July 6, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shannon de Ryhove.
Making headlines:

Former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the recent Alliance summit was silent on key issues.

Burundi rejects its new UN mediator after a critical report about elections.

And, there’s a caustic political reaction to Prasa’s R600-million train tender.

The statement issued by the African National Congress and its alliance partners after a summit last week was silent on several key issues, including the crises in State-owned enterprises. Former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said this was in conflict with the views the Congress of South African Trade Unions (or Cosatu) was supposed to have.

Vavi said the most outrageous feature of the statement was its silence on the basic “bread-and-butter issues” facing the working class. He said there was not a word about the crisis of mass unemployment, poverty and inequality.

The ANC, the South African Communist Party, Cosatu, and the South African National Civic Organisation met over five days from June 27 to July 1.

Vavi said there was only a general statement by the alliance on the developmental role of State-owned enterprises, with the summit statement saying nothing about the ongoing crises in many State-owned enterprises and public institutions. The only exception was the SABC, said Vavi, though even there it fell short of demanding the implementation of the Public Protector’s damning report.

Burundi has rejected a second UN diplomat named to help resolve the country's political crisis, saying a critical report about last week's parliamentary elections demonstrated bias.

The tiny east African country plunged into turmoil in late April when protests erupted in response to President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term. The opposition boycotted the June 29 parliamentary election and says it will boycott the July 15 presidential vote.

The rejection of Abdoulaye Bathily came in response to a UN report saying its mission in Burundi had observed restrictions on media freedoms, arbitrary detentions and acts of violence around the June 29 vote.

The previous UN mediator, Said Djinnit, left the role after only a few weeks after criticism from the opposition that he was biased in the government's favour, a charge he dismissed. Djinnit remains UN special envoy to the Great Lakes region.

The Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters had caustic reactions to reports that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (or Prasa) imported brand new locomotives worth R600-million despite explicit warnings that the trains were not suited for local rail lines.

Senior railways engineers and sources with first-hand knowledge of the issue told a Sunday newspaper that Prasa had been warned that the new diesel locomotives it ordered from Spanish manufacturer Vossloh España were too tall for local use.

The locomotives exceed the height restrictions for diesel locomotives on the long distance lines Prasa intended using them on.

The 13 Afro 4000 diesel locomotives that have so far been delivered to Prasa are worth R600-million and form part of a larger R3.5-billion order for 70 new locomotives.

Prasa, however, denied the allegations.

Also making headlines:

Tunisia's president declares a state of emergency after a hotel attack killed 38 people.

Six hunters in the Democratic Republic of Congo who fell sick and were suspected to have Ebola have tested negative for the virus.

Suspended Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride is expected to make a formal application to his disciplinary hearing on Monday for the stay of proceedings pending a court challenge.

And, Government says it will not be held to ransom by aggrieved taxi owners who are opposing the modernisation of public transport.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.