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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 173
3 - 9 April 2004


CONTENTS:

SOUTH AFRICA: Special reports on a decade of democracy 
ANGOLA: Moving child rights up the agenda
ZIMBABWE: More funds needed to cope with worsening conditions
ZAMBIA: Swollen Zambezi submerges schools, clinics, homes
MALAWI: Election preparations on track
MOZAMBIQUE: "Visible improvement" but still a long way to go
SWAZILAND: New legislation on disaster management and environment


SOUTH AFRICA: Special reports on a decade of democracy

IRIN produced a series of special reports this week, ahead of the 14 April
general elections, which reviewed a decade of democracy in terms of black
economic empowerment, HIV/AIDS and foreign policy.

Black economic empowerment

When the African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994 it
identified black economic empowerment as a major vehicle for addressing
the economic injustices of apartheid.

However, questions have been raised as to whether the current process has
resulted in the enrichment of an elite few rather than empowerment of the
millions who still remain excluded from participating in the economy.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40489


HIV/AIDS

In May 1994, a month after being sworn in as the ruling party, the African
National Congress drew up a National Health Plan.

It dealt at length with HIV/AIDS, pointing out that, "In view of the
devastating implications of the epidemic for South Africa, it is mandatory
to define prevention and control interventions, plus comprehensive care
for those already infected, within the context of the Bill of Rights."

Only now, a decade later, is a comprehensive treatment plan being rolled
out.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/S_report.asp?ReportID=40505


Foreign policy

In the past 10 years, South Africa has emerged as a major economic and
political actor on the African continent.

Since the grim years of apartheid, when the country was an isolated and
militarily aggressive power that destabilised its neighbours, it has
emerged as an active pro-African player: instrumental in the formation of
the New Partnership of African Development and the African Union.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40469 


New report highlights the plight of the elderly

High levels of unemployment and the burden of HIV/AIDS threatens to undo
much of the efforts of South Africa's elderly as they prepare to make the
transition to old age, recent research has found.

"Growing Old Gracefully in South Africa", a study by the University of
Natal, focuses on the challenges faced by the near old, arguing that
failure to acquire sufficient assets between the ages of 50 and 59 years
could have dire long-term consequences.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40486


A "House of Life" cares for the dying

A TV music channel blares as a passing nurse swings her hips to pop
rhythms, cheered on by patients in rickety hospital beds. At first glance
Ikhaya Lobomi ("House of Life") seems to do its name justice but, on
closer examination, it becomes clear that this is a place for the rejected
and the dying.

The intense smell of sickness mixed with the odour of decay lingers in the
air of this AIDS hospice, located in the lush green Kwanyuswa area in the
Valley of a Thousand Hills in South Africa's eastern province of
KwaZulu-Natal.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40467


Strong rand hurts manufacturing sector

South Africa's manufacturing sector has been shedding jobs as the strong
rand and drastic cuts in import tariffs erode competitiveness. The issue
has emerged as a major cause of concern as the country prepares for its
presidential and legislative elections this month.

The clothing and textile sector best highlights the problem: it has been
haemorrhaging jobs in recent years after riding the wave of a weak rand
against the US dollar, which made South African products extremely
attractive to foreign buyers.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40431


ANGOLA: Moving child rights up the agenda

The plight of former child soldiers and war-affected children in Angola is
beginning to ease as they slowly reintegrate back into their communities,
but new threats such as child trafficking and HIV/AIDS are emerging, the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

A post-war child protection strategy had shown "significant results",
Abubacar Sultan, UNICEF's head of child protection, told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40501


Poor still waiting for benefits of peace

The guns in Angola may have fallen silent, but the broad consensus on the
streets of this battered country is that two years of peace have done
little to better the lives of ordinary citizens.

Sunday marked the second anniversary of the signing of the peace accord
between the ruling MPLA and its arch-foe, UNITA, which brought to an end
one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil conflicts.

The celebrations that greeted the end of the war in April 2002 have faded,
replaced with despondency and frustration among a vast proportion of
Angolans, many of whom still live in abject poverty, say observers.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40422


Closure of markets undermine informal economy

A government decision to close a number of markets in the Angolan capital,
Luanda, has sparked clashes with police and elicited protests from aid
workers.

The population of Luanda has grown eight-fold over the last three decades
as rural populations fled the fighting in the countryside for the relative
safety of the capital. Lacking skills and education, most of the new city
dwellers turned to buying and selling on the informal market.

At least four people died and several more were injured in clashes between
police and angry market traders, who say their livelihoods are being
threatened by the clean-up campaign.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40447


ZIMBABWE: More funds needed to cope with worsening conditions

In an effort to cope with worsening humanitarian conditions in Zimbabwe,
the United Nations is seeking additional funds to support relief efforts
through to the end of the year.

The request, a revision of the Consolidated Appeal launched last July,
focuses on strengthening social service delivery, supporting the country's
recovery and tackling HIV/AIDS.

The total US $95.4 million in funding requirements for 2003 to the end of
2004 includes US $31.1 million requested by local and international NGOs.
So far only US $10.5 million in contributions has been received since the
initial appeal was launched last year.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40429


Rains raise hope for improved harvest

Recent rains across most of southwestern Zimbabwe have raised hopes for an
improved harvest among small-scale farmers in the drought-prone
Matabeleland region.

"This is the first time we have had so much rain in three years. Most of
the early planted crop was scorched out by the sun, but the later crop has
survived, and that is where our hopes are," said communal farmer Misheck
Nare. Other small-scale farmers echoed the same sentiments.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40484


Diesel crisis hits commercial freight sector

A diesel fuel shortage has interrupted rail service and grounded transport
fleets in parts of the country, IRIN reported on Tuesday. Commentators
suggested that worse was still to come.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40448


ZAMBIA: Swollen Zambezi submerges schools, clinics, homes

Flooding in Zambia's Western and North Western provinces has jeopardised
the health, education and food security of people living in affected
areas.

The office of the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator in Zambia noted in its
latest situation report that "over the last two months, reports of heavy
rains submerging schools, communities, crops, and destroying
infrastructure have abounded", with more than 21,000 households affected.

A joint mission by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the
Office of the Resident Coordinator visited areas where heavy rains and the
rising level of the Zambezi river were causing widespread damage.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40498


Few fleeing Congolese seek asylum

Only 37 of 1,038 Congolese nationals sent fleeing into northern Zambia in
early March by renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
have sought asylum, a UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official told IRIN on
Monday.

"It is difficult to establish if the others have all gone back, or have
been integrated into Zambian society," said Patrick Kawama, a protection
officer at the UNHCR sub-office in Kawamba, near the border.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40419


MALAWI: Election preparations on track

Funds from international donors will ease the task of organising Malawi's
general elections next month, in which six million people are registered
to vote.

The European Union (EU) is donating US $2.4 million to a trust fund
administered by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Norway has
contributed US $1.5 million and Britain US $750,000.

The resources are expected to support the "registration of voters,
cleaning up the voters roll, equipping polling stations, and making
arrangements for elections observers", UNDP said in a statement on
Tuesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40445


MOZAMBIQUE: "Visible improvement" but still a long way to go

Efforts to tackle poverty in Mozambique have made progress with the
authorities this week reporting a "visible" improvement in social services
delivery.

At a meeting with donors on Monday to review the country's anti-poverty
programme, officials noted a drop in household poverty from 69 percent in
2000 to 54 percent in 2003.

"Progress was especially visible in improvements in health care,
education, and access to potable water," Prime Minister Luísa Diogo
reportedly told journalists in the capital, Maputo, after the meeting.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40487


SWAZILAND: New legislation on disaster management and environment

Two pending pieces of legislation will facilitate disaster management and
bring Swaziland in line with a key international environmental protocol.

"As the Prime Minister pointed out, we have seen drought, hailstorms, AIDS
and flash flooding within the past year, and we must coordinate our local
and national security, health and governmental bodies for quick
mobilisation when disaster strikes," a spokesman for the Deputy Prime
Minster's Office (DPM) told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40466


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

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