For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Ramaphosa concerned about financial systems used in wars, stresses use of local currencies; Popcru president says aggregation of SA crime stats flawed, calls for review; And, Zimbabweans vote but hopes of ending economic freefall appear dim

Ramaphosa concerned about financial systems used in wars, stresses use of local currencies

President Cyril Ramaphosa noted on Wednesday that global financial and payments systems are increasingly being used as instruments of geopolitical contestation.

Ramaphosa was speaking during the second day of the fifteenth Brics Summit, currently underway in Johannesburg, where he said global economic recovery relies on predictable global payment systems and the smooth operation of banking, supply chains, trade, tourism and financial flows.

He highlighted that peace and stability are preconditions for a better, more equitable world.

Ramaphosa said South Africa is deeply concerned about global conflicts that continue to cause great suffering and hardship.

This comes as Russia continues its onslaught on Ukraine and as African countries face violence.

Popcru president says aggregation of SA crime stats flawed, calls for review

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union president Zizamele Cebekhulu said that South Africa’s current method of compiling crime statistics is flawed in data collection and methodology.

He was addressing delegates at the three-day Policing Indaba, being held in Johannesburg.

Cebekhulu said the recent crime statistics painted a bleak picture despite the small signs of improvements. He added that the country’s crime statistics were alarming and were not aligned with the realities facing citizens.

He called for a thorough review of the country’s crime statistics as a matter of urgency and argued that the police should question whether they are failing in the fight against crime.

Cebekhulu said operations of the Criminal Justice Act needed some cohesion and warned that if it was not done, the country was doomed to fail. 

And, Zimbabweans vote but hopes of ending economic freefall appear dim

Zimbabweans lined up to vote today saying they were hungry for change from relentless economic chaos, but analysts were sceptical that the ruling ZANU-PF party would allow a credible election or any loosening of its stranglehold on power.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is seeking re-election after a first term during which runaway inflation, currency shortages and sky-high unemployment left many Zimbabweans reliant on dollar remittances from relatives abroad to make ends meet.

Zimbabwe's chances of resolving a debt crisis and accessing World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans are at stake, as foreign lenders have said a free and fair election is a pre-condition for any meaningful talks.

Mnangagwa, who took over when longtime strongman Robert Mugabe was toppled in a 2017 military coup, faces 10 other candidates, including his main challenger, lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change.

It is the second contest between the two after Mnangagwa won a closely contested poll in 2018, which the opposition alleged was rigged, but which the country's constitutional court upheld.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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