September 13, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma sends the Protection of State Information Bill back to Parliament.

Global Fund seeks $15-billion to control the three global pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

And, a new United Nations Conference on Trade and Development study asserts that export-led growth strategies are no longer ‘viable’.

 

President Jacob Zuma on Thursday sent the Protection of State Information Bill back to Parliament, saying he couldn’t sign it into law because it was incoherently drafted and therefore unconstitutional.

The president singled out two sections of the bill as problematic but his office indicated that a letter sent to Speaker Max Sisulu mandates lawmakers to revise the contentious official secrets bill as a whole.

"It is my opinion that the bill would not pass constitutional muster," said Zuma in announcement that was widely welcomed by critics who have campaigned against the legislation for years.

The Right2Know campaign welcomed Zuma's decision and said he had mentioned "only two of many draconian aspects of the bill" and urged a comprehensive redraft.

 

The world's biggest funder in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria said on Thursday it needs $15-billion over the next three years to begin bringing "the three big global pandemics" under control.

In a report released ahead of a pledging conference later this year, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria said timely investments could avert $47-billion in extra treatment costs and save millions of lives. It warned that acting too late would mean missing important opportunities.

Joanne Carter, the head of the RESULTS Educational Fund in the US and a former Global Fund board member said the cost of inaction was far greater than the cost of action, from both a moral and an economic perspective.

Founded in 2002, the fund raises money from donors every three years and in 2010 secured just under $12-billion for the years 2011 to 2013.
 

A new United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (or Unctad) study argues that, five years since the onset of the financial crisis, the global economy remains in a structural crisis and it is, therefore, not possible for countries to pursue pre-crisis growth strategies, including export-led development policies.

TheTrade and Development Report 2013 argues that export-led strategies – mainstay policies for countries such as China, South Korea and, to a lesser extent, South Africa – are no longer viable. Instead, more balanced strategies, geared towards generating a greater role for domestic and regional demand, should be pursued.

Unctad estimates that world output growth – which slowed from 4.1% in 2010 to 2.8% in 2011 and then to 2.2% in 2012 – will not recover in 2013, when it is likely to decelerate further to 2.1%.  It also notes that global trade expansion has “virtually ground to a halt”, with volumes increasing by less than 2% in 2012.

Trade and Development Report 2013coauthor Diana Barrowclough said that it also acknowledged that South Africa’s domestic market lacked scale and that regional cooperation and coordination would, therefore, also be required to meet its development objectives.

 

 

Also making headlines:
 

The primary construction contractor for the Medupi and Kusile coal-fired power stations, Hitachi Power Africa, says skills shortages are inhibiting success of local infrastructure projects.
 

And, the Institute for Security Studies says national police crime statistics should be released once a month and not  yearly when they are out of date.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.