public servants and their business interests, as the overlap was blamed for creating fertile ground for conflicts of interest and corruption. Addressing a packed launch function, held at the historic Women’s Gaol at Constitution Hill, in Johannesburg, and attended by prominent South Africans, including ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, Vavi argues that “most of the problems” being experienced, at all levels of government, were as a direct result of the “intersection” between government officials and their business interests. Cosatu is also arguing for the creation of new rules that minimise the prospect for conflicts of interest, by disallowing relatives of a government official from participating in deals that could fall under that official’s sphere of influence.

DAVOS – The State is not the primary job creator in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma says. "The State prepares the environment for economic growth and provides support to the private sector by providing enablers and removing obstacles," Zuma says in a speech prepared for delivery at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He says job creation has become a central criterion for all the government's economic programmes and projects. All government entities, including State-owned enterprises, are taking the impact of their work on employment and equity into account. South Africa's new growth path, unveiled in 2010, aims to make the economy more efficient and productive. This will be done through investment in infrastructure, education and skills development. The government is also trying to create more opportunities for people on a "mass scale" in infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism. "To date, we have put in place a number of incentives and enablers to boost employment-creating economic activities," says Zuma.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa aims to create five-million jobs by 2020 but has only created 624 000 in the past decade, according to a survey. “The data, which is sourced from Statistics SA, shows that total employment has increased by an average of only 0.5% a year since 2001,” the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) says in a statement. SAIRR researcher Lucy Holborn says the rate of job creation will need to rise nearly ten times to meet government’s job creation targets. Total employment increased by 624 000 in the past ten years, according to the latest ‘South Africa Survey’ report. “Since 1994, the most jobs in any single year were created between 1997 and 1998, when total employment increased by 1.8-million,” Holborn adds. However, in 2010, South Africa lost 833 000 jobs compared with 2009 – the biggest job loss under democracy. Holborn says the data shows how difficult it will be to meet the 2020 target, given the trend over the past decade. “However, in just two years between 1997 and 1999, 3.7-million jobs were created,” she says. “External economic factors, labour regulation and policies affecting investor sentiment will all play a role in determining how much employment will increase over the next decade.

JOHANNESBURG – An industry lobby group comprising large mining groups and mineral processing companies is cautioning against the proposed introduction of a carbon tax in South Africa until South Africa has fully charted its abatement potential and the costs implications of implementing its renewable-energy heavy power generation plans. The Industry Task Team on Climate Change (ITTCC), which includes such corporate heavyweights as Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP Billiton, Exxaro, PPC, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, would also like government to make transparent the implicit price that has already been attributed to carbon emissions through the adoption of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2010) on electricity, which was promulgated early last year. The IRP2010 indicates that South Africa will introduce 17 800 MW of new renewables capacity between 2010 and 2030, representing 42% of all the capacity expected to be added over the 20-year period. The National Treasury released its first carbon tax discussion document in December 2010 and is due to release a revised discussion paper in the coming months. However, National Treasury spokesperson Bulelwa Boqwana says the document will not be released before the February 22 Budget but there will be communication on the issue thereafter. In the initial paper, the National Treasury comes out in favour of a direct tax on carbon emissions, which it says will “impose the lowest distortion” on the economy. A tax of R75/t of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), increasing to around R200/t of CO2e over time, “would be both feasible and appropriate to achieve the desired behavioural changes and emissions reduction targets”.

Africa & the world

TRIPOLI – The Libyan civil war might have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al-Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a UN report. The report on the impact of the Libyan civil war on countries of the Sahel region that straddle the Sahara – including Nigeria, Niger and Chad – also says some national authorities believe the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 this year in Nigeria, has increasing links to al-Qaeda's North African wing. The UN Security Council will discuss the report, which was prepared by a UN assessment team that met with officials from countries in the region, at a meeting. "The governments of the countries visited indicated that, in spite of efforts to control their borders, large quantities of weapons and ammunition from Libyan stockpiles were smuggled into the Sahel region," the report said. Such weapons include "rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns with anti-aircraft visors, automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades, explosives (Semtex), and light anti-aircraft artillery (light calibre bi-tubes) mounted on vehicles," it says. More advanced weapons, such as surface-to-air-missiles and man-portable air defense systems, known as MANPADS, may also have reached groups in the region, the report adds. UN special envoy to Libya Ian Martin, however, has told the Security Council that Libya's missing stocks of MANPADS have largely remained inside the country. The report says that some countries believe weapons have been smuggled into the Sahel by former fighters in Libya – Libyan army regulars and mercenaries who fought on behalf of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted and killed by rebels.

DAVOS – Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates pledges a further $750-million to the troubled global Aids fund and urges governments to continue their support to save lives. "These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world's poorest," he says in Davos at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria announced two days ago that its executive director, Michel Kazatchkine, is stepping down early following criticism over misuse of funds and cuts in funding. The public–private organisation, which has the backing of celebrities like rock star Bono, accounts for around a quarter of international financing to fight HIV and Aids, as well as the majority of funds to fight TB and malaria. But it has been forced to cut back and said last year it would make no new grants or funding until 2014. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $750-million through a promissory note – a fresh injection in addition to the $650-million that the Gates charity has contributed since the fund was launched 10 years ago.

TRIPOLI – Fighters loyal to Libya’s overthrown leader, Muammar Gaddafi, take control of a town south-east of the capital, flying their green flags in defiance of the country’s fragile new government. The fight-back by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya’s civil war, though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a government, which has been reeling from one crisis to another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks on the run. Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km from Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of the progovernment militia in the town and then forcing them to fall back. “They control the town now. They are roaming the town,” said a fighter with the 28th May militia, loyal to Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, which came under attack. The fighter says that the loyalists are flying “brand new green flags” from the centre of town. The flags are symbols of Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. A resident says four people were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, during which the sides used heavy weapons. Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the new leadership. A Libyan air force official says war planes are being mobilised to fly to Bani Walid. A spokesperson for the military council in Zawiyah, near Tripoli, said a 1 500-strong force, drawn from militias across western Libya, was on stand-by.