African press review 8 February 2012

South Africa's Mineral Resources Minister, Susan Shabangu, is on the front page of the Johannesburg daily, BusinessDay, under the headline "Shabangu downplays mooted mining ‘super tax’".

Any changes to South Africa’s mining taxes will be handled carefully, with the focus on keeping the country internationally competitive to attract foreign investment and create jobs, Shabangu said on Tuesday. She downplayed proposals for a "super tax," recommended in a report commissioned by the African National Congress.

The Department of Mineral Resources and the National Treasury are in talks about tax changes for the mining sector.

The authors of the ANC study suggest the creation of a sovereign wealth fund for South Africa, financed by a 50% tax on mining companies’ "super profits".

Peter Leon, an African mining analyst at the law firm, Webber Wentzel, said the proposal of a 50% tax "effectively amounts to nationalisation by stealth", by bringing about "massive" indirect state intervention in the sector.

South Africa has a regulatory framework that is unpopular with investors, according to BusinessDay, and the country has slipped down global rankings in terms of attractiveness to mining companies.

The resource rent tax proposed by the ANC’s study group - which is more than double that of Australia’s new tax of 22,5% on coal and iron ore - will further deter foreign investors, according to BusinessDay.

The Sowetan reports that pandemonium broke out in Seshego, outside Polokwane, yesterday when supporters of ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, clashed with a group opposed to his leadership.

This was after Malema's detractors attacked his supporters driving in a motorcade to show support for the suspended youth leader.

The tension follows the outcome of the ANC's national disciplinary committee of appeals, which at the weekend upheld the guilty verdict by the national disciplinary committee against Malema on charges of bringing the party into disrepute.

COSATU, the Confederation of South African Trades Unions, plans to bring Gauteng to a halt next month. The labour federation expects every clinic, hospital, school and shop to close during the strike.

Cosatu's provincial shop stewards, who gathered at Regina Mundi Church in Soweto yesterday, were instructed to make sure that the provincial economy was brought to its knees.

The federation has threatened to embark on a national strike to demand a total ban of labour brokers and the removal of tollgates on Gauteng freeways.

In Kenya, The Daily Nation reports that a High Court judge has defended the Judiciary over claims that it is becoming too liberal in issuing orders and rulings.

Justice Nicholas Ombija said times had changed and people had to respect the Judiciary's independence.

Justice Ombija commented on his ruling of ordering the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir if he set foot in Kenya, which rattled diplomatic relations between Kenya and Sudan. He said the Constitution had given the Judiciary the leeway to expand the Bill of Rights and access to justice.

There have been complaints over the wave of orders and injunctions from the courts, with Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo on Monday warning that the trend threatened judicial reforms.