SA opposition elects black leader

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27 October 2011 Last updated at 13:40 GMT Ms Mazibuko hopes to appeal to black youth South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party has elected its first black parliamentary leader.

DA spokeswoman Lindiwe Mazibuko, 31, beat incumbent Athol Trollip, a white man, in the race for the job.

Analysts say her election shows the DA is trying to shed its image as a mainly-white party in a country where black people constitute the majority.

South Africa remains heavily polarised along racial lines, nearly 17 years after white minority rule ended.

Ms Mazibuko won the election with the backing of DA national leader Helen Zille, a white woman.

'Window-dressing'

She faced tough competition from Mr Trollip, a white political heavyweight who speaks several African languages and was seen in the party as a safe pair of hands, the BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg reports.

But the DA elected Ms Mazibuko because it knows it has to change its image if it is to meet its goal of unseating the governing African National Congress (ANC) party and forming a coalition government within a decade, our correspondent says.

The DA's critics dismiss Ms Mazibuko's election as window-dressing and say the party remains white-dominated.

Ms Mazibuko rejects the allegation.

She says that as a young black person, she has greater resonance with the youth who make up the vast majority of South Africa's unemployed.

The DA obtained 24% of the vote in the 2009 parliamentary elections.

Whites make up about 10% of South Africa's population.

The ANC has ruled South Africa since 1994, after spearheading a decades-long campaign to end apartheid.

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Judge approves settlement for black farmers

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WASHINGTON | Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:28am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday approved a $1.25 billion settlement in a decades-old discrimination case by black farmers, clearing the way for them to seek compensation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for being left out of farm aid programs.

The decision helps tens of thousands of farmers who had been denied part of an earlier 1999 settlement because they missed the filing deadline.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman wrote in an order approving the agreement that Congress by waiving the statute of limitations has further redressed "the historic discrimination against African-American farmers." He called the settlement "fair, reasonable, and adequate."

National Black Farmers Association president said it was "a very important step that should provide assurance to the black farmers that each of their cases will now move toward a resolution."

The black farmers reached this settlement with the government in February 2010 to compensate them for being left out of federal farm loan and assistance programs for years because of alleged racial discrimination.

The original Pigford class-action lawsuit, named after North Carolina farmer Timothy Pigford, was settled in 1999 for $1 billion, two years after a group of African-American farmers sued then Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Obama seeks to shore up black support in jobs push

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1 of 3. US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama greet guests at the conclusion of the Congressional Black Caucus black-tie dinner in Washington September 24, 2011.

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By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON | Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:21am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged black leaders on Saturday to "stop complaining" and help him push his jobs plan through the U.S. Congress, as he sought to bolster his eroding support in the black community amid concern over high unemployment.

In an impassioned speech to an awards banquet of the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama likened his efforts to win approval of his $447 billion jobs package to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and exhorted his audience to "march with me and press on."

Facing a tough 2012 re-election fight, Obama sought to shore up his once rock-solid base in the black community where polls show enthusiasm for his policies slipping while some politicians have started criticizing him for not focusing enough on disproportionately high black joblessness.

Obama, America's first black president and still a popular figure among black voters, acknowledged the frustration and appealed to his listeners to "keep the faith."

"I'm going to press on for jobs," Obama said to wild cheers. "Shake it off. Stop complaining. Stop grumbling. Stop crying. We are going to press on. We've got work to do."

Obama's re-election hopes may hinge on his ability to revive the stagnant U.S. economy and reduce 9.1 percent unemployment.

In the latest stop on his "pass this bill" tour, the Democratic president also seized the chance to keep pressure on Republicans over his jobs plan and taunt them for not embracing a package that includes tax breaks to spur company hiring.

Republicans have given Obama's jobs plan a cool reception and oppose tax hikes on wealthier Americans that would pay for it, saying it would discourage job creation.

But they have voiced a willingness to consider some of Obama's ideas, although they are wary because they see his earlier stimulus effort as packed with wasteful spending.

Obama said he had spoken to former President Bill Clinton, with whom he played golf earlier on Saturday, about his proposal to let expire tax cuts for richer Americans enacted under Republican President George W. Bush and revert to the rates that prevailed during Clinton's tenure.

"I was asking him, 'How did that go?' Obama said to laughter. "Well, it turns out we had a lot of jobs. The well-to-do, they did even better. So did the middle class. We lifted millions out of poverty."

SIGNS OF SOFTENING BLACK SUPPORT

Obama, who has adopted an increasingly populist tone to reconnect with liberals complaining he has not done enough for their causes, dismissed as "bad crazy" the notion put forth by some Republicans that it is the poor, not the rich, who should pay more in taxes.

Even as Obama's overall poll numbers have declined, cracks have begun to show in his support among blacks, a key constituency that helped propel him to victory in the 2008 presidential election.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week showed 58 percent of blacks held "strongly favorable" views of him, down from 83 percent five months ago. That coincides with black unemployment that has ticked up to close to 16 percent on Obama's watch.

The poll also showed 86 percent of blacks saying they viewed him at least somewhat favorably.

Obama's continued popularity among blacks, who voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008, was underscored by the warm reception he received on Saturday night from an audience that included black members of Congress and civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)

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