Wednesday, April 14, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Tamsyn Graumann.

Making headlines:
It is not up to the African National Congress (ANC) to decide whether its investment arm, Chancellor House Holdings (CHH), should get rid of its stake in Hitachi, said party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday. The decision should not be taken in Luthuli House, he explained, because CHH has its own board.
This comes after conflicting reports about the ANC's involvement with Hitachi. ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa said at the weekend, that CHH would sell its share in Hitachi. However, reports yesterday quoted CHH MD Mamatho Netsianda as saying that CHH is not selling its stake in Hitachi Power Africa.
Hitachi was awarded a multi billion rand contract for Eskom's Medupi power station, and CHH owns a 25% stake in Hitachi. But Mantashe distanced the ruling party from decisions taken by CHH, after opposition parties raised objections to the ANC's involvement in Hitachi, citing it as a conflict of interest owing to the Eskom deal. Mantashe was adamant that the ANC has no stake in Hitachi. "Where Chancellor House invests, does not translate into ANC having a stake," he said.

Zimbabwe's unity government has suspended, and will review, rules forcing foreign-owned firms in Zimbabwe to sell a majority stake to local people, said Movement for Democratic Change party spokesperson James Maridadi yesterday. Under the regulations, which took effect on March 1, foreign-owned companies, including banks and mines, had 45 days to submit proposals on how they planned to sell 51% of the shares in local subsidiaries to black Zimbabweans within five years. The deadline for submitting proposals was Thursday, April 15.
The MDC reports, however, that the power-sharing Cabinet declared these regulations null and void yesterday.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF government passed an indigenisation and economic-empowerment law, aimed at putting foreign-owned firms under local control, in 2007, before he formed a power-sharing administration with rival Morgan Tsvangirai last year.

National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Menzi Simelane yesterday shrugged off suggestions that he had demoted independent-minded prosecutors and breached the law by telling the State not to oppose bail for murder-accused musician Jub Jub.
In a briefing to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice, Simelane defended his right to instruct prosecutors on how to handle cases.
Simelane's comments came in reaction to a suggestion from Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament Dene Smuts that he had acted unlawfully by ordering chief State prosecutor of the West Rand, Andre Lamprecht, not to oppose bail for Jub Jub, who faces charges of murder, reckless driving and driving under the influence. Lamprecht opposed bail. He was then redeployed and, following an outcry, reinstated. Other prosecutors have complained that they suffered a similar fate since Simelane became NDPP in December. But the NDPP says that it is wrong to say that somebody had been demoted just because he or she has been moved to another division.

Also making headlines:

African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says that the tripartite alliance is not merely used for garnering votes.
US President Barack Obama blocks the US assets of an Islamic Somali insurgent group that professes loyalty to al Qaeda.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says that the "problem" of labour broking will be addressed in legislation this year.
And, Human Rights Watch urges the Angolan government to step up its fight against corruption and mismanagement.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.