Wednesday February 08, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Natalie Greve

Making headlines:

The ANC must rediscover its "revolutionary morality", so its leaders can be selfless, honest, and live with integrity, Cosatu said yesterday. The ANC had to "fix its house before it landed on its head," Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told 2 000 Gauteng shop stewards. To do this, decent jobs, quality education, food security, healthcare and crime had to be addressed as a priority, he said. "We are saying we have got to succeed in these areas, because if we don't succeed we can no longer be a fountain of hope that the ANC has been for the past 100 years." Vavi said Cosatu had to stay united to achieve its goals, because it was through unity that the trade union movement in South Africa was internationally respected.

Egyptians must overcome economic and political differences to unite and put the country on the path to democracy and away from military rule, former presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said. "It is time to set aside our differences. We need the strength of a unified Egypt: ensuring judicial independence, protecting media freedom and civil society, and tapping Egypt's potential as an emerging market," ElBaradei wrote in the Financial Times of London. The former head of the UN nuclear agency gave his backing to the Muslim Brotherhood, a well-organised Islamist group, which he believes will "embrace other political factions, support free markets and be pragmatic".

South Africa's official jobless rate eased to 23.9% of the labour force in the fourth quarter of 2011 from 25% in the third, as new jobs were added in the trade, social services and manufacturing sectors, a survey showed. However, growth in Africa's largest economy still remains far below the levels needed to make a significant dent in unemployment, one of the biggest challenges for President Jacob Zuma's government. In its latest quarterly labour force survey, Statistics South Africa said the total number of unemployed people stood at 4.244-million in the three months to December from 4.44-million in the third quarter.

The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, also decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 35.4%.

Also making headlines:

South Africa's Mines Minister said that industry chief executives should be held liable for avoidable fatalities, also raising the possibility of court action.

And, the Gauteng government has appointed the 2037 Consortium to assist it in generating a 25-year integrated master transport plan for the province, says transport plan task team leader and Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.