March 31, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The Congress of South African Trade Unions expelled its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Nigerian opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari won 1.1-million votes in the state of Kaduna.

And, Eskom’s director and chairperson of the board, Zola Tsotsi has agreed to step down.

South Africa's main trade union federation, Congress of South African Trade Unions (or Cosatu), has expelled Zwelinzima Vavi, its popular general secretary. Vavi is a vocal critic of President Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress.

The decision was taken on Monday night after Cosatu's leaders decided Vavi had acted improperly by refusing to attend Cosatu meetings and failing to endorse the expulsion of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (or Numsa), the federation's largest affiliate.

His firing, after 16 years at the African National Congress aligned-federation, comes after Cosatu expelled the 300-member-strong Numsa last year. Numsa had become a vocal opponent of Zuma, accusing his administration of putting business ahead of workers' interests.

Analysts said Vavi's expulsion may see him join ranks with Numsa to create an alternative worker movement to challenge Cosatu's dominance.

 

Nigerian opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari won 1.1-million votes in the key northern swing state of Kaduna against 484 000 for President Goodluck Jonathan, final results showed on Monday.

Buhari, a northern Muslim, also won by a wide margin in the biggest northern battleground state of Kano, with 1.9-million votes to Jonathan's 216 000.

Kano is a Buhari stronghold but was seen as one of the northern states where Jonathan had the best chance of making in-roads.

State-owned electricity producer Eskom announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning that Zola Tsotsi had agreed to step down as a director and chairperson of the board. 

Eskom has appointed Dr Ben Ngubane as acting chairperson.

The power utility indicated that the move, which was taken after a presentation made by Tsotsi and a “constructive” discussion, was in the “interest of the company and the country. It was done in order to allow the board to focus on the core issues facing Eskom”.

The board said Tsotsi’s resignation would ensure that Eskom could focus on the challenges facing it and sets the company on a new path to regain the confidence of all stakeholders concerned in ensuring the important work of meeting the energy needs of the country.

The board made no reference to the status of the four executive directors, including CEO Tshediso Matona. 

Meanwhile, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa general secretary Frans Baleni said his union welcomed the resignation saying that it was long overdue. 

 

Also making headlines:

Niger and Chad attacked Boko Haram militants on islands on Lake Chad which the Islamists have used as a safe haven.

As results of Nigeria's March 28 election trickled in, residents of the northern city of Kaduna barricaded themselves indoors, fearing a repeat of the tit-for-tat killlings that engulfed it following a highly contested poll in 2011.

And, time is running out for South Africa to deal with its Agoa-inclusion concerns.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@PolityZA]

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.