South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will announce a decision on its nuclear energy plans before the end of the year, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters says, adding that she has signed off a proposal, which will go before Cabinet soon. Peters says the documentation contains “well thought out” nuclear plans for South Africa, with a strong focus on safety and environment, as well as the localisation and job creation opportunities for the country. She notes that South Africa was set to start a nuclear bidding process in April this year, but that it was halted when concerns over the safety of nuclear power arose after the nuclear power disaster at Fukushima, in Japan. Cabinet insisted that the Department of Energy thoroughly research and reconsider nuclear power. “After Fukushima, we were sent back to the drawing board,” says Peters, noting that she visited various nuclear plants worldwide as well as the International Atomic Agency in efforts to better understand the technology. She says it is likely that the nuclear bidding process will start in 2012, and that the first power from new nuclear plants in South Africa will come on line in 2024 or 2025. This is slightly later than the initial estimation of 2023, because of the delays experienced owing to the safety concerns.

PRETORIA – A new commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in the arms deal is to be appointed, President Jacob Zuma's office says. "The president will soon announce the terms of reference and the composition of the commission, including the time frames," Zuma's spokesperson Mac Maharaj says in a statement. Zuma has requested Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe to take the necessary steps to put this decision into effect, he adds. In 2009, legal proceedings were instituted in the Western Cape High Court asking the court to direct the President to appoint an independent judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing, or to require him to reconsider his refusal to do so. It later transpired that the Western Cape High Court was the wrong forum to hear the matter. An application was then brought in the Constitutional Court. The matter was set down for hearing on November 17. Maharaj says Zuma assumed office when the matter was already pending in the courts of law.

JOHANNESBURG – The African National Congress’s (ANC’s) national disciplinary committee (NDC) dismisses an argument by Youth League leader Julius Malema that it breached the constitution of the ruling party. “The NDC delivered its ruling on the application by comrade Julius Malema that the NDC breached the ANC constitution by releasing to the media its finding on the application to quash the charges,” the head of the panel, Derek Hanekom, says. “The NDC dismissed the application. A full copy of this ruling is also sent out to the media,” he adds. In a separate statement, the panel explains that rule 25 of the constitution was not breached because the findings made public on September 2 were not the final outcome of the hearing but merely related to a procedural matter. “The publication, in full, of the ruling on the application to quash or drop charges dealt solely with matters of procedure and did not deal with either the content or substance of the charges, or any evidence in relation to the charges.”

PRETORIA – International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says she is confident that South Africa will host an adequate seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP 17) on climate change in Durban in November and December, despite a shortage of funds. “I promise we are ready [to host COP 17],” she emphasises, adding that South Africa could “reach out to friends” for financial support, particularly from what she terms “progressive” countries that place emphasis on dealing with climate change challenges. In 2010, Department of Environmental Affairs officials estimated that South Africa would require at least R320-million to host a ‘lean and mean’ COP. The National Treasury has allocated R200-million towards the cost of hosting the conference. The balance will likely be made up through donor funding. Nkoana-Mashabane says the department is “not losing sleep” over the possible funding shortfall, as the conference is supported by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Africa & the world

PARIS – A G20 development meeting next week will draft a plan for increasing agricultural output, boosting infrastructure spending and improving access to financing for poorer countries, G20 chair France says. The September 23 meeting of finance and development ministers from the G20 group of rich and developing nations will receive a report drafted by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on innovative solutions for financing development and the role of emerging nations in international cooperation. The talks, on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, will also focus on the implementation of an action plan drafted by multilateral development banks for increasing sustainable agricultural production, as well as ways to improve agricultural research and farmers' risk management in poorer nations. Multilateral development banks will present a plan for expanding financing sources for infrastructure projects in areas such as water and electricity, transport and telecommunications, France's Finance Ministry says in a statement.

CAIRO – Seven presidential hopefuls will call on Egypt's ruling military council to fix an early date for an election for the Presidency and may demand the poll be held in February or March, one of the candidates says. The army council, which took over after Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11, has pledged to hand power to civilians. But it has yet to set a precise date for a parliamentary poll, which is expected in November, and has not indicated when the presidential poll would be. Activists have been demanding a swifter move towards Egypt's first free votes in decades. "All of us are calling for an early date and fixed date for presidential elections and not to stay in a general frame without knowing (a date)," says Amr Moussa, the former Arab League chief who is bidding for the Presidency. "We talked about February-March," he says, adding that they will make their call to the military council once they have agreed demands on other issues including the army's decision to extend emergency law and plans for a new electoral law. The group of seven candidates include former UN diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh, formerly a senior member of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is prepared to provide external financing for Libya if necessary but does not expect the country to require such help beyond the short term, a senior official of the global lender says. “If there is a need for short-term financing, the IMF is there to provide,” Masood Ahmed, director of the fund’s Middle East and Central Asia department, says. But he adds that Libya is not likely to need an extended aid programme, since an estimated $150-billion of sovereign assets once controlled by ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle, now frozen abroad, will ultimately be available to the country. “In the medium term, it should be able to finance itself,” he says. The IMF is expected to play a key role in channelling international aid to countries affected by the Arab Spring uprisings. The fund says it is prepared to provide up to $35-billion in loans to those countries and has announced that it recognises Libya’s ruling interim council as a legitimate power.

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s plan to unilaterally call an election in Zimbabwe for March 2012 would be “illegal”, and the vote cannot be held until reforms are carried out to make it fair, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says. Mugabe and Tsvangirai, long-standing foes, are in an uneasy power-sharing coalition set up two years ago following disputed 2008 elections. Mugabe has accused Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of stalling Constitutional reforms to delay the vote, which Mugabe had wanted in 2011. The veteran ruler has vowed to call for elections whether the MDC agrees or not. Tsvangirai told thousands of MDC supporters at a rally in Harare that the President did not have the authority to set a date unilaterally. “Mugabe says he wants an election in March. That’s illegal, we both have to agree on the date for the next election,” Tsvangirai says, adding that the MDC will insist first on an agreement with Mugabe on electoral reforms and the involvement of the regional Southern African Development Community bloc, the African Union and the United Nations.