March 19, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lynne Davies.

Making headlines:

Civil society continues critical pushback against Electoral Matters Amendment Bill

CSIR urges strengthened cybersecurity measures ahead of elections

And, World Bank to provide Egypt with $6-billion over three years

Civil society continues critical pushback against Electoral Matters Amendment Bill

Nineteen civil society groups are appealing that Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Justice reject the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, warning that if passed and signed into law it will weaken transparency and accountability in party funding legislation.

The contentious Bill was passed by the National Assembly and is now with the Select Committee to be voted on. If passed, it will go to the National Council of Provinces and then to the President to sign into law.

Civil society groups have written to the Select Committee, arguing that several of the Bill’s proposed amendments are unconstitutional and that the public participation process was not adequate.

The group warns that if passed in its current form, amendments the Bill makes to the Political Party Funding Act will weaken transparency and accountability in our party funding legislation.

CSIR urges strengthened cybersecurity measures ahead of elections

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research research group leader in cybersecurity Dr Zubeida Dawood noted that the use of disinformation poses a serious threat to the upcoming elections, by manipulating public opinion and potentially influencing the election outcome.

Dawood was speaking during a CSIR media briefing on combatting fake news and misinformation during elections, where she said that it was crucial for voters to be vigilant and discerning in the face of potential manipulation.

She noted that social media played a significant role in the rapid spread of disinformation, owing to its wide user reach and viral nature, urging strengthened cybersecurity measures in advanced technologies to detect manipulated content.

She said this could be possible through collaboration between government, technology companies, research institutes and universities, as well as resiliently working against disinformation.

She announced that the CSIR had developed a human-centric framework for detecting fake news, which she said would be available to the public soon.

World Bank to provide Egypt with $6-billion over three years

The World Bank Group intends to provide more than $6-billion of support over the coming three years to Egypt, which has been struggling with a foreign currency crunch and gaping budget and balance of payments deficits.

The World Bank Group said $3-billion will go towards government programmes and $3-billion to the private sector, all subject to the group's board approval.

The announcement follows Egypt's signing on March 6 of a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund that expanded IMF support to Egypt by $5-billion and by an announcement on Sunday of $8.1 billion in financing from the European Union.

Egypt's central bank on March 6 let the pound plummet and said it would allow the currency to trade freely. The currency had been fixed against the dollar for 12 months.

Some $3-billion of the World Bank financing will be distributed to the government and its programmes over three years, with the first $1-billion expected to arrive by the end of June.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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