South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – Outspoken South African politician Julius Malema has submitted a legal appeal against his five-year expulsion from the African National Congress (ANC) for bringing the ruling party into disrepute, media reports. The ANC says its Youth League leader violated party rules and undermined foreign policy by calling for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of neighbouring Botswana. ANC officials could not confirm reports on several broadcasters that Malema had submitted his appeal. If Malema loses the appeal before a panel of senior ANC members, he will have to step down as the youth wing's leader and his political aspirations will likely be derailed. He rose to prominence with calls to seize white-owned farm land and nationalise mines in the world's largest platinum producer, alarming investors over plans that could wreck Africa's largest economy. The calls also won him legions of supporters from the country's poor black majority, who hope to see more wealth from the land and also envision him as a future leader. The trial has been seen as a battle between President Jacob Zuma and Malema, a power broker who was being courted by Zuma's rivals as they lined up their bids for top posts in the party that has a stranglehold over politics. Analysts say it is unlikely Malema can win the appeal. If Malema is sent into the political wilderness, Zuma's path to re-election as ANC leader at a major party event next year will be far easier and could lead to a second term for him as the country's President.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa needs to clarify its position on key policy issues, such as nationalisation, to restore foreign confidence in the country's investment environment, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general, Mathews Phosa, says. "We speak with two voices on nationalisation. We speak with two voices on Wal-Mart. One of the voices must die," Phosa told an ANC business forum meeting in Johannesburg. "Let's speak with one voice on policy." Investors have been unnerved by calls from within the ANC – led by suspended youth wing leader Julius Malema – to nationalise mines in Africa's biggest economy. Phosa says that policy uncertainty is hurting investment. Competition authorities approved a deal between retail giant Wal-Mart and local discount chain Massmart but some government departments are challenging the conditions of the deal. Phosa says South Africa also need to tackle its labour market regulations to fast track job creation in a country where a quarter of the labour force is unemployed. "The longer we fail to tackle the issue, the longer it will take us to find a sustainable solution to our fundamental challenges of job creation and poverty reduction," he adds. South Africa has shed more than a million jobs since its recession in 2009 – the first in nearly two decades. Phosa says it will be difficult for South Africa to create new jobs, given the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.

Africa & the world

LILONGWE – Rainfall patterns in southern Africa are becoming erratic as climate change takes its toll, threatening long-term production of staple and cash crops in the region. Countries like South Africa, Zambia and Malawi have enjoyed bumper harvests of their staple maize crop in recent years, ensuring food security in a region that has often known hunger. But farmers, who for centuries have known when to expect summer rains, are now finding planning difficult. "The rain patterns are just mixed up. You plant with the early rains then all of a sudden there is drought or floods. Sometimes the rains come earlier than expected," says Felix Jumbe, president of the Farmers Union of Malawi. "Farmers are failing to plan when to plant and it is becoming a big challenge on the farming system," he adds. Malawi is expected to harvest 3.8-million tons of maize for the 2010/11 season, from 3.5-million tons in the previous season, and the country has potential to harvest even more. But the country's 2011/12 maize harvest is increasingly under threat, given the likelihood of a drought in the first crucial phase of planting, which started in October. Experts say that, as weather patterns change, the outlook for rain-fed agriculture is particularly bleak in southern Africa's Limpopo river basin, which covers parts of Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Farmers in South Africa, the continent's biggest maize producer, suffered a setback during the harvesting of the 2010/11 season crop after unusually wet conditions made it difficult to access farms.