Wednesday January 11, 2012
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg I’m Brad Dubbelman
Making headlines:

The University of Johannesburg reiterated that late applications for first year study were closed, after a woman died and at least 20 people were injured in a stampede for places. The only people who would be allowed entry to the university were those who had applied last year and had been conditionally admitted, subject to space and their matric results. The university processed close to 85,300 applications in 2011 for this year's studies. This was higher than the 65,000 applications processed for the 2011 intake. It can take only 11,000 undergraduate first year students this year.

A bitter showdown between Nigeria's government and unions with popular backing enters its third day today, with workers vowing to stay on strike unless a motor fuel subsidy is restored, and authorities threatening to withhold their pay. Two days of strikes and protests have strangled Africa's second biggest economy, besieged people in their homes and on occasion erupted into lethal violence. A mob killed five people in an attack on a mosque in southern Nigeria yesterday, taking advantage of the civil disorder to settle sectarian scores and highlighting the worsening fragility of Africa's biggest oil producer.

Power utility Eskom’s biggest industrial customers, mainly mining and manufacturing companies, have indicated that they would scale down demand to prevent rolling blackouts if the country’s electricity situation deteriorated. Eskom this week cautioned that it was operating at an extremely low reserve margin. Spokesperson Hilary Joffe said that the reduced operational margin was the result of up to 13% of the utility’s capacity being out of service, owing to planned maintenance being undertaken. However, Joffe indicated that the situation had slightly improved, noting that significant daily variations in electricity supply were expected into February.

Also making headlines:
The International Criminal Court said that it would give Libya more time to say whether Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will be surrendered to face trial for war crimes.
And, the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development paid almost R300-million to health contractors and suppliers in December.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.