Tuesday February 21, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan looks set to announce another chunky deficit at tomorrow’s Budget, putting big infrastructure upgrades and the needs of the jobless ahead of bond-holders' preference to see cuts in State spending. Gordhan, who presents his third Budget on Wednesday, is expected to outline more infrastructure spending to tackle 24% unemployment, perhaps the key challenge facing Africa's largest economy. But a sluggish recovery from a 2009 recession - the first in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 - means he has less by way of tax and customs revenue to play with than he and other economists were projecting three years ago.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe praised the coalition pact that has seen him share power with his political enemies, saying in an interview that he and long-time foe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can now share a cup of tea. Mugabe, who turns 88 today, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, but has shared power with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) since 2009 under a coalition after violent and disputed elections. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the MDC are also quarreling over a new Constitution, which seeks to limit presidential powers and presidential terms to ten years and which Mugabe says is meant to stop him from running in the next election.

Public hearings are to be held in March to give members of the public an opportunity to disclose information they may have on the allegations of misconduct against suspended Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele. President Jacob Zuma in November 2011 announced the establishment of a board of enquiry to look into Cele’s fitness to hold office in relation to the procurement of office space for the South African Police Service in Pretoria and Durban, as part of the findings and recommendations of the Public Protector.

Also making headlines:

The Muslim Brotherhood voiced its strongest criticism yet of Egypt's army-appointed government, saying it was failing to deal with crises in security and the economy, and reiterating a call for a new national unity Cabinet.

And, people from Libya's battle-scarred city of Misrata queued up to vote in their first free election, hoping to set a standard for the rest of the country as it prepares for national polls in June.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.