SA: Crisis looms as ministers resign

Crisis stirs South Africa in the face as most of its key sector ministers including the respected finance minister, Trevor Manuel, resigned on Tuesday. Media reports say that situation went sour on the country’s financial market as news of Manuel’s resignation broke out.However, the former Finance minister who is reported to be in the USA, said he was ready to serve the new government. The country’s spokeswoman for the Treasury Thoraya Pandy said Manuel had resigned as a member of the cabinet and felt duty bound to do so as he served at the pleasure of President Thabo Mbeki who had resigned.More than a third of the cabinet had stepped down after President Mbeki resigned, deepening the biggest political crisis since the end of apartheid, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.The report said 10 ministers and the deputy president had resigned out of a cabinet of 30 following Mbeki’s decision on Sunday to step down after his ruling African National Congress (ANC) withdrew its support.Other ministers who are reported to have resigned following loyalty to Mbeki include, Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota and Minister of Public Enterprise Alec Erwin. Mbeki’s resignation followed accusations of meddling in a long running graft case against the ANC leader Jacob Zuma who defeated him in December.The resignations are likely to bring tension and raise investor fears of political instability. However, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told News 24 on Tuesday that there was no crisis in the country following the resignations of the ministers. “Things will be going as normal,” he said.

Ethiopia coffee trades in New York Market

An electronic system has been introduced to improve the sale of coffee in Ethiopia, Africa`s largest producer of the commodity. Trading would be conducted in the afternoons so as to link it up with the New York market. The new system is scheduled to commence in October 2008.The Director of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), Eleni Gebremedhin said the development would link trade with the US market. According to a Reuter’s report, to participate in the electronic trade, sellers will be required to produce warehouse receipts and buyers will have to show a pre-trade deposit in the banks. Ethiopia, the birth place of coffee, made a tremendous achievement last season when it exported 170,888 tonnes of coffee and earned US$525.2 million.In a related development Tanzania’s coffee prices mostly eased at last week’s auction, but managed to outdo markets in New York and the amount sold dropped, traders said. The Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said on Monday that 32,623 60-kg bags were offered for sale, with 16,926 sold.At last week’s auction, 30,655 60-kg bags were offered for sale, with 29,386 bags sold adding that benchmark grade AA sold at US$170.00-$130.00 per 50-kg bag, compared with US$163.60-$135.00 per bag at the previous sale.

Electricity monopoly broken in DRC

Private companies can now invest in the electricity sector of DRC after a draft code was given prominence by the country’s energy minister. The National Electricity Company will no longer be the only company to operate. The draft code is a new legal framework for management and operation of the sector.The Director of Société National d’Eléctrcité (SNEL), Albert Mbafumoya explained: “We have a society that has a virtual monopoly in electricity. So the idea is to ensure that private operators can enter this market. You can imagine that some corners of the Republic or certain other parties could be exploited by private.”“We have prepared a bill to make the sector for the arrival of private operators in the sector. Establish a new legal framework for management and operation of the electricity sector, i.e. it would have guardianship of the state is less burdensome on the electricity sector. This project must now be endorsed by civil society. There will be a workshop by the end of October,” he added.Kibiswa Naupes, the moderator of the International public sector said: “It’s a good idea to try to involve civil society in improving a code designed at government level; the second thing is that it is also good to design a system which regulates the price competition.”“But attention is that when competition regulates prices, there have also mechanisms that protect the weak, i.e. low income. But in this country, liberalism advance faster than the social. This means that the big winners continue to gain advantage on small and the state does not sufficiently protect small. So, it is also necessary that in this code, it is expected mechanisms that protect the small winners and especially rural people who can not pay the electric current has a price fixed at the rate of large sizes,” he added.The civil society in the in the Democratic Republic of Congo have welcomed the government’s initiative of involving them in the whole process. However, it calls for price regulation in the electricity sector, because, as the moderator of the Inter-Congolese national, it should also protect low-income and mostly rural populations who can not pay the electric current.