July 8, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

NGO Corruption Watch says the disrespect shown for the Public Protector is 'disturbing.'

The Labour Department says striking metalworkers are close to realising a wage deal.

And, Uganda says its anti-gay bill was misunderstood by donors who halted aid.
 

Corruption Watch says that comments about the Public Protector's office by African National Congress MPs reflect contempt for a vital institution.

Corruption Watch executive director David Lewis said there were disturbing signs of disrespect for this office. He said the organisation would do all it could in its power as a civil society organisation to protect it.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela 's relationship with the justice portfolio committee has been increasingly fraught in the past 18 months, but appeared to reach a new low last week when committee chairperson Mathole Motshekga called for her powers to be reviewed. This comes after ANC MPs on Parliament's justice portfolio committee accused Madonsela of political posturing and suggested her powers should be reviewed.

Lewis said the Public Protector's office, under Madonsela, served the public objectively through exposing corruption and maladministration in the public service. He said efforts to weaken the Public Protector should be regarded as an attack on citizens' right to accountable and transparent leadership in government.
 

South Africa's striking metal and engineering workers are "very close" to sealing a deal for higher wages with employers, a labour ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Mokgadi Pela said the differences were in terms of fractions.

He declined to give further details, saying the negotiations were at a "delicate" stage. Talks were due to resume on Tuesday.
 

Uganda’s government claimed that international donors who withheld aid over the country’s anti-gay bill "misinterpreted" the law whose main focus was to stop promotion of homosexuality to children and others.

Widely condemned by donor countries, the law imposes jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality", which includes homosexual sex with a minor or while HIV-positive. It also criminalises lesbianism for the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts.

Uganda said the new law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, had been designed to curb "open promotion of homosexuality", especially among children.

The government said in a statement that its enactment had been misinterpreted as a piece of legislation intended to punish and discriminate against people of a 'homosexual orientation', especially by the country’s development partners.
 

Also making headlines:

The South African born and educated recipient of the 2014 Stockholm Water Prize, Professor John Briscoe, says that growing up in semi-arid settings helped inculcate in him an acute sense that water security wasn’t necessarily a given.
 

Oscar Pistorius' defence team has wrapped up its case in the murder trial of the Olympic and Paralympic athlete.

And, Implats says the strike at its Marula mine is over.
 

Also on Polity today:

Watch the latest multimedia interview with best-selling author Amanda Prowse as she chats to Polity’s Shannon de Ryhove on her latest book “ Will You Remember me?”

Don’t forget to vote in our poll on Premier David Makhura’s e-toll review panel and whether it will mean an end to e-tolls.

Follow us on Twitter (@PolityZA) for updates on breaking news.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.