Thursday May 5, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

South Africa lagged far behind other emerging economies when it came to entrepreneurial activity, speakers at a FNB and Endeavor entrepreneurship dialogue in Johannesburg said. Currently, South Africa’s Total Entrepreneurial Activity, a measure used to calculate the percentage of a country’s working-age population attempting to start a new business, stands at 5,9%. FNB external acquisitions head Marcel Klaassen said that this was far below an average rate of around 11% in other emerging markets, with Brazil reaching up to 15%.

Ministers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-backed coalition against Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi meet in Rome today seeking ways to get money to rebels who are desperate to buy food and medicine and shore up their administration. As the conflict in Libya has ground into stalemate, the rebel Transitional National Council, which controls the region of eastern Libya around Benghazi and has been recognised by both France and Italy, has appealed for loans of up to $3-billion. But efforts to unblock state assets frozen in overseas accounts, or to allow the rebels to get past United Nations sanctions that prevent their selling oil on international markets, have been held up.

The Constitutional Court will be asked to order President Jacob Zuma to appoint an inquiry into the arms deal contracts that led to the now abandoned allegations of corruption against him, when it sits in Johannesburg today. The application is being brought by Terry Crawford-Browne, a former banker known for his opposition to the deals.
Thursday's application for direct access will be to seek a review of the refusal to exercise the presidential power to appoint a commission of inquiry contained in Section 84(2)(f) of the Constitution. He wants a review of whether the president has fulfilled constitutional obligations and for the court to direct the President to appoint an independent commission of inquiry into the arms deals of 1999.

Also making headlines:
South Africa and Vietnam have agreed to beef up their relations and comprehensive cooperation, especially on politics, economy, science, technology, culture, and education.
The South African Higher Education Department will appeal against a Labour Court judgment on changes to the Services Sector Education and Training Authority, it said on Wednesday.
And, governments must find a way to get multilateral institutions, global tourism industry bodies and private corporations to respond positively to the risks of climate change, says Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.