Tuesday August 30, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

Firebrand ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, facing suspension from South Africa's ruling party, said he is ready to step down if it will bring unity to a political group increasingly divided over his calls to take over mines. Malema faces a disciplinary hearing today on charges that he has brought the ANC into disrepute and for sowing discord in the ranks – which could bring suspension for several years if found guilty. Malema's repeated calls to nationalise mines and seize white-owned land have unnerved investors. He has no direct policy making power but has the ability to influence millions of poor South Africans who see him as a future leader of Africa's biggest economy.

An Islamist sect claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Nigeria that killed 23 people, demanding the release of prisoners and an end to a security crackdown to prevent further bombings.
Boko Haram, which has been behind almost daily shootings and attacks with homemade bombs in the remote north-east, was the prime suspect of Friday's car bomb on the UN Abuja office – one of deadliest attacks on the world body in its history. President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the strike but refused to be drawn on who could have carried it out.

South Africa’s electricity prices, which have more or less doubled from an average real level of 25c/kWh in 2008 to the current level of 50c/kWh, were approaching an affordability “tipping point”, the Energy Intensive User Group (EIUG) cautioned again on yesterday. Chairperson Mike Rossouw said that coordinated regulatory, policy and investment efforts were required to moderate the price path to mitigate further deindustrialisation and to ensure that the policy aspiration of extracting further value from the country’s minerals ahead of export could be achieved. Some smelters had already closed partly as a result of rising administrative prices, including Exxaro’s Zincor, while the margins at others were becoming increasingly unattractive. The EIUG was currently conducting a survey of industrial and mining firms to improve visibility of the level of vulnerability.

Also making headlines:
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane urged organised South African labour representatives to work in partnership with government in its ambitions for the seventeenth Conference of the Parties on climate change in Durban this year.
South African President Jacob Zuma’s State visit to Norway this week would largely focus on trade, development and climate change issues, the Presidency said in a statement.
And, President Jacob Zuma does not hold any personal or financial interest, in any business or corporate entity, his spokesperson Mac Maharaj said on yesterday.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.