Friday February 03, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The ANC declined to comment on reports that a study it commissioned discourages the nationalisation of mines. "We are not commenting on that report. The matter will be presented to the National Executive Committee sometime during the meeting," party spokesperson Keith Khoza said on the sidelines of the five-day get-together of party officials in Pretoria. Business Day reported that the study, compiled by three economists, found nationalising mines would be unconstitutional. It concluded the government could not afford to buy stakes in mines. The study apparently recommended an upward revision of royalties and tax regimes, the newspaper reported.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has dissolved his entire Cabinet two months after securing re-election for a new five-year term, state broadcaster GRTS announced yesterday. The brief announcement did not say why Jammeh had taken the decision or when the Cabinet would be replaced. It said the President had commended his Ministers for their patriotism and hard work. Former military coup leader Jammeh scored a landslide 72% victory in November to extend his 17-year rule over the tiny West African country, which attracts thousands of Western tourists to its white-sand beaches and tropical forests.

Protesters laid siege to Egypt's Interior Ministry, extending a rally against the military-led government into a second day in a show of anger triggered by the deaths of 74 people in the country's worst soccer disaster. In separate clashes in the city of Suez, two protesters were killed as police used live rounds to hold back crowds trying to break into a police station, witnesses said. Demonstrations erupted in Egypt this week following deaths at a soccer stadium in Port Said as the football incident turned quickly into a political crisis. Protesters hold the military-led authorities responsible for the bloodshed.

Also making headlines:

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has called for sustainable growth and development in the mining sector to “ensure the speedy realisation of government's transformation objectives”.

And, hundreds of Malians set up barricades and burned tyres in the streets of Bamako yesterday, shutting down the capital in protest against the government's handling of a rebellion that has seized several northern towns.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today