Friday February 17, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The ANC Youth League cannot disobey the decision to suspend its leader Julius Malema, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday. "Once a decision is taken by a higher organ, it is binding on all lower organs, whether you think it is stupid or uninformed, it is a decision and it cannot be refused," he said. Mantashe, who is also the chairman of the SA Communist Party, was speaking at a Young Communist League meeting at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Sudan and South Sudan want to have the bulk of their loosely defined and volatile border demarcated as soon as within three months, a Sudanese official said, in a possible bid to ease tensions between the two former civil war foes. The demarcation, however, would not include five areas that are still disputed by the two sides, said Yahya al-Hussein, a senior government official and member of Sudan's negotiating team. South Sudan broke off from its northern neighbour in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of conflict, but lingering issues such as where to draw the border and how to untangle the oil industry have continued to stoke tensions between the two sides.

South Africa is the only country with a "programme" to fight corruption, President Jacob Zuma said. Replying to points raised in the National Assembly during debate on his State of the Nation Address, Zuma said it was "important to emphasise that most of the corruption you read about in the media is exposed as a result of the work of government and its agencies". Amid laughter from opposition benches, he continued: "What we should remember is that South Africa is the only country that has a programme to fight corruption. It's not being fought anywhere else.”

Also making headlines:

Heavy casualties have been reported in clashes between Malian forces and Tuareg rebels near the northern town of Tessalit in the past two days, Malian military sources said.

And, dozens of people have been killed since last week in clashes between rival tribes over control of territory in the far south-east of Libya, the tribes said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.