South Africa

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's National Planning Minister, Trevor Manuel, says that he is not all-powerful in setting economic policy. Manuel, a former Finance Minister under ex-President Thabo Mbeki, is loathed by powerful unions, who see him as a champion of business-friendly economic policies and fear that he still wields undue influence over policy. "For once in my deployment, I don't hold the big stick," Manuel says. He was excluded from the Cabinet's economic planning and decision-making clusters last week. That, and the resignation of key government policy adviser Joel Netshitenzhe, fuelled investor concern that President Jacob Zuma's allies may be pressuring him to change policies. The country's powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has condemned Zuma's choice of Manuel to lead a key economic planning commission, which aims to guide the country out of its first recession in 17 years. Manuel says he is not solely responsible for setting economic policy.

MIDRAND - The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) as the only continental institution that broadly represents the people of Africa is generally "voiceless", South African President Jacob Zuma says. "It is the institution that constitutes a single collective voice of the ordinary people of our continent," he says at the opening session of the PAP, in Midrand. "They are, in the main, voiceless in many existing forums, be they political, economic, cultural, religious or traditional," he says, adding that discussion on peace, stability, human rights and democracy can no longer be delayed and specific resolutions need to be made to the organ's parent body, the African Union. It is also essential that the institution transform itself from being an advisory body to a legislative one, he adds. "We look forward to the day when the people of Africa can send their representative to the seat of this Parliament to fashion laws that will bring about a tangible improvement in all their lives. It is our responsibility to build people's power not only within these walls, but in every place on this continent where people live and work," Zuma says.

LIMPOPO - President Jacob Zuma has praised youth firebrand Julius Malema as a good leader worthy of "inheriting the African National Congress (ANC)". He adds that "some of us are no longer young and, when we go across the mountain in terms of age, we are happy that, when we go on, the organisation will remain in [the] hands of [those] who will think about the people". The President says that the ANC recognises talent and leadership and gives people an opportunity. "Julius has illustrated that he is indeed a good leader and that he understands the people," says Zuma, speaking in Malema's hometown of Seshego, where the youth league leader helped to build a house and a church.

Africa & the world

TUNIS - President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has won a fifth term with 89,62% of the vote in Tunisia's Presidential election, officials have announced. One opposition party has called the vote a missed opportunity to make the North African country more democratic, echoing accusations by international human rights groups that the campaign took place in an atmosphere of repression. Ben Ali, who is 73 and has been in power for 22 years, has rejected those allegations and warned that anyone spreading lies to damage the country's image will be prosecuted. "It is a matter of pride that the results have confirmed the people's support for President Ben Ali and their trust in him," Interior Minister Rafik Bel Haj Kacem, who oversaw the election, says. Many voters credit the President with turning Tunisia, which attracts millions of foreign tourists each summer, into a stable and relatively prosperous country in a region that suffers from poverty and political turmoil.

HARARE - The country's political crisis has deepened after the first meeting between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai since the latter's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party boycotted the unity government, an MDC spokesperson says. Spokesperson Nelson Chamisa says the MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF are "worlds apart".