July 1, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.
Making headlines:

South Africa’s engineering strike is the latest blow to a sickly economy.

A challenge to Mauritania’s president's election win is rejected.

And, some Agang SA members are expelled.

A strike by more than 220 000 engineering workers, hot on the heels of a crippling platinum boycott which ended last week, will deal a fresh blow to an economy that contracted in the first quarter.

Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (or Numsa), the country's largest union, are downing tools today and gearing up for protest marches after last-gasp talks failed to yield a deal on wages and other issues.

The union's members would take part in marches in several cities including the commercial capital Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, Numsa spokesperson Castro Ngobese said.

He said there were no talks at the moment and none were scheduled.

Numsa will also picket the headquarters of power utility Eskom on Wednesday to press for a wage increase of 12%, which is nearly double the current inflation rate. Employers have offered raises of up to 8%.

Authorities in Mauritania have rejected a challenge to President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz's victory in this month's election, giving him another five years in power.

Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, an anti-slavery campaigner who came second in the June 21 vote, last week lodged a complaint against Abdel Aziz's victory, in which he won 82% of the vote.

However, the Constitutional Council, the top authority on election results, rejected the complaint, according to a statement issued late on Sunday that gave no further details. The decision cannot be challenged.

Ould Abeid, who won 9% of the vote, said that he would decide later what action to take but be didn’t for now plan to call for street protests.

 

Agang SA members who were involved in a meeting called to suspend leader Mamphela Ramphele have been expelled, the party said on Monday.

"Agang SA's NEC has taken the decision to summarily expel the ringleaders and to suspend others involved in the illegitimate unconstitutional meeting and decisions," Agang interim spokesperson Philip Machanick said in a statement.

The meeting was held on Sunday in Alexandra, Johannesburg.

Machanick said formal notices were being drawn up and would be issued to those concerned.

The party's deputy president Andries Tlouamma said on Sunday that Ramphele was suspended as president of the party, with a disciplinary hearing pending.

Also making headlines:

There was mixed reaction from the African National Congress and Economic Freedom Fighters after President Jacob Zuma signed into law the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill and the Property Valuation Bill.

Nigerian troops have arrested a businessman suspected of being at the head of a Boko Haram intelligence network that helped plan the abduction of more than 200 school girls in the northeast.

And, Ugandan troops in Central African Republic have killed at least 15 fighters from the mainly Muslim Seleka force, a group that has carved out fiefdoms in the country since leaving power earlier this year.

Also on Polity today:

Be sure to watch our interview with Professor Shireen Hassim on the ANC Women’s League.

Also, read the report by Human Rights Watch which documents abuses in PYD-run enclaves of Syria.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.