August 26, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

Economic Freedom Fighters says it’s conflicted about supporting the Democratic Alliance’s motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe banks on China for Zimbabwe's economic revival.

And, Eskom wants compensation if Glencore can't supply coal to its Hendrina power plant.

 

Economic Freedom Fighters (or EFF) chief whip Floyd Shivambu said his party was conflicted over the vote to impeach President Jacob Zuma as they want to force him out of power, but don’t support the grounds put forward by their opposition colleagues in the Democratic Alliance (DA).

As a result, the party had not yet decided how it would vote on the matter in the National Assembly next Tuesday when the motion brought by DA leader Mmusi Maimane on August 4 will be debated.

Maimane argued that Zuma should be removed from office because as head of the executive he had failed to uphold the law and the Constitution with respect to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s stay in South Africa in June when the latter attended the African Union summit.

Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges relating to the conflict in Darfur, was allowed to leave the country in violation of a Pretoria High Court order.

 

President Robert Mugabe has pinned his hopes on China helping to revive Zimbabwe's struggling economy and outlined reforms to investment rules to try to attract more capital.

In his first state of the nation address in eight years, the 91-year-old president, who has presided over economic collapse and diplomatic isolation since he came to power in 1980, said strong growth was just around the corner.

"This has seen government signing key projects with China, covering energy, railways and telecommunication, water, mining, agriculture, and tourism," he said amid constant jeers from the opposition and cheers from members of his ruling ZANU-PF party.

Political analysts, however, said with the opposition in disarray following a major split last year and Mugabe having purged possible internal rivals last year, there was no immediate threat to the veteran leader's grip on power.

 

South Africa's Eskom said it wants compensation from Glencore's mining subsidiary Optimum if it is unable to supply coal to its Hendrina power plant.

Administrators for Glencore's South African coal mining subsidiary suspended the firm's supply agreement with Eskom last Thursday while the mining unit undergoes a financial rescue programme.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told a news agency that if the mining mogul was unable to provide coal as per their contract, they needed to compensate the parastal for not meeting their obligations. 

Phasiwe said Eskom has a three-year agreement with Glencore.

Optimum, which produces ten-million tonnes of coal a year, was under financial strain because it says it was selling coal to Eskom for less than the cost of production.

Also making headlines:

South Africa's rand extended its recovery early along with fellow emerging markets after Chinese authorities cut interest rates to support its wavering economy.

The Provincial government has committed to driving Kwa-Zulu Natal’s economic growth and investment. 

UN experts have revealed that South Sudanese soldiers raped children, burned people alive in their homes and hunted others for days in swamps in an increasingly brutal war the government had hoped to win with an emergency $850-million military budget.

The new cabinet of Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn in on Tuesday with some members of the opposition drawing criticism from other opponents.

And, around 1.5-million Zimbabweans are predicted to go hungry this year after a dramatic fall in maize production.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.