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 132
21 - 25 July 2003


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Slowly mending, says FAO/WFP
ZIMBABWE: Call for assistance to displaced farm workers 
BOTSWANA: Death penalty administration condemned
MALAWI: Fragile recovery necessitates ongoing food aid
SOUTH AFRICA: Food fortification on the way
SWAZILAND: Weather forecasting and disaster management
MOZAMBIQUE: Feature on Maputo port privatisation
AFRICA: Focus on the "sugar daddy" phenomenon


ANGOLA: Slowly mending, says FAO/WFP

Food aid needs in Angola remain high despite increased agricultural
production during the first year of peace, a joint Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) assessment mission has
found.

The FAO/WFP reports said: " ... the number of people in need of food
assistance will remain at around 1.4 million. WFP plans to assist over 1
million [of the] most vulnerable people, including returnee farmers,
resettled farmers, socially vulnerable groups, IDPs still in areas of
refuge, and vulnerable resident farmers."

The FAO/WFP mission observed that during Angola's nearly three decades of
conflict, "agriculture fell to an almost subsistence level in many areas,
with little or no marketable surpluses and very limited trade activity".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35617

Polio eradication programme strapped for cash

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday warned that a lack of funding
threatened the progress being made in the fight against polio in Angola.

UNICEF said in a statement, "although funds exist for the two planned NIDS
(National Immunisations Days) of 2003, shortfalls endanger future
campaigns".

About 5 million children were expected to be vaccinated during Angola's
first polio immunisation days during 2003, from July 25 to 27.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35596

Rebuilding education system vital - UNICEF

A report on Thursday that 9,000 children in a district of Angola's western
Benguela province were not attending school due to a teacher shortage has
served to highlight the urgent need to rebuild the country's education
system, UNICEF said.

"The situation in Benguela is not a surprise to UNICEF, there's a lack of
schools and a terrible lack of teachers in Angola. We hope, and are
confident, that government has seen the value of the back-to-school
campaign that has led to the announcement that government had budgeted US
$40 million for 29,000 teachers for 2004," UNICEF's spokesman James Elder
told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35594


MSF calls for greater assistance to returnees

Médicins Sans Frontièrs (MSF) on Wednesday called for greater assistance
to refugees returning to Angola, saying that many had resettled in areas
lacking basic services.

The MSF-Belgium head of mission in Angola, Fasil Bezera, told IRIN the
situation was "extremely difficult" and that more than 60 percent of
people who had returned to their areas of origin had no access to medical
care, water, shelter or education facilities.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35576

ZIMBABWE: Call for assistance to displaced farm workers 

More than 500,000 Zimbabweans have been forced to leave their homes since
the start of the government's controversial "fast track" land reform
programme, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has claimed.

In a recent report, "Displaced and forgotten: Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs) in Zimbabwe", the NRC estimated that since the government's
takeover of commercial farms began almost three years ago, some 240,000
farm workers had lost their jobs.

Food security was a key concern, since large numbers of farm workers had
no access to land during the 2002/2003 season, while internal displacement
had taken its toll on the most vulnerable members of the farm worker
population.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35620

NGOs fear clampdown

On Thursday IRIN reported on concerns raised by civil rights groups that
their operations could be further curtailed following reports that the
government is to amend legislation governing NGOs.

"In order to ensure that the operations of Non-Governmental Organisations
are consistent with, and supportive of, government policies and
programmes, the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill will amend the current
act and broaden the definition of NGOs to include trusts," the local Daily
News reported President Robert Mugabe as saying at the opening of
parliament this week.

Rights activists and NGOs allege that the legislation is the latest
attempt by the government to crack down on dissent in the country. Over
the past two years the government and rights organisations have been at
loggerheads, with the authorities accusing NGOs of furthering foreign
interests.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35599

Focus on the extent of the brain drain

Zimbabwe is experiencing a debilitating flight of professional and skilled
people escaping the country's economic crisis, a study funded by the UN
Development Programme found.

It confirmed that the "level and trend of the brain drain in Zimbabwe has
reached unacceptable and unsustainable heights". Noting that "during the
last four years, this brain drain trend has escalated in magnitude to
levels that have serious implications for the country's capacity to
deliver on the sustainable development front".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35578

Opposition complains of continued harassment

Meanwhile, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on
Tuesday told IRIN it would contest the results of local elections due
later this month, following reports that a number of its candidates had
been prevented from registering for municipal and mayoral polls in some
constituencies.

The MDC alleged that 11 of its candidates who arrived on Monday at the
nomination court in Chegutu, about 100 km southwest of the capital,
Harare, were attacked by around 400 youths from the ruling ZANU-PF party.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35550

Church apology not enough, says rights activist

The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) apologised for "not having done
enough at a time when the nation has looked to us for guidance" during the
current crisis.

A news release on the website of Christian Aid, a ZCC partner
organisation, said the ZCC was apologising for "standing by while its
country's people have starved to death due to food shortages, and while
violence, rape, intimidation and torture have 'ravaged the nation'".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35549

Preparedness education to lessen impact of disasters

On Monday IRIN reported on a proposals to integrate disaster preparedness
into the school curriculum.

Last week Save the Children Fund and authorities held a joint workshop to
investigate the feasibility of the move, saying the initiative "comes
after realising that the impact of most disasters has been worsened due to
a lack of awareness at community level".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35525


BOTSWANA: Death penalty administration condemned

The execution of a convicted murderer this month has re-opened the
controversy over the administration of the death penalty in Botswana.

Lehlohonolo Bernard Kobedi was hanged on 18 July in what has been
described as a "secret" execution, which has been condemned by
Ditshwanelo, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights.

"We urge the government of Botswana to act to reform the pro deo [legal
representation] system, so future defendants do not have to suffer the
irregularities and lack of expertise which marked Mr Kobedi's initial
trial," she stressed.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35603

Khama win eases Mogae's concerns

Vice President Lt-General Seretse Ian Khama this week became the new
national chairman of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), sweeping
aside incumbent Ponatshego Kedikilwe in a landslide election victory.

The emphatic win at the BDP's congress on Tuesday makes Khama, a relative
newcomer to the party, an almost certain bet to succeed President Festus
Mogae as the BDP's presidential candidate after the 2004 general
elections.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35572

MALAWI: Fragile recovery necessitates ongoing food aid

Officials in Malawi on Wednesday said although this year's bumper harvest
would alleviate food shortages in the country, widespread poverty would
still make it difficult for the majority of people to access maize.

The country has this year reportedly harvested 1.9 million mt of maize,
the national staple crop.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35574

Feature - Deepening poverty threatens households

A household-level recovery from the past year's food security crisis in
Malawi is being complicated by deepening levels of poverty, observers say.

In a recent interview with IRIN in the capital, Lilongwe, World Food
Programme (WFP) country representative, Gerard van Dijk, said "poverty,
combined with HIV/AIDS" had worsened household vulnerability.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35546

SOUTH AFRICA: Food fortification on the way

A scheme to be launched in October will mean that for just a few extra
cents on the price of a bag of maize meal or a loaf, South African
children can receive the vitamins and nutrients they need to help them
grow up healthy.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35601

Focus on World Bank report on impact of AIDS

South Africa could face economic collapse within a few generations unless
it adopts a more urgent response to its HIV/AIDS epidemic, a new World
Bank research report warned on Wednesday.

According to the report "The Long-run Economic Costs of AIDS: Theory and
an Application to South Africa", most studies on the macroeconomic costs
of AIDS had overlooked the long-term damage of the disease.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35565

SWAZILAND: Weather forecasting and disaster management

The unreliability of the weather forecast is an old joke. But in Southern
Africa, where cyclones and droughts have wreaked havoc, the ability of
national weather services to coordinate and properly analyse data
collection is deadly serious.

"Daily weather information is well disseminated in the 14 countries of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), and to a certain extent
understood, but it is debatable whether [the advice] is followed," SADC
consultant Sipho Dlamini told IRIN.

"Agricultural practice in the region still strongly depends on rainfall,
[and] very few commercial farmers in some countries use irrigation.
Therefore, meteorology plays a very important part in food security," said
Dlamini.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35615

Model for grassroots humanitarian participation - WFP

The small Southern African kingdom of Swaziland, hit by three consecutive
years of food shortages, has emerged as something of a model for
grassroots participation in tackling emergencies.

"Swaziland, despite its size, can teach the world lessons about addressing
problems through community solutions," World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy
Executive Director Sheila Sisulu told IRIN in an interview.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35522

Opposition demand legalisation of parties

IRIN reported on Monday that Swaziland's draft constitution was initially
greeted with relief by pro-democracy groups who had feared it would be far
more draconian. But six weeks on, banned political parties have begun to
condemn the document for its ambiguous language regarding the legalisation
of political groups.

"We will only be interested in a constitution that would be inclusive of
the entire people of Swaziland, not just a few. So we reject this draft
constitution with contempt," the People's United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO) said in a statement last week.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35515

MOZAMBIQUE: Feature on Maputo port privatisation

When President Joaquim Chissano addressed an international conference on
management this week, calling for closer public-private partnerships as a
means to encourage investment, he could do so knowing that Mozambique is
seen as a model in Africa.

During the past decade, Mozambique has been praised by donors for its
political stability, steady privatisation, gradual empowering of civil
society, increased foreign investment and continuous economic growth in
double-digit figures.

One of the most recent, and potentially significant, privatisations has
been the management contact of the country's main port of Maputo, awarded
in April to the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) for the next 15
years.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35626

AFRICA: Focus on the "sugar daddy" phenomenon

Three teenage girls from a local high school in Johannesburg - South
Africa's economic hub - were gathered in a local NGO office on Wednesday
after watching an educational play on HIV/AIDS. The topic of discussion
had generated a heated debate among the girls, and they were eager to
share their thoughts on "sugar daddies".

"Girls my age are doing it, for sure. It's not a big deal anymore. I know
it's not a good idea, but if you're getting everything you want from him,
you don't think about other things," said 17-year-old Busi, who wanted to
remain anonymous.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35602


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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