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 224
26 March - 1 April 2005


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Govt will not tolerate post-election demonstrations
ANGOLA: Marburg outbreak becomes world's worst
SOUTH AFRICA: Firearms amnesty a success, say experts
COMOROS: Chronic poverty pushes Anjouanese to risk their lives
INDIAN OCEAN: Concerns over tsunami readiness persist
SWAZILAND: Construction workers' hostel not wanted in upmarket suburb
ZAMBIA: A drought-prone country turns to cassava
MOZAMBIQUE: Nearly as good as new will do just fine
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Concern over donor response to new food crisis
LESOTHO: Govt tackles child labour and exploitation
NAMIBIA: Govt announces plans to combat TB



ZIMBABWE: Govt will not tolerate post-election demonstrations

The Zimbabwean government has threatened to crack down on any public 
demonstration after Thursday's legislative elections.

The government was responding to calls by the opposition for peaceful 
'Ukraine-style' protests to oust the ruling ZANU-PF party of President 
Robert Mugabe should it win the keenly contested elections on Thursday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46384


Over 1,000 "pro-opposition" poll officials fired

The Zimbabwean government had reportedly dismissed over 1,000 polling 
officers and accredited election monitors, ahead of Thursday's 
parliamentary elections, on allegations that they supported the 
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The MDC and some civil society organisations said they were shocked by 
the expulsion on Monday of 800 election monitors from Mashonaland East 
province by governor David Karimanzira and Ray Kaukonde, the 
parliamentary candidate for the ruling ZANU-PF party.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46391


Abortion figures underscore need for more reproductive health education

An estimated 70,000 illegal abortions take place in Zimbabwe every year, 
says a new report by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The UN agency called for a national education drive to raise awareness 
of sexual and reproductive health.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46383


Food a major election issue in drought-hit provinces

Food was cited as a key issue of the parliamentary election campaign in 
drought-hit western Zimbabwe, with both the ruling ZANU-PF party and 
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) promising aid to 
increasingly desperate voters.

"We know you need assistance. Government is taking care of the 
situation, and rest assured that no one will starve," President Robert 
Mugabe told a rally in rural Matabeleland last week.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46364


Infrastructure development could stave off food shortages

Rehabilitating irrigation schemes and major dams in Zimbabwe's arid 
Matabeleland South province could help ease its perennial food 
shortages, experts told IRIN this week.

Over the past 10 years the cattle-farming province has had its fair 
share of misfortune. The government has proclaimed the region a disaster 
area every year since 1998 as a result of droughts, flooding and 
pestilence - including outbreaks of foot-and-mouth, which led to the 
death of over a million head of cattle.

Edward Mkhosi, a former provincial land-use planner with the 
Agricultural Rural Development Authority in Matabeleland South, told 
IRIN that if all the derelict irrigation schemes were revived, and 
existing water resources put to maximum productive use, the province 
could feed itself.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46422


Insufficient provision for elderly and infirm voters

NGOs earlier this week lamented the lack of special arrangements for 
elderly and infirm voters ahead of Zimbabwe's legislative elections on 
31 March.

Mary Madya, 25, a widow from Mufakose suburb in the capital, Harare, is 
one of many eligible voters living with AIDS who will be unable to vote 
on polling day. Eight months ago she was able to register as a voter, 
but after prolonged hospitalisation she is now bedridden and frail.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46360


Harare's water supply threatened

The spread of the fast-growing water hyacinth weed in Harare's Lake 
Chivero is threatening the capital city's main water supply.

The floating weed, one metre tall in places, covers 40 percent of the 
lake and is soaking up oxygen and sunlight, killing fish and reducing 
both the quality and volume of water in the lake.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46334


ANGOLA: Marburg outbreak becomes world's worst

The death toll from the rare Marburg virus in Angola has risen to 126, 
making it the world's worst outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Health-led national technical 
commission, set up to combat the virus, showed that all the deaths 
originated in the northern province of Uige, and most of the victims 
were children. So far 132 cases of infection have been recorded.

The previous most lethal outbreak in modern times occurred in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2000, which claimed 123 
lives.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46411


Interview with outgoing CARE director Doug Steinberg

If peacetime Angola is to lift itself out of the slough of poverty, the 
government must open its books to scrutiny, and donors, industry and the 
international community need to take a tough stance to ensure this 
happens, Doug Steinberg, the outgoing country director of the 
humanitarian NGO, CARE, told IRIN in an interview.

Angola is rich in oil and diamonds, but is poor in almost everything 
else, and Steinberg believes the lack of transparency is "rotting the 
country from the inside", keeping Angola at the bottom of the UN human 
development index.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46395


"Normalcy before transparency"

The Angolan ambassador to South Africa says political conditions in his 
country "need to be normalised first", before the government could 
address the issue of fiscal transparency.

In response to comments by Doug Steinberg, the outgoing country director 
of the development agency, CARE, ambassador Isaac Maria dos Anjos told 
IRIN that making transparency a condition for holding a donor conference 
- to help fund Angola's reconstruction effort - was "uncalled for".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46414


Civil society calls for action against corruption

As the Angolan government gears up for the 2006 elections, civil society 
has called for more transparency, with action to counter mismanagement 
and corruption.

The Coalition of Reconciliation, Transparency and Citizenship (RTC) 
launched its "Free Angola of Corruption" campaign this week, publishing 
startling research about bribery at the grassroots level in Angolan 
society.  RTC, established in 2002, counts trade unions, NGOs and other 
civil society coalitions among its members.

"Transparency is very important because this country, after being 
destroyed by war, is now being destroyed by corruption," Landu Kama, 
RTC's coordinator, told IRIN after the launch of the campaign.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46378


Alarm in Luanda over Marburg outbreak eases

Angola's vice minister for health, Jose Van Dunem, told IRIN on Tuesday 
that the situation in Uige was slowly improving, with experts from the 
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the international medical NGO, 
Medecins Sans Frontieres, supporting teams from the ministry in both 
Uige and the capital, Luanda.

The government was prohibiting anyone who had visited Uige from leaving 
the country for 21 days - the incubation period of the disease - to 
prevent the bug from spreading beyond Angola's borders.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46362


SOUTH AFRICA: Firearms amnesty a success, say experts

South Africa has introduced a firearm amnesty in a bid to reduce gun 
violence, the single largest cause of violent death in the country.

The government's firearm reprieve, which started on 1 January and ended 
on 31 March, allowed people with illegal guns and ammunition to hand 
them over to police without being prosecuted for possessing the weapons.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46382


Interview with Dr Nomonde Xundu, head of govt's HIV/AIDS unit

In November 2003 the South African government launched its 
much-anticipated HIV/AIDS treatment programme, committing itself to 
providing free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to 53,000 HIV-positive people 
by March 2004. The figure is a fraction of South Africa's HIV positive 
population, estimated at over five million, but was nevertheless an 
ambitious beginning to what was to be the world's largest ARV rollout to 
date.

That target date has since been moved forward a year, to March 2005, but 
still seems unlikely to be met. PlusNews spoke to Dr Nomonde Xundu, 
chief director of the department of health's HIV/AIDS and TB unit about 
the challenges.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46390


COMOROS: Chronic poverty pushes Anjouanese to risk their lives

In a desperate attempt to escape grinding poverty, thousands of 
Anjouanese continue to risk everything to make the perilous journey from 
the Comoros to the nearby island of Mayotte.

An estimated 40 people a day are smuggled to the relatively well-off 
French-administered Mayotte, often in overcrowded rickety fishing boats 
that struggle to cope with the Indian Ocean's swells. Earlier this month 
35 people drowned after an overloaded 'kwaaza-kwaaza' (motorised fishing 
boat) capsized off the east coast of Anjouan. Local NGOs say the tragedy 
was the latest in string of accidents in recent years.

Despite these dangers, thousands of Anjouanese still take to the sea in 
search of a better life.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46389


INDIAN OCEAN: Concerns over tsunami readiness persist

Although Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles have called off 
tsunami alerts issued after a powerful earthquake hit the Indonesian 
island of Sumatra, concerns remain over the preparedness of Africa's 
Indian Ocean island countries to handle large-scale disasters.

Tsunami warnings were triggered in the three island states after the 
quake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale struck late Monday off 
Indonesia's west coast, but government officials withdrew the alerts 
early on Tuesday, as meteorologists confirmed that seismic activity had 
not triggered outsized waves.

Last December an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Aceh generated 
a tsunami that hit 13 countries on the Indian Ocean rim, leaving more 
than 200,000 people dead.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46355


SWAZILAND: Construction workers' hostel not wanted in upmarket suburb

A Swazi construction firm and real estate developer has bowed to popular 
fears over the spread of HIV/AIDS by ending the use of on-site single 
sex workers' hostels in a new upmarket development on the outskirts of 
the capital, Mbabane.

"The contractor shall ensure that workers do not camp on site. Only 
watchmen will be allowed to stay on site after working hours," said the 
Comprehensive Mitigation Plan for Ekuthuleni Township, which is about to 
be built in Ezulwini. The mitigation plan includes HIV/AIDS in its 
evaluation of the project's impact.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46338


ZAMBIA: A drought-prone country turns to cassava

Stung by the threat of a poor maize harvest, the Zambian government has 
urged farmers to turn to cassava production in the drought-prone 
southern and central regions.

According to agricultural experts, cassava is hardier than maize because 
it can grow in dry conditions and does not require large doses of 
fertiliser.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46356


MOZAMBIQUE: Nearly as good as new will do just fine

In an effort to protect local garment manufacturers, several African 
countries have imposed bans on the influx of used clothing but, in 
Mozambique, where the textile industry has not recovered from a long 
civil war that ended in 1992, used clothing has become an integral part 
of the economy.

The president of the Textile Federation in neighbouring South Africa, 
Walter Simeoni, argues that many more jobs could be created in the long 
term by banning imports of used clothing and investing in local 
industry.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46358


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Concern over donor response to new food crisis

With early indications pointing to a renewed humanitarian emergency in 
Southern Africa, there is concern that a lack of funding could prevent 
aid agencies from meeting the needs of the region's vulnerable people.

In its latest situation report the World Food Programme (WFP) noted that 
"the extended dry spells in January and February, at the most critical 
stage of the cereal crop development, are likely to result in a 
significant reduction in the harvest".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46421


LESOTHO: Govt tackles child labour and exploitation

The Lesotho government released two studies on Friday, highlighting the 
growing problems of child labour, abuse and exploitation.

The studies, 'Hear Us' on child domestic workers, and 'Speaking Out' on 
youth sexuality, "allow us to discover the voices of the voiceless 
through young people themselves," said J K Thabane, principal secretary 
of the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation (MOGYSR) at 
the launch.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46423


NAMIBIA: Govt announces plans to combat TB

Namibia, which has the highest tuberculosis (TB) notification rate in 
the world, this week announced a five-year action plan to combat the 
disease.

The plan includes increased investment in healthcare and medical 
personnel, more laboratories, and intensified TB information and 
communication campaigns.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an average of 676 
cases of TB are recorded for every 100,000 Namibians, putting the 
country at the top of the world ranking for the disease. In 1996, the 
notification rate stood at 598 cases per 100,000 Namibians.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46418


IRIN-SA
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Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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2005


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