Thursday, August 6, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Lindsey Berry.
Making headlines:
South Africa's government will create a R2,4-billion job fund to assist in the training of workers affected by the recession, President Jacob Zuma announced yesterday. The training lay-off scheme, to be launched next month, will entail the temporary suspension of work, to be used for the training of employees .
The R2,4-billion will be drawn from resources in the National Skills Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The money will be used to pay a training allowance, pegged at 50% of the basic wage or salary. Zuma says that Sector Education and Training Authorities have been requested to set aside additional funds for training courses.
Zuma's announcement came after a meeting yesterday with the leadership of the group spearheading the implementation of South Africa's framework response to the global economic crisis. The group consists of representatives from labour, business and government. The group also looked into support for distressed sectors, including support for companies in the automotive sector and a rescue package for the clothing and textiles industry.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has seen its commitments almost double since last year, owing to the global financial crisis, says the bank's president Donald Kaberuka.
The AfDB expects to loan $11-billion this year, an increase from previous loans of $5,8-billion yearly. The money will go towards budget support operations, infrastructure projects, trade finance and liquidity programmes.
The impact of the financial crisis on Africa has been greater than earlier feared, Kaberuka says, and the AfDB has set up a $1-billion trade finance facility to help businesses cope.
The impact of the downturn has been severe, but the effect varies in African countries, depending on the "structure of exports, the level of dependency on external inflows and the capacity of the country to react," says Kaberuka.

South Africa's new National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele has called for a change in law to make sure that police can shoot at dangerous criminals instead of being "handcuffed" by the Criminal Procedure Act.
Cele told Members of Parliament he would ask the Legislature to amend section 49 of the Act for this reason, as well as section 26 of the Act, to give police greater powers to stop domestic violence.
The Police Commissioner says that the high number of police fatalities proves that police cannot afford to hesitate when faced with hardened criminals. It is up to lawmakers to "take collective responsibility" to ensure that the law is fair and does not afford criminals "greater rights" than their victims, he said.

Also making headlines:
Political analyst Steven Friedman tells business and agriculture that political accountability will be South Africa's greatest challenge in the next few years.
African National Congress spokesperson Jessie Duarte says that the ruling party has "decisively dealt" with corruption since President Jacob Zuma's inauguration.
Madagascar's rivals are hopeful ahead of renewed peace talks being held in Maputo.
And, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeks to bolster Somalia's weak government.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.