Thursday, September 9, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

Strike action to curb rampant corruption may be on the cards, according to a Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) discussion document released on Wednesday.
"We need a far-reaching programme to fight this cancer [of corruption]. Action against corruption must be incorporated into our Section 77 demands at the National Economic Development and Labour Council," the document on the federation's August central executive committee meeting read. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said that the inclusion of corruption in a Section 77 demand, was aimed at "getting the issue [of corruption] raised to a higher profile".
The battle against corruption was aimed at putting the "predatory elites" - who, Cosatu argued, were endangering the African National Congress - on the "back foot". At a media briefing after the CEC meeting, Cosatu secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi singled out the recent ArcelorMittal deal, in which President Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane Zuma was a beneficiary, and described it as "outrageous".

US President Barack Obama will attend a United Nations (UN) summit on Sudan later this month, as the international community steps up a bid to head off conflict there before a 2011 referendum that could split the North African nation.
US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said that Obama had accepted an invitation from UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to a September 24 meeting on Sudan, which will bring together leaders from the UN Security Council and other interested countries, as well as African Union and World Bank representatives. It is expected to focus on a January 9 referendum among the people of semiautonomous southern Sudan, on whether to become an independent country, as well as on the seven-year-old conflict in Darfur.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Sudan is a "ticking timebomb", ahead of the vote and that the international community must redouble efforts to head off violence there.

The question of the South African government's "illegitimate" relations with Swaziland's absolute monarchy will be raised at the African National Congress (ANC) national general council later this month, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said on Wednesday.
"Good governance must be an obligation to the Swazi people. It escapes our imagination how the South African government continues to have relations with the illegitimate monarchy and dictatorial regime," said spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, adding that the ANCYL supported the Global Day of Action for Democracy in Swaziland because its leaders undermine human rights and suppress political dissent. The political, social and economic emancipation of Swazi people should be the focus of the South African government.
Swazi police broke up a pro-democracy march on Wednesday, as hundreds of people took to the streets in a second day of protests against Africa's last absolute monarchy.

Also making headlines:

Guinea Bissau asks Angola to help reform its armed forces in a bid to end the coups and drug trafficking that plague the West African State.
President Jacob Zuma says that the proposed media appeals tribunal is intended to "strengthen, complement, and support current self-regulatory institutions".
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan tells state governors in the ruling People's Democratic Party that he intends to stand for elections next January.
And, Angola's ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola accuses the main opposition party of using last week's riots in Mozambique, along with false accusations of government corruption, to incite civil unrest.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.