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Th ursday, October 23, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shona Kohler

Making headlines today:

Judge Chris Nicholson has granted the State leave to appeal against the September 12 judgment, which invalidated charges brought against African National Congress President Jacob Zuma.

On September 12, Nicholson ruled that the State's decision to prosecute Zuma was unlawful owing to a failure to take representation from Zuma. In the judgement, Nicholson also alluded to political interference in the State’s decision to charge Zuma, although he conceded that there had been no oral argument on the issue when the case was heard in August.

The National Prosecuting Authority has said that it will approach the Supreme Court of Appeal in "a matter of days" to obtain a date on which its appeal against the judgment can be heard.






Three African trading blocs agreed on Wednesday to create a free trade zone spanning 26 countries, and to establish joint infrastructure and energy projects.

It is anticipated that the zone will help streamline access to markets within African regional bodies, which have an estimated gross domestic product of $624-billion.

Africa currently has three trading blocs, with many African countries belonging to conflicting and overlapping groups. The lack of common purpose and unity among the existing trading blocs weakens African efforts at securing beneficial trade agreements with trading blocs such as the European Union.

Analysts say that the continent has yet to fully exploit intraregional trade as a way to boost growth, a view echoed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who believes that bigger markets should be used as a strategic instrument in liberating people from poverty.






Former peace envoys Richard Holbrooke and Paddy Ashdown warned on Wednesday that Bosnia could disintegrate if the international community did not become more involved in this Balkan nation.

The Dayton peace treaty, signed some 13 years ago, ended the Bosnian war, and split the country into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, that have since coexisted in an uneasy alliance under a weak central government based in Sarajevo.

Animosities have deepened since rival leaders came to power in the 2006 parliamentary vote.

Holbrooke and Ashdown believe that the disintegration of Bosnia could be avoided through an effective troop presence and by finding ways to untie the country’s constitutional knot.






Also making headlines:

A Human Sciences Research Council report blames housing policy for xenophobic attacks.
The International Monetary Fund says inflation poses a threat to the South African economy.
And, a United Nations envoy says closing Guantanamo may not be enough.

Currently, the legislation section of polity.org.za invites interested parties to comment on draft regulations for the establishment of a transparent pricing system for medicines. The deadline for comments is November 15.

Also available in the legislation section of the site are bills, acts, notices and regulations that can be downloaded as PDF documents.




That’s a roundup of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit polity.org.za.

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