Wednesday, May 19, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Tracy Hancock.

Making headlines:

The work of the National Planning Commission will have a significant impact on the role that a green economy will play in the country's development in ten years to 20 years time, said President Jacob Zuma at the Green Economy Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The commission will produce reports on a range of issues affecting the country's long-term development, including: water, food and energy security, climate change, infrastructure planning, human resource development, defence and security matters, the structure of the economy, spatial planning and demographic trends. Zuma added that South Africa has no choice but to be ecofriendly and develop a green economy.
Speaking at the same summit, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said that the green economy has played a key role in South Africa's shift to a "new growth path", with the government focusing on more labour-absorbing industries. Preliminary results from a recently commissioned study showed that 300 000 jobs could be created in South Africa's renewable energy sector over the next ten years, of which 20 000 are achievable in the next two years.

Deputy United Nations (UN) secretary-general Asha-Rose Migiro attacked moves by African leaders to cling to power by rigging votes or amending constitutions, saying that it is time to rid the continent of tyrants.
Speaking at the Africa21 conference, called to discuss challenges facing Africa in the twenty-first century, Migiro said that Africa cannot turn a blind eye on corruption, nepotism and tyranny. "We cannot allow the will of the people to be thwarted by electoral fraud and constitutional changes of government or manipulation of the law to keep vested interests in power," said Migiro, who did not mention any leader by name, although she spoke in Cameroon, whose President, Paul Biya, has ruled since 1982 and has removed constitutional clauses that would have prevented him from standing in a 2011 poll.
African history is packed with examples of leaders remaining in office longer than expected, sometimes only to be forcibly removed.

Egypt insisted on Tuesday that it can block dams and other projects upstream on the Nile, challenging a new deal among four African nations seeking to alter historic water sharing arrangements and secure more water for farms and growth.
Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia signed the agreement in Uganda last week, in a bid to access a greater share of water from the Nile, despite colonial-era pacts that give Egypt the lion's share of the water and allow it to veto upstream projects such as dams. Kenya, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to sign within a year. The new commission will ostensibly have the power to veto energy and irrigation projects in signatory States.
Egyptian Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam stressed that "any project that takes away from the river's flow has to be approved by Egypt and Sudan in accordance with international treaties." Egypt has warned that the new agreement lacks legitimacy.

Also making headlines:

The Department of Trade and Industry intends to repudiate a suspect R153-million contract to develop a content management system for the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office.
South African transport unions have reached a proposed wage deal with Transnet, which, if accepted by members, will end a strike that has paralysed rail and port traffic.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson says that there is World Trade Organisation scope to aid South African farmers.
And, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation budget $12-million to wean Africa's off-grid energy market away from its dependence on expensive fuel-based lighting.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.