Tuesday December 13, 2011
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

Newly appointed Special Investigating Unit head Willem Heath will know the outcome of an investigation into his comments against former President Thabo Mbeki by the end of the week. Last week President Jacob Zuma requested Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to assist his office in an investigation into Heath's accusations against Mbeki. Heath told the City Press newspaper earlier this month that Mbeki had allegedly initiated rape and corruption charges against President Zuma.
He also told the Sunday newspaper that Mbeki allegedly abused his position to compromise the criminal justice system by blocking some investigations into corrupt practices.

Africa, small developing island States and least developed countries maintained the “moral high ground” during the recent seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP 17) that helped to create and sustain “pressure” on key issues, including the activation of the Green Climate Fund, South Africa’s negotiators argued. However, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said at a press briefing that, while African positions had been strongly expressed, especially in the adaptation committees and on the technology mechanism, more needed to be done in the area of mitigation. Acknowledging loopholes in certain COP 17 outcomes and issues, South Africa’s chief negotiator Alf Wills also remained ardent in his opposition to the view that the climate negotiations had failed. “We have closed the gap on the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the outcomes indicate that urgent and meaningful action is needed now,” he said.

Zimbabwe's Mimosa mine, a joint venture between Impala Platinum and Aquarius, has given a 10% stake to locals, a government Minister said, as it aims to meet a controversial law on local ownership. British banks Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc have also offered to sell 10% stakes in their local units, although the government believes that is not enough, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said. President Robert Mugabe's drive to force mines and banks to surrender at least 51% shares to locals has unnerved overseas investors and further divided the government Mugabe formed with rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in 2009.

Also making headlines:

Statistics South Africa has trained about 880 people to deal with a new methodology to capture the data from the Census 2011 questionnaires, with processing set to start in January, project director Calvin Molongoana said.

And, Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila conceded that "mistakes" had been made in the recent election which returned him to power, but rejected criticism by monitors that the results lacked credibility.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.