October 2, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.
Making headlines:

South Africa’s Reserve Bank is ordered to repay entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth R250-million.

The World Health Organisation says pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink are working to bring Ebola vaccines online.

And, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa continues with Lesotho mediation efforts.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (or SCA) has ordered the South African Reserve Bank (or SARB) to repay entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth R250-million plus interest in a case about exchange controls.

In a statement on his website, Shuttleworth pledged to put the money, which must be repaid with interest, into a trust for Africans wishing to take on the state in the Constitutional Court.

Shuttleworth commited the funds returned to him by the SCA to a trust run by veteran and retired constitutional scholars, judges and lawyers. They will selectively fund cases on behalf of those unable to do so themselves, where the counterparty is the state, said the statement.

The matter dates back to March 5, 2008, when Shuttleworth applied to the SARB to transfer R1.5-billion out of South Africa when he moved to the Isle of Man.

Shuttleworth said exchange controls had the effect of stifling the economy, particularly disadvantaging migrant workers and small businesses seeking to work outside South Africa's borders.

The World Health Organization said earlier this week that both GlaxoSmithKline (or GSK) and NewLink Genetics are working to boost their capacity to make Ebola vaccines. They aim for a very significant increase in scale during the first half of 2015.

If the experimental vaccines are proven to be safe and confer protection in clinical trials, a significant number of doses won’t be available until late in the first quarter of 2015.

GSK and NewLink are conducting phase 1 trials in healthy volunteers currently or soon in more than 10 sites in Africa, Europe and North America.

Initial safety data was expected by year-end, with phase II trials early next year to generate more data.

 

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is continuing with his facilitation efforts to bring political stability in Lesotho. He is doing this in his capacity as the facilitator of the Southern African Development Community.

Ramaphosa is in the kingdom to help create dialogue among all Lesotho's political and other role players with a view to addressing their current political and security challenges.

He has been pushing the role players in Lesotho to bring forward elections, reconvene parliament, as well as stabilise the security situation in that country.

The country has been in turmoil since an attempted coup on August 30. Prime Minister Tom Thabane fled to South Africa and a Lesotho police officer was killed during the attempted overthrow.

 

Also making headlines:

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry says copper theft levels could be stabilising.

Sudanese women protest against worsening oppression and rising food prices.

And, the Gautrain train service between Hatfield and Park stations resumed operations on Thursday morning following earlier delays due to cable theft.

Also on Polity:

Be sure to watch the latest video interview with the Institute for Security Studies’ Gareth Newham about the 2013/14 crime statistics.

Also, researcher and analyst Professor Raymond Suttner speaks about the need to put patriarchy on the defensive.

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

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.