Thursday November 03, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

There was a slow uptake from municipalities for the incentive-based Phase 2 of the Expanded Public Works Programme, Public Works Portfolio Committee chairperson Manana Mabuza said yesterday. An incentive grant was introduced in the second phase to encourage entities not only to make more use of labour-intensive methods, but also to create longer, or more permanent, work opportunities, and would be paid out quarterly, provided that quarterly reports were received. About R3.1-billion has been allocated to the Department of Public Works over the 2011 medium-term expenditure framework to pay out the incentive to provincial departments and municipalities.

Political violence is on the increase in Zimbabwe and supporters of President Robert Mugabe and State security agents are to blame, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said. On Tuesday, anti-riot police sealed the offices of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, firing tear gas into the building and at bystanders in central Harare. "The State security agents have instituted a coup over the civilian authority and they are now above the law, to the extent of disrupting government programmes and assaulting civilians with impunity," Tsvangirai said.

Job creation must be at the centre of governments' macroeconomic policies, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.  "We are arguing that another bout of recession must not be at the expense of the working class and the poor," Vavi said at a meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Cannes ahead of the G20 Summit. He said – according to a Cosatu statement – the working class was worried that many countries had adopted austerity measures that only deepened inequalities, poverty and unemployment.

Also making headlines:

The International Criminal Court is still receiving information that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi may try to flee Libya with the help of mercenaries, the court's chief prosecutor said.

Opponents of Islamists declared a "life and death" battle for Egypt's future as official campaigning began for parliamentary elections seen as vital for restoring stability after eight months of fragile military rule.

And, closing arguments in ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's disciplinary hearing, by the party's main body, have been rescheduled.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.