Zuma to chair B-BBEE meeting

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma returned from Zambia on Friday to chair the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Advisory Council meeting, the presidency said.

The B-BBEE meeting was being held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement.

According to an advisory on government's website the council was expected to receive progress reports from its Sub-Committees of Ownership and Structuring of B-BBEE deals, Enterprise Development, Access to Finance and Procurement, Human Resource Development and Legislation, Charters, Compliance and Enforcement.

In addition to the issues already on the agenda, they would deliberate specifically on the role of B-BBEE in job creation.

Zuma was in Livingstone, Zambia, participating in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika Summit on the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

"The Troika Summit discussed and made recommendations regarding the political and security situation in the region, in particular in the Republics of Madagascar and Zimbabwe," he said.

Foreign news agency AFP reported that Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai asked the regional security summit to stop what he said was a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe ahead of expected polls.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai said they were ready for elections that would put an end to the transitional unity government, but Tsvangirai said he wanted SADC to lay out a "roadmap" to polls.

Zambian President Rupiah Banda chaired SADC's security "troika" of Zuma and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.