Wednesday February 22, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Reggie Sikhakane

Making headlines:

South Africa's government bonds weakened yesterday, with investors trading cautiously as they waited to see what Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's Budget says about the deficit and borrowing plans. He is expected to say that the Budget will remain in the red for longer than initial forecasts. Investors will be particularly interested in how increased infrastructure spending will affect the country's borrowing requirement. Yields ticked higher on benchmark bonds, with the 2015 bond yield rising 2.5 basis points to 6.615% and that on the 2026 issue up 1.5 basis points to 8.23%.

The task team established by the South African government to reassess the country's nuclear energy roll-out plans in light of the Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster would be in a position to advise Cabinet "soon" on the outcomes of their work. Speaking at the Africa Energy Indaba in Johannesburg, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said the report would provide insight into the construction-design, technology and engineering lessons garnered from the disaster and would empower Cabinet to make an informed decision on South Africa's approach to the deployment of nuclear. The review had delayed a final decision on how South Africa intended deploying some 9 600 MW of nuclear capacity by 2030. In fact, Peters indicated that the timeframe for delivering the first new nuclear capacity had been pushed back a year from the 2023 schedule outlined in the Integrated Resource Plan for electricity.

Anti-corruption agencies established by government initiatives require greater coordination across all governing spheres if the fight against graft is to be successful, said National Prosecuting Authority Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr. He was speaking at the Public Sector Forum hosted by the Institute of Internal Auditors of South Africa. Hofmeyr argued that there was not enough coherence between the various government agencies to effectively take on the ambitious mandate set by the Executive, which aims to convict 100 corrupt officials by 2014. He said that, despite the groundwork being laid to fight corruption – such as the establishment of investigating units such as the Hawks, the anti-corruption task team and the multi agency working group on procurement located within the finance cluster – there was a lack of coordination and partnership between these groups.

Also making headlines:

The new head of Business Leadership South Africa, Thero Setiloane, has laid out his “beyond advocacy” vision for the organisation and its future engagements with government and other social partners, including organised labour.

And, the Gauteng provincial government has conceded that there is a crisis within its health department, but premier Nomvula Mokonyane has defended her decision to retain Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.