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/ 18 October 2007
World trade talks appeared to be making progress on Wednesday as the leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa said they were committed to reaching a deal. The leaders said differences with rich countries were still blocking agreement in the Doha round, launched nearly six years ago to help developing countries grow out of poverty and boost the world economy by opening up global trade.
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/ 17 October 2007
The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday vowed to push the interests of poor nations in stalled international trade talks and said any agreement would have to benefit the developing world. Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki met at a summit in Pretoria.
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/ 11 October 2007
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President Thabo Mbeki’s chances of staying on as leader of South Africa’s ruling party improved on Thursday when the party said the biggest share of regional votes in a leadership contest would go to his stronghold. Mbeki, barred from seeking re-election as national president in 2009, has signalled he intends to stand for a third term as African National Congress (ANC) leader.
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/ 10 October 2007
Southern Africa is on track to form a free trade zone by 2008 and is still considering establishment of a customs union. ”We will be able to meet the deadline of the FTA [Free Trade Area] and we are seeing what we can do to meet the customs union,” Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, a South African trade official.
The Scorpions crime unit is in the political spotlight again amid reports it was preparing to arrest the nation’s police commissioner, the latest high-profile official targeted by the elite force. Unease over the unit has been building within the ruling African National Congress since President Thabo Mbeki announced the formation of the FBI-style crime unit in 1999.
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The Constitutional Court ruling on Tuesday dismissing Schabir Shaik’s application to appeal his conviction and sentence for corruption and fraud may have cleared the way for presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma to face corruption charges again, the latest twist in a political drama gripping the country.
South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday his government may cut tariffs on some imported equipment and goods in a bid to boost the manufacturing sector. Mbeki said a healthier manufacturing sector was critical to the government’s efforts to narrow the country’s trade deficit.
The leadership of South Africa’s communist party has signalled it wants to stay allied to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) rather than contest elections independently. A proposal to run a separate slate of candidates in the 2009 elections was put forth at the South African Communist Party national congress this week, but was quickly sidelined.
South Africa and other African nations will insist that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe be allowed to attend a long-delayed summit between the European Union (EU) and Africa later this year. Mugabe and more than 100 other Zimbabwean officials are banned from travelling to EU nations under sanctions imposed in 2002.
Researchers, scientists and healthcare workers resolved on Friday to open a new front in South Africa’s war on Aids, encouraged by the government’s fresh approach to the crisis and improved weapons to protect those most at risk of infection.