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SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 190 31 July-6 August - OCHA IRIN

Sunday 19 September 2004


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 190 31 July-6 August

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

SOUTH AFRICA: Government denies al-Qaeda threat
ZIMBABWE: Concerns over possible maize shortage
NAMIBIA: UN body asks govt to probe abuse in prisons
ANGOLA: Expulsion of illegal miners resumes
MALAWI: Mutharika acts on corruption promise
SWAZILAND: Rural health "motivators" could ease professional shortage
ZAMBIA: Despite surplus pockets of food insecurity remain

SOUTH AFRICA: Government denies al-Qaeda threat

Pakistani authorities are "processing" a South African government request to access two of its nationals who have reportedly confessed to planning terror attacks in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.

Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told IRIN on Thursday that investigations into the activities of the two men were at a "preliminary" stage, but refused to provide any further details.

The pair - Feroze Abubakar Ganchi and Zubair Ismail - were arrested after a gun battle last week in the eastern Pakistani city of Gujrat, along with alleged Tanzanian al-Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.

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Skills shortage could affect development projects

The current shortage of skilled labour in South Africa may affect the country's ability to implement long-term development projects, human resource experts warned on Tuesday.

Dr Simon McGrath of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) cautioned that unless the labour authorities sought ways to improve skills development programmes and stem the exodus of professionals, implementing large-scale projects could require the "import of foreign workers to meet the demand".

"One of the biggest challenges for the government is to find ways of keeping skilled South Africans at home. Undertaking this, coupled with increasing workplace learnerships, will likely improve the current skills shortages but, clearly, what is needed now is a comprehensive strategy that deals with ongoing unemployment, at the same time increasing efforts to improve skills," McGrath told IRIN.

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Campaign to create awareness on sexual offences law

South African NGOs involved in gender violence issues are to launch a week-long campaign in Johannesburg on Monday to create public awareness around the Sexual Offences Bill, currently before parliament.

"Since the parliament is in session this month, the awareness campaign is also an attempt to lobby for the bill's enactment," Lisa Vetten of the Johannesburg-based Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation told IRIN.

South Africa has one of the highest incidences of sexual abuse in the world. According to police statistics, 52,107 rapes and attempted rapes were reported in 2002, while a 1999 health department study found that seven percent of women aged between 15 and 49 had been raped or coerced into having sex against their will.

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Constitutional court rejects mercenaries' appeal to go home

South Africa's highest court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by 70 alleged mercenaries seeking extradition from Zimbabwe.

The men were arrested on board a plane that landed at Harare International airport and are being held on charges of conspiring to topple the president of Equatorial Guinea. All of them hold South African passports.

Since their arrest in March, the group has been trying to get the South African authorities to intervene to stop their extradition to the West African state, once their trial in Harare is completed.

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"Govt can afford a basic income grant for the poor"

The South African government can provide a Basic Income Grant (BIG) to the poor by raising taxes, according to research commissioned by a coalition of civil society organisations.

Calling itself the BIG coalition, the body comprising the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the South African Council of Churches and Black Sash has been lobbying for a grant of at least R100 (about US $16) to be paid to the poor for several years.

A 2004 government report reviewing the impact of its policies since coming to power 10 years ago said one-third of all households in the country were living below the poverty line and the number of jobless people had increased to 4.3 million from 1.9 million in 1995.

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ZIMBABWE: Concerns over possible maize shortage

Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has received about 119,000 mt of maize out of an expected 1.2 million mt since the marketing season began in April, the official newspaper, the Herald reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted GMB's acting chief executive Winston Dzawo as saying that the parastatal had been receiving about 30,000 mt of maize every week and deliveries were expected to reach a peak in the middle of this month.

The Zimbabwean government has forecast a bumper harvest of over two million mt for the staple food, maize. However, other analysts have consistently warned the crop is likely to be well below national demand, estimated at 1.8 million mt.

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Talk of dialogue over electoral reforms

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF on Tuesday called for the support of its opposition rival, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to amend the constitution to allow electoral reforms before next year's parliamentary poll.

"We only need four votes from the opposition to form a [two-thirds] majority and then make constitutional amendments to enable us to implement the electoral reforms, and we hope the MDC will join us in effecting the reforms," ZANU-PF secretary for information and publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, said at a two-day conference in the resort town of Victoria Falls on democratising Southern Africa's electoral laws.

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Book fair suffers impact of economic crisis

The annual Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) was this year described as a "non-event" by the publishing industry, acknowledging that books had become a luxury for Zimbabweans struggling to make ends meet.

"Libraries and books are among the casualties of the economic challenges facing our country today," said ZIBF director Samuel Matasangaise. "Individuals have to make a hard choice between spending their bearer cheque [Zimbabwe currency] on the latest book by their favourite author, or a child textbook, and using scarce money to replenish their dwindling food basket."

The public and major authors were absent from this key annual event in the publishing industry, which opened on Tuesday under the theme 'Voices: Dialogue Across Nations'. "People cannot come here on empty stomachs, so the bottom line is that people want to have food first before reading a book," noted poet Freedom Mubaya.

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NAMIBIA: UN body asks govt to probe abuse in prisons

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has asked the Namibian government to consider establishing an independent body to investigate violations of rights in prisons and places of detention and acts of police brutality in general, IRIN reported on Thursday.

The UN committee periodically examines reports submitted by member states on their efforts to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Government representatives introduce the reports and respond to oral and written questions from UNHRC members.

The committee released its final recommendations on Namibia last week and expressed concern over the high number of unregistered customary marriages in Namibia, which deprive women and children of their rights to inheritances and land ownership.

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ANGOLA: Expulsion of illegal miners resumes

Angolan security forces are again arresting and expelling illegal Congolese and West African diamond traffickers but there have been few signs of a repeat of the violence seen earlier this year, according to aid and humanitarian workers.

Sources said Angolan authorities had begun repatriating illegal workers in three diamond-rich northern provinces following the end of a 45-day moratorium last month and that, so far, the process seemed to be orderly and without the abuse that characterised a previous crackdown.

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UNITA demands arrest of attackers

Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, on Wednesday called for the immediate arrest of those responsible for attacks against its supporters in recent months.

UNITA vice-president Ernesto Mulato told IRIN that bringing criminal charges against the alleged culprits would "convince" the local population and the international community that the ruling MPLA was not behind the attacks.

UNITA has raised concerns since last year over increased incidents of intimidation of its members by individuals allegedly belonging to MPLA militia groups. Last month several homes were torched in two attacks in the eastern province of Moxico, which UNITA claimed were politically motivated.

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UNHCR ready to help Angolans return home

Angolan refugees living in South Africa can now return home with the assistance of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, an official said on Monday.

"There are currently 13,000 Angolan refugees in South Africa. In the next few weeks we will have an estimate of the people who want to go back," UNHCR spokesperson Melita Sunjic told IRIN.

Until 2002, when a peace accord between government and UNITA rebels was signed, there were around 441,000 Angolan refugees living in neighbouring countries. Since then 218,000 Angolan refugees have returned home, either on their own or with assistance from UNHCR repatriation operations, the agency said.

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MALAWI: Mutharika acts on corruption promise

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika's administration made its first arrest for fraud and corruption after coming into office in May this year, IRIN reported this week.

The deputy research director of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Humphreys Mvula, was arrested last week on Friday in the commercial capital, Blantyre. The newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP,) Ismael Wadi, told reporters that Mvula was facing charges of corruption, fraud and tax evasion.

Wa Mutharika had promised in June to "strengthen the Anti-Corruption Bureau" and that "no politician, no minister, no public servant will escape if he/she is found to be corrupt".

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Opportunities for the disabled

Increased economic opportunities for people living with disabilities in Malawi are seen as key to improving the livelihoods of this often-marginalised group, IRIN reported on Tuesday.

President Bingu wa Mutharika promised to tackle falling literacy rates and widespread poverty among all Malawians, including people with disabilities, soon after he assumed power earlier this year.

"There is a strong link between poverty and disability; poverty makes people more vulnerable to disability and disability deepens poverty. Boys and girls with disabilities attend schools less frequently than those with ability," wa Mutharika said.

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SWAZILAND: Rural health "motivators" could ease professional shortage

IRIN cited a warning from the World Health Organisation (WHO), who reported on Tuesday that a critical shortage of health professionals in Swaziland is undermining the public health system's capacity to expand its national antiretroviral programme.

A recent situation analysis carried out by WHO revealed the extent of the problem in a country with one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. The study noted there was an overall lack of staff in key areas of the health sector, resulting in services either being stopped or quality of care being compromised.

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Neighbours pool resources for OVC

Swazi community members and organisations are combining resources to set up a growing network of care centres for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), IRIN reported on Thursday.

The centres, called Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs), cater to the nutritional, educational and emotional needs of the country's growing OVC population at 320 NCPs scattered throughout its four regions.

"When we told them [the OVC] that we were volunteers and we might have to leave and close the centre, the children began to weep and they told us they would have no place else to go," said Phepsile Dlamini, a teacher at the Malkerns care point, 35 km southeast of the capital, Mbabane.

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ZAMBIA: Despite surplus pockets of food insecurity remain

The World Food Programme (WFP) fed almost 830,000 Zambians last month, even though the country produced surplus food this year, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

After its recent harvest boom Zambia is expected to export an estimated 120,000 mt of maize. But despite the good harvest overall, pockets of food insecurity remain, particularly in the western region where farmers lost crops with the flooding of the Zambezi river at the beginning of the year.

WFP regional spokesman Mike Huggins on Wednesday noted that about 542,000 beneficiaries had received food aid in the agency's current emergency operations. WFP distributed assistance to more than 100,000 refugees last month, while 170,000 people in development projects were helped.

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[ENDS]

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 195 for 4-10 September 2004, 17/Sep/04

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 196 for 11-17 September 2004, 17/Sep/04

Ongoing crises undermine sustainable development, 16/Sep/04

Regional food security and vulnerability information proposed, 7/Sep/04

San call for greater recognition of their languages, 6/Sep/04

Other recent reports:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 195 for 4-10 September 2004, 17/Sep/04

IRAQ: IRAQ CRISIS: Weekly round-up Number 79 for 11-17 September, 17/Sep/04

SWAZILAND: Constitution to be passed by parliament, 17/Sep/04

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 196 for 11-17 September 2004, 17/Sep/04

HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly 211 for 11-17 September 2004, 17/Sep/04

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