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 222
12 - 18 March 2005


CONTENTS:

NAMIBIA: End of an era as Nujoma steps down
ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politic
ANGOLA: Report highlights plight of returnees
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Dry spell causes concern for harvest
SWAZILAND: Govt embarks on anti-corruption drive
SOUTH AFRICA: SANDF will not tolerate rights abuses
NAMIBIA: Recount confirms ruling party victory
MADAGASCAR: Death toll in flooding rises
ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme
MOZAMBIQUE: Maputo - overcrowded, underfunded


NAMIBIA: End of an era as Nujoma steps down

On Monday Namibia enters a new era - one without President Sam Nujoma at 
the helm. After 15 years of rule, the white-bearded liberation war 
leader, affectionately known as "the old man", hands over to his 
successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba.

At the final cabinet meeting this week, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab 
paid tribute to Nujoma's leadership and described him as an 
"extraordinary son of the soil".

Nujoma, 75, said he was retiring in the knowledge that the foundations 
for democracy and economic prosperity had been laid through the 
collective leadership of his colleagues in the SWAPO party, which he has 
led for more than four decades.

Full 
report


ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on the global community to 
"differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe".

"Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS; every day 
children are becoming infected, orphaned and forced to leave school to 
care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was 
inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children, who are facing a 
deadly crisis every day of their lives," said UNICEF Executive Director 
Carol Bellamy in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Despite the world's fourth highest rate of HIV infection, and the 
greatest rise in child mortality in any nation, Zimbabweans were 
receiving just a fraction of donor funding compared to other countries 
in the region, UNICEF noted.

Full 
report


SA opposition describes run-up to poll as "alarming"

Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) members of the South African 
parliamentary observer mission to Zimbabwe have described their initial 
impressions of the electoral process as "alarming".

DA representatives reported that "there is widespread intimidation of 
opposition members and supporters", and members of NGOs were arrested 
when they tried to conduct voter education programmes, party leader Tony 
Leon wrote in his weekly letter.

Responding for the parliamentary team, senior African National Congress 
(ANC) official, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, told IRIN: "It is too early to 
comment on the situation as we are still in the process of deploying 
people to the various provinces. Any information that any member could 
have would only be hearsay and any comment they make is not on behalf of 
the team."

Full 
report


Concern over the absence of SADC and EISA teams at poll

Human rights activists and election observers are concerned that two of 
the "most credible" election observer groups in Southern African will 
not be in Zimbabwe for the 31 March elections.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum 
and the Johannesburg-based Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) 
have not been invited to observe the Zimbabwean general elections.

Full 
report


Media watchdog calls for govt to allow banned paper to reopen

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on 
the Zimbabwean authorities to allow the Daily News, once the country's 
largest selling newspaper, to reopen.

The call followed a Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruling on Monday that the 
government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) reconsider a 
2003 decision to deny registration to the banned newspaper and its 
sister publication, the Daily News on Sunday.

However, the court ruled against the privately owned newspaper's 
constitutional challenge to certain sections of the controversial Access 
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Full 
report


Govt begins investigating NGOs over funding

The Zimbabwean government has appointed an eight-member taskforce to 
investigate allegations that 13 NGOs failed to provide details of donor 
funds channelled into the country through them last year.

Earlier this month the government announced that it might soon 
de-register at least 30 NGOs because they had failed to account for part 
of the US $88 million sent into Zimbabwe via their organisations, in 
response to an appeal for aid last year. Since then 17 of those NGOs had 
met the 11 March deadline for submitting their accounts, the official 
newspaper The Herald reported on Wednesday.

Full 
report


Govt dismisses rights body's claims as 'lies'

Zimbabwe's government has dismissed claims by the rights group, Amnesty 
International (AI), that free participation of eligible voters in the 31 
March poll is impossible.

"It is a complete lie," said government spokesman George Charamba on 
Thursday. Describing Amnesty International as a "political player" in 
the electoral process, he questioned the organisation's neutrality. "We 
know that Amnesty International is at the heart of organising residual 
opposition currently in South Africa - holding demonstrations against 
the [Zimbabwean] government at the Beit Bridge border."

Full 
report


ANGOLA: Report highlights plight of returnees

A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that the vast population 
of refugees returning to Angola face harassment and sexual assault.

'Coming Home: Return and Reintegration in Angola', alleged that despite 
almost three years of peace, the government has provided little in the 
way of basic social services, employment or education to returnees.

"Hundreds of thousands of recently returned refugees, internally 
displaced persons [IDPs] and former combatants face daunting challenges 
in reintegrating into Angolan society, with little government 
assistance," the New York-based watchdog said in a statement.

Full 
report


Flooding leaves at least 10,000 homeless

Flooding in Angola's northern Kwanza Norte province has left at least 
10,000 people without shelter and created conditions ripe for malaria 
and diarrhoeal diseases.

A United Nations team returning from the affected area said local 
government, with the support of the Ministry for Assistance and Social 
Reintegration (MINARS), was managing to get urgent assistance to the 
area, but people remained vulnerable.

"We're not talking about a large-scale disaster with widespread 
consequences, but there are urgent needs that are not being met," said 
Matthew Olins, senior field coordinator at the Transitional Coordination 
Unit in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Full 
report


Change slow to arrive for Luanda's frustrated citizens

A clapped-out old car edges its way around the muddy potholes and 
bumper-to-bumper traffic, nudging through the crowds of hawkers on the 
road from downtown Luanda to the shanty suburb of Hoji-ya-Henda.

Irritated by the painfully slow progress, the driver winds down his 
window and yells at the crowds to get out of the way, nearly gagging as 
the putrid stench of garbage filters into his vehicle.

The five-kilometre journey takes 40 minutes through overcrowded suburbs, 
along bone-shaking roads, through disease-ridden rubbish, and 
illustrates just a few of the challenges faced by those living in and 
around Angola's capital.

Full 
report


Campaign attacks high child mortality rate

The Angolan government is boosting its efforts to slash the country's 
high child mortality statistics with a week-long campaign to encourage 
three million children to access basic healthcare.

Supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the 'health days' are 
taking place across the country in a bid to immunise newborns and 
children under five against some of the biggest child-killers.

Full 
report


Death toll from mystery fever rises to 77

The number of people killed by a mystery illness in Angola's northern 
Uige province has risen to 77, health officials said on Friday.

The cause of the outbreak, characterised by fever, coughing and 
vomiting, sometimes with blood, is still unknown. But the government is 
so concerned it has sent blood samples to the Centres for Disease 
Control (CDC) in Atlanta, the officials said.

The health ministry is advising people not to enter or leave Uige, while 
diplomatic sources said the airport had been closed.

Full 
report



SOUTHERN AFRICA: Dry spell causes concern for harvest

Dry conditions during February have raised concerns of possible failed 
harvests in several Southern African countries, according to the Famine 
Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).

February "is critical in determining final harvest expectations ... and 
was characterised by a prolonged dry spell in many parts of the SADC 
region", FEWS NET explained. "Areas affected include southern and 
central Malawi (particularly southern Malawi), southern and central 
Mozambique, southern half of Zimbabwe, Swaziland, northernmost parts of 
South Africa, southern Zambia, and Botswana".

Full 
report


New thinking needed on impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture

The impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture in Southern Africa is now well 
recognised. But a new report is calling for a rethink of current views 
on the effects of the epidemic and more concrete and specific regional 
responses.

Despite current thinking on the effects of the epidemic on farming, 
which has mainly been based on qualitative methods, the study found that 
most quantitative household-level studies gave "a less catastrophic 
assessment of the impacts of rising AIDS-related mortality on the 
agricultural sector".

Full 
report


SADC prepares for the African Standby Force

Military experts from member states of the Southern African Development 
Community (SADC) are meeting regularly to prepare for the formation of a 
standby peacekeeping brigade in the region by the end of this year, a 
senior official told IRIN this week.

"Troops will be volunteered by the member states according to their 
capacity, as and when the need arises," explained Magang Phologane, 
political officer in the SADC Organ for Politics, Defence and Security.

Full 
report



SWAZILAND: Govt embarks on anti-corruption drive

Swaziland's justice ministry will table an Anti-Corruption Bill in the 
next few weeks, in an effort to curb malpractices that government 
leaders say the impoverished nation cannot afford.

"I certainly look forward to the Ministry of Justice giving teeth to the 
Anti-Corruption Unit this year. The twin evils of bribery and corruption 
have become the order of the day in the country," Finance Minister 
Majozi Sithole told IRIN.

Full 
report


Summit with South Africa indefinitely postponed

A summit between King Mswati III and South African President Thabo Mbeki 
has been indefinitely postponed, a Swazi foreign ministry source told 
IRIN on Tuesday. Pro-Democracy groups had hoped that Mbeki would use the 
occasion to press for political reform in sub-Saharan Africa's last 
absolute monarchy.

"The original date of the summit, 23 March, proved too close to the 
Easter holiday weekend, which begins 25 March," a ministry source told 
IRIN. He said no substitute date had been proposed for the first 
face-to-face private meeting between the leaders.

Full 
report


Elderly bear burden of orphan crisis

Ninety percent blind in both eyes, Babe (Father in SiSwati) Simelane, 
who estimates he is 72 years old, could make out only the roughest 
outline of his son's face when he died from an AIDS related illness last 
year, leaving two young sons.

His age and poor eyesight have made it difficult for Simelane, a 
widower, to support his grandchildren.

"Mandla took care of me; he brought in the harvests. Now he is dead. The 
boys - at least they get fed at school," said Simelane. He lives in the 
mountainous northern Hhohho region, where ample rainfall and a network 
of flowing rivers make the lush area vastly different to the 
drought-affected south and east.

Full 
report


SOUTH AFRICA: SANDF will not tolerate rights abuses

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said this week that it 
will not "tolerate any behaviour" by its members that undermined its 
"good image and international standing."

Three SANDF personnel on a peacekeeping mission in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo (DRC) are under investigation for misconduct by the 
UN's in-house watchdog, the UN Office of Internal Oversight.

Full 
report


Johannesburg - a city of risk and opportunity

Fresh off the bus at Park Station, one of the greatest challenges facing 
any newcomer to Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub, is 
accommodation.

In the rundown, seedy, downtown residential areas of Hillbrow, Berea and 
Joubert Park, up to seven people can share one room, and large numbers 
of homeless are on the pavement every night.

Full 
report


Drive to regenerate decaying heart of Jo'burg

For more than 25 years, Kippies jazz club was the heart of South 
Africa's dynamic music scene.

During apartheid, multiracial audiences defied calls for segregation and 
packed the dimly lit club in Johannesburg's inner city Newtown 
neighbourhood. Offering a platform for both established greats and 
up-and-coming artists, Kippies became a stalwart of South African 
culture, hosting acts such as jazz trumpeter and musician Hugh Masekela, 
and vocalists Miriam Makeba and Thandiswa Mazwai.

Full 
report


NAMIBIA: Recount confirms ruling party victory

A recount of the votes cast in Namibia's national elections, held in 
November last year, has confirmed the ruling party's landslide victory.

The results of the recount were announced on Wednesday night. The 
process began on Sunday after two Namibian opposition parties won a 
court ruling last week ordering the recount.

Full 
report


Government to overhaul education sector

Namibia aims to transform its education system with a five-year Nam 
$23.4 billion (US $4 billion) plan.

A recent World Bank report on Namibia's education system, 'Namibia Human 
Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth and Equity', found 
that it was not meeting the needs of the country's economy and was 
"ineffective".

Full 
report


MADAGASCAR: Death toll in flooding rises

The death toll from recent heavy flooding in Madagascar has risen to 25, 
while more than 8,000 people have been left homeless, a disaster 
official told IRIN.

"More than 58,000 people have been affected in four regions," said Jacki 
Ranemdearason of the Centre National de Secours (CNS), the national body 
for disaster management.

Full 
report


ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme

The Zambian government aims to scale up the country's tuberculosis (TB) 
control programme to achieve a cure rate of 80 percent.

"We have exceeded the 70 percent WHO [World Health Organisation cure 
rate] target. We are being realistic in targeting 80 percent," Health 
Minister Brian Chituwo told IRIN this week. "The TB cure rate in Zambia 
has improved from 64 percent to 73 percent in the past year."

Full 
report


MOZAMBIQUE: Maputo - overcrowded, underfunded

Maputo, Mozambique's capital, is bursting at the seams, setting the new 
city council an enormous challenge providing even basic facilities to 
long-suffering residents.

Maputo is "overloaded with people", Helder Ossemane, head of 
communications at the council told IRIN. "I know people complain - we 
have major problems, including the rubbish, roads, and poor drainage."

Full 
report


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