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 133
26 July - 01 August 2003


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Pitfalls on the road to reconciliation
ANGOLA: Community-based projects receive support from World Bank
MOZAMBIQUE: Improved harvest brings relief but inputs still needed
NAMIBIA: Refugees clash with police
SOUTH AFRICA: Teaching teachers about gender violence
SOUTHERN AFRICA: UN consolidated appeal launched
SWAZILAND: Dying tradition, as funeral customs abandoned
ZAMBIA: Ongoing opposition to constitutional review


ZIMBABWE: Pitfalls on the road to reconciliation

Efforts by the church to mediate a political settlement in Zimbabwe
appeared to suffer a setback when a senior ruling party official
questioned their impartiality. But church leaders on Friday told IRIN they
would continue to try and persuade the ruling party and opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to reopen dialogue.

Political analyst Brian Raftopoulous said a backlash from the ruling party
was expected, "especially since there never was consensus within ZANU-PF
[over] whether they should proceed with talks. A number of individuals
within the ruling party have a great deal to lose, should the talks get
underway. It is likely that there are going to be further attacks on the
process as the momentum towards a negotiated settlement increases."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35742

Officials forced to implement "one man, one farm"

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has ordered top ruling party officials
with multiple farms to relinquish all but one within two weeks, the
official The Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.

The government's land redistribution programme was based on a "one man,
one farm" policy. Mounting grassroots criticism that those principles were
being flouted by senior party officials led the government to appoint a
Presidential Land Review Committee to assess progress. Its interim report
found some senior figures had multiple farms.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35725

Feature - A health system on the edge

This week IRIN visited Zimbabwe's main public hospital, Harare central, to
assess the state of public health. The hospital's under-equipped wards and
low staff morale epitomised the decline of this country's once proud
health system.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35724

Man-made element to crisis

Alongside the impact of drought, Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis has also
been man-made, the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal (CAP) for 2003/04
said this week.

"What initially appeared as a food crisis in Zimbabwe in 2002 has turned
into a major humanitarian emergency due to the deteriorating economy,
immense policy constraints, the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, and
depleted capacity in the social service sector," the appeal noted.

The country was in its fifth successive year of economic decline and
"faces critical shortages of foreign exchange to maintain essential
infrastructure, fuel and energy needs".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35694

IMF slams govt as consumers mob banks

In a scathing report this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) laid
the blame for Zimbabwe's economic troubles squarely on the shoulders of
the government.

The Fund said in an annual review of the country's economy: "[IMF]
directors observed that this sharp deterioration primarily reflects the
government's inappropriate macroeconomic and structural policies, in
particular loose financial policies and increased regulation and
government intervention."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35675

ANGOLA: Community-based projects receive support from World Bank

Community-driven projects in Angola this week received a financial boost
from the World Bank (WB) to the tune of US $55 million. The WB director in
Angola, Lawrence Clark, said the funds would support ongoing efforts by
the government to improve infrastructure and increase access to social
services.

"Communities across the country's 18 provinces will benefit from these
funds. The key feature of the Third Social Action Fund is that each of the
targeted communities will identify social projects of importance. Most
often these include the building or extension of a primary school, the
construction of health posts and, in some cases, the rehabilitation of
bridges which are integral to linking communities to markets," Clark said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35722

MOZAMBIQUE: Improved harvest brings relief but inputs still needed

Food-insecure communities in Mozambique's central and southern provinces
could expect some relief in coming months as preliminary crop assessments
from the country's second growing season show positive results, the Famine
Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its latest monthly
report.

With the main season's harvest completed in March, FEWS NET noted, the
focus had shifted to the performance of the second harvesting season,
which normally occurs between July and August.

"It is still too soon to determine the potential harvest's impact on the
food security situation in the coming months, and it is important that
there is ongoing monitoring. But preliminary assessments [for the region]
show that the standing crop is good so far," FEWS NET country
representative Olanda Bata told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35649

NAMIBIA: Refugees clash with police

The UN refugee agency UNHCR in Namibia has denied press reports that
protesting refugees were shot by police in a confrontation over reduced
paraffin rations this week.

The Namibian newspaper reported refugees as saying that one refugee had
been shot and several injured by police on Monday, when they tried to
quell a disturbance during the distribution of paraffin by the aid agency
Africare on behalf of UNHCR.

"This is sensationalist reporting," UNHCR Country Representative Hesdy
Radhling told IRIN on Wednesday. "The implementing partner [African
Humanitarian Action] running the health clinic said nobody was in hospital
because of any police action."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35695

SOUTH AFRICA: Teaching teachers about gender violence

In a country long-sickened by the level of sexual violence, South African
teachers have been encouraged to provide students with skills to cope with
the dual threat of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS.

The vulnerability of young girls to sexual violence is reflected in the
findings of a study conducted by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Local
Council and a local NGO, the Community Information Empowerment and
Transparency Foundation. One in four of the men interviewed claimed to
have had sex without the girl's consent. At least half those interviewed -
male and female - believed that forcing sex on someone you know is not
sexual violence, but just "rough sex", the study found.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35726

SA man arrested for mercenary activity

A French-born South African was sentenced to five years in prison or a
R100,000 (US $13,333) fine in Pretoria on Friday after pleading guilty to
involvement in mercenary activities in Cote d'Ivoire, news reports said.

Richard Rouget, 44, a naturalised South African of French origin, was also
sentenced to a further five years, suspended for five years, in the
Pretoria Regional Court, on condition that he was not found guilty of a
similar offence during that time.

IRIN reported on Monday that he was the first person to be charged and
convicted of violating South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act.
Analyst Jakkie Cilliers, head of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS),
said the arrest was a sign that the South African government was serious
about curbing mercenary activity by its citizens.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35653

SOUTHERN AFRICA: UN consolidated appeal launched

Aid agencies have appealed for US $530 million to provide life-saving
assistance to 6.5 million people in Southern Africa who have been
"severely weakened by consecutive failed harvests, extreme poverty and
HIV/AIDS". The UN launched the 2003 Regional Consolidated Appeal (CAP)
simultaneously in Johannesburg and Geneva on Tuesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35676

SWAZILAND: Dying tradition, as funeral customs abandoned

Dead bodies left unclaimed by their families in city mortuaries, the
desecration of cemeteries and the abandonment of customary funeral rites
are new trends marking a change in the reverence Swazis have traditionally
had for their ancestors.

"How societies treat their dead says a lot about the way we value
ourselves and our heritage," Chief Malunge Dlamini told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35697

Feature on anti-Mozambican xenophobia

The largest organised protest to be mounted by Mozambicans in Swaziland
occurred last week, triggered by the deaths of two Mozambican street
vendors at the hands of rangers - municipal ordinance enforcement officers
- in the commercial city of Manzini.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35655

ZAMBIA: Ongoing opposition to constitutional review

Civic groups in Zambia on Tuesday reacted angrily to recent comments by
President Levy Mwanawasa accusing them of trying to destabilise the
government.

Mwanawasa reportedly said NGO leaders wanted to undermine Zambia's ongoing
constitutional review process and threatened to deport those who were not
Zambian. But rights activists told IRIN that Mwanawasa's comments were an
attempt to muzzle criticism of the government's handling of the
constitutional review process.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35673


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

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