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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 37
15 - 21 September 2001


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Food shortages warning
MALAWI: Hungry to get 1,000 mt of food
ZAMBIA: Chiluba accepts top minister's resignation
ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Dos Santos, Nujoma reaffirm good relations
NAMIBIA: Malaria kills record number this year
MOZAMBIQUE: Economy grows by nearly 15 percent
LESOTHO: Ruling party splits could lead to breakaway
SOUTH AFRICA: Somali-owned shops attacked and looted
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Media watchdog cites press freedom violations

ZIMBABWE: Food shortages warning

Rural Zimbabweans are facing a "desperate" food security situation due to
a combination of a bad harvest and deepening poverty that has exhausted
household coping mechanisms, development workers told IRIN this week.  In
Matebeleland, according to the available data, "people are already cutting
down to one meal a day", Ed Watkiss of Christian Aid told IRIN. "There
could be widespread hunger and malnutrition by early next year." The
Zambezi valley, and parts of Manicaland and Masvingo - areas that were hit
by cyclone Eline last year - have also been affected.

This season's harvest of the staple maize was patchy across much of
Zimbabwe. Save the Children Fund's (SCF) Chris McGyver told IRIN that in
Binga district in the Zambezi valley, along the northwestern border of
Zimbabwe, there was a 40 percent drop in food production. The area has
historically been a food deficit region. "Because people are already
living at a fairly stressed level, even a small shock in the system is
enough to catapult people into a disastrous situation", he said.

"People are hungry but they are not dropping dead," noted McGyver. "But if
we don't do a pre-emptive intervention now, by next year we could be
screaming to the donors to save lives." In Binga, SCF has assessed half
the households as "poor" and in need of aid, and is planning a relief
operation to cover 60,000 people over the next four months.

Christian Aid, alongside partner organisations, has launched a food
distribution programme for primary school children and under fives in
selected localities across much of southern Zimbabwe and Matabeleland
North. But the organisation has found that in some areas, the numbers of
children expected to receive the rations of fortified porridge have been
under-estimated. "There are lots of orphans and kids from the urban
areas," Watkiss said. While Zimbabwe's inflation rate has hit 70 percent,
food inflation is over 100 percent, and "with urban poverty shooting up,
people are sending their kids into the countryside".

For more details:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zimbabwe/20010919a.phtml

Supplementary budget passed

In a related development the Zimbabwean parliament this week passed a US
$316 million supplementary budget to help the government meet soaring
expenses in its crumbling economy. Reports said government expenses had
risen 14 percent beyond what was planned for in this year's budget. The
supplementary budget was to meet the shortfall until the 2002 budget was
drafted in November. Reports added that some of the money from the
supplementary budget would also be used to buy additional food to meet
shortages the country faced.

IMF calls for measures to restore confidence in economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week stressed the need to
restore confidence in Zimbabwe's economic future, "particularly through an
orderly land reform process". The IMF said in a statement that the
economic situation in Zimbabwe was "deteriorating rapidly", with poverty
rising. The statement, based on a staff assessment visit from 3-15
September, added that the team made a number of recommendations on
macroeconomic policies.

According to the statement the mission "welcomed" the targeted social nets
that had been designed to address the current food crisis and to protect
the poor and recommended that low priority expenditures be reduced to
allow their expansion. It added that the team "urged" the government to
adopt comprehensive adjustment policies that would "restore growth and
alleviate poverty".

Economy to shrink 8 percent - RBZ

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) warned this week that the
country's economy was in a "downward spiral" and was likely to shrink by
around 8 percent this year, a Reuters report said on Thursday. Sydney
Mabika, an economist and assistant director at the RBZ, said initial
forecasts of a 2.8 percent contraction for the year had been revised
downward because of the knock taken by the country's agricultural sector.

"We are forecasting an eight percent decline (in the economy) in 2001,"
Mabika was quoted as saying at a press conference. Later, he said the
decline would be "more than five percent". "Interest rates are low,
inflation is shooting through the roof ... and our economy is in a
downward spiral," he said.

Mabika also warned that inflation, which rose to a record 76 percent in
the year to August, would end the year "higher than that". He did not
speculate on how much it would grow.

Senior leaders endorse land deal

Senior Zimbabwean politicians this week endorsed a deal brokered in
Nigeria aimed at ending the crisis over land reform. The politburo of the
ruling ZANU-PF party met on Monday and endorsed the agreement signed in
Abuja. "The Politburo stressed the need for urgency in implementing the
agreement if the momentum created by Abuja is to be sustained," Jonathan
Moyo, deputy secretary for information and publicity in ZANU-PF, was
quoted by the government-backed 'Herald' newspaper as saying.

Meanwhile, two people died on Saturday during a clash on a white-owned
farm in eastern Zimbabwe and an elderly farmer was arrested in connection
with the violence, farming officials said on Sunday. The deaths occurred
on Bita Farm in the rural district of Hwedza, 100 km southeast of the
capital Harare. The report said that according to Commercial Farmers'
Union (CFU) officials, pro-government militants burned the homes of farm
employees and the farm's office complex. The officials claimed that both
the dead appeared to be among young pro-government militants who were
being ferried by truck to different farms around Hwedza, the report added.

An IRIN focus report on the continuing crisis can be found at:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/zimbabwe/20010917.phtml

Three journalists assaulted by "war veterans" - RSF

Concerned over the recent arrest of journalists from Zimbabwe's
independent 'Daily News', Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) on Wednesday
urged police commissioner Augustine Chihuri to do everything in his power
to ensure that journalists could work safely throughout the country.

"It is your responsibility to protect journalists who use their right to
inform, this without consideration of their editorial policy," Robert
Ménard, RSF general secretary, said in the letter. Ménard said journalists
from a pro-government newspaper who covered the same event were not
attacked. According to information gathered by RSF, on 17 September,
reporters Mduduzi Mathuthu and Collin Chiwanza, photographer Urgina
Mauluka and a driver were attacked by war veterans in Hwedza, about 60 km
southeast of Harare. The journalists went to a farm after the death of two
veterans in a clash with a white farmer.

We'll keep talking - Commonwealth chief

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said on Wednesday that he
wanted to maintain dialogue with Zimbabwe over land reforms and other
issues, shying away from discussing any possible sanction. "Our principle
objective has been to engage in a productive way at a senior level with
the Zimbabwe government to achieve the kinds of results that people would
want to see," Mckinnon was quoted as saying. A deal reached in Nigeria
earlier this month, he added, had been the beginning of a process that "we
would want to see continue".

McKinnon said the commitment by Zimbabwe was "a very powerful statement in
terms of being prepared to internationalise the land redistribution issue,
for recognition of the rule of law and human rights and freedom of the
press". McKinnon was speaking at the launch of the Commonwealth's biennial
report to heads of government ahead of a summit in Brisbane, Australia, in
October.

MALAWI: Hungry to get 1,000 mt of WFP food

About 208,000 people still suffering the after effects of devastating
floods and drought earlier this year will soon receive about 1,000 mt of
food from the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN food agency's resident
representative in Malawi told IRIN on Monday.

"Right after the floods we launched an immediate response operation which
cost about US $300,000. After that we got US $3 million in pledges, but
were only able to mobilise about US $1.6 million - about 66 percent of
what we needed. We have made two distributions of food ... We had some
delays in procurement, so the third (and last) distribution will happen
any time now," Adamo Diop-Faye said.

Malawi's Principal Secretary for Agriculture, Ellard Malindi, Malawi would
import at least 100,000 mt of maize from South Africa and another 30,000
mt from Tanzania to meet its requirements this year. A combination of
floods and drought earlier this year had severely affected commercial and
small farmers, he said. However, with small farmers playing a crucial role
in preventing hunger, the government wanted to improve irrigation services
for them, he added.

For more details:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/sa/countrystories/malawi/20010917.phtml

Economic experts warn of worsening poverty

In a related development, Malawian economic experts on Monday warned of
increased poverty as they prepared to ask donors for US $1 billion in debt
relief. The economists, reports said, were drafting a paper on poverty
reduction to be submitted to donors in December in the hope that the plan
would make Malawi eligible for US $1 billion in debt relief.

"Malawians living below the poverty line have increased from 60 percent
before 1997 to 65.3 percent," George Zimalirana, a leading economist at
the National Economic Council (NEC) said. He blamed the country's
deteriorating economy on technocrats and politicians who failed to
implement the government's development and economic policies.

Rights violations increase in Malawi

Cases of human rights abuses doubled in Malawi between 1999 and 2000, and
were expected to rise further in 2001 as people were "increasingly
becoming aware of their rights", the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said in
a report released on Sunday.  Roman Catholic Priest Alfred Nsope, who is
chairperson of the HRC, said that reports of human rights violations
doubled from 1999 to 2000, and that political violence during by-elections
had also increased. Land disputes, unfair labour practises and the denial
of access to justice were some areas in which violations had been noted,
he added. Nsope said: "There is an increasing gap between the few who are
accumulating wealth and the majority who are barely making ends meet or
not meeting at all. This is a gross violation of human rights."

ZAMBIA: Chiluba accepts top minister's resignation

Zambian President Frederick Chiluba on Friday accepted the resignation of
Michael Sata, a senior minister who quit the government under pressure
from ruling party supporters. A state radio news broadcast said Chiluba
had not named Sata's replacement.

Sata, who was minister without portfolio and a close aide to Chiluba, was
also national secretary of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy
(MMD). He resigned from his cabinet post on Thursday hours after MMD
supporters staged a demonstration against him, the report said. The
demonstrators accused Sata of disorganising the party by campaigning
against MMD presidential candidate Levy Mwanawasa. Sata was among six
people aspiring to be MMD presidential candidates, but the party settled
for Mwamawasa after conducting elections within the party national
executive, according to the report. It said that immediately after the
vote, Sata complained that the election had been rigged.

Nigeria gives Zambia US $92,000 for refugees

The Nigerian government has given Zambia US $92,000 to help it cope with
refugees in the country. The Nigerian High Commissioner to Zambia,
Ibironke Vaughn-Adefope, Wednesday presented the money to the Zambian
government. "The time has come, especially with the formation of the
African Union, that if Africa must progress and develop, we must learn to
be our brothers' keepers," he was quoted as saying. Vaughn-Adefope said
the prolonged wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
had encouraged Nigeria to make the contribution to assist Zambia which is
hosting an influx of refugees, including those from Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan
and Somalia. Foreign Affairs Minister Keli Walubita said the gesture by
Nigeria underscored the country's determination to play a great role in
the alleviation of problems on the African continent.

Zambia to hold poverty reduction summit

The Zambian government said it would host a national summit in October on
reducing poverty in the country. The summit, scheduled from 15-18 October,
will be attended by a cross-section of Zambian society. Boniface Nonde,
permanent secretary in the ministry of finance, said the summit would
"establish why poverty still looms large even after the strong efforts in
the past to eradicate it". Reports said the government's poverty reduction
strategy paper (PRSP) would be tabled at the summit.

Meanwhile, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said this week that
Zambia's gross domestic product (GDP) was likely to grow by about 4.8
percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2002, because of the increased copper
output.

The EIU said, however, that the agricultural sector was expected to
contract by an estimated 4.8 percent this year because of a poor maize
harvest this season. It added that the government's economic policy
priority for 2001-2002 is produce a poverty reduction strategy paper
(PRSP), based on the July 2000 interim PRSP, and then to begin its
implementation.

ANGOLA-NAMIBIA: Dos Santos, Nujoma reaffirm good relations

Namibian President Sam Nujoma wrapped up a visit to Luanda on Thursday,
with his counterpart President Jose Eduardo dos Santos saying only that
the two had discussed security issues. Speaking at a press conference
after a six-hour meeting, Dos Santos said the pair had focused on
"problems concerning security along the common border and the situation in
Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo". He was quoted as
saying that he was "satisfied" with the results of the meeting. Nujoma
also refused to release further details of the talks, but reiterated his
condemnation of Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi "and his UNITA
bandits", and their practice of attacking civilian targets.

UN Security Council condemns UNITA, calls for peace

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday placed the blame for
Angola's ongoing civil war squarely on the shoulders of rebel leader Jonas
Savimbi and requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to provide
"appropriate support" to the Angolan government in preparation for
elections.

In a statement read out by its president, Jean-David Levitte, the Council
also condemned ongoing UNITA attacks on civilian targets. While Angolan
villagers regularly suffer fatal UNITA attacks across the country, the
murder of more than 250 people during an attack on a passenger train
recently drew strong international criticism. UNITA claimed responsibility
for the attack and several others which have made news headlines in recent
months.

The Security Council's call came as a UN delegation consulted government
and civic leaders in Angola this week over, among other things, the
country's preparations for elections. Earlier this year an American team
of experts said after widespread consultation in the country that the
conditions for free and fair elections did not exist because of a severe
lack of security. While it supported the government's intention to hold
elections as part of its democratisation process, the Council stressed the
need to create the necessary conditions for elections to be free and fair.

NAMIBIA: Malaria kills record number this year

Malaria in Namibia has killed a record 608 people in the first six months
of this year, while 177,613 cases were reported.  Health Minister
Libertina Amathila told the cabinet the deaths this year represented a
significant increase - around 70 percent compared to last year, while
reported cases had shown a 32 percent increase. Amathila informed cabinet
that investigations revealed that the malaria crisis was caused by
inadequate funding, poor vector control measures and poor epidemic
preparedness and response. Cabinet approved the allocation of additional
financial resources for malaria control programmes in the Caprivi,
Omaheke, Otjozondjupa, Kunene, Oshikoto, Oshana, Omusati and Ohangwena
regions in preparation for the malaria spraying season. The spraying of
houses is expected to start in the middle of this month.

Thirteen separatist suspects lose case in Botswana

The Gaborone Magistrate's Court ruled on Thursday that 13 Namibians facing
high treason charges back home be extradited. Magistrate Anna Mathiba's
ruling ended a year-long court battle for the group alleged to have been
involved in an armed uprising to force the Caprivi region's independence
from Namibia.

The report quoted a senior legal officer in Namibia's Justice Ministry as
saying that the men had 15 days from Thursday to lodge an appeal with the
High Court of Botswana. It said the men had been in custody in Botswana
since Namibia's extradition request was filed last August. They initially
numbered 15, but Devil Moa Kabo died late last year and Joseph Mulife
Muchali, left Botswana before the extradition proceedings got off the
ground, the report said.

MOZAMBIQUE: Economy grows by nearly 15 percent

The Mozambican economy has grown by nearly 15 percent in the first half of
this year, with the Mozambique Aluminium Mozal smelter contributing an
estimated 4 percent, state radio reported on Monday. Planning and Finance
Minister Luisa Diogo told a press conference in Maputo on Friday that the
accumulated inflation for that period was 5.1 percent. Diogo noted that
there had been a decline in the prices of basic commodities, and this
could contribute to the stability of the metical (the Mozambican
currency). She expressed concern about the depreciation of the metical,
which in the past two months had depreciated by an estimated 25 percent.

LESOTHO: Ruling party split could lead to breakaway

A power struggle within the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)
party may lead to the creation of a new political party, news reports said
on Friday. It was reported that a faction of the LCD had planned to meet
at a conference in Maseru at the weekend. They planned to seek a mandate
from the party's general membership to devise ways of end the bitter
internal power struggle. The LCD itself broke away from the once powerful
Basotholand Congress Party in 1997.

The report said the internal conflict began with the election of a new
national executive committee in January. The election results were
disputed and were still being adjudicated by the Lesotho Court of Appeal,
it added. This had led to some members of the outgoing executive committee
refusing to hand over LCD property to members of the incoming executive.

The party's publicity secretary Pashu Mochesane was quoted as saying: "The
situation has been worsened by LCD secretary-general and Minister to the
Prime Minister, Sephiri Motanyane. He refused to recognise some party
agents during voter registration. He accused them of supporting the
outgoing executive committee."

SOUTH AFRICA: Somali-owned shops attacked and looted

Attacks and looting last week at Somali-owned shops in South Africa's
Eastern Cape province left an estimated 150 people homeless and destitute,
a spokeswoman for the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) told
IRIN on Thursday. Jenny Parsley said that the attacks took place on 10
September in the townships of Kwanobuhle and Langa just outside one of the
province's main cities, Port Elizabeth. "Twenty-five shops were destroyed
in Kwanobuhle and nine in Langa," she said. "The properties were severely
damaged and in some cases completely destroyed. But no-one was injured.
The local police were called in to intervene and we believe that a number
of arrests have been made."

Parsley added: "The sad and devastating thing for most of these people,
who came to South Africa with very little and in some cases nothing, is
that they have lost not only their businesses but their homes as well."
She explained that most of the Somali shop owners lived behind their shops
with their families. "The looting was not confined to the businesses,
homes were also looted and severely damaged. We now have a situation where
people have to basically start from scratch," she said.

Parsley told IRIN that social services catering for refugees were
practically non-existent in the area and that following last Monday's
events, the SAHRC human rights coordinator in Port Elizabeth attempted to
find some kind of temporary accommodation for the group. "At the moment
the men and women are being housed separately. The women and children are
living in a house belonging to another Somali refugee and the men in a
local hall belonging to the Muslim community. However, the men will have
to leave soon as the hall has been booked for weddings and other
functions. People are really struggling," she said.

Parsley added that the SAHRC had been "encouraged" by the supportiveness
of the local councillors who have pledged to try and find alternative
accommodation for the Somalis and to reunite families. She said that local
councillors have already embarked on a series of meetings to educate the
community.

Farmers suffer huge losses

Farmers were in "dire straits" following a recent cold spell over large
parts of South Africa, a spokesman for the Agricultural Union of South
Africa (Agri-SA) told IRIN on Wednesday. Koos Du Toit said farmers in the
eastern part of Free State province, in KwaZulu-Natal province and in
parts of Mpumalanga province had seen large numbers of their herds
destroyed by the cold weather. "In some areas farmers have told us that up
to 90 percent of their cattle herds have been destroyed. But we have to
remember that it is not only cattle, but sheep, goats and in some cases
donkeys as well," Du Toit said. He told IRIN that in some areas
provisional calculations indicated that the commercial farming sector had
lost about R25-million (US $3 million).

He said it was not only the recent cold weather which had adversely
affected farmers. "Prior to this disaster, we experienced devastating veld
fires because we went almost immediately from winter to summer, with
virtually no spring. Many farmers lost huge tracts of natural grazing land
and it is estimated that up to 30,000 hectares of natural forest was
lost," he said. Du Toit said there was concern not only for commercial
farmers, but for smaller communal farmers who had also experienced huge
losses. "Farmers both commercial and communal are facing great financial
problems. As it is, in recent years we have seen the profitability of
farming decline. Farmers don't only have personal financial obligations,
but they also have outside obligations such as paying their workers and
paying loans to financial institutions."

Another cholera outbreak feared

Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils warned on Monday that
South Africa would face another cholera outbreak during the summer months,
but said that his department had measures in place to deal with it.
Briefing journalists, Kasrils said there were three components in the
fight against cholera: the provision of safe water, the availability of
sanitation and access to education on health and hygiene. "My department
has put several strategies in place and it is anticipated these will form
part of the government's programme with the Department of provincial and
local government and the department of health," Kasrils said.

He said this year's programme would be coordinated by the national
disaster management centre, with provincial and local joint operational
centres already preparing to respond quickly to new outbreaks.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Media watchdog cites press freedom violations

Authorities in parts of southern Africa have pursued the harassment of
journalists despite efforts to improve the situation, a report by the
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said this week.  MISA chairman
Joseph Masanilo pointed to Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Swaziland as
countries which have seen arrests and threats to journalists, with the
closure of media organisations, especially private ones. "But we must not
lose hope," Masanilo told representatives of media from 11 southern
African countries in his report to the MISA annual general assembly.

"However, let us warn ourselves once again that the struggle for press
freedom and related human rights is not an easy one," Masanilo was quoted
as saying. He said MISA this year had a "bitter experience" in Swaziland
when the authorities shut down a newspaper and arrested several
journalists on the grounds that they had defamed the King. "I would like
to recall the brutal events against the media and journalists in Angola
and Zambia. In Zimbabwe, journalists and reporters have been threatened by
authorities," Masanilo said.

New body to handle SADC land issues

Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministers had formed a new
body to handle land issues in the region, news reports said on Wednesday.
The announcement was made after a two-day meeting in the Namibian capital,
Windhoek. Reports said the new body would be known as the Food,
Agriculture and Natural Resources Directorate (FANR). The meeting
recommended that a technical facility be created within the FANR
directorate to mobilise funds and technical resources to support
member-states' reform programmes.

Johannesburg, 21 September 16h50 GMT


IRIN-SA - Tel: +2711 880 4633
Fax: +2711 447 5472
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


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