December 02, 2013
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

South Africans online call for President Jacob Zuma's to be impeached after a report on spending.
Central African Republic interim leader Michel Djotodia denies the potential of a  genocide threat.
And, the petrol price is expected to increase in December.

Thousands of South Africans on Saturday used online platforms to call for the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma, after a newspaper revealed a statutory body's detailing of the use of public funds for lavish upgrades to his private home.

The leaked document by the Office of the Public Protector, headed by Advocate Thuli Madonsela, entitled "Opulence on a Grand Scale", recommended that Zuma repay some of the public funds used for improvements to his compound at Nkandla, in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal province.

The report of Madonsela's investigation sparked outrage on social media, with prominent social justice campaigner Zackie Achmat setting up an online petition calling for Zuma's ouster that had garnered 8 200 supporters a little over 24 hours after the news broke.

The report will likely bolster a perception of widespread corruption under Zuma and could hurt him and his ruling African National Congress (ANC) in an election due in six months. Zuma's spokesperson has declined to comment, while Madonsela's office has said the leak was "unethical and unlawful".

 

Central African Republic transitional leader Michel Djotodia on Saturday denied European assertions that his country was on the brink of genocide and all-out inter-religious war.

The impoverished but mineral-rich nation of 4.6-million people has descended into chaos since Djotodia led Seleka rebels, many of them from neighbouring Chad and Sudan, to the riverside capital Bangui in March, ousting President Francois Bozize.

Though Djotodia has dissolved the rebel coalition, which has been accused of human rights abuses, his government's failure to stem the violence has prompted calls at the UN Security Council for international intervention to restore order.

 

The Department of Energy has said that the price of petrol and diesel would increase from midnight on Tuesday. The price of both grades of petrol would increase by 17 cents a litre and diesel by 10.12 cents a litre.

The department said "the fuel price changes include the annual margins adjustment, changes in the Basic Fuel Price and the decrease in the slate levy. The annual adjustment to the petrol margins had increased and this had affected the petrol price.

"The decrease in prices of international petroleum products was not substantial enough to offset the effect of the volatile exchange rate on the fuel price." the department said.

Also making headlines:
Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela faces assault charges.

A hardline Islamist leader says the army has driven Egypt to the "edge of a precipice", as a national Constitution takes shape.

And, President Jacob Zuma appoints former deputy Auditor General Thembekile Makwetu as the new AG for a period of seven years.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.