South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – Africa is ready to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor reiterates. But the site selection is likely to be pushed out beyond April 4, which had been set as the possible deadline for the allocation of a preferred site for the hosting of the radio telescope development. Australia is also in the running to host the international science project. It has emerged that the final decision might be delayed as the members of the SKA Organisation consider inputs that could affect the decision. The recommendations of the independent SKA site advisory committee (SSCA) have been referred to the members of by the SKA board and will be central to their considerations. South Africa and Australia have emerged as the two remaining contestants for the project in 2006, after the international SKA steering committee identified the countries as the most suitable locations for the development. In March, Australian media leaked that the $2.5-billion project is likely to be awarded to the South African-led consortium, following a scientific panel recommendation. But it has been reported subsequently that Australian politicians are engaged in a series of sometime aggressive lobbying efforts to salvage their bid. Pandor points out that South Africa’s efforts have been recognised when the European Parliament recently adopted declaration No 45 on ‘Science capacity building Africa: strengthening European-Africa radio astronomy partnerships’. Pandor refused to engage in a debate with her Australian counterpart, but is adamant that South Africa and its SKA partner countries have a proposition that is scientifically and technically superior, as well as cost competitive.

JOHANNESBURG – The City of Johannesburg tables its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Flagship Programmes for the next five years to the city council, highlighting green projects and infrastructure upgrades as being critical to achieve the Joburg 2040 Strategy outcomes. Executive mayor Parks Tau says in his recent State of the City address that the council has adopted an integrated planning and budgeting process that will see the city changing course. He identifies four pillars on which to build Johannesburg, namely human and social development, sustainable services, economic growth and governance. One of the most critical programmes announced is the rollout of ‘smart meter’ technology, which will connect 230 000 customers over 18 months. Benefits of this initiative include increased meter-reading accuracy and reduced disputed billing and increased customer satisfaction levels. In this way, the city will also increase its revenue collection. Coinciding with this is a plan to dispatch City Power technicians daily across the city to repair and replace damaged cables and take necessary corrective action. This will increase the network reliability and reduce power interruptions. In some areas where this has already been rolled out, the utility has found that customer satisfaction levels have increased significantly. The city’s new bus rapid transit system, Rea Vaya, is also highlighted as improving integration between rail, walking and cycling. With 18 km of the Phase 1B trunk route infrastructure and 17 bus stations almost complete between Noordgesig and Parktown, the focus of the next financial year will be to procure so-called ‘green’ buses and establish a bus operating company for the affected operators. The procurement process for the 134 new buses will incentivise maximising local content and job creation. Further, in an effort to increase street and neighbourhood safety, the city will employ ten additional Johannesburg metro police officers in each ward.

JOHANNESBURG – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has invested R736-million in incentives for the foodprocessing sector over the past three years, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies says. Addressing representatives from the food-processing sector in Johannesburg to discuss impediments to accelerated growth in the sector, he states that the DTI’s Enterprise Investment Programme has disbursed R636-million, thereby facilitating investments of R3.7-billion in the sector and contributing to the retention of 14 000 jobs, while creating 7 000 new jobs. The department’s Cooperative Incentive Scheme has disbursed more than R100-million in support of agroprocessing projects. The Minister also mentions that two major projects in food processing to the value of R1.1-billion have recently been approved for the 12i Tax Incentive. Further, he says that the recently pronounced Special Economic Zones programme offers opportunities for farmers to assist government in undertaking long-term planning, adding that this will help reduce infrastructure and logistics costs and locate food-processing investments in regions, including rural areas, where economic sustainability can be entrenched.

JOHANNESBURG – Rights activists have begun a legal bid to compel South Africa to investigate and prosecute citizens of neighbouring Zimbabwe suspected of crimes against humanity. The activists argue that South Africa is failing to meet its obligations in terms of international law. A court ruling in their favour will cause a headache for South Africa, which could see its courts clogged with prosecutions and its diplomacy with the power-sharing government in Harare hobbled. President Robert Mugabe and top members of his Zanu-PF party are already subject to international sanctions for suspected human rights abuses, including using death squads to intimidate voters and torturing political prisoners. Zimbabwe’s courts and security apparatus are largely under Zanu-PF control. “The High Court has an opportunity to set an important precedent, which will ensure that South Africa lives up to its legal responsibilities to prosecute the perpetrators of international crime,” says Nicole Fritz, executive director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, one of the applicants who brought the case to court.

Africa & the world

KHAROTUM – Sudan wants to resolve peacefully all disputes with South Sudan and build up good relations with the former civil war foe, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir says, after two days of border clashes between the two countries. Newly-independent South Sudan moved out troops from Sudan's oil-producing Heglig area after it accused Khartoum of bombing oil fields and other areas on its side of the border. Sudan denied the air raids, but says South Sudanese troops started the fighting by attacking Heglig, one of the major oilfields left on the Sudanese side of the border. As a result of the violence, Bashir cancelled a visit to Juba where he had been due to meet his southern counterpart Salva Kiir, on April 3, to discuss a row over oil payments. In his first comments since the fighting, Bashir told an Arab League summit, in Iraq, that Sudan wants to live in peace with South Sudan, which seceded from Khartoum under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. "We have the sincere will to bring back things to normal and observe the interest of both nations to live in peace," he says. "We . . . assure you of our determination to go ahead towards settling unresolved issues through an understanding with our brothers in the government of South Sudan [and] . . . to build up a close cooperation and good relations with the newborn State," Bashir says.

MUMBAI – A plan to form a joint development bank by the Brics group of the world's most powerful emerging economies will have a hard time getting off the ground and could struggle to match the World Bank's expertise, World Bank President Robert Zoellick says. Deflecting criticism that the World Bank is too dominated by the US, Zoellick says it has changed dramatically in his term, with a managing team now made up of many more figures from the emerging world. Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were meeting in New Delhi to outline plans for a new bank, which will help fund infrastructure and act as alternative lender to the World Bank and other finance bodies. Zoellick says there are already a series of regional development banks and many countries have their own such banks but, if a Brics bank is formed, the World Bank will work closely with it. "I think the interests of India may be more in terms of bringing capital in, the interests of China may be more in terms of internationalising the renminbi. I think Russia is a little uncertain and Brazil has a very big development bank," he says. "The World Bank works with private sector funders, development banks, regional banks and we'd work with a BRICS bank, but it would probably be difficult for it to replicate the knowledge and expertise that we fund." Zoellick, who was visiting a bank-funded coastal conservation project, in east India's Orissa state, says that setting up a new bank is "a complicated venture" which will present challenges, such as getting capital and a good rating from international financial agencies.

DAKAR – Residents of Senegal greet the dawn of a new era following the postelection departure of long-serving leader Abdoulaye Wade, who drew widespread praise for cementing the country’s reputation as West Africa’s most stable democracy. Excited residents gathered at tea shops as boys hawked newspapers splashing headlines like ‘Wade Knocked Out’, after a night marked by fireworks, honking horns and singing in parts of the capital, Dakar, that followed the election win of his former protege, Macky Sall. “This is a victory for all Senegalese people, not just the politicians,” says Bassirou Sylla, a trader in Dakar’s upscale neighbourhood of Point E. The election is the latest test of democracy in a region plagued by bloodshed and flawed elections, including one in Côte d’Ivoire, which triggered a civil war last year. A recent military coup in Senegal’s neighbour, Mali, demonstrated how quickly a democracy can unravel. Wade’s 12-year rule saw big infrastructure spending but little progress in tackling poverty. He admitted defeat just hours after polls closed as early results showed challenger Sall a landslide winner, maintaining Senegal’s record as the only nation on mainland West Africa not to have seen a coup or civil war since independence.

BAMAKO – The US says it will suspend some aid to Mali after last week’s coup, estimating $60-million to $70-million may be affected, but stresses it will maintain food and humanitarian assistance. Five days after an overnight coup, the West African State is in limbo with the whereabouts of President Amadou Toumani Toure uncertain, the putsch leaders disowned by neighbours and world powers, and Malians confused over their country’s fate. “We have now taken a decision to suspend our assistance to the government of Mali pending a resolution of the situation,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says. “We want to see the elected government restored as quickly as possible. We will continue . . . to provide humanitarian and food assistance to those displaced by the conflict in the north and those affected by the region’s food crisis,” Nuland says.