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

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e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 235
11 - 17 June 2005


CONTENTS:

ANGOLA: Concerns over possible delay of national election
ZAMBIA: Ruling party distances itself from attack on newspaper
ZIMBABWE: National Plan of Action for OVC in need of resources
MALAWI: Govt purchases expensive presidential vehicle despite food
   shortages
MOZAMBIQUE: Civic groups welcome debt relief but want more aid and
   trade
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Community-based groups need more support to help OVC
SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki sends out a strong message on corruption, say
   analysts
SWAZILAND: NGOs, UNICEF call for implementation of national children's
   policy



ANGOLA: Concerns over possible delay of national election

News that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has asked the Supreme Court 
to rule on whether sections of a new election law are unconstitutional 
has raised concern that Angola's first general election since 1992 could 
be delayed.

The opposition UNITA party told IRIN that the latest hiccup might bring 
postponement of the promised 2006 elections.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47696


Plight of children still desperate, UNICEF head

Angola still has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the 
world, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Mario Ferrari 
said this week, and challenges relating to children remain huge.

Three years after the end of the country's 27-year civil war, "the 
situation is that the long period of war had the effect of dismantling 
the social services, weakening social services in a radical way in the 
country. The effect is that ... this country has a child mortality rate 
of 250 per 1,000 - one of the highest in the world," Ferrari told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47658


Food aid cuts loom due to lack of funds

Much-needed food aid distributions in Angola and Lesotho have had to be 
cut back due to a lack of funds, according to the World Food Programme 
(WFP).

Manuel Cristovao, WFP's spokesman in Angola, told IRIN on Monday that 
the agency was helping about a million people, mostly returning refugees 
and resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs).

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47618


ZAMBIA:Ruling party distances itself from attack on newspaper

Zambia's ruling party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), on 
Friday denied that it had authorised any attack on the media, after 
claims that its supporters had attacked newspaper vendors.

"We are committed to a democratic regime and believe in the freedom of 
the press," MMD spokesman Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika told IRIN.

The Post, a privately owned daily newspaper, alleged that supporters of 
the MMD had attacked its vendors and confiscated copies of the newspaper 
at its printing plant in the capital, Lusaka, on Wednesday morning.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47695


ZIMBABWE: National Plan of Action for OVC in need of resources

Child rights groups in Zimbabwe made a plea on Wednesday for resources 
to provide much-needed support to more than one million orphans and 
vulnerable children (OVC) across the country.

The country has 1.3 million orphans, of which more than one million have 
been orphaned by AIDS, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates 
that this figure is growing by 435 children every day, or 160,000 each 
year.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47659


Displaced families face bleak winter

Around 190,000 homes have been destroyed and thousands arrested in the 
operation to clean up Zimbabwe's cities and towns, leaving many of those 
affected unable to find proper shelter or food.

Authorities claimed the operation, launched on 19 May, was aimed at 
ridding urban areas of informal flea markets and illegal residential 
shacks and houses, saying they had become a haven for criminal 
activities. About 30 housing schemes, set up by war veterans after the 
fast-track land redistribution programme commenced in 2000, have also 
been demolished.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47636


MALAWI: Govt purchases expensive presidential vehicle despite food 
shortages

Plans to purchase a US $545,000 limousine for President Bingu wa 
Mutharika have sparked a heated debate in Malawi, which faces yet 
another year of acute food shortages.

Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told parliament on Wednesday that the 
Maybach 62, made by Mercedes-Benz, was necessary, as the president was 
without an official vehicle. The car used by former president Bakili 
Muluzi was involved in an accident last year, and the government 
intended to pay for the new vehicle in instalments.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47670


Civil society welcomes relief for farmers

Malawian civil society has welcomed tax reforms and subsidies for 
agricultural inputs in the 2005/06 budget that will ease the burden of 
small-scale farmers plagued by poor harvests again this year.

Unveiling the budget on Friday last week, Finance Minister Goodall 
Gondwe described the reforms as an attempt to "improve the economic 
buying power of individual Malawians", and said those earning less than 
US $40 a month would not be taxed.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47617


MOZAMBIQUE: Civic groups welcome debt relief but want more aid and trade

Civil society groups in Mozambique say the savings resulting from debt 
relief should be channelled into developing the agricultural sector.

Mozambique is among the 18 countries eligible for a total writeoff of 
foreign debt after an agreement was reached by the Group of Eight (G8) 
industrialised countries in London at the weekend.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47637


HIV/AIDS-affected children need more assistance

Nongovernmental organisations in Mozambique are concerned that not 
enough is being done to assist the escalating number of children 
infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

More than one million Mozambican children are either living with HIV, 
caring for family members sick with AIDS-related illnesses, or have 
already lost one or both parents to the pandemic.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47665


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Community-based groups need more support to help OVC

Community initiatives to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) 
in Southern Africa need more funds and technical support, according to 
new research.

The study conducted by the British NGO, Save the Children UK, identified 
a number of "bottlenecks" preventing the smooth flow of funds to support 
community initiatives and suggested "drip-feeding", or providing 
long-term funding to local groups, as an alternative.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47653


Project to manage groundwater approved

A project to manage groundwater and drought in southern Africa was 
approved by the World Bank (WB) this week.

The Groundwater and Drought Management project will cost US $7.5 
million, and is being funded by a $7 million grant from the Global 
Environment Facility (GEF), with the remainder provided by the Swedish 
International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47668


SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki sends out a strong message on corruption, say 
analysts

South African President Thabo Mbeki wanted to send a strong signal on 
tackling corruption by firing his deputy, Jacob Zuma, on Tuesday, 
political analysts said.

Mbeki's decision, televised live from parliament in Cape Town, followed 
the conviction of Zuma's former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, on 
charges of corruption and fraud. The judge described the relationship 
between Zuma and Shaik as "generally corrupt".

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47635


SWAZILAND:  NGOs, UNICEF call for implementation of national children's 
policy

NGOs in Swaziland have accused the government of dragging its feet on 
implementing a comprehensive plan to improve the lives of children.

At a meeting on Friday in Matsapha, an industrial estate outside the 
commercial hub of Manzini, social welfare NGOs emphasised the growing 
number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47701


Changing face of home-based hospice care

AIDS has accelerated the death rate in Swaziland, causing home-based 
hospice care to expand into an entire support system for affected 
families.

"People now come to us as a resource to go for help when they have a 
terminally ill family member, to help them cope with the burden, to help 
the patient, and to help the whole family emotionally, spiritually and 
medically," said Thulile Dlamini-Msane, director of Hospice at Home, a 
care centre near the Matsapha industrial estate outside Manzini in 
central Swaziland.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47656


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 895-1900
Fax: +27 11 784-6759
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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