Monday, March 1, 2010
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
The South African Communist Party (SACP) called yesterday for a review of the process under which government contracts are awarded and demanded that leaders stop using State resources to amass personal wealth.
The comments came after media reports that African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema had used his political influence to win multimillion-rand infrastructure contracts in Limpopo province. Malema has denied the allegations.
Cabinet Minister and general secretary of the SACP Blade Nzimande said that it should be ensured that public resources are "used developmentally and not misdirected into private accumulation". The party's decision-making body resolved, after a weekend meeting, to put pressure on President Jacob Zuma's government to review how contracts are tendered.
Nzimande said that much greater transparency around the tendering process is needed.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe defended his controversial local ownership laws at his eighty-sixth birthday celebrations on Saturday, saying that they are designed to broaden Zimbabwean participation in the economy.
Mugabe's government passed an "indigenisation" law in 2007 to localise control of foreign firms. Today, companies will have to provide information on shareholders and plans on how they intend to conform to the new law, which seeks to ensure that locals own at least 51%. Companies then have 45 days to present their indigenisation plans - those representatives who fail to do so, face up to five years in jail.
Mugabe maintains that the intention is not to nationalise firms, but his proposal has split the fragile unity government. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for Democratic Change party, said that the law was "null and void" as it was not debated by the new Cabinet.
Analysts say that, if instituted, the law will damage the already ailing economy and jeopardise foreign investment.

African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema claimed yesterday that a newspaper reporter faked his signature in order to portray him as a bad person. This came after City Press reported that Malema lied when he told the media that he held no shares in a company which has won lucrative contracts in Limpopo province. The newspaper reported that Malema owns 70% of shares in SGL Engineering Project, that he had also signed on as a director, signed to pass power of attorney to his business partner and signed a third time to take up his majority shareholding.
Malema described newspaper reports as a campaign aimed at demoralising the Youth League. He added that the "racist notion that the progress of black youth in the post democratic dispensation is automatically a consequence of corruption, must be confronted" as it has the potential to "undermine our hard-won freedom to participate actively in the economy."
Also making headlines:
The Presidency denies the reported resignation of COO Jesse Duarte.
Britain and the US have offered support to Nigerian Acting President Goodluck Jonathan after the return of Nigeria's ailing leader prompted fears of a power struggle.
Former Congress of the People deputy president Lynda Odendaal says that she joined the African National Congress of her own free will.
And, the Côte d'Ivoire's opposition parties are to join the new government and call off violent protests that have rocked the nation since President Laurent Gbagbo dissolved the electoral commission last month.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.