South Africa

PRETORIA - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) urges Ministers who bought cars for R1-million or more to trade them in for more modest transport. Cosatu praises Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for contenting himself with a Lexus, worth R557 673, and an Audi A8, worth R590 500, and says says that, while it is true that those who bought top-of-the-range BMWs have acted within government rules, they have also displayed great insensitivity to the plight of South Africa's poor. The trade union federation hopes that government's spending review will result in a new set of rules based on the "revolutionary ethos and morality" of the African National Congress as a liberation movement. The government has ordered a spending review, which, it acknowledges, is prompted by public outrage over the cost of Ministerial cars.

PRETORIA - Public servants will get salary adjustments of an average of 11,5%. Congress of South Africa Trade Unions president Sdumo Dlamini says the deal is a "watershed and landmark achievement". Initially labour asked for an adjustment of 15%, which government countered with 8,5%. However, through negotiation, government raised its offer to an average of 11,5% on a sliding scale of between 10% and 13%. Further, the benefits to employees, as agreed by the occupation-specific dispensation as well as continuous negotiation on employees' conditions of employment, will see public servants benefiting more than many of their counterparts in the private sector, he says. Dlamini also says the agreement is the speediest in South Africa's 15 years of democracy and shows government's commitment, change in administration and attitude when working with labour.

PRETORIA - South Africa received more than $2-billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August, the central bank data shows, driving its net reserves up 6,49%, to $36,922-billion. The IMF transferred $2,166-billion to Africa's biggest economy as part of a special drawing rights equivalent of $250-billion earmarked for member countries to help deal with the global economic crisis. The Reserve Bank says that net reserves climbed from $34,67-billion in July. The IMF money is allocated to member countries according to their quota, which is based on relative size in the world economy. Analysts say the data shows that the bank did not intervene in the market to boost reserves itself despite the rand currency remaining relatively strong against the dollar. The IMF agreed to disburse the funds after central banks in some countries pumped money into banking systems and markets to boost liquidity at the height of the financial crisis.

PRETORIA - Former judge Johann Kriegler has a condescending attitude toward black people, says Judicial Service Commission (JSC) member advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza. "It is impossible to live with the very obvious condescending attitude towards black people, which has become a repeated theme in [Kriegler's] statements," says Ntsebeza. The advocate has resigned from the Freedom Under Law (FUL) body, which is headed by Kriegler, a former Constitutional Court judge. Kriegler has announced that he intends challenging the JSC's decision not to investigate Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, who was accused of gross misconduct by current judges of the Constitutional Court. Ntsebeza, who resigned from the FUL alongside Cyril Ramaphosa and Johannesburg High Court Acting Judge Kgomotso Moroka, says he is concerned about Kriegler's "public campaign against Hlophe".

Africa & the world

BRUSSELS - The United Nations (UN) should set up a war chest to help process the billions of dollars that poor countries would be paid to slash their greenhouse-gas emissions, the European Union proposes in a draft report. The paper is one of the first attempts to deal with the practicalities of collecting and distributing the billions of dollars poor countries say they will need before signing any new climate deal. The UN facility may also channel any money accrued under a Mexican proposal to collect funds according to a formula based on each country's population, wealth and greenhouse gas emissions.