South Africa

MIDRAND – The ANC appears to have overcome reported internal divisions over a key policy paper on a "second transition" for correcting economic imbalances. But the transition now has a new name, says African National Congress policy head Jeff Radebe. "All commissions have accepted the content and the thrust of the document as you know it," he told reporters at the party's national policy conference in Midrand. However, instead of calling the next stage of democracy the "second transition", it will now be called the "second phase of the transition", he says. Eleven commissions had been debating the discussion document on the "second transition" since June 26. According to the paper, the ANC must enter a second era of democracy, as the past 18 years were the first transition, during which the focus was political emancipation. The second phase had to focus on social and economic transformation over the next 30 to 50 years. Following the discussions, it appeared that commissions had decided there would not be a second transition, but a continuation of the first transition.

LIMPOPO – Schools in Limpopo had received textbooks by the High Court’s deadline of June 27 but not the required amounts or specified books, the South African Principals' Association says. "Some schools received all the textbooks they required and some just received books for the sake of receiving," said the association's deputy president Ngoako Rapaledi. "Delivery is delivery yes – but delivery of what? I was given 100 Sepedi books to be shared by over 600 learners." The basic education department said about 99% of textbooks have been delivered and claims that some schools still waiting for books was a "source of concern". The Democratic Alliance, which was closely monitoring the delivery, said pupils in Limpopo were deprived of their constitutional right to learn, read and acquire knowledge. "The DA's activists on the ground have identified more than 129 schools in Limpopo that either did not receive any books, received the wrong books or didn't receive enough books by [the deadline]," spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said in a statement. "This is only from the limited sample of schools we were able to visit. The chaos is likely to affect hundreds of others as well. But the real deadline was seven months ago, not yesterday (June 27)." Rapaledi said teachers in the area were now encouraged to think of new ways to help pupils. "We need to find a way to help the learners. Schools might have to borrow books to and from each other to help learners," he said.

MIDRAND – South Africa’s economy is still mostly under the control of whites, who held power under apartheid, and government needs to take more drastic steps to make sure the black majority benefit from its wealth, said President Jacob Zuma at the start of a policy meeting of his ruling African National Congress (ANC). He said the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality posed long-term risks for Africa’s richest country 18 years after the end of apartheid. “The structure of the apartheid-era economy has remained largely intact,” Zuma told several thousand ANC delegates. “The ownership of the economy is still primarily in the hands of white males, as it has always been.” The ANC has drafted a raft of policy documents that call on mining firms to pay more to the State to help finance welfare spending. The proposals also advocate relying on State-owned enterprises as engines of job creation and growth. Zuma also said the debate over how the country’s mining wealth should be shared should go beyond simply the question of “to nationalise or not to nationalise”. The party produced a research paper earlier this year saying nationalising mines could bankrupt the State, but it suggested increasing taxes on windfall mining profits.

JOHANNESBURG – Unions representing about 1.3-million South African State workers and government have narrowed differences on a wage deal, nearing a settlement on pay rises that could add more than $1-billion to Budget spending. A union official says government has offered a three-year deal with a 6.7% increase for this year, a second-year increase of inflation plus 0.7% and a third-year increase of inflation plus 0.5%. “Negotiations seem to be back on track,” says Chris Klopper, spokesperson for the Independent Labour Caucus, one of the more than a dozen unions in contract talks with government. Public Service Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said earlier that the 6.5% offer would swell spending and cost government about R10-billion more than had already been set side. Wages for government employees are equivalent to more than 40% of tax revenue.

Africa & the world

MALI – Al Qaeda-linked Islamists declared at the end of June that they had secured full control of Mali's desert north, a day after pushing their former Tuareg separatist allies out of the town of Gao in a gun battle that killed at least 20 people. The appropriation by Islamists of a separatist uprising by Tuareg MNLA rebels regarded in the West as having some legitimate political grievances will heighten fears Mali will become a haven for jihadists. The local Ansar Dine group and allies such as the al Qaeda splinter group MUJWA had already gained the upper hand in the northern town of Kidal and the ancient trading post of Timbuktu after government forces were routed in an April rebel advance. "Our men control all three of the towns in northern Mali," Oumar Ould Hamaha, a Timbuktu-based Ansar Dine official said of the mostly desert territory which is larger than France. "They (the MNLA) all ran away, we decided not to pursue them. ... All I can tell you is that they are not even in the outskirts the city," Hamaha said of the battle in Gao. The separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad – the northern territory it claims as an independent state – said its forces beat a tactical retreat in Gao on Wednesday and rejected suggestions they had lost the battle. "Right now some MNLA units, stationed at the borders of Azawad, are coming back to completely rid the city of Gao of Islamist groups that are terrorising the population," MNLA spokesperson Mossa Ag Attaher said in a written statement. The battle was a culmination of weeks of tension between the MNLA and local Islamists who had helped it take control of the northern Mali after government forces were left without a command following a March 22 coup.

CAIRO – Egypt’s new President has a window of opportunity to pull the economy from the brink of disaster, but he will have to chart a careful path to convince sceptical players at home and abroad that his is a government they can trust. After winning the country’s first freely contested election for head of State, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, 60, brings with him strongly free-market policies that would delight investors were it not for Egypt’s daunting economic challenges and fraught politics. He also brings a detailed economic plan drawn up over the course of a year, supported by the Brotherhood’s well-organised political machine. However, to spur growth and win over investors to trust Egypt in the long term, Mursi will have to restore stability to a country rocked by sometimes violent political turmoil in the 16 months since an uprising forced Hosni Mubarak from power. To do this, he will have to build a working relationship with generals who stripped the Presidency of many of its powers in the week before the result of the Presidential election was announced on June 23. Mursi also faces the prospect of a new Constitution to replace the current interim Constitution, which is vague on the full extent of Presidential powers.

EUROPE – Aid flows from the European Union (EU) dropped last year for the first time in almost a decade as the eurozone crisis led 14 countries to cut financial assistance, antipoverty group ONE says in a report. The aid drop jeopardises the chances of some African economies to dispense with external assistance in the not-too-distant future, said the group cofounded by Bono, the lead singer of Irish rock group U2. Overall aid from the 27 members of the EU fell 1.5% in 2011 to €50.86-billion, the first drop since 2002, according to the report. Fourteen EU members registered a decline. Greece and Spain, both struggling to reduce gaping budget deficits, slashed aid. Germany and Italy increased their programmes, but, as with the EU as a whole, were still far short of meeting their aid commitments, ONE said. “Huge cuts in aid from Greece and Spain are not unexpected in this time of turmoil, but the poor record further across the board is worrying,” said Adrian Lovett, ONE’s executive director for Europe.