South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – Long-running investor concerns about whether South Africa might nationalise its mines will be laid to rest at a ruling party conference later this month, says the country's Mineral Resources Minister. Over two years of support for nationalisation from radical elements in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) unnerved investors and has been seen as a key reason why the sector has not attracted the foreign capital it should. But an ANC study released in February said nationalisation would be an "unmitigated disaster". Instead, it urged higher taxes and royalties, which the sector could find hard to absorb as it struggles with soaring labour and power costs. "There has been much speculation as to what the ultimate result of the discussions of the ANC will be on the issue of nationalization," says Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, in a speech at a Johannesburg business school. "This will be laid to rest in two weeks time," she adds, referring to the ANC's policy conference starting on June 26. Shabangu has already signaled her iron-clad opposition to nationalising mines in the world's largest platinum producer as has President Jacob Zuma, while supporters of nationalisation have been weakened. The face of the nationalisation drive, former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, has been suspended from the ruling party for bringing it into disrepute, killing any influence the young radical may have had over policy.

PRETORIA – President Jacob Zuma has dismissed General Bheki Cele as national police chief, and made several changes to the national executive. He told reporters at the Union Buildings in Pretoria he had decided "to release General Cele from his duties", adding that Cele's dismissal was prompted by a recommendation by the board of inquiry, led by retired Free State judge Jake Moloi, which Zuma had set up to probe allegations levelled against the tough-talking Cele. "Having thoroughly considered the report of the board, and applied my mind thereto, I have decided to release General Cele from his duties. "The board has found General Cele to be unfit for office and has recommended his removal from office in terms of the provisions of section 8(6)(b)(v) of the South African Police Service Act No. 68 of 1995," explains Zuma. The president announced that Mangwashi Victoria (Riah) Phiyega had been appointed South Africa's first woman police commissioner. Meanwhile, the Cabinet reshuffle he announced saw Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele being moved to the correctional services portfolio. He is replaced by former public enterprises deputy minister Ben Martins. Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu now runs public service and administration, replacing Roy Padayachie who died last month. Sisulu is succeeded by Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. Further, Zuma appointed several deputy ministers. Sindisiwe Chikunga has been appointed to the Department of Transport, while Gratitude Magwanishe is the new Public Enterprises Deputy Minister. Jeremy Cronin is the new public works Deputy Minister, Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister for Economic Development, and Mduduzi Manana the new Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Training. The African National Congress says Phiyega's experience will be an asset in the battle against corruption in the police, while opposition parties criticised her lack of experience.

JOHANNESBURG – Changing the Constitution is not the answer to resolving South Africa’s land problem, says Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti. “There’s a lot of discussion about clause 25(3) of the Constitution . . . whether it facilitates or frustrates the settlement of the land question. It may be that the question might be irrelevant,” he said in Johannesburg. He was addressing an African National Congress (ANC) and Black Business Council meeting on the discussion documents on economic transformation to be debated at the ANC’s policy conference later in the month. Section 25(3) of the Constitution refers to property rights and land expropriation with fair compensation. The debate about whether the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ concept worked was the wrong approach to the problem of land, as it was the incorrect paradigm, he says. “That paradigm is that the market mechanism can actually resolve the national [land] grievance . . . the market mechanism assumes that things are equal, and things are not equal – far from it.” The land problem began 100 years ago when mainly white people acquired land through dispossession. After 18 years of democracy, land was still disproportionally owned.

BOKSBURG – The African National Congress (ANC) must approach its national conference with the serious manner it approached its founding conference in 1912, says President Jacob Zuma. “We must approach the conference with a view to finding solutions for the nation,” he says. He was speaking at the national policy conference of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), in Boksburg. The ANC will hold its national conference in Mangaung at the end of the year and its policy conference will be held in Midrand at the end of June. Zuma says the policy conference must come with better policies for the ANC and the country, and that the policy document on the ‘second transition’ is critical. “The document tackles challenges facing the ANC and the country. It reviews historic landmarks of the ANC, and takes a view of the future of South Africa.” Zuma says that, regardless of political gains made in 1994, there are still problems of unemployment, inequality and poverty. “We must build a country, and we must lead the social and economic transformation.” He says the policy conference must also debate an economic model suitable for the country.

Africa & the world

NEW YORK – The UN Security Council (UNSC) and African Union Peace and Security (AUPSC) Council on have jointly urged military coup leaders in Guinea Bissau to give up power and expressed concern at an al Qaeda threat in Mali, fighting in the Sudans and Somalia piracy. The two councils, charged with maintaining and promoting peace and security, met for talks in New York on Wednesday and agreed an eight-page statement that addressed the top security issues in Africa and strengthening cooperation between the two bodies. Military coups in Guinea Bissau and Mali, simmering border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan, and a bid to stabilize Somalia warranted special mentions in the statement. "The members of the UNSC and the AUPSC condemn the recent instances of unconstitutional change in West Africa and reiterated their commitment to strengthening democracy, peace and stability on the continent," reads the statement. They are worried about the threat posed by transnational organized crime, including illicit weapons and drug trafficking, piracy and armed robbery at sea, particularly in West Africa and the Sahel region, according to the statement. "They further expressed serious concern about the insecurity and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Sahel region, which is further complicated by the presence of armed groups and terrorist groups and their activities.” Mali's March 22 military coup triggered the fall of the north of the country to secular and Islamist rebels, who now control a desert region the size of France at the heart of the Sahara. The rebel takeover has emboldened al Qaeda's North Africa wing, and other forces such as Nigerian militants from Boko Haram. Just weeks later, Guinea-Bissau soldiers took power on April 12, further undermining West Africa's fragile democracy gains. Guinea-Bissau has suffered turmoil from several coups and army uprisings since independence from Portugal in 1974, but the latest one has also set back western efforts to combat drugs cartels using the country as a transshipment point to Europe.

TRIPOLI – Libya’s first national election in a generation was designed to heal the divisions laid bare by the revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, but bureaucratic bottlenecks could derail the vote and push the country deeper into chaos. The July 7 election, for a 200-member national assembly, which will draft a new Constitution, offers Libya the chance to choose legitimate leaders capable of uniting the country for the first time since Gaddafi’s downfall and death last year. But while the bloodshed that accompanied the end of his 42 years in power has receded, blunders in organising the election could touch off the rivalries that lie just beneath the surface. Tribes in the desert continue to fight one another, rivalry simmers between regions and cities, Islamists and secularists eye each other with suspicion, and armed militias pursue their own narrow interests at the point of a gun. Against this backdrop, the Higher National Election Commission announced recently that it was pushing the vote back by 18 days because of logistics and technical issues.

CAIRO – A group of liberal and leftist political parties have decided to forgo their seats in the assembly that will write Egypt’s new Constitution, in protest at what they called the over-representation of Islamists in the body. Islamists hit back, saying the group had gone back on an agreement concluded earlier in June. The row cast a new shadow over a process that has been held up since April by a tussle between the Islamist parties, which dominate Parliament, and other groups. Criticising the blueprint for the division of the seats in the 100-member body, groups including the liberal Free Egyptians Party says they will not take part at all and instead will hand over their seats to women, Christians, workers, peasants and others – sections of society they say have been denied representation.