Wednesday November 30, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Natalie Greve

Making headlines:

South African President Jacob Zuma has named a veteran anti-corruption investigator as the head of the country's Special Investigating Unit to strengthen the battle against crime and graft. Zuma said in a statement that former judge Willem Heath will be the new head of the unit, an independent body reporting only to Parliament and the President and one of the main anti-corruption agencies. The appointment came just over a month after Zuma fired two Cabinet Ministers and suspended the national police chief in a bid to dispel criticism that he is soft on corruption.

Some European banks are now refusing to lend to firms trading with Africa, threatening growth in the world's poorest continent, a senior official of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said. The AfDB is looking into ways of providing trade finance to firms doing business with Europe, where an interbank credit squeeze has driven up the cost of funding when it is available at all, chief economist Mthuli Ncube said. The reluctance of some banks to make Africa-related loans as Europe's own debt crisis turns them increasingly risk-averse is an ominous sign as it repeats one aspect of the 2008 credit crisis. "With the crunch in Europe the cost is creeping up and the willingness of the banks to extend the credit in the first place is also an issue," Ncube added.

Former Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo, facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was transferred to The Hague this morning, where he would be the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC since its inception in 2002. The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court which is also pursuing Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and investigating alleged crimes in Kenya, Libya and the Central African Republic, has so far declined to comment on the warrant. The indictment is a victory for ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who has up to now struggled to get hold of some of his biggest targets.

Also making headlines:
Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has urged Sector Education and Training Authorities to improve issues of governance and act decisively against corruption.
A Department of Health survey has shown an increase of 0.8% in the HIV prevalence of antenatal women between 2009 and 2010.
And, Congolese opposition candidate Vital Kamerhe called for the Central African State's elections to be annulled, alleging systematic fraud.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.