South Africa

CAPE TOWN – Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu calls for sustainable growth and development in the mining sector to “ensure the speedy realisation of government's transformation objectives”. This, she says, is “to accommodate the groups yearning for inclusion within the mainstream economy, which still reflects the pre-1994 demographic dominance of certain groups”. Shabangu was addressing the opening of the McClosky Southern African Coal Exports conference in Cape Town. “South Africa has about 49-million citizens, more than 50% of them women. Despite the good intentions of the transformation laws, women are still not properly represented in the sector. “Continued reliance of the sector on the previously advantaged 20% of the population, obsessed with a bottom line approach at the expense of national objectives, has undermined the objectives of this sector,” says Shabangu, adding that those who remain marginalised in the economy must be included in the sector. She challenged black economic empowerment (BEE) companies to do things differently, and not to “merely buy these assets (companies) and yet still perpetuate the pre-1994 trend, in terms of their asset management and control”. Switching her focus to the plight of small players in the industry, she says that junior operators find it difficult to access funding for their exploration and mining activities. “This leads to some of these players selling their properties prematurely, which defeats the objective of raising levels of participation of BEEs in the sector,” she adds.

JOHANNESBURG – The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is seeking expressions of interest from building contractors for the construction of 79 new schools and the refurbishment of 12 Phase 1 schools and 285 existing schools in the province. The GDE admits to having its “fair share” of the national schools facilities backlog and, despite attempts to address this problem, the current financial allocations and the lack of provincial delivery capabilities are hindering progress. “It is with this in mind that the GDE has partnered with the Gauteng Fund Agency and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to launch the Gauteng Schools Programme (GSP)," the GDE says in an information pack. To this end, business plans for these schools have been produced that include concept designs, site layouts, condition surveys and elemental cost estimates. The information available paves the way for the seamless implementation of the GSP that will enhance educational infrastructure. The next step is the procurement and appointment of consultants and contractors. The proposed bidding process will involve a two-step process of which the expression of interest is the first step. It is proposed to use a combination of a standard design and build and develop turnkey new schools, together with refurbishment of the existing schools on a remeasurable basis. The key challenges that the GDE seeks to tackle through the GSP include overcrowding, unsafe structures, the lack of, or inadequate, facilities and reducing scholar transport needs to and from school. Serious backlogs in terms of space for school administration, as well as in safe hygienic sanitation, are also receiving attention.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Department of Water Affairs (DWA) has confirmed that a feasibility study has been initiated to assess longer-term solutions for South Africa’s acid mine drainage (AMD) problem. The investigation began in December and should be completed over a maximum period of 18 months. Responding to questions, the department says that the study is expected to cost about R17-million and has been included in the DWA’s budget. It will probe solutions over and above those identified as so-called ‘immediate’ and ‘short-term’ solutions for implementation by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) across the Witwatersrand goldfields. The emergency interventions are focused primarily on the Western basin, where acid water is already decanting into the Tweelopiespruit. TCTA has entered into a strategic partnership with Rand Uranium to upgrade the miner’s treatment plant to 36 Mℓ/d from its current capacity of 12 Mℓ/d. Nearly all the mechanical structures have been built, civil works are in progress and the extended plant is expected to be in operation next month. Additional shortterm solutions will be commissioned in the Western basin at a later stage to boost the efficacy of the emergency project in a bid to eradicate the prevailing AMD in the basin, as well as to prevent underground mine water levels from reaching the environmental critical levels (ECLs) on the Central and Eastern basins. On the Western basin, the interventions are aimed at reducing the mine water level to below the ECL over time.

Africa & the world

CAIRO – Protesters laid siege to Egypt's Interior Ministry, extending a rally against the military-led government into a second day in a show of anger triggered by the deaths of 74 people in the country's worst soccer disaster. In separate clashes in the city of Suez, two protesters were killed as police used live rounds to hold back crowds trying to break into a police station, witnesses said. Demonstrations erupted in Egypt following deaths at a soccer stadium in Port Said as the football incident turned quickly into a political crisis. Protesters hold the military-led authorities responsible for the bloodshed. In Cairo, several thousand protesters remained in the streets around the Ministry as night fell. The only vehicles in the usually congested downtown area were largely ambulances that ferried away casualties from clashes with police. Underlining the tension, ambulances had to intervene to extract riot police whose truck took a wrong turn into a street full of protesters, a witness says. Protesters surrounded the vehicle for at least 45 minutes, rocking it while the police were inside. Some of the demonstrators then formed a human corridor to help them escape. Close to 400 people were wounded in confrontations that erupted late on Thursday, the Health Ministry says, many of them suffering the effects of inhaling tear gas fired by riot police who the Interior Ministry say were protecting the building.

JUBA – The UN mission in South Sudan is investigating reports of a massacre of nearly 80 people by armed men in uniforms in Africa's youngest nation, the United Nations (UN) says. "According to local sources, so far 78 people were reported killed, 68 wounded, nine missing and thousands are reported to be displaced," UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky says. "The team from the UN Mission (UNMISS) observed 15 bodies that were still unburied," he adds. UNMISS personnel saw the unburied corpses in the Bulich area of South Sudan's Warrap state, Nesirky said, adding that the attack had reportedly been carried out "by an unknown number of armed uniformed men from Mayendit county, Unity state." UNMISS's human rights team will investigate the incident while humanitarian agencies operating in the region will hold an emergency meeting to coordinate a response, Nesirky adds. South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011 under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war with Khartoum, though the two sides have yet to resolve a long list of disputes. The south continues to grapple with tribal and rebel violence, as well as a dispute with Khartoum over oil revenues.

ADDIS ABABA – The African Union (AU) has extended the mandate of its commission chief after failing to elect a new head, highlighting the weakness of a group criticised for slow decision-making during political turmoil on the continent last year. Former South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was up against incumbent commission chairman Jean Ping, of Gabon, who failed to win an outright majority in four rounds of voting. After hours of deliberations during which South Africa’s Foreign Minister said the deputy chair would take over as interim commission chief, the African Union said it had decided to extend Ping’s mandate for a further six months until the next summit in Malawi in June. “The elections were suspended in line with the provisions of our statute so we took the decision to extend the term of office of the chairperson, the deputy and his commissioners,” AU chairperson Benin President Boni Yayi says. The commission is the AU secretariat’s top organ and the chair its public face. A Western diplomat says that the divisions show how the power balance has shifted on the continent after the death of one of its main patrons, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The AU was founded at a summit in his hometown of Sirte. “It’s a fact, despite what they say, that Africa is divided. Things are changing and the balance of power among the regions has changed with the death of Gaddafi,” says the diplomat, adding that power is shifting towards Southern Africa. Smaller countries say that Zuma’s candidacy broke an unwritten rule that the continent’s dominant States do not contest the leadership. “South Africa’s decision to do so turns everything upside down,” a West African delegate adds.

CAIRO – A civilian council that advises Egypt’s ruling army will consider a proposal to hold a Presidential election earlier than the June deadline, council members say, a move that could speed up the transition of power to civilians. Egypt’s generals, who took over from ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February last year, have faced renewed street protests demanding they hand power to civilians sooner than the June deadline they set themselves. Civilian council members say that they will discuss the Presidential election and its timing. The body, which includes a number of influential politicians, can only advise the army and has no power to change the election timetable itself. “On the agenda is the Presidential election and the possibility of advancing the date. We have to debate that,” Presidential candidate Amr Moussa, a member of the council, says. Sherif Zahran, another council member, says that the timetable could be accelerated, though the issue is still subject to debate. Egypt’s authorities say that nominations for the country’s first free Presidential race will open on April 15. Army officials and other politicians have indicated the vote will take place in June, though no formal announcement has been made.