South Africa

MIDRAND – The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) toll fee steering committee puts forward new, lower toll tariffs for the 185 km of road improved under the GFIP. These tariffs still have to be approved by the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Finance and the Gauteng Premier, and are not the final toll fees, emphasises steering committee chairperson, Department of Transport DG George Mahlalela, in Midrand, where the final stakeholder consultation took place. “The process will then be steered through Cabinet, with the same process followed in the Gauteng Cabinet. The outcome of the decision will be announced by [Transport] Minister [Sibusiso] Ndebele in due course.” The steering committee, formed following public outcry over the toll fees announced by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) in February, recommends a drop from 30 c/km for motorcycles, to 24 c/km, and a decrease from 49.5 c/km for cars, to 40 c/km. Trucks are set to gain a significant advantage under the new fee structure. For medium trucks, the proposed toll tariff fee is to go down from R1.49/km, to R1/km, and for heavy trucks from R2.97/km to R2/km. Taxis will be charged 11 c/km, down from 16.5 c/km, and commuter buses 36.3 c/km, as opposed to 50 c/km. These rates are all based on a vehicle having an e-tag account and an e-tag on its windscreen, and does not include other discounts. Mahlalela says the reductions are made possible by the reallocation of costs – some costs are to be taken over by government, such as enforcement – the restructuring of debt and the restructuring of the discount regime.

JOHANNESBURG – The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) will be investing R102-billion over the next five years in sectors prioritised in government’s New Growth Path (NGP), the development finance institution (DFI) says. The IDC has approved R8.4-billion in funding for South Africa-based developments in the financial year ended March 31, with some 97% of these investments in NGP priority sectors. This is the highest in the IDC’s history and Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel comments that it is an indication of the recovery of economic growth and a “big spur to investment”. The State-owned DFI recorded a profit of R2.7-billion during the financial year and both CEO Geoffrey Qhena and CFO Gert Gouws emphasise that the IDC’s strong financial position will enable it to meet the R102-billion commitment in future. About R11.1-billion will be invested in logistics, infrastructure and cross-sector projects, R14.8-billion in the tourism and creative industries and high-level services, and R7.7-billion in the agricultural industry. But, the bulk of investment will be in the mining, manufacturing and green industries of R22.1-billion, R20.8-billion and R22.4-billion respectively. Part of its newly established green industry unit’s focus will be renewable energy, over which much anxiety and concern exists around the long-awaited renewable energy feed-in tariff. Despite this uncertainty, the IDC remains confident that, in line with South Africa Integrated Resource Plan, there will be a renewable energy market to invest in, in the future.

MIDRAND – Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi agrees with President Jacob Zuma’s assessment that the African National Congress (ANC) is in crisis. “I agree with the President,” he said on the sidelines of the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu’s) central committee meeting in Midrand. He declined to elaborate, advising the media to listen to his secretariat report, before realising that the session in which the report is to be delivered is closed to the media. In a copy of the report distributed to delegates, Vavi describes the past three-and-a-half years as “probably . . . the most dynamic and volatile” in South African politics. He says a “powerful, corrupt, predatory elite combined with a conservative populist agenda to harness the ANC to advance their interests” had emerged during this period. He also refers to the development of “political paralysis” in the State and the ANC’s alliance with Cosatu and the South African Communist Party. “In other words, we have seen intensification of ongoing contestation within the alliance, the ANC and the State unfolding deepening contradictions and wild zig-zagging in the political direction of the country,” Vavi says.

MIDRAND – South Africa’s powerful union movement has fired a warning shot at President Jacob Zuma, telling him not to take its support for granted in next year’s elections for leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). At its four-yearly strategy conference, the two-million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) also ripped into Zuma’s leadership of Africa’s biggest economy, accusing him of presiding over “wild zig-zagging” in policy. Cosatu was instrumental in Zuma’s rise to power, throwing its weight behind him in a 2007 ANC power struggle. But, after clashes over graft, growing income inequality and a lack of basic leadership, Cosatu says its support is not set in stone. “We need to ask if there are any reasons to compel us to do as we did at that time,” organisation president Sidumo Dlamini says. Taking the podium moments later, a tired-looking Zuma hit back, telling the union umbrella group’s leaders not to overstate their role in an official ANC-led governing alliance.

Africa & the world

MALABO – The president of Equatorial Guinea and current head of the African Union (AU) launches a scathing attack on foreign intervention on the continent, saying moves to defend human rights had instead deepened problems. Speaking at the opening of the AU summit he is hosting, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo also says that the body is suffering financially and has to find its own funding to stop outsiders having to step in and, therefore, have a say. Obiang's thinly veiled criticism appears to target the North African Treaty Organisation's operations in Libya, a crisis that is likely to dominate the two-day summit, alongside Sudan's imminent split and pressure on Africa's leaders to manage its surging youth population. Analysts say Obiang, widely criticised for rights abuses at home, is also keen to use his country's oil wealth to make up for the loss of Libya as a key source of AU funds, part of efforts to bolster his standing on the international stage. Obiang says "extra-African agents" are taking advantage of a lack of African unity to interfere on the continent, either to defend the interests of other countries or individuals. "As a result of these imposing policies, the interventions for human rights are nowadays causing a massive scourge to mankind in various parts of the world," Obiang says. "Instead of giving solutions to problems, we are, thus, complicating and worsening world conflicts," he adds. The 68-year old leader rejects as "lies" foreign criticism of his country, which frequently highlight the discrepancy between high per capita income and poverty levels.

TRIPOLI – A protracted struggle for Libya could leave it in the hands of extremists instead of the liberal economic technocrats, who now lead its rebel movement, the World Bank's representative for Libya says. "If this civil war goes on, it would be a new Somalia, which I don't say lightly," says Marouane Abassi, World Bank country manager for Libya who has been in Tunisia since February. "In three months, we could be dealing with extremists. That's why time is very important in this conflict, before we face problems in managing it." Abassi, who is Tunisian, says that the World Bank has been working with Libya since 2006 on plans for economic reforms led by leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, although many of those reform plans were scuppered by Gaddafi. He describes some of the leaders of the rebel Transitional National Council as among those most strongly associated with economic reform plans. ". . . we know them, we did good work with them," Abassi says, citing Ali Issawi, a former economy minister and ambassador, and Mahmoud Jebril, who resigned from a State economic think-tank after Gaddafi overruled his suggestions for liberalising the economy. The rebellion, which began with an uprising in February and has been backed by Western air strikes since March, has so far failed to dislodge Gaddafi, raising pressure on Western countries to take more decisive action.

THE HAGUE –The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and rebels trying to oust him say their forces have advanced to within 80 km of the capital, Tripoli. The court approved warrants for Gaddafi as well as his son, Saif al-Islam, and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutors allege that they were involved in the killing of protesters who rose up in February against Gaddafi’s 41-year rule. Gaddafi has “absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control” over Libya’s State apparatus and its security forces, presiding judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said in reading out the ruling. She added that both Gaddafi and al-Islam “conceived and orchestrated a plan to deter and quell by all means the civilian demonstrations” against the regime and that Senussi used his position of command to have attacks carried out.

BEIJING – Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has told Chinese media the impending split of his country’s south risks triggering “time bombs” but added that his government’s bond with China will not be shaken by Beijing’s courting of the secessionist south. Beijing has been building ties with the emerging State in southern Sudan but continues to be one of the major supporters of Bashir, who faces indictment from the International Criminal Court over war crimes charges stemming from long-running fighting in the Darfur region. Next week’s secession of the oil-rich south is likely to feature in Bashir’s talks with President Hu Jintao. In interviews with official Chinese media, Bashir combines reassurances about his commitment to a peaceful secession of the south, which Beijing has encouraged, with a warning that the division could still go wrong. Bashir says he fervently hopes to maintain peace between north and south Sudan. But there are many ‘time bombs’ and the possibility of war again breaking out between the two sides cannot be excluded, the Chinese language People’s Daily, the country’s main official newspaper, quotes Bashir as saying in an interview.