September 17, 2018.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sashnee Moodley.

Making headlines:

Cosatu expected to elect first female president as 13th congress kicks off

SA editor’s forum warns SABC to consider retrenchments as last resort

And, Ramaphosa shares proposed stimulus package with business, labour

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is likely to elect its first female president Zingiswa Losi as it sits for its 13th national congress this week.

Losi is Cosatu's second deputy president, alongside Tyotyo James, under the leadership of Sdumo Dlamini.

More than 2 000 delegates are expected to convene in Midrand today to discuss the state of the federation and elect new leadership.

African National Congress President Cyril Ramaphosa and South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande are among those expected to speak today.

The South African National Editors Forum said today that it would closely monitor the retrenchment process at the cash-strapped public broadcaster the SABC, adding that the corporation should contemplate job cuts only if all other cost cutting options had been explored.

This comes after the SABC announced on Friday that it had met with unions to inform them it was contemplating implementing Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act as part of a number of cost-cutting measures.

The SABC reported a net loss of R622-million for the 2017/2018 financial year, with one of the biggest cost drivers being the salary bill. The SABC is a R7.2-billion revenue generating company with a salary bill of R3.1-billion.

In a statement, Sanef said part of the dire financial situation the SABC finds itself in was due to the reckless mismanagement epitomised by former chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has shared an outline of the economic stimulus package adopted by Cabinet to spark economic activity and secure confidence in sectors affected by regulatory uncertainty with South Africa’s business and labour leaders.

The Presidency said Ramaphosa presented highlights of the package, to be announced publicly soon, during a consultative meeting on Friday which focused on economic recovery, investment and creating jobs.

The stimulus package will include a defined set of economic reforms covering mining, telecommunications, tourism and transport.

The economy has struggled to grow meaningfully over the past decade, and fell into a technical recession when GDP contracted for the second consecutive quarter in Q2.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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