September 30, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma fast-tracks compensation for the Marikana families.

President Muhammadu Buhari to become oil minister in new Cabinet

And, US Hitachi net may spread to Eskom. 

 

President Jacob Zuma said that he supported “swift compensation for bona fide claims” against government arising from the 2012 Marikana shootings.

“What happened at Marikana hurt the whole nation and the time has come for healing to begin‚” the president said in a statement.

He said government was exploring an alternative dispute resolution process to expedite the processing of all claims.

A judge‚ assisted by experts‚ would be asked to lead this process to reinforce its independence.

Zuma said government would engage with the legal representatives of claimants‚ and he encouraged the claimants to use that process.

The families of the 37 mineworkers who died when police opened fire on striking Marikana miners in August 2012‚ filed a civil claim against the minister of police in Pretoria last month.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari will hold Nigeria's oil portfolio in his new Cabinet, rather than trust anyone else with the source of most of Nigeria's revenue.

Buhari, who took office at the end of May and who promised to combat corruption, had made clear he wanted to overhaul the oil sector in Africa's biggest economy, which provides the government with around 70% of its revenue.

He indicated his intension to remain the minister of petroleum resources in an interview on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

A collapse of global oil prices has whacked Nigeria's public finances and weakened its naira currency, delaying public salaries and fueling inflation.

 

Startling revelations have lifted the veil of secrecy in the relationship between African National Congress (or ANC) funding front Chancellor House and Hitachi Power Africa.

This comes as a result of investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The case had also raised questions about possible manipulation of major contracts at government-owned power utility Eskom, with claims of behind-the-scenes manoeuvering to influence tenders.

The commission had found that Hitachi went to great lengths to conceal the controversial "success fee" with ANC funding front Chancellor House.

It had paid Chancellor House about $1-million, which was essentially an incentive for Chancellor House to influence tenders for Hitachi.

Hitachi was then awarded major contracts for Eskom's new power stations, Medupi and Kusile.

Also making headlines:

African National Congress deputy leader Cyril Ramaphosa urged the party’s youth league to become a more inclusive youth organisation that defends the party from insults against its leadership.

Statistics South Africa announced that the number of employees in the formal non-agricultural sector of the South African economy had decreased.

South Africa was back in the top 50 of global competitiveness index.

And, fierce fighting erupted between between militia and the United Nations as President Catherine Samba-Panza returned to the Central Africa Republic.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today