For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: Mavuso says even the best NDPP will still face structural constraints if reform is not enacted; Ramaphosa dismisses Trump’s threat to bar South Africa from 2026 G20 summit; And, lawyer says Cameroonian opposition figure Ekane dies in detention

Mavuso says even the best NDPP will still face structural constraints if reform is not enacted

With six candidates having been shortlisted for possible appointment as the next National Director of Public Prosecutions, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso has stressed how critical this appointment is for business.

She cautioned that the selection panel for the position must choose a candidate with prosecutorial experience and integrity, but structural reforms are essential to empower whoever is appointed.

President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a committee to select the next NDPP as the current incumbent Shamila Batohi is set to retire next year.

Batohi has spent the last seven years rebuilding an institution that was deeply compromised by State capture, Mavuso explains; however, structural constraints limit what any NDPP can achieve under the current framework.

Ramaphosa dismisses Trump’s threat to bar South Africa from 2026 G20 summit

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dismissed US President Donald Trump's threat to exclude Pretoria from next year's G20 summit, reaffirming South Africa's status as a founding member of the group.

Washington boycotted the Group of 20 leaders' summit held under South Africa's presidency in Johannesburg on November 22-23, with Trump repeating allegations, widely discredited, that the host country's Black-majority government persecutes its white minority.

Trump said last Wednesday that South Africa would not be invited to the summit to be held in Florida next year because it had refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a senior representative of its embassy who was at the closing ceremony. Pretoria says it handed over the rotating presidency to a US embassy official.

"South Africa is and will remain a full, active and constructive member of the G20," Ramaphosa said in a state of the nation address on Sunday.

And, lawyer says Cameroonian opposition figure Ekane dies in detention

Cameroonian opposition leader Anicet Ekane, who supported a bid for president by a rival to the country's long-serving leader in October, died in detention today, his lawyer and family said, a development that may worsen political tensions.

Ekane, leader of the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy party, was arrested on October 24 following post-election demonstrations in what his party described as a "kidnapping" by Cameroonian soldiers.

He was being held on charges of hostility against the state, incitement to revolt, and calls for insurrection, accusations he denied. 

His death in detention could heighten tensions in the central African nation where security forces killed 48 civilians as they responded to protests against the re-election of President Paul Biya, the world's oldest ruler at 92, who has led his country since 1982.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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