October 20, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

South Africa's economic doldrums heighten some people’s feelings of disillusionment with the ruling African National Congress.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa risks unleashing an economic catastrophe that will leave a ‘lost generation’ of young West Africans.

And, Renamo opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama calls Mozambique’s elections a 'charade', but offers dialogue with the ruling Frelimo party.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene will have his work cut out at this week's budget to try and reassure disillusioned South Africans that the government can pull the economy out of the doldrums.

For many South Africans, confidence that the ANC can reduce social inequality and significantly improve living standards for blacks has long gone.

Many are growing impatient with the government's failure to get the economy moving after a 2009 recession.  After averaging 5% previously, annual economic growth has struggled to reach 2% in the last five years.

In February, then Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan predicted growth of 2.7% for 2014, but Nene has since admitted that Gordhan’s prediction looks unattainable after months of debilitating strikes that have hit efforts to reduce 25% unemployment.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa risked unleashing an economic catastrophe that will leave a ‘lost generation’ of young West Africans. She urged stronger international action. 

Johnson-Sirleaf said the worst epidemic of the deadly virus on record had now killed more than 4 500 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight people have also died in Nigeria, fatal cases have been reported in the US as well as an infection in Spain.

She said that the international reaction to the outbreak
detected in March, deep in the forests of southern Guinea, was initially ‘inconsistent and lacking in clear direction or urgency’.

She said even though the international community had woken up to the global health risk posed by the epidemic, more help was still required from every nation with the capacity. 

 

Mozambique's opposition leader said he would opt for dialogue with the ruling Frelimo party and not resort to violence. This was after early results showed him losing an election he dubbed “a charade”.

Renamo’s Afonso Dhlakama gave his pledge of negotiating differences with Frelimo at a news conference.

Partial provisional results from Wednesday's vote indicate Frelimo and its presidential candidate Filipe Nyusi are headed for victory, ahead of Renamo's Dhlakama and Daviz Simango of the Mozambique Democratic Movement. International observers called the vote generally free and peaceful.

Renamo's party spokesperson had already rejected the early results and demanded fresh elections, raising fears of possible political violence in the Southern African nation.

While making clear he would challenge the expected Frelimo win, former rebel leader Dhlakama said that there would be "no more war in Mozambique".

Also making headlines:

Madagascar police fired teargas at supporters of ex-president Marc Ravalomanana, who was placed under house arrest this week after returning to the Indian Ocean island for the first time since he was deposed in a 2009 coup.

The US and four European countries have jointly called for an end to violence in Libya, expressing dismay that calls for a ceasefire had not been respected.

And, South African President Jacob Zuma officially opened the Department of Environmental Affairs’ new ‘green’ head office, in Pretoria, describing it as an event that would usher in a new green-focused era for the South African construction industry.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.