South Africa

PRETORIA - An amendment to the Employment Equality Act, to penalise companies not abiding by the policy of racial diversification in the workplace, has been recommended to the Labour Department. Commission for Employment Equity chairperson Jimmy Manyi says that government's approach of persuasion is not having the desired effect, and black and coloured people are bearing the brunt. At the release of the commission's 2008/9 report, Manyi says that progress is taking place slowly. In a sample of top JSE-listed companies studied, he says there is a "[lack] of recognition of black people as competent". Government's response to noncompliance with the Act is one of persuasion and companies are given time to correct disproportional representation. However, Manyi says that there will be "more prosecutions now going on". "Those who are not playing ball we will name and shame." Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says that the figures reported show a "disturbing trend" and agrees that prosecution in the Labour Court should be enforced immediately.

JOHANNESBURG - A lack of leadership has left South Africa's health system burdened by rampant HIV/Aids, poor maternal and child health services and violent crime. South African doctors, writing in British medical journal The Lancet, say that, while South Africa is considered a middle-income country in terms of its economy, it "has health outcomes that are worse than those in many lower-income countries". The journal has published a series of articles highlighting the challenges facing South Africa's health system. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that the country's health system is in trouble. "As government, we take responsibility [for] the mistakes, especially with regard to HIV/Aids, where wrong policies were adopted," he says. South African researchers say "failure in leadership and stewardship, and weak management has led to inadequate implementation of what are often good policies". The articles highlight gaping differences in healthcare among South Africa's provinces, pointing to a lack of national coordination.

PRETORIA - South Africa and India agree that their bilateral relationship is a strategic one, says South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, highlighting that "India is already South Africa's tenth-largest foreign investor". Trade between the two countries reportedly tripled between 2003 and 2007. Davies admits that the bilateral Investment Protection
Agreement between the two countries is currently "more or less stalled". However, an internal review of the proposed agreement "will be completed within a few weeks".

PRETORIA - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) says that the Draft Transport Charter has been gazetted as Integrated Sector Codes, in terms of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. The DTI states that, under the guidance of the Department of Transport, stakeholders have committed to transformation and empowerment targets to boost one of South Africa's largest infrastructure and gross domestic product contributors. The gazetting of the Transport Sector Codes means that eight subsectors, excluding the foreign airline component of the aviation subsector, are now final and binding across the spectrum of the national transport industry. The Integrated Transport Sector Codes will be reviewed at five-yearly intervals, following initial publication. The various subsectors of the national transport sector set significant targets and measures that will provide meaningful economic impetus to the sector and the South African economy as a whole.

Africa & the world

ADDIS ABABA - African leaders will ask rich nations for $67-billion a year to mitigate the impact of global warming on the world's poorest continent. Ten leaders are holding talks at the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital to reach agreement on a common stance ahead of a United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen, in December. The draft resolution calls for rich countries to pay $67-billion yearly to counter the impact of global warming in Africa. It says that there have been serious limitations on Africa's ability to negotiate in the past because of the absence of a coherent stance on global warming by African governments.