June 22, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The African National Congress struggles to restore stability in its troubled youth wing.

At least seventy people have been killed and hundreds injured in Burundi’s unrest.

And, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says a minimum wage must not undermine collective bargaining.

Electing the African National Congress (or ANC) Youth League’s national leadership seems to be a hard mission to accomplish. The organisation’s elective conference was postponed lastweek, for the third time in less than a year.

Five years since its woes began, the ANCYL was still struggling to restore stability in its troubled but highly influential youth wing.

Difficulties in getting branches to quorate and sit for their general meetings may also signal deep-seated problems all the way to branch level.

The Youth League has been held together by a national task team, led by Mzwandile Masina, since its leadership was dissolved two years ago.

On Friday, spokesperson for the Youth League conference preparation committee, Nathi Mthethwa, acknowledged some difficulties with the much-anticipated conference, which was planned for this coming weekend.

He said, however, there were challenges cropping up with the conference, and there was going to be a determination on a new date.

 

At least 70 people have died in Burundi since clashes erupted between security forces and activists protesting against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, a leading Burundian human rights group said.

The opposition took to the streets in late April saying Nkurunziza's plan violated two-term limits set out in the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically charged civil war in 2005.

The violence has stoked tensions in a region with a history of ethnic conflict, particularly in neighbouring Rwanda, hit by genocide in 1994. Rwanda and Burundi shared the same ethnic mix of a Hutu majority and Tutsi minority.

Meanwhile, the police had no immediate comment, but had previously put the death toll much lower than estimates from rights groups.

 

South Africa does not want its long tradition of collective bargaining undermined by the introduction of a national minimum wage, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday.

He was speaking at a workshop on international minimum wage experiences in Johannesburg where he said the country had a successful history of minimum wage regulation through sectoral determinations.

Ramaphosa said there was no reason to abandon the wage regulating measure, adding that discussions on this issue was taking place in the minimum wage technical task team; and labour stability was being discussed in the labour relations technical task team.

The discussions were overseen by a committee of principles, chaired by Ramaphosa. 

 He noted that there was already agreement on a number of issues, including collective agreements, bargaining council agreements, sectoral determinations and contracts of employment.

Also making headlines:

The South African National Roads Agency Limited has warned the public must not to be misled by organisations criticising the newly gazetted e-toll dispensation.

South Africa’s opposition party calls for an investigation into the government's failure to arrest Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.

A US envoy to the UN said now was not the time to pull peacekeepers from Darfur.

Kenya wages war on smugglers who fund Somali militants.

The UN expands its refugee camp in Kenya as the South Sudan conflict rages.

And, Ghana destroys hundreds of homes in the capital Accra in a bid to prevent floods.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.