Friday February 25, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The Department of Water Affairs has released the long-awaited 146-page acid mine drainage (AMD) report, which was compiled by a team of water and geology experts, and presented to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on AMD in December. After assessing the situation in the Witwatersrand area, the experts recommended that AMD intervention and management measures be undertaken “as a matter of urgency” to “avert impending crises and stabilise the situation”. Contamination of shallow ground-water resources required for agricultural use and human consumption, geotechnical impacts, such as the flooding of underground infrastructure in areas where water rises close to urban areas, and increased seismic activity, were some of the risks identified in the report.

Tunisia's interim government is on the right track towards democracy but the former ruling party, security apparatus or corrupt elite could reverse precarious gains, the United Nations (UN) warns. Senior UN human rights officials called for extensive reforms in the North African country ahead of free and fair elections which they said should be held in several months and be open to all political parties. At least 147 people were killed and 510 injured in unrest which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last month after 23 years of rule marked by repression and corruption.

An independent local government consultant says that, despite the current service delivery protests in certain parts of the country, there would be more voter participation in the upcoming local government elections. Speaking at the Gauteng Independent Electoral Commission’s seminar on the state of local government ahead of the 2011 municipal elections, Ralph Mathekga said that: “There might be protests in certain parts of the country, but there will be a high and satisfactory level of voter participation.” His sentiments were shared by Derek Powell from the University of Western Cape’s Community Law Centre. “Protests are very much enthusiastic about participating in the voting process, it is a fact protesters support elections,” he said.

Also making headlines:
The US sought to drum up international backing for ways to stem the bloodshed in Libya, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi waged fierce gun battles with opposition rebels holding cities near the capital.
Any military intervention in the Côte d’Ivoire would need to be United Nations-led and would be more likely to involve an aerial and naval blockade than deploying troops to its cities, Nigeria's Foreign Minister said.
And, Algeria has lifted a 19-year state of emergency in a concession to the opposition designed to stop a wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.