Thursday September 01, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

As deliberations on the Protection of Information Bill near an end, the ANC stood firm in its refusal to write a defence into the legislation for people who disclose classified information for the public good. ANC MP Luwellyn Landers said calls for a so-called public interest defence were a veiled attempt by the opposition to create a loophole which would spare journalists from being sent to prison under the new law for exposing State secrets. The South African National Editors' Forum has rejected Landers' contention and said it would apply not only to journalists, but to any citizen making such information available in the public interest and in particular, to whistleblowers.

Leaders of the Libyan uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi sit down with world powers today to map out the country's rebuilding, 42 years to the day after the former strongman seized power in a coup. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose gamble to spearhead the West's intervention in Libya paid off this week as Gaddafi was driven from power, are hosting delegations from 60 countries and world bodies. The tight 3-hour agenda focuses on political and economic reconstruction, with Western powers anxious to avoid mistakes made in Iraq – but talks on the sidelines may expose early jostling for opportunities in oil and infrastructure.

The ANC's disciplinary committee refused an application brought by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema for the recusal of three of its members, a spokesperson said yesterday. It found that insufficient facts had been presented to show bias or a perception of bias by chairperson Derek Hanekom, Mining Minister Susan Shabangu and Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said. He said the disciplinary hearings had been adjourned until tomorrow to give the committee time to decide on Malema's application for the charges to be dropped. It would deliver its ruling in this matter at 09:00 on Friday.

Also making headlines:
Voting equipment for the Democratic Republic of Congo's general election is stranded abroad and costs are spiralling, according to documents and officials, threatening to delay a poll that is due at the end of November.
A severe fiscal crisis gripping Swaziland is deepening despite an emergency $370-million loan from South Africa, the IMF said.
And, South Africa’s Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti's land reform green paper has drawn mostly negative comment from opposition parties.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.