Wednesday October 12, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Schalk Burger

Making headlines:

Recent global economic protests underline why youth employment should be a primary development goal, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant said yesterday. "We forewarn that recovery cannot be sufficient until there is employment recovery," she said in notes prepared for delivery in Johannesburg. "Financial and social stability must come together... otherwise not only the global economy, but also social cohesion will be at risk." Oliphant was talking at the International Labour Organisation’s 12th Africa regional conference.

If the private sector was not “engaged” and supportive of government programmes being established in South Africa and the US to create jobs and to change the social fabric of society these programmes would fail, US Ambassador to South Africa Donald Gips told business leaders in Johannesburg. Speaking at a US-South Africa partnership event, where the South African Supplier Diversity Council signed a cooperation agreement with the US National Minority Supplier Development Council, Gips said it was critical for the private sector and governments to demonstrate that “you can grow an economy and spread the wealth at the same time”. This was particularly important in the context of growing discontent about the role business was playing in both South African and US society.

The Press Ombudsman's office has sought to allay perceptions that the ANC influenced amendments to the press code governing print media. Ombudsman Joe Thloloe and his deputy Johan Retief moved to clarify the matter in a joint statement yesterday. This followed media reports that Retief conceded - at a press conference on Monday to introduce the Press Council's new code - that the changes were "influenced" by the ANC's calls for a media appeals tribunal. The ombudsman's office accepted that this statement might be as a result of a misunderstanding, they said.

Also making headlines:

Africa needs appropriate development policies in order to create decent work and put an end to poverty, President Jacob Zuma said.

There was a need for "genuine revolutionaries" to protect the ANC and the alliance against opportunists, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said.

And, Liberia tallied votes in a hotly contested presidential poll pitting the incumbent, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, against former UN diplomat Winston Tubman and 14 others.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.