U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa

Tel: +27 11 880 4633
Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 150
6 - 10 October 2003


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Some trade union protesters released
ANGOLA: UNHCR steps up repatriation
MADAGASCAR: Urgent call for food aid
MOZAMBIQUE: Strong World Bank support for poverty reduction
NAMIBIA: NGO begins basic food distributions in ongoing drought
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Corruption increasing, Transparency International
SWAZILAND: Aid focus shifts to mitigate impact of HIV/AIDS


ZIMBABWE: Some trade union protesters released

The week ended with almost half the Zimbabwean unionists arrested this
week in Harare for protesting against high taxes and soaring inflation
have been released after paying an "admission of guilt" fine, news reports
said on Friday.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo and
secretary-general Wellington Chibebe, who were among the 51 activists
detained on Wednesday, were also released. Both men refused to pay the
fine, preferring to appear in court instead, Agence France Presse (AFP)
reported.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37161


Trade unionists promise further protests

The ZCTU had on Thursday vowed to continue with mass action despite police
swooping on dozens of its members gathered in the capital, Harare, to
protest high taxes and soaring inflation.

ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibebe, who remained in custody on
Thursday, told IRIN the police had arrested 41 union activists in Harare
and a number of ZCTU supporters in other cities.

Speaking to IRIN from the Harare central police station, Chibebe said: "It
is still unclear under which law they (the police) will charge us. At
first they said we would be charged under the Public Order and Security
Act (POSA), but then we were also told that we may be charged under the
Miscellaneous Offences Act. In any event, we expected this, and these
arrests will only strengthen our resolve to continue with our protest."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37126


Norway limits aid to humanitarian assistance

Norway said on Thursday it would continue to provide humanitarian
assistance to Zimbabwe, despite a recent proposal to formally remove the
country from its select list of main development aid recipients.

"We remain committed to providing humanitarian assistance through the
United Nations and its implementing partners to those who are in need. But
it has become clear that Zimbabwe no longer fulfils the role of suitable
partner and, therefore, the [Norwegian] government has proposed that it
should be formally dropped from the list [of key development partners],"
Norwegian ambassador to Zimbabwe Kjell Storlokken told IRIN.

During the two years since the Scandinavian country decided to freeze a
large part of its aid, Zimbabwe has foregone more than Zim $600 million
(US $753,000) annually in development assistance.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37129


Feature - Key municipal services collapsing as economic crisis bites

On Tuesday IRIN focussed on the deteriorating municipal services in
Zimbabwe's capital city.

The sight of sewage flowing down the streets and accumulating in drainage
pipes has become common, in Harare. The problem used to be confined to
high-density areas due to overcrowding, but affluent low-density suburbs
are now also being affected.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37055


Rising costs of medical drugs impacts on poor

Also on Tuesday, IRIN reported that the cost of health care in Zimbabwe
may be beyond the reach of most people following price increases by
medical drug suppliers and pharmacies of more than 1,000 percent.

Health care specialists told IRIN the new prices were a fresh blow to
access to health care by ordinary citizens, coming just two weeks after
the country's private medical practitioners increased their fees by 80
percent.

Zimbabwe's public health sector has been hard-hit by a wide range of
problems, including drug and medicine shortages, the exodus of skilled
medical personnel and the high cost of medical care.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37054


Prevent starvation and destitution" UN appeals to donors

There was still time to "prevent the twin spectres of starvation and
destitution" from occurring in Zimbabwe, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator
said in a plea for more assistance from donors.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Zimbabwe, J. Victor Angelo, said the
generous support of aid efforts in 2002/03 had saved lives, IRIN reported
on Tuesday.

However, Zimbabwe's dramatic economic decline, coupled with the
humanitarian crisis, has seen growing poverty stretching the survival
strategies of Zimbabwean households.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37045


Fresh price controls could lead to further shortages, analysts

On Monday, economists warned of fresh shortages of basic commodities and
an expanding parallel market as the Zimbabwean government announced plans
for new price controls across all sectors of production.

The government last week announced the introduction of a new price control
structure, which includes fuel, to curb what it termed a "price increase
madness" by producers, wholesalers and retailers.

Eric Bloch, a Bulawayo-based economist, told IRIN the latest price control
regime would precipitate a shortage of basic commodities on a larger scale
than experienced before, because only a few producers are able to supply
the market at controlled prices and the majority may stop production.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37022


ANGOLA: UNHCR steps up repatriation

Due to the onset of the rainy season, the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to step up its voluntary
repatriation programme for Angolan refugees living in neighbouring
countries, IRIN reported on Friday.

The UN refugee agency this week said some 15,000 Angolans had returned
from Zambia, mainly from Meheba camp near the border with Angola.

"On Saturday [4 October], the first convoy carrying 505 Angolans set out
from Mayukwayukwa camp in western Zambia for the four-day trip over 2,000
km to Cazombo in the Angolan frontier province of Moxico. It is the second
camp in Zambia where UNHCR is organising return convoys."

The organisation noted that it had had to arrange convoys from
Mayukwayukwa "because hundreds of Angolan refugees could not wait and have
returned spontaneously".

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37160


School feeding an incentive for pupils and parents

In a bid to increase attendance at primary schools, the World Food
Programme (WFP) has started a school feeding programme in Angola. The
programme aims to reach up to 220,000 pupils in more than 1,000 schools in
13 of the 18 provinces by 2004.

For the 50 percent of Angolan children who have access to formal
education, a plate of food is a significant incentive to stay in school.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37114


MADAGASCAR: Urgent call for food aid

The World Food Programme (WFP) in Madagascar on Wednesday said it needed
2,000 mt of maize immediately to continue feeding some 270,000
beneficiaries across the 18 southern districts most affected by recent
cyclones and ongoing drought conditions.

"Due to logistical delays there is now a shortfall of about 2,000 mt of
maize. The contributions have been made, but it takes a long time before
it actually arrives at the port," Annemarie Isler, WFP spokeswoman for
Madagascar told IRIN.

According to a nutritional survey undertaken by Medicins Sans Frontieres
(MSF) in July, 18.4 percent of children in the 18 affected districts were
found to be malnourished. The south of the country has not had a proper
harvest in the past two years, which has led to an increase in the number
of severely malnourished children arriving at government-run nutrition
centres.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37091


MOZAMBIQUE: Strong World Bank support for poverty reduction

Mozambique's poverty reduction strategy this week received strong donor
support from the World Bank Consultative Group, with the country being
offered more money than it had requested.

Following a meeting of bilateral and multilateral agencies in France last
week to discuss the country's progress towards reducing poverty, the
government announced that donors had pledged US $790 million - $110
million more than the requested amount.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=3702


NAMIBIA: NGO begins basic food distributions in ongoing drought

Catholic AIDS Action is to begin distributing rations of fortified E-Pap
and maize meal to people affected by HIV/AIDS, and orphans and vulnerable
children (OVC) in Namibia, the group told IRIN on Tuesday.

Martin Zee Albert, logistics coordinator with Catholic AIDS Action, told
IRIN a donation from the US-based Catholic Relief Services (CRS) had made
the intervention possible.

Albert told IRIN that the Catholic AIDS Action intervention would
specifically target "people registered with our organisation, OVCs, as
well as volunteers" working for the NGO.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37048


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Corruption increasing, Transparency International

Angola and Zimbabwe are the two Southern African countries that faired the
worst in Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Perception Index
(CPI) for 2003, IRIN reported on Wednesday.

The CPI charts the level of corruption in 133 countries and ranks them
according to a CPI score based on perceptions of the degree of corruption,
ranging from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt), by business people,
academics and risk analysts.

Angola and Zimbabwe faired worst in the rankings, with CPI scores of 1.8
and 2.3 respectively, followed by Zambia (2.5), Madagascar (2.6),
Mozambique (2.7) and Malawi (2.8).

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37084


Australia increases aid to region

Australia will provide an additional Aus $7.5 million (about US $5.1
million) in food aid to Southern Africa, in response to a renewed appeal
from the World Food Programme (WFP) for support for its regional emergency
operation.

"The WFP appeal aims to reach all of the estimated 6.5 million people in
Southern Africa, including 5.5 million in Zimbabwe, who are in critical
need of food aid in order to survive. It will deliver life-saving
assistance to the people of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia
and Zimbabwe," the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a
statement on Wednesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37085


MISA lobbies SADC secretariat for greater press freedom in region

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been urged to take
action on threats to press freedom in the region, particularly in
Zimbabwe.

At a meeting with the SADC secretariat in Gaborone, the capital of
Botswana, a Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) delegation raised
concerns that the mandatory licensing of journalists could be open to
abuse by governments.

"These laws will infringe on the freedom of movement of all SADC
journalists, as articulated in the SADC protocol on information, sports
and culture," said Thomas Deve, MISA board member and former online editor
of The Daily News.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37016


SWAZILAND: Aid focus shifts to mitigate impact of HIV/AIDS

On Friday, IRIN reported that the impact of HIV/AIDS on Swaziland's
agricultural production has forced aid agencies to adjust their
programming in a bid to mitigate the effects on food security.

"Food shortages in Swaziland are compounded by the country's high HIV/AIDS
adult prevalence rate, and it is therefore essential that the special
nutritional needs of vulnerable people are met," said Angela Van Rynbach,
World Food Programme (WFP) Country Representative.

WFP's operation in Swaziland is part of a regional emergency operation in
Southern Africa that also covers Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and
Lesotho.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37159


Better management of precious water resources urged

On Thursday IRIN reported that whether or not good rains return this year,
the government and developmental agencies say Swaziland's water quality
will remain poor, unless long term remedies are found.

"Swazis are water-deprived - many of our people share water supplies with
cattle. Investment in water infrastructure is overdue," said Ephraim
Hlope, principal secretary of the Ministry of Economic Planning and
Development.

Hlope was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, shortly after
accepting a US $51 million grant from the government of Japan to improve
the country's water system.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37127


Conference offers solutions to impact of AIDS on education

At the end of a week-long conference in Swaziland, African educators and
US representatives called for further cooperation between the private and
public sectors in the fight against HIV/AIDS in schools, IRIN reported on
Monday.

"We are analysing what works, and stressing innovation and proven
successes over formulae," Behuel Ndlovu, director of secondary schools for
the Swaziland Ministry of Education, told IRIN.

"For AIDS mitigation to be achieved through improved education in Africa,
partnerships have to be forged between Western and African nations,
between the public and private sectors, and between civil society and
governments," said Colette Cowey, an expert on global development issues.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37021


IRIN-SA
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Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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