Monday, August 30, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

South African President Jacob Zuma has told government Ministers to return to the negotiating table in order to end a public sector pay strike and expects both sides to give ground. So far, the government has said that it cannot afford the demand for increases of more than double inflation to end the strike by some 1,3-million workers, which has entered its third week.
Zuma's spokesperson Zizi Kodwa says that the President's view is that the strike must end as soon as possible. "He appealed to both sides to put the interests of the country first. That would mean give and take from both sides, Kodwa said.
The strike has deepened a rift within the ruling alliance between Zuma's African National Congress (ANC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which has threatened to widen the strike later this week to all its member unions. Analysts expect Zuma and the ANC government, which has typically given in to labour's demands, to reach a deal soon, tilted in favour of the unions, and worry later about the damage to State spending.

Biofuels demand is driving a new "land grab" in Africa, with at least five-million hectares acquired by foreign firms to grow crops in 11 countries, according to a new study by an environmental group.
Contracts by European and Asian companies for land to grow sugar cane, jatropha and palm oil to be turned into fuel, will involve clearing forests and vegetation, taking land that could be used for food and creating conflicts with local communities, reports environmental network Friends of the Earth.
Proponents of biofuels argue that they are renewable and can help fight climate change because the growing plants ingest as much carbon dioxide from the air as the fuels they make emit when burned. However, the study says that "the competition for land and the competition for staple food crops such as cassava and sweet sorghum for agrofuels is likely to push up food and land prices."
Other studies have suggested that biofuels expansion would not be harmful and could even be beneficial for African agriculture. Last month, researchers from Britain's Imperial College, carbon trader CAMCO, and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, said that biofuels would boost investment in land and infrastructure. They said that this could have a positive effect on food production, and, if properly managed, would not mean destroying natural forests.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) will participate in the ruling African National Congress's (ANC's) National General Council (NGC) in September in order to help strengthen the leadership and unity of the ANC and the alliance, general secretary Blade Nzimande said on Sunday.
"We will vigorously struggle against all attempts to divert the NGC from its critical policy consolidation role, by diverting it into factional power plays and unseemly and premature 2012 electoral battles," he said after the SACP's central committee meeting at the weekend.
Nzimande said that some of the discussion papers dealing with the challenges of factionalism, ill-discipline, corruption and tenderpreneurship within the ANC were to be commended. Missing in the discussion papers, however, was the link between these problems and some existing government policies, such as black economic empowerment (BEE). "We need to use the NGC to build a wide consensus in favour of genuine broad-based empowerment and affirmative action and against the current perverted narrow BEE practices - much of which is written into law," he said.

Also making headlines:

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 24 years, says that he will contest next year's Presidential poll.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says that government was not lying when it said that it could not afford the public servants' demand of an 8,6% salary increment, and that his department will have to cut spending if the increase goes ahead.
A Madagascar court sentences exiled leader Marc Ravalomanana in absentia to forced labour for life, for the deaths of dozens of protesters during a march on the Presidential palace last year.
And, Kenya defends its decision not to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir when he visited the country, saying that regional stability is more important than carrying out the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.