Polity - Week in Review

South Africa

BLOEMFONTEIN - South Africa's appeals court overturns a judge's decision to dismiss graft charges against ruling African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma, opening the way for prosecutors to put him on trial. The ruling comes just months before the general election, and re-opening the case could damage Zuma's image. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) says in its judgment that High Court judge Chris Nicholson made several errors in his ruling last year, when he dismissed bribery, fraud and other charges against Zuma in September last year, causing a political firestorm and deep division in the ANC. SCA judge Louis Harms rules that the National Prosecuting Authority's appeal is upheld with costs. The SCA decision dealt a blow to the ANC just two days after it launched its election manifesto. Political analyst Susan Booysen of University of the Witwatersrand says that the decision is most disadvantageous to the ANC, as the party is forced to enter an election campaign period with question marks over the head of their leader. The ANC says that the ruling will not affect its decision to name Zuma as the presidential candidate for the 2009 election.

EAST LONDON - South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) vows to create jobs, improve education and health, ensure rural development and food security, and fight crime and corruption in what is believed to constitute a shift to the left at the launch of its manifesto. The pledge to involve more government intervention to fight poverty and secure jobs is welcomed by the ANC's leftist allies - the labour federation COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Investors fear, however, that the left might pressure an ANC government to ditch policies that helped boost nearly a decade of growth in South Africa's economy. Breakaway party, the Congress of the People, has not yet released its election manifesto, but it has signalled that it will adopt centrist, pro-business policies similar to those pursued by former President Thabo Mbeki during his nine years in office.

Africa & the World

ADDIS ABABA - The African Union (AU) reports that African ministers of economy are to meet to discuss plans for a continental investment bank and stock exchange to promote development. AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Maxwell Mkwezalamba, says the proposal is to base the investment bank in Libya, restrict share ownership to Africans and get it up and running within two years. He explains that share ownership will be purely African, including the private sector and the African Diaspora. It will, however, take longer than two years to establish a continent-wide stock exchange. Mkwezalamba adds that ministers will also look at new ways of funding the AU, which is proposing a budget of $170-million this year. Just over one quarter of its funding comes from international partners. Ministers will exchange views on the global financial crisis with a view to making Africa's voice heard at Group of 20 summit in London in April.

WASHINGTON D.C. - US researchers predict that the warming climate is likely to put stress on crops and livestock, and could cause serious food shortages for half the world's population. David Battisti, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor, and Rosamond Naylor, director of Food Security and the Environment at California's Stanford University, write in the journal Science that there is a greater than a 90% probability that by 2100, growing-season low temperatures in the tropics and subtropics will be higher than the highest current temperatures. There have been tastes of what is to come, as record temperatures in Europe in 2003 damaged key crops, and accelerated crop ripening by 10 to 20 days. Livestock were stressed, the soil was dryer and more water was used in agriculture. Naylor warns that in the future there will be no way to turn unless the world rethinks its food supplies. The researchers urge investment in development of crop varieties that can withstand higher heat.

WASHINGTON D.C. - World Bank President Robert Zoellick calls for more cooperation between peacekeeping and development teams working in countries emerging from conflict such as Liberia, Afghanistan and Haiti. He urges a new approach by the international community in dealing with post-conflict countries, saying that securing and rebuilding fragile states should go hand in hand. Zoellick says that security and development should be brought together first to smooth the transition from conflict to peace and then to entrench stability so that development can take hold in the future. The World Bank estimates there are 1 billion people living in so-called fragile states where poverty and disease are rife and basic services are absent. For example, in Afghanistan NATO needs more troops but the mission should not only be to hunt the enemy, but should also be linked to development that helps Afghans.

KHARTOUM - Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi calls on Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to hand himself over to the International Criminal Court, saying he should take responsibility for war crimes in Darfur. This call from the Islamist leader is the first significant show of dissent from inside Sudan's political system an arrest warrant against in July, accusing him of genocide and other war crimes. Turabi says that Bashir should surrender himself to save Sudan from sanctions and political turmoil that would follow if the president defied the court and carried on ruling as a wanted man.