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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Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 219
19 - 25 Febraury 2005


CONTENTS:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC still awaiting invite from Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE: Political violence could keep voters away say rights groups
ANGOLA: Portuguese lessons give hope to returning refugees
SWAZILAND: Photos of king's luxury limos banned
SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU protest campaign starts next month
NAMIBIA: Legal representation gives up on treason trialists
MALAWI: IMF happy with interim progress
BOTSWANA: With xenophobia rising, electrified border fence hailed
ZAMBIA: Uneven rainfall lowers harvest expectations


SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC still awaiting invite from Zimbabwe

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is awaiting an 
invitation from the Zimbabwean government to monitor the 31 March 
elections, "but there is no crisis, we still have enough time," a senior 
official told IRIN.

"We are expecting an invitation any day now, and it is not too late. I 
have been part of observer missions which have arrived [in countries 
going to polls] three weeks before the elections," said Jesse Duarte, 
director of multilateral affairs at the South African Department of 
Foreign Affairs. Duarte was speaking to IRIN from Mauritius, where an 
SADC ministerial meeting was held this week.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45689


Food aid meeting critical needs

The availability of early crops and aid interventions has ameliorated 
food insecurity during the 'lean season' in parts of Southern Africa, 
IRIN reported on Monday.

The period before the year's first harvest is traditionally the peak of 
hunger in the region, when aid agencies must reach a larger number of 
vulnerable people than at any other time of the year.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45690


Reproductive health experts meet

Experts from southern Africa gathered in Namibia this week to discuss 
critical reproductive health challenges in the sub-region and formulate 
strategies to address them.

About 200 delegates were expected to carve out a comprehensive 
reproductive health component, to be incorporated into the New 
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) framework on related health 
issues.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45739


SADC discusses Madagascar's entry

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) report on Madagascar's 
application for membership is up for discussion at a regional 
ministerial meeting, which began on Thursday in Mauritius.

The SADC Troika, which includes the former, current and incoming chair 
of the organisation, visited Madagascar in December 2004 to assess the 
country's ability to implement SADC legal instruments, said Prega 
Ramsamy, SADC's executive secretary, at a press briefing this week.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45763


ZIMBABWE: Political violence could keep voters away say rights groups

An escalation in political violence and attempts to influence opposition 
supporters in rural Zimbabwe could result in a low turnout for next 
month's election, civic voter education groups warned on Tuesday.

Gorden Moyo, the chairman of Bulawayo Agenda, a civic education group 
based in Zimbabwe's second city, alleged that political violence, 
intimidation and the use of food aid to coerce voters was increasing 
ahead of the 31 March poll.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45721


Police investigating claims of assault by soldiers

Zimbabwean authorities had begun investigating claims by the opposition 
that a group of soldiers attacked their officials at the weekend, a 
police spokesman told IRIN on Wednesday.

According to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Paul Themba 
Nyathi, the officials were at a rural business centre in Manicaland in 
eastern Zimbabwe - traditionally MDC territory - when soldiers 
disembarked from two army trucks and started assaulting them.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45742


Doubt over extent of electoral reform ahead of poll

Even before the ballots are cast in Zimbabwe's legislative elections 
next month, controversy has surfaced over the fairness of the poll.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has argued that 
recent reform of the country's electoral laws has been too little and 
too late. They contend that repressive legislation governing public 
assembly and free speech remain on the statute books and, together with 
growing political violence, will serve to undermine the poll's 
legitimacy.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45746


Smaller parties hamstrung by lack of funds

Small Zimbabwean parties and independents are complaining that 'unfair 
legislation' is freezing them out of the forthcoming elections by 
denying them access to government funding for political campaigns.

The polls, to be held on 31 March, will see the ruling the ZANU-PF face 
off against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), two minor 
opposition parties - ZANU (Ndonga) and the Zimbabwe Youth in Alliance 
(ZIYA) - as well as 14 independents, among them the former minister of 
information, Jonathan Moyo.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45766


ANGOLA: Portuguese lessons give hope to returning refugees

For all of her 11 years, Marcelina Vite has spoken only Luvale and a 
smattering of Portuguese, which she picked up from fellow Angolans in 
Zambia's refugee camps.

As refugees living in Zambia, her inability to speak Portuguese did not 
seem to matter, but now that the family has returned home to Angola, 
learning the official language of her mother country has become a 
priority.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45735


Oil-backed loan will finance recovery projects

Walk down any street in the Angolan capital, Luanda, and the signs of a 
US $2 billion cash injection from China are evident.

>From workmen in hard hats bustling around construction sites to suited 
businessmen in hotel lobbies, the growing presence of the Asian tiger is 
impossible to miss.

"This is the year when China's activity in Angola will really speed up," 
finance ministry spokesman Bastos de Almeida told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45688


Returnees face threats and discrimination

When Julio Oliveiro (alias) came back to Angola in June 2003, he was 
overjoyed to be home at last and eagerly anticipated his new life.

After three years in Zambia, mostly spent in the capital, Lusaka, he had 
picked up English and completed a course in computing. Confident he 
could put his skills to good use in Angola, he hoped to make a better 
life for his family and help his country get back on its feet after 
decades of war.

However, all that changed when he was badly beaten up, a victim of 
discrimination and jealousy against educated, English-speaking returnees 
from Zambia.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45676


Homecoming not so sweet for some refugees

With more than 160,000 Angolan refugees still waiting to return home, 
the UN refugee agency's repatriation programme is expected to maintain 
its projected pace through 2005, but will also shift its focus to help 
those who have made it back to reintegrate into their communities.

More than 280,000 refugees are believed to have returned since the end 
of the 27-year civil war in April 2002, with UNHCR directly repatriating 
more than 94,000 people and providing basic kits to a further 78,000 who 
arrived under their own initiative. The remainder went home 
spontaneously and received no assistance, according to figures released 
by the agency in December 2004.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45662


SWAZILAND: Photos of king's luxury limos banned

The palace in Swaziland has instituted a press ban on photographs of 
King Mswati's cars, following negative publicity that resulted from his 
purchase of a Maybach 62, the world's most expensive automobile.

Some local photographers, however, managed to snap pictures of his 
latest luxury acquisition when Mswati arrived at the opening of 
parliament on Friday: a Mercedes-Benz S600 V12 stretch limousine, the 
only one of its kind in Africa.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45698


Govt blows the dust off the covers in libraries

As part of its efforts to increase literacy, the Swazi government has 
announced new measures to revive school and public libraries, with 
improved training for teachers and librarians.

"With little or no access to books outside the course curriculum, there 
is no way for pupils to improve their fluency in English ... [it also] 
hinders the development of independent research and study skills, 
analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities necessary to compete 
in the world," Minister of Education Constance Simelane said at a 
workshop hosted by Fundza, an NGO that educates school dropouts.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45759


Conference on proposals for UN Security Council seat

African foreign ministers met in Swaziland this week to decide on the 
African Union's proposals for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

"We have been entrusted by our respective nations with the task to 
effectively and meaningfully take Africa's role in the regeneration of 
the United Nations forward," said Swazi Prime Minister Themba Dlamini, 
welcoming delegates.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45697


SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU protest campaign starts next month

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is to demonstrate 
outside the Zimbabwean embassy on 9 March to press for free and fair 
elections. The demonstration will form part of a series of protest 
actions, including a blockade of the border, in the run-up to Zimbabwe's 
elections on 31 March, a senior official told IRIN.

"We are currently in talks with our counterparts in the neighbouring 
countries in the region to join our blockade of the Zimbabwean border, 
which is likely to happen in the next two weeks," said COSATU president 
Willie Madisha.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45787


Relief for drought-affected provinces

The South African government has allocated R130 million (about US $22 
million) to provide drought relief in seven of the country's nine 
provinces.

The Western, Eastern and Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, North 
West and KwaZulu-Natal have all been declared disaster areas by 
President Thabo Mbeki. "The cabinet last week decided to continue with 
the relief efforts under last year's declaration," provincial and local 
government spokesman Xolani Xundu told IRIN.


More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45691


Rare trees help to provide school fees

Hundreds of school children from disadvantaged communities in the 
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province have been able to pay their school fees by 
selling indigenous tree species.

They are participating in the "Trees for Fees" project, an initiative 
run by environmental group Wildlands Conservation Trust (WCT), a merger 
of various natural resources-based organisations.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45767


NAMIBIA: Legal representation gives up on treason trialists

Legal aid attorneys representing 15 people charged with high treason for 
the attempted secession of Namibia's Caprivi province have withdrawn 
from the case after being instructed to challenge the Namibian courts' 
jurisdiction over the Caprivi region.

The accused are part of a group of 120 on trial for their alleged part 
in the Caprivi separatist disturbances in 1998/99.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45716


MALAWI: IMF happy with interim progress

Malawi's economic policy reforms have begun to pay dividends, according 
to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

An IMF team is visiting Malawi to review the country's progress on 
tightening fiscal discipline, and measure the new government's 
performance in terms of macroeconomic reform.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45717


Fiscal discipline pays dividends


Non-governmental organisations in Malawi are keeping a close eye on 
state spending in a bid to ensure that recently received international 
aid benefits the most vulnerable communities.

Minister of Information and Tourism Ken Lipenga last week boasted that 
the government had only borrowed US $4.4 million internally, against a 
projected rise in borrowings of US $5 million by December 2004.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45794


BOTSWANA: With xenophobia rising, electrified border fence hailed

The word "Zimbabwean" gets Motswana traditional leader Jackson Ofentse 
hot under the collar.

"Please don't ever mention to me the criminals from across the border," 
he told IRIN. His village of Changate in northern Botswana is only 5 km 
from the frontier, and he has nothing good to say about his neighbours.

Ofentse is looking forward to the day when the Botswana government 
flicks the switch on a four-metre high electrified border fence that 
snakes across the scrubland, ostensibly to control the spread of 
foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from Zimbabwe.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45744


Leading academic faces deportation

A leading academic is fighting expulsion from Botswana following his 
public criticism of the president and his chosen successor.

President Festus Mogae gave Professor Kenneth Good, a political analyst 
at the University of Botswana, two days to leave Botswana last week 
Friday, for lambasting Mogae's decision to handpick Vice-President 
Lieutenant-General Ian Khama as his successor.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45713


ZAMBIA: Uneven rainfall lowers harvest expectations

Poor and erratic rainfall is expected to jeopardise Zambia's prospects 
of yet another bumper maize harvest, a senior official warned on Friday.

"We are being quite cautious this year because rains in the southern and 
western parts of the country have not been conducive to high yields - it 
looks as if we must expect a lower crop output compared to last year," 
Sam Mundia, permanent secretary in the ministry of agriculture, told 
IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45795


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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