Thursday, March 25, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Petronel Smit.

Making headlines:

The South African government has drafted a new land policy proposing limits to land ownership by its own citizens and foreigners, said Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti yesterday.
The new policy, expected to go before Parliament next month, proposes a three-tier land tenure system, including private land ownership "with limited extent". Foreign land ownership will also be tied to "productivity and partnership models with South African citizens".
Presenting his budget vote speech in Parliament, Nkwinti said that the government had not spoken at all about the nationalisation of land. This comes after heavy criticism from farmers and opposition political parties, who were angered last week by the department's proposal to make all farmland into national assets, in order to speed up the process of handing over farmland to blacks.
Nkwinti said that his department would spend about R900-million in the 2010/11 financial year to refinance the land reform programme, boost food security and create jobs.

Angola's Parliament yesterday approved a new law to regulate the production of biofuels, opening the way for multibillion dollar investments in the sector. The country hopes that the move will help lessen its dependence on oil and develop a farming sector wrecked by an almost three-decade long civil war.
Oil Minister Botelho de Vasconcelos said that several foreign firms were interested in investing in sugar and ethanol production in Angola and dismissed fears that the land used to grow biofuel crops would displace small-scale farmers.
With the new legislation, the ethanol produced by the project could be used in cars. Other sub-Saharan African nations like South Africa and Mozambique are also ramping up their ethanol production.

President Jacob Zuma yesterday dismissed calls to probe allegations of tender fraud by African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema, saying that he did not know the facts and would not act without concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
Speaking in the National Assembly during question time, Zuma said that he could not proceed on the basis of press reports. It has been alleged that SGL Engineering Projects, co owned by Malema, raked in R140-million in government tenders in Limpopo province in the past two years. Zuma added that if there is a problem, he is sure that the Limpopo government would "be dealing with it".
The President said that the interministerial committee on corruption is looking at ways to improve the tender process, but added that problems do not stem from government policy, but rather from contractors' failure to comply with the rules.

Also making headlines:

The Afrikanerbond and the Freedom Front Plus raise concerns over public hearings on Gauteng name changes, which appear not to have been advertised.
Human Rights Watch accuses Tunisian authorities of preventing journalists from attending the launch of a report criticising government's rights record.
President Jacob Zuma hopes that his mediation efforts in Zimbabwe will help to persuade Europe and the US to drop targeted sanctions against Harare.
And, Ghana expects oil to generate an average annual $800-million in revenues for State coffers from next year.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.