August 19, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma says government won't amend the NPA law.

Local procurement requirements for smart meters and boats are made binding.

And, SADC leaders push for industrialisation.

 

President Jacob Zuma says that Government does not intend proposing any amendments to the Constitution. This was regarding the appointment of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (or NDPP).

He said there were already various sections of the Constitution as well as national legislations that were dealing with the National Prosecuting Authority adequately.

He mentioned Section 179(1)(a) of the Constitution which provides that there is a single national prosecuting authority, structured in terms of an Act of Parliament, and Section 179(6) of the Constitution which provides that the Cabinet member responsible for the administration of justice must exercise final responsibility over the prosecuting authority.

In addition, Parliament is playing its own role in terms of determining the terms of office, suspension and the removal of the NDPP head and its deputy.
 

National Treasury has issued instruction notes to all government departments and State entities making the local procurement requirements set out in the designation of electricity meters and boats by Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies earlier in the year binding, the DTI said.

Davies stated that South Africa had the capacity and capabilities to manufacture smart meters locally to the required standards.

He said the designation of electricity meters and set-top boxes for digital migration, the localisation possibilities arising from the roll-out of broadband and the provision by government of a range of other policy measures inclusive of incentives, would contribute to the creation of an enabling environment to significantly grow the domestic electro-technical sector.

Meanwhile, the Minister stated that boatbuilding had been identified as a strategic industry with strong and extended linkages for economic growth and with significant employment multipliers.

 

Southern African leaders ended their two-day summit on Monday having resolved to direct member states to put industrialisation at the top of Southern African Development Community's (or SADC’s) regional integration agenda.

Regional leaders from the SADC member states started their summit in Victoria Falls on Sunday, where they discussed the latest developments and challenges facing the region.

A Ministerial Task Force on Regional Economic Integration was ordered to develop a strategy and roadmap for industrialisation in the region. 

In his closing speech, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who will be chairperson of the regional body for the next year, said the decisions of the summit could only be meaningful to the region if they were implemented. He pledged to work to ensure that beneficiation and value addition was enhanced in the region during his tenure as SADC chairperson.
 

Also making headlines:
 

Professor Andrzej Kijko says more than 90% of SA seismic events are mining related.
 

Liberia struggled on Monday to track down 17 suspected Ebola carriers who fled quarantine at the weekend, while the UN health agency urged affected West African nations to screen all departures in a bid to contain the worst outbreak of the virus.

And, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Monday to extend a Gaza truce by another 24 hours, minutes before an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was set to expire, officials on both sides said.

 

Also on Polity:

Read the latest report by the Institute for Security Studies on the risks ahead of the constitutional referendum in Burkina Faso.

Don’t forget to follow @PolityZA on twitter.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.