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Monday 20 March 2006


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IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 272 for 25 February - 3 March 2006

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

CONTENTS:

SWAZILAND: Ban on political parties to be challenged
ZIMBABWE: New MDC faction leader calls for unity
SOUTH AFRICA: From ghetto to fabulous - inequality highlighted by local elections
LESOTHO: Kingdom records heaviest rainfall in two decades
INDIAN OCEAN: Islands struggle to keep Chikungunya outbreak in check
MOZAMBIQUE: Teams out to assess extent of earthquake damage
ZAMBIA: Govt de-registers 13 opposition parties

SWAZILAND: Ban on political parties to be challenged

Swaziland's oldest political party, the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress, has said it will test whether the country's new constitution has unbanned organised opposition to royal rule. Analysts and political parties have complained that the new constitution, formulated by the Constitutional Review Commission headed by King Mswati's brother, Prince Mangaliso Dlamini, remained vague on the key issue of legalising political parties. Organised political opposition groups were banned by royal decree in 1973 by King Sobhuza, father of the current monarch.

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Patients pay price of hospital crisis

Underfunded and understaffed, the burgeoning numbers of patients with AIDS-related illnesses over the past decade has left Swaziland's largest state-run hospital struggling to provide adequate health care.

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ZIMBABWE: New MDC faction leader calls for unity

Former student turned scientist, Arthur Mutambara, who was elected leader of a faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change at the weekend called for united front to oust the ruling ZANU-PF. Mutambara told delegates to the congress of the pro-senate faction that his immediate goal would be to try and reconcile the opposition's feuding camps.

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Travel costs force students to stay home

Zimbabwean students and parents already struggling to keep up with a 150 to 500 percent hike in school fees, this week, were hit by an increase in transport costs. Transport fares, which have been rising steadily since last year has made its impossible for many students to attend school regularly.

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SOUTH AFRICA: From ghetto to fabulous - inequality highlighted by local elections

Though the ruling African National Congress looked set to win almost 70 percent of the votes polled in the local government elections on 1 March, the polls brought into focus disparities between South Africa's mainly middle-class beneficiaries of economic transformation and their less well-off countrymen. Sporadic violent protest against the slow pace of service delivery across the country over the last two years has highlighted the anger and resentment among those living on the margins of society, nearly 12 years after the end of apartheid.

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Sexual assault hidden in culture of silence

Little progress has been made to eradicate rape and other forms of gender-based and sexual violence in South Africa, still reeling from generations of race-based oppression. The public's recent display of support for former deputy president Jacob Zuma's, charged with rape, provided a sharp reminder that gender equality issues have fallen by the wayside in South Africa’s new democracy.

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LESOTHO: Kingdom records heaviest rainfall in two decades

Lesotho, battling with a long spell of drought, experienced its heaviest rainfall in almost two decades, which has destroyed more than a third of the crops in the ground ahead of the April harvest, according to the agricultural NGO, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM).

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Crack in dam wall sparks safety concerns

Heavy rain also caused a crack in the wall of Mohale dam in Lesotho, one of the world's highest rockfill dams, sparking concern among neighbouring communities.

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INDIAN OCEAN: Islands struggle to keep Chikungunya outbreak in check

Mosquito-borne Chikungunya fever is spreading among Indian Ocean islands with authorities fighting to contain the virus on La Reunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles, and with Madagascar and the Comoros feared to be next. There is no vaccine or treatment for Chikungunya, Swahili for ‘that which bends up’ referring to the stooped posture of those afflicted by the disease. According to WHO, the main preventative measure is to stop proliferation of mosquitoes by reducing their breeding grounds.

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MOZAMBIQUE: Teams out to assess extent of earthquake damage

Mozambican authorities and aid agencies are still trying to assess the impact of the earthquake which struck the centre of the country last week, leaving four people dead, 36 injured and 288 families homeless.

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ZAMBIA: Govt de-registers 13 opposition parties

As the country gears for elections this year, the Zambian government de-registered 13 opposition parties on Friday, said news agencies. The parties have been banned because they failed to submit annual returns indicating their new office bearers and financial reports as required by law. Earlier in the week, three opposition parties - the United Party for National Development, the United National Independence Party and the Forum for Democracy and Development - announced that they would join hands to field a single presidential candidate for the elections. Michael Sata, leader the Patriotic Front party was also in the news after he was arrested for allegedly defaming President Levy Mwanawasa. Sata, who was close to former President Frederick Chiluba, was also arrested last year on charges of spying and sedition.

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent SOUTHERN AFRICA reports:

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 274 for 11-17 March 2006, 17/Mar/06

Bird flu - show us the money, say govts, 13/Mar/06

IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 273 for 4-10 March 2006, 10/Mar/06

Gender imbalances in the media need to be addressed, 9/Mar/06

Islands struggle to keep Chikungunya outbreak in check, 28/Feb/06

Other recent reports:

IRAQ: Kurdish authorities vow to upgrade services after protests, 19/Mar/06

ZIMBABWE: One half of the divided MDC heads for 'watershed' congress, 17/Mar/06

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 321 covering 11-17 March 2006, 17/Mar/06

HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 318 for 11-17 March 2006, 17/Mar/06

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 322 11-17 March 2006, 17/Mar/06

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