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SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 222 for 12-18 March 2005 - OCHA IRIN

Friday 25 March 2005


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 222 for 12-18 March 2005

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

CONTENTS:

NAMIBIA: End of an era as Nujoma steps down
ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics
ANGOLA: Report highlights plight of returnees
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Dry spell causes concern for harvest
SWAZILAND: Govt embarks on anti-corruption drive
SOUTH AFRICA: SANDF will not tolerate rights abuses
NAMIBIA: Recount confirms ruling party victory
MADAGASCAR: Death toll in flooding rises
ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme
MOZAMBIQUE: Maputo - overcrowded, underfunded

NAMIBIA: End of an era as Nujoma steps down

On Monday Namibia enters a new era - one without President Sam Nujoma at the helm. After 15 years of rule, the white-bearded liberation war leader, affectionately known as "the old man", hands over to his successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba.

At the final cabinet meeting this week, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab paid tribute to Nujoma's leadership and described him as an "extraordinary son of the soil".

Nujoma, 75, said he was retiring in the knowledge that the foundations for democracy and economic prosperity had been laid through the collective leadership of his colleagues in the SWAPO party, which he has led for more than four decades.

Full report

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ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on the global community to "differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe".

"Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS; every day children are becoming infected, orphaned and forced to leave school to care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children, who are facing a deadly crisis every day of their lives," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Despite the world's fourth highest rate of HIV infection, and the greatest rise in child mortality in any nation, Zimbabweans were receiving just a fraction of donor funding compared to other countries in the region, UNICEF noted.

Full report

SA opposition describes run-up to poll as "alarming"

Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) members of the South African parliamentary observer mission to Zimbabwe have described their initial impressions of the electoral process as "alarming".

DA representatives reported that "there is widespread intimidation of opposition members and supporters", and members of NGOs were arrested when they tried to conduct voter education programmes, party leader Tony Leon wrote in his weekly letter.

Responding for the parliamentary team, senior African National Congress (ANC) official, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, told IRIN: "It is too early to comment on the situation as we are still in the process of deploying people to the various provinces. Any information that any member could have would only be hearsay and any comment they make is not on behalf of the team."

Full report

Concern over the absence of SADC and EISA teams at poll

Human rights activists and election observers are concerned that two of the "most credible" election observer groups in Southern African will not be in Zimbabwe for the 31 March elections.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum and the Johannesburg-based Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) have not been invited to observe the Zimbabwean general elections.

Full report

Media watchdog calls for govt to allow banned paper to reopen

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Zimbabwean authorities to allow the Daily News, once the country's largest selling newspaper, to reopen.

The call followed a Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruling on Monday that the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) reconsider a 2003 decision to deny registration to the banned newspaper and its sister publication, the Daily News on Sunday.

However, the court ruled against the privately owned newspaper's constitutional challenge to certain sections of the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Full report

Govt begins investigating NGOs over funding

The Zimbabwean government has appointed an eight-member taskforce to investigate allegations that 13 NGOs failed to provide details of donor funds channelled into the country through them last year.

Earlier this month the government announced that it might soon de-register at least 30 NGOs because they had failed to account for part of the US $88 million sent into Zimbabwe via their organisations, in response to an appeal for aid last year. Since then 17 of those NGOs had met the 11 March deadline for submitting their accounts, the official newspaper The Herald reported on Wednesday.

Full report

Govt dismisses rights body's claims as 'lies'

Zimbabwe's government has dismissed claims by the rights group, Amnesty International (AI), that free participation of eligible voters in the 31 March poll is impossible.

"It is a complete lie," said government spokesman George Charamba on Thursday. Describing Amnesty International as a "political player" in the electoral process, he questioned the organisation's neutrality. "We know that Amnesty International is at the heart of organising residual opposition currently in South Africa - holding demonstrations against the [Zimbabwean] government at the Beit Bridge border."

Full report

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ANGOLA: Report highlights plight of returnees

A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that the vast population of refugees returning to Angola face harassment and sexual assault.

'Coming Home: Return and Reintegration in Angola', alleged that despite almost three years of peace, the government has provided little in the way of basic social services, employment or education to returnees.

"Hundreds of thousands of recently returned refugees, internally displaced persons [IDPs] and former combatants face daunting challenges in reintegrating into Angolan society, with little government assistance," the New York-based watchdog said in a statement.

Full report

Flooding leaves at least 10,000 homeless

Flooding in Angola's northern Kwanza Norte province has left at least 10,000 people without shelter and created conditions ripe for malaria and diarrhoeal diseases.

A United Nations team returning from the affected area said local government, with the support of the Ministry for Assistance and Social Reintegration (MINARS), was managing to get urgent assistance to the area, but people remained vulnerable.

"We're not talking about a large-scale disaster with widespread consequences, but there are urgent needs that are not being met," said Matthew Olins, senior field coordinator at the Transitional Coordination Unit in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Full report

Change slow to arrive for Luanda's frustrated citizens

A clapped-out old car edges its way around the muddy potholes and bumper-to-bumper traffic, nudging through the crowds of hawkers on the road from downtown Luanda to the shanty suburb of Hoji-ya-Henda.

Irritated by the painfully slow progress, the driver winds down his window and yells at the crowds to get out of the way, nearly gagging as the putrid stench of garbage filters into his vehicle.

The five-kilometre journey takes 40 minutes through overcrowded suburbs, along bone-shaking roads, through disease-ridden rubbish, and illustrates just a few of the challenges faced by those living in and around Angola's capital.

Full report

Campaign attacks high child mortality rate

The Angolan government is boosting its efforts to slash the country's high child mortality statistics with a week-long campaign to encourage three million children to access basic healthcare.

Supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the 'health days' are taking place across the country in a bid to immunise newborns and children under five against some of the biggest child-killers.

Full report

Death toll from mystery fever rises to 77

The number of people killed by a mystery illness in Angola's northern Uige province has risen to 77, health officials said on Friday.

The cause of the outbreak, characterised by fever, coughing and vomiting, sometimes with blood, is still unknown. But the government is so concerned it has sent blood samples to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, the officials said.

The health ministry is advising people not to enter or leave Uige, while diplomatic sources said the airport had been closed.

Full report

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SOUTHERN AFRICA: Dry spell causes concern for harvest

Dry conditions during February have raised concerns of possible failed harvests in several Southern African countries, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).

February "is critical in determining final harvest expectations ... and was characterised by a prolonged dry spell in many parts of the SADC region", FEWS NET explained. "Areas affected include southern and central Malawi (particularly southern Malawi), southern and central Mozambique, southern half of Zimbabwe, Swaziland, northernmost parts of South Africa, southern Zambia, and Botswana".

Full report

New thinking needed on impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture

The impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture in Southern Africa is now well recognised. But a new report is calling for a rethink of current views on the effects of the epidemic and more concrete and specific regional responses.

Despite current thinking on the effects of the epidemic on farming, which has mainly been based on qualitative methods, the study found that most quantitative household-level studies gave "a less catastrophic assessment of the impacts of rising AIDS-related mortality on the agricultural sector".

Full report

SADC prepares for the African Standby Force

Military experts from member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are meeting regularly to prepare for the formation of a standby peacekeeping brigade in the region by the end of this year, a senior official told IRIN this week.

"Troops will be volunteered by the member states according to their capacity, as and when the need arises," explained Magang Phologane, political officer in the SADC Organ for Politics, Defence and Security.

Full report

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SWAZILAND: Govt embarks on anti-corruption drive

Swaziland's justice ministry will table an Anti-Corruption Bill in the next few weeks, in an effort to curb malpractices that government leaders say the impoverished nation cannot afford.

"I certainly look forward to the Ministry of Justice giving teeth to the Anti-Corruption Unit this year. The twin evils of bribery and corruption have become the order of the day in the country," Finance Minister Majozi Sithole told IRIN.

Full report

Summit with South Africa indefinitely postponed

A summit between King Mswati III and South African President Thabo Mbeki has been indefinitely postponed, a Swazi foreign ministry source told IRIN on Tuesday. Pro-Democracy groups had hoped that Mbeki would use the occasion to press for political reform in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.

"The original date of the summit, 23 March, proved too close to the Easter holiday weekend, which begins 25 March," a ministry source told IRIN. He said no substitute date had been proposed for the first face-to-face private meeting between the leaders.

Full report

Elderly bear burden of orphan crisis

Ninety percent blind in both eyes, Babe (Father in SiSwati) Simelane, who estimates he is 72 years old, could make out only the roughest outline of his son's face when he died from an AIDS related illness last year, leaving two young sons.

His age and poor eyesight have made it difficult for Simelane, a widower, to support his grandchildren.

"Mandla took care of me; he brought in the harvests. Now he is dead. The boys - at least they get fed at school," said Simelane. He lives in the mountainous northern Hhohho region, where ample rainfall and a network of flowing rivers make the lush area vastly different to the drought-affected south and east.

Full report

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SOUTH AFRICA: SANDF will not tolerate rights abuses

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said this week that it will not "tolerate any behaviour" by its members that undermined its "good image and international standing."

Three SANDF personnel on a peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are under investigation for misconduct by the UN's in-house watchdog, the UN Office of Internal Oversight.

Full report

Johannesburg - a city of risk and opportunity

Fresh off the bus at Park Station, one of the greatest challenges facing any newcomer to Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub, is accommodation.

In the rundown, seedy, downtown residential areas of Hillbrow, Berea and Joubert Park, up to seven people can share one room, and large numbers of homeless are on the pavement every night.

Full report

Drive to regenerate decaying heart of Jo'burg

For more than 25 years, Kippies jazz club was the heart of South Africa's dynamic music scene.

During apartheid, multiracial audiences defied calls for segregation and packed the dimly lit club in Johannesburg's inner city Newtown neighbourhood. Offering a platform for both established greats and up-and-coming artists, Kippies became a stalwart of South African culture, hosting acts such as jazz trumpeter and musician Hugh Masekela, and vocalists Miriam Makeba and Thandiswa Mazwai.

Full report

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NAMIBIA: Recount confirms ruling party victory

A recount of the votes cast in Namibia's national elections, held in November last year, has confirmed the ruling party's landslide victory.

The results of the recount were announced on Wednesday night. The process began on Sunday after two Namibian opposition parties won a court ruling last week ordering the recount.

Full report

Government to overhaul education sector

Namibia aims to transform its education system with a five-year Nam $23.4 billion (US $4 billion) plan.

A recent World Bank report on Namibia's education system, 'Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth and Equity', found that it was not meeting the needs of the country's economy and was "ineffective".

Full report

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MADAGASCAR: Death toll in flooding rises

The death toll from recent heavy flooding in Madagascar has risen to 25, while more than 8,000 people have been left homeless, a disaster official told IRIN.

"More than 58,000 people have been affected in four regions," said Jacki Ranemdearason of the Centre National de Secours (CNS), the national body for disaster management.

Full report

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ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme

The Zambian government aims to scale up the country's tuberculosis (TB) control programme to achieve a cure rate of 80 percent.

"We have exceeded the 70 percent WHO [World Health Organisation cure rate] target. We are being realistic in targeting 80 percent," Health Minister Brian Chituwo told IRIN this week. "The TB cure rate in Zambia has improved from 64 percent to 73 percent in the past year."

Full report

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MOZAMBIQUE: Maputo - overcrowded, underfunded

Maputo, Mozambique's capital, is bursting at the seams, setting the new city council an enormous challenge providing even basic facilities to long-suffering residents.

Maputo is "overloaded with people", Helder Ossemane, head of communications at the council told IRIN. "I know people complain - we have major problems, including the rubbish, roads, and poor drainage."

Full report

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[ENDS]

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 223 for 19-25 March 2005, 25/Mar/05

SADC prepares for the African Standby Force, 15/Mar/05

New thinking needed on impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture, 15/Mar/05

Dry spell causes concern for harvest, 14/Mar/05

Special report on cities in transition, 11/Mar/05

Other recent reports:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 223 for 19-25 March 2005, 25/Mar/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 25/Mar/05

KYRGYZSTAN: Looters ransack capital following protests, 25/Mar/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 269 covering 19-25 March 2005, 25/Mar/05

ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 12 covering the period 19 - 25 March 2005, 25/Mar/05

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