Daily Podcast – January 09, 2018

9th January 2019 By: Sane Dhlamini - Creamer Media Senior Contributing Editor and Researcher

Daily Podcast – January 09, 2018

Jacob Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: ANC leaders insist they are united as party marks 107 years, South Africa’s economy expected to grow 1.3% in 2019 And, 'Major' irregularities with DRC vote count

 

ANC leaders insist they are united as party marks 107 years

The ANC spent the better part of its 107th-year anniversary celebrations insisting that it was a united party and that there was no tension between its current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

Yesterday, Zuma participated in a series of events alongside Ramaphosa to mark the birthday of Africa's oldest liberation movement.

This included attending a church service, visiting the ANC's founding president John Langalibalele Dube's grave and a mini rally in Ohlange, in Inanda.

Meanwhile, ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Sihle Zikalala lashed out at claims that the ANC's largest province was a no-go area for Ramaphosa.

 

South Africa’s economy expected to grow 1.3% in 2019

The World Bank has projected that South Africa's economic growth will accelerate only modestly to 1.3% in 2019, held back by constraints on domestic demand and limited government spending.

The Bank's forecast compares with the 1.7% given by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in October, while the South African Reserve Bank kept its own prediction unchanged at 1.9% in November.

In its "2019 Global Economic Prospects" report released late yesterday, the World Bank said growth in sub-Saharan Africa was expected to accelerate to 3.4%, despite global expansion being expected decline to 2.9 % as trade and investment weaken.

 

Major' irregularities with DRC vote count

An observer mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election said it had witnessed 52 "major" irregularities in the 101 vote-counting centres it observed, including people tampering with results.

There are 179 counting centres currently tallying the vote across Congo.

The report released yesterday by Congo-based SYMOCEL said 16% of vote counting centres it had observed relied on tallies transmitted by voting machines instead of hand-counted tallies, as required by law.

Meanwhile, an opposition party said its leader was the "presumed winner" of the December 30 poll adding that Felix Tshisekedi has had contact with departing President Joseph Kabila "to prepare a peaceful and civilized transfer of power".

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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