Friday January 27, 2012

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

In the run-up to the ANC’s June policy conference, Cosatu plans to lobby aggressively for a change to the current public service framework allowing government officials to sustain their private business interests – a situation that the union federation believes is facilitating and sustaining large-scale corruption. Speaking at the launch of Corruption Watch, a new independent anti-corruption watchdog, general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said Cosatu was of the firm view that individuals should be forced to “choose whether they want to pursue their business interests, or serve the public”. At its most recent congress, Cosatu agreed to lobby for a separation between public servants and their business interests, as the overlap was blamed for creating fertile ground for conflicts of interest and corruption.

The Libyan civil war might have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a UN report released yesterday. The report on the impact of the Libyan civil war on countries of the Sahel region that straddle the Sahara - including Nigeria, Niger and Chad - also says some national authorities believe the Boko Haram, which killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 this year in Nigeria, has increasing links to al Qaeda's North African wing. The UN Security Council will discuss the report, which was prepared by a UN assessment team that met with officials from countries in the region, at a meeting yesterday.

The State is not the primary job creator in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday. "The State prepares the environment for economic growth and provides support to the private sector by providing enablers and removing obstacles," Zuma said in a speech prepared for delivery at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said job creation had become a central criterion for all the government's economic programmes and projects. All government entities, including State-owned enterprises, were taking the impact of their work on employment and equity into account.

Also making headlines:

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale will be joining a climate change expedition to the Antarctica this weekend.

And, South Africa's economic growth is "certainly going to be below three percent" this year owing to the impact of a slowdown in the eurozone economies, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines.