May 2, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

The African Development Bank outlines its ‘transformational’ ten-year Africa growth strategy.

Security forces in Chad prevent a coup attempt.

And, a survey reveals that South Africa has a long way to go in dealing with jobs and equality.

 

The African Development Bank (or AfDB) Group has released a new ten-year Africa-focused development strategy for 2013 to 2022.  It focuses on the economic transformation of the continent and was agreed upon following board approval and a lengthy consultation process.

The strategy identified infrastructure development, regional economic integration, private sector development, governance and accountability, and skills and technology as the five primary “channels” through which the bank would aim to bolster growth in Africa.

It would further seek new ways of mobilising resources in support of the continent’s transformation, most particularly through leveraging the continent’s own resources.

The AfDB planned to attract new investors through the wider use of public–private partnerships, co-financing arrangements and risk-mitigation instruments.

Security forces in Chad foiled a coup against the government of President Idriss Deby that had been in preparation for several months. The West African desert nation's communications minister Hassan Sylla Bakary announced late on Wednesday that a group of individuals with bad intentions sought to carry out an action to destabilise the institutions of the republic.

The impoverished former French colony has a long history of coups and rebellions, and Deby himself led rebel troops into the capital N'Djamena in 1990 to seize power.

He has since won four elections and cast himself as a key ally of the West against al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters across the vast, arid Sahel region.

Bakary said the suspected plotters had been handed over to the state prosecutor. However, he didn’t reveal their identities or give further details of the plot.

 

A recently released Pulse of the People survey undertaken by research firm Ipsos has found that 38%, or less than four in every ten of adult South Africans, is employed.

The survey, released earlier this week, found that 28% of the working age population were employed full-time and 10% part time, while 4% of those surveyed were home executives, 13% students and 11% retired.

In many surveys post-1994, unemployment and the slow process of job creation were revealed as the largest of the challenges faced by the country.

“South Africa still has a long way to go in terms of dealing with unemployment and inequality,” the survey said, noting that women made up the higher proportion of those who were unemployed and educated.

Also making headlines:

President Jacob Zuma urges organised labour to pay more attention to the living conditions of miners and farmworkers.

A R500-million investment consolidates the Western Cape as a global call centre hub.

One of 27 South African soldiers injured in March in fighting against rebels in Central African Republic has died, bringing the total killed in the clashes to 14.

And, failure by Guinea's politicians to reach agreement for a long-delayed legislative poll is stirring up tribal violence.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.