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Polity
Article by: Amy Witherden
Published: 28 Jan 2009
Daily podcast - January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brindaveni Naidoo.
Making headlines:
Opposition parties have warned that South Africa's Parliament should be careful about approving the decision to fire suspended head of the National Prosecutions Authority, Vusi Pikoli. This is because all the indications are that Pikoli could successfully challenge the decision in court.
The African Christian Democratic Party said that if Pikoli were to challenge the findings in court, he would uncover the political reasons that prompted President Kgalema Motlanthe to fire him. The party said that the bias of the African National Congress-dominated Parliamentary committee reviewing Pikoli's removal from office, would also be exposed.
ACDP justice spokesperson Steve Swart and other opposition Members of Parliament, said that they feared the ad hoc committee was a farce, since it was clear that the ANC had decided to oust Pikoli and had already picked his successor.
Reports have pointed to advocate Muzi Mkhize as the new National Director of Public Prosecutions, in what could be construed as a political appointment.

In other news, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, says that reaching a global trade deal would be a good way to help ease the global economic crisis. He added that he believes agreement on the Doha round of trade talks is possible this year.
Lamy explained that a Doha resolution would offer assistance in efforts to cope with the financial crisis, and could mitigate its effects, especially in the area of development.
The WTO chief said that he would do his best to fulfil the collective determination of trade members, which is to try and finalise the trade round this year.
Lamy also warned countries against a protectionist response to the economic downturn.

In other news, Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has said that he has agreed to form a unity government. This comes after a statement issued by his party, rejecting the deal reached at Monday's Southern African Development Community summit, and saying that it was disappointed with the outcome.
The contradiction suggests that differences have emerged within the MDC over the implementation of a power-sharing pact. This adds to uncertainty over whether a new Zimbabwean leadership would be united enough to tackle the economic crisis in that country.
Tsvangirai says that resolving outstanding issues over a unity government is a "work in progress". He explained that the point of the negotiations was to form a coalition government, which he has agreed to in principle.

Also making headlines:
Cosatu says that the Congress of the People poses a great capitalist threat.
The Independent Electoral Commission says that it will be ready for the national election from April 15.
And, United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon warns that more people could go hungry this year as rich nations focus on the global economic crisis.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit polity.org.za.