Wednesday February 9, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Megan Wait

Making headlines:

African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe said that South Africa intends to create a R10-billion fund to tackle massive unemployment in Africa's biggest economy. "The R10-billion job fund will be a partnership between government and the private sector," he said in an interview at the ruling party's offices. Initially, the government will lay out the capital and businesses which participate, by hiring new workers or by providing training schemes, are likely to benefit from incentives such as tax breaks. Job creation is expected to be the major theme of President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address on Thursday, when he outlines his government's priorities.

South Africa's decision to deploy a navy vessel to the Côte d’Ivoire is complicating efforts to bring a peaceful resolution to the country's postelection crisis, the West African regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said. The comments add to rifts between African nations over how to resolve the election crisis where two rivals claimed the Presidency after November 28 polls, with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo defying world pressure to hand over to Alassane Ouattara. Ecowas has sent delegations to negotiate a release of power by Gbagbo and has threatened to remove him by force, but some African leaders are opposed to the group's warning. South Africa has not directly endorsed Ouattara as President and could be a potential weak point in regional efforts to force Gbagbo to stand down.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu is still opposed to the nationalisation of South Africa's mines, even though the African National Congress (ANC) is researching the issue. "My position is that there are challenges and I'm convinced that nationalisation, it's not an option for South Africa," she told a media briefing on the fringe of an African mining conference in Cape Town. Earlier on Tuesday, Anglo American CE Cynthia Carroll told the conference that nationalisation would be the country's path to ruin and would drive away billions of dollars in investments. The ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema is pushing for nationalisation, and after initial resistance, the ANC last year agreed to research the issue.

Also making headlines:
Japan is keen to invest "billions of dollars" in minerals and infrastructure in Africa, in an effort to catch up to regional rival China for influence on the continent, a Japanese trade official said.
Egyptians staged one of their biggest protests yet on Tuesday, demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down.
And, political parties should brace themselves for serious contestation for positions ahead of South African local government elections, political analysts warned.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.