South Africa

PRETORIA - Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel will help President Jacob Zuma with his work in a New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) subcommittee on infrastructure, the Presidency says. In a statement, the Presidency says that Manuel - who is responsible for the National Planning Commission - will help Zuma in his role as the African Union champion of the north-south infrastructure development corridor on the continent. "We have the enormous task of promoting tangible action, and have to mobilise resources for the development of infrastructure in the continent," Zuma says. "Minister Manuel and I will work closely together to ensure that South Africa fulfils its continental responsibilities on infrastructure. . . . We trust that we will be able to mobilise the private sector to work with us on this massive but very important project." Zuma is the "political champion" of road and rail links between the north and south of the continent as a member of the high-level subcommittee, which includes heads of State and government from South Africa, Algeria, Benin, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal. A Ministerial group on infrastructure is being established to support the designated heads of State. Manuel has been tasked with this role for South Africa in line with his national planning responsibilities. The Presidency says that the Ministerial group is set to work on the "concept document" of prioritised projects generated by a task team and other "expert institutions".

PRETORIA - Any business making a turnover of more than R3-million will not be protected by the Consumer Protection Act, the Trade and Industry Department says. In determining the appropriate threshold, Minister Rob Davies considered various factors, including the need to protect small businesses, and the definition of a small business in terms of the National Small Business Amendment Act (No 26 of 2003) as it applies to most sectors. The determination of the threshold has been published in the Government Gazette for public comment. "For purposes of the Act, a juristic person includes a body corporate, a partnership or association or a trust as defined in the Trust Property Act (No 57 of 1988)." Although the Act does not require the Minister to issue the threshold for comment, the department has deemed it necessary to provide people with an opportunity to have their say. "It is also important that businesses should know beforehand whether they will be protected under the Act, or whether their customers, who are juristic persons, will be protected under the Act," the department says. Publication of the threshold figure in the Gazette will give the business sector an opportunity to implement compliance procedures before the general effective date of the Act, which is April 1, 2011.

CAPE TOWN - Political parties give a cautious green light to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in the National Assembly. The Democratic Alliance (DA) broadly welcomes the statement. "We agree with the Minister that these are difficult times for the South African economy but that, by working tirelessly to improve the performance of the public sector, attract foreign investment, tackle corruption and advance prudent fiscal and monetary policy management, we can deliver the sort of growth that can create jobs and long-term economic prosperity," DA spokesperson Dion George says. The most important aspect of the speech is the Minister's "utter eschewal of pressure" from the African National Congress's alliance partners, and those fellow members of President Jacob Zuma's Cabinet who advocated an array of populist interventions. Gordhan appears determined to continue to maintain the course he had charted in previous budgets. "We applaud the renewed focus on addressing South Africa's unemployment crisis, and specifically the announcement of measures to support small businesses and new measures to relax exchange control. "We likewise welcome his steps to counter corruption in procurement processes." The Inkatha Freedom Party's (IFP's) Narend Singh says that many critical challenges, such as unlocking faster job-fuelling growth, remain. "The IFP warmly welcomes the increase in spending on health - particularly for HIV/Aids prevention, the increase in spending on infrastructure and the R50-million that has been set aside for drought relief," he says. Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder says that Gordhan had, to a large degree, succeeded in maintaining a balance between financial restrictions that caused the recession and the demands placed on government spending. The African Christian Democratic Party also gives its "broad" support to the MTBPS. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa adds that the party "concurs with the Minister of Finance's assessment that the economic outlook is grim".

JOHANNESBURG - Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) heavyweight Zwelinzima Vavi denies suggestions that a civil society conference, under way in Boksburg, is testing waters for a new political party. "Let us right from onset state that we are not an anti-African National Congress (ANC) and anti-government coalition," the Cosatu general secretary says. "We are not here to begin a process to form any political party, nor to advance the interest of any individual." In a speech prepared for delivery, Vavi says that neoliberalism is the enemy. It has condemned people to poverty and unemployment. "We want to roll back neoliberal advances and struggle for the adoption and implementation of alternatives," he adds. "Our struggles have to be both defensive and offensive." Vavi says that the union federation is a friend of all who are genuinely antineoliberal, propoor and working class political parties that have an indisputable record of struggle to advance society's interests as the marginalised. Vavi says that the forces represented at the conference attended by various civil organisations are at the gathering to have a decisive say in the future of the country. "Our goal must be to forge a strong, united movement for change." "A similar united social movement of Cosatu, the United Democratic Front ,, civic movements and progressive NGOs played a critical role alongside the unbanned ANC and South African Communist Party in bringing the racist dictatorship to its knees in those decisive years leading up to our democratic breakthrough in 1994.

Africa & the world

KHARTOUM - United Nations (UN) peacekeepers monitoring a fragile 2005 peace deal between north and south Sudan could not stop new hostilities between the northern and southern armies, the UN peacekeeping chief says. Undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy was discussing some of the possibilities for boosting security ahead of a planned referendum on southern independence early next year. US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice says that there is a possibility of temporarily increasing the 10 000-strong blue-helmet force in Sudan so it can better monitor hot spots on the north-south border. Le Roy suggests that an increase will not help. "An increase in the number of troops will not enable [the peacekeeping force] to prevent, or even to contain, a clash between the two armies," Le Roy says. "Our best available tool against a return to war remains our commitment in favour of a political agreement . . . of the parties on the key pending issues," he says. Privately, UN officials have ruled out the option of boosting the number of troops, saying that it is not clear whether the Security Council could reach agreement and there is too little time ahead of the planned January 9 referendum. Le Roy adds that preparations for the referendum on independence of the oil-producing south, and a separate plebiscite on whether the oil-rich central region of Abyei should join the south or remain with the north, are severely behind schedule.

KAMPALA - Uganda's sustained economic growth has reduced the number of people in poverty by 15% in four years, according to the State-run National Bureau of Statistics. A 2009/10 survey seen by Reuters shows the number of people in poverty in east Africa's third largest economy is 7,1-million, down from 8,4-million at the time of the last survey in 2005/6, when the population was smaller. Uganda's economy has been invigorated by the discovery of commercial oil deposits, in the Albertine Rift basin on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2006. The lead explorer, Tullow Oil, says that it expects to start commercial production in the last quarter of 2011, although a lingering tax dispute risks pushing back that target. "Growth effect contributed more to poverty reduction than redistribution. In other words, poverty reduction continues to be driven by growth," one of the report's authors, Sarah Ssewanyana says. With an estimated population of about 31-million, Uganda has maintained a strong growth momentum over the past decade, spurred by liberal economic policies, an expanding private sector and a steady inflow of aid and foreign investment. The government forecasts that growth will hit 6,7% in the 2010/11 (July-June) financial year and economic analysts say the anticipated petrodollar bonanza will turbo-charge economic expansion and accelerate the reduction in poverty. "Despite significant reduction in poverty, the northern region remains a home for the majority of the poor," Ssewanyana says. According to the survey, poverty levels there stood at 46,2%, down from 60,7% in the 2005/6 survey.

CONAKRY - Guinea's Presidential election runoff is to be postponed to November 7 from October 31, State television says. "After wide consultation with the different parties in the transition, the date of November 7, 2010 has been set for the second round of the presidential election," the head of the election commission, Siaka Sangare, says. "It is a date that has been agreed upon, cannot be changed, and, dare I say it, I think will be the last one set for this election that the Guinean people are waiting for so much," Sangare, a Malian general called in to run the election commission, says. He adds that the poll has been delayed to allow political leaders to restore calm among supporters on both sides. The landmark vote, meant to end nearly two years of military rule, has been repeatedly postponed since the first round in June amid outbursts of violence between rival political camps and a lack of adequate preparation. Junta leader General Sekouba Konate has yet to ratify the October 31 date and one candidate, ex-premier Cellou Dallein Diallo, says that it is premature - raising worries that his supporters will vigorously contest the outcome if he lost. Diallo took 43,69% in June's first round, relying on support from his ethnic Peul, who make up about 40% of the country. Veteran opposition leader Alpha Condé, one of the Malinke, who make up about 35% of the country and have tended to enjoy political power since independence, took 18,25% of the first round.