South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – The appeal hearing of three ANC Youth League leaders was postponed on Thursday, ANC national disciplinary committee of appeals (NDCA) chairman Cyril Ramaphosa says. League president Julius Malema, spokesman Floyd Shivambu and secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa were scheduled to submit their appeal presentations to the NDCA, at the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House, Johannesburg. Ramaphosa says the three asked for the hearing to be postponed because their lawyer was not available. "The NDCA turned down the request and insisted on the continuation of the hearing." The appellants then asked for a new legal representative, and the committee agreed to this, on the condition that the new lawyer be available within an hour. Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane arrived soon afterwards, but asked for time to familiarise himself with the heads of argument, Ramaphosa says. "The NDCA agreed to postpone the hearing with a proviso that the new legal representative will submit the appellants' heads of argument by the 18th April 2012 in writing." He says the ANC will need to submit its heads of argument two days later. "The parties have agreed that the appeal will proceed through written submissions, rather than oral hearing." Unnamed sources told the SABC that Malema's lawyers had not arrived for the hearing because they had not received key documents relating to the national disciplinary committee's previous sitting, which expelled Malema. Malema was expelled from the ANC in November 2011 for sowing division in the party and for bringing it into disrepute.

JOHANNESBURG – The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has moved to reassure Gauteng motorists who have already registered for the e-toll system that they will not be required to reregister. Sanral announced it will issue revised terms and conditions for road users who register for the e-tolling system, which will come into operation at the end of April.
 The agency says the new terms and conditions have taken into consideration the concerns and recommendations made by the public on the matter. The announcement sparked speculation that those already registered for their e-tags may need to reregister. “They will be afforded an opportunity to review and accept the revised terms and conditions at that time and they will be notified of the process. They will not be prejudiced or disadvantaged because of the revised terms and conditions, which will apply to everybody who has registered already or who registers in future,” Sanral says. Sanral attended a conciliation meeting at the National Consumer Commission (NCC) to discuss the complaint by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the existing Gauteng e-toll terms and conditions were unfair. Both Sanral and the DA were required to present their case to the conciliator with regard to the complaints raised by the DA. Sanral says it intended to issue the revised terms and conditions after engagement with the NCC on its separate investigation and will consider its recommendations. However, the revised terms and conditions will be issued before toll commencement.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s economy will grow modestly over the next three years, weighed down by the impact of the eurozone debt crisis and easily outpaced by an inflation rate kept high by a weak rand, a Reuters poll shows. The Reuters Econometer, a confidence index based on six weighted indicators that measure economists’ views two years ahead, fell to 262.31 from 266.84 in the March poll. The dip in sentiment was driven by concerns about Europe, South Africa’s largest trading partner. The poll of 19 economists shows a consensus forecast for 2012 growth of 2.8% – unchanged from the previous poll after the central bank raised its prediction to 3.0% from 2.8%, citing a brightening domestic outlook. The economists also held their projections for next year at 3.5%. “The Reserve Bank growth forecast assumed that conditions in the eurozone are going to improve but . . . we do not really see a significant improvement in our growth,” says Nedbank economist Isaac Matshego. The Treasury’s forecast is for a 2.7% expansion this year. Preliminary estimates put gross domestic product growth at 3.1% in 2011 from 2.9% in 2010, and economists say the private sector is still struggling to bounce back from a 2009 recession. “We have not seen any persuasive or convincing spending by the private sector despite a very accommodating monetary policy,” says Mandla Maleka, an economist at State power utility Eskom. Interest rates have been at three-decade lows since November 2010, and economists do not expect the central bank to embark on a tightening cycle before the second quarter of next year.

JOHANNESBURG – If African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema wants his latest suspension lifted, he will have to approach the ANC’s appeals committee, national disciplinary committee (NDC) chairperson Derek Hanekom says. “We’ve made it clear that [Malema] has a right to reply to the NDCA (national disciplinary committee of appeal),” says Hanekom. “They can lift the suspension.” However, it will not be an appeal, but an application to the NDCA. “This is a special measure in exceptional circumstances. There are no findings and there is no appeal,” he says. “He has not been charged; it’s an immediate temporary suspension.” The NDC has instituted special measures because of Malema’s repeated behaviour, says Hanekom. According to section 25.12 (g) of the ANC’s constitution: “When a provincial working committee or provincial disciplinary committee imposes a temporary suspension on a member or a public representative, it must immediately forward a report of such suspension and the reasons for it to the NDCA and the NDCA may, if circumstances warrant it, at any stage set aside such suspension.” The NDC announced it had temporarily suspended Malema from the party to investigate charges relating to comments he made at a centenary lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. Malema called ANC President Jacob Zuma a dictator and said he was suppressing the ANCYL.

Africa & the world

NEW YORK – The United Nations Security Council demands that Sudan and South Sudan stop border clashes, which it says threaten to return the East African neighbours to a full-scale war. A statement from the 15-nation body also insists that Khartoum stop air strikes and Juba withdraw troops from a vital oil field. Fighting along the ill-defined border between the former civil-war foes has led to a standoff over Heglig oil field after it was seized on Tuesday by troops from South Sudan, which declared independence last year. Distrust runs deep between the neighbours, who are at loggerheads over the position of their border, how much the landlocked south should pay to transport its oil through Sudan, and the division of national debt, among other issues. "The recent violence threatens to return both countries to full-scale war, and the period of tragic loss of life and suffering, destroyed infrastructure and economic devastation, which they have worked so hard and long to overcome," a statement from the Security Council says. "The Security Council demands a complete, immediate, and unconditional end to all fighting, withdrawal of (South Sudan's army) from Heglig, an end to (Sudanese Armed Forces) aerial bombardments, end to repeated incidents of cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan and an end to support by both sides to proxies in the other country," it says. The Council demanded that both countries redeploy their forces 10 km outside a north/south borderline determined in 1956 and take immediate steps to establish a safe demilitarised border zone.

WASHINGTON – Developing nations aim to back a single candidate to challenge the US for the presidency of the World Bank, former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo says, though he did not offer to stand aside in his bid for the job. Ocampo met Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega in the capital Brasilia as he seeks support from Latin America's top economy in a three-way race for the global lender's top seat. Ocampo is running against Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and US nominee Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American health expert. "We are all keeping an eye on how much support the United States has and also looking for ways to have a single candidate for developing nations," Ocampo says. Ocampo says he and Okonjo-Iweala have more experience and are better prepared than Kim to immediately take the top post. When asked if he was planning to pull out of the race to back the Nigerian, Ocampo said: "That's above me because this is a process that has to do with the Ministers and they have to coordinate what position they will take." Ocampo was referring to Finance Ministers for developing countries like Brazil who are likely to make a decision on a single candidate.

LILONGWE – Malawi’s Finance Minister expects suspended international aid to be restored under its new President, Joyce Banda, helping prop up a Budget increasingly under strain after the previous President picked fights with overseas donors. Finance Minister Ken Lipenga also says that former President Bingu wa Mutharika, who died of a heart attack, had blocked plans called for by the International Monetary Fund to devalue the currency because he was worried the move would hurt the poor. Aid-dependent Malawi slid into economic crisis over the past year as Mutharika, a professorial but temperamental former World Bank economist, squabbled with major Western donors who then froze millions of dollars of assistance that had traditionally bankrolled about 40% of the Budget. “I expect the resumption of aid will happen,” Lipenga says. Foreign diplomats showed their support for Banda by visiting her residence even before she had been officially installed, but so far there have been no concrete signs the West is preparing to restart the flow of aid. The Finance Minister has not yet discussed economic policy with Banda since she became President but he thinks she will be able to address some issues that raised red flags with donors, including suppression of human rights and the media.