January 12, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma focuses on corruption at ANC celebration.

Two suspected child suicide bombers hit a market in northeast Nigeria.

And, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says Eskom must sort out its problems.

 

President Jacob Zuma devoted much of his ANC celebration statement on talking about corruption. He said there was a misperception that the ANC was largely responsible for it.

Zuma was speaking at the 103rd anniversary rally at the Cape Town stadium where he said the ANC government had been unique in its attempts to root out corruption in the public service. 

He said the ANC could not allow the scourge of corruption to constrain economic development.

He mentioned that the ruling party should continue to lead in ending corruption in the state, the private sector and amongst its own members.     

Zuma also discussed Eskom's capacity problems saying the country needed creative and pragmatic solutions to guarantee security of supply for its energy needs.

He also reiterated that government would continue to explore alternative options in nuclear, gas and renewable energy, adding that energy remained one of the apex priorities.

Two suspected child suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market in northeast Nigeria, killing three people in the second apparent attack in two days using young girls strapped with explosives.

The blasts struck around mid-afternoon at an open market selling mobile handsets in the town of Potiskum in Yobe state, which has frequently been attacked by the Sunni Muslim jihadist group Boko Haram.

A trader at the market said the bombers were about 10 years old.

Another witness who accompanied the ambulances taking casualties to hospital said three people, excluding the bombers, were killed and at least 26 people were wounded.

 

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says Eskom must sort out its problems because it was hurting the economy.

Nene said government was not able to help Eskom with day-to-day and operational issues, as the utility itself was best suited to deal with these issues.

However, he reportedly said government would do its part, but that bailing the utility out would be inappropriate.

He said it was ineffective to always bail out companies. The issue instead was to ensure that there was [a] medium to long-term plan to ensure that Eskom was in a good situation.

On Friday, Eskom confirmed its financial issues were partly responsible for the country's rolling blackouts, with Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown confirming that the parastatal would run out of money by the end of January.

 

Also making headlines:

Libya's factions have agreed to a new round of UN-backed negotiations to attempt to end the conflict destabilizing the North African country.

China assures that it won’t follow the path of "Western colonists" in Africa.

And, Egypt says its determined to make foreign investment easier.

 

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.