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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 248
10 - 16 September 2005


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Exit visas undemocratic, say civic groups
SOUTH AFRICA: Confusion among minibus-taxi operators as regulation looms
NAMIBIA: Rights NGOs call for official's resignation over homophobic remarks
ZAMBIA: Renewed focus needed to meet MDGs
MALAWI: WB grant of $30 million to help feed people
SOUTHERN AFRICA: NGOs complain ignored by govts at World Summit
MOZAMBIQUE: World Bank approves $120 million credit
SWAZILAND: Prime Minister pledges increased health funding


ZIMBABWE: Exit visas undemocratic, say civic groups

Opposition and civic groups in Zimbabwe this week warned that the 
proposed exit visas for citizens would amount to the renewed repression 
of government opponents.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told IRIN that a government team 
comprising officials from his ministry and the department of foreign 
affairs were working on draft regulations to make exit visas mandatory 
for Zimbabweans going abroad. He said the law would be taken to cabinet 
for assessment before being passed to parliament for debate and possible 
approval.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49086


Court ruling may herald financial sector turmoil

A court ruling that the state-controlled Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group 
(ZABG), an amalgamation of three failed commercial banks, acquired its 
assets illegally could lead to chaos in the country's financial sector, 
an economist told IRIN on Wednesday.

Last year the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) closed down the Trust, 
Royal and Barbican banks, and subsequently amalgamated them into the 
ZAGB under stewardship of the RBZ. The move was aimed at stabilising the 
financial sector after the collapse of several commercial banks as a 
result of mismanagement and the contracting economy.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49068


IMF grants another reprieve

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has granted Zimbabwe a temporary 
reprieve, but the country must implement broader economic reforms to 
avoid expulsion from the Fund.

"Taking into account Zimbabwe's increased payments to the IMF and its 
initial policy steps since the last review in February 2005, the 
executive board decided to postpone a recommendation to the IMF's board 
of governors with respect to Zimbabwe's compulsory withdrawal from the 
IMF. This decision provides Zimbabwe with a further opportunity to 
strengthen its cooperation with the IMF in terms of economic policies 
and payments," the Fund noted in a statement on Friday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49015


SOUTH AFRICA: Confusion among minibus-taxi operators as regulation looms

As South Africa pushes ahead with an ambitious plan to regulate its 
lucrative minibus-taxi industry, operators say the move will lead to 
increased joblessness.

Successive attempts by the government to regulate the booming industry 
have so far failed, and associations of taxi-owners now control almost 
every aspect of the business.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49091


Rural health facilities struggle to provide healthcare

Pregnant HIV-positive women in South Africa can now get nevirapine, an 
anti-AIDS drug that helps prevent the transmission of the virus to their 
babies, at every hospital and almost all health centres and clinics.

But a visit to the maternity ward at Hlabisa Hospital in northern 
KwaZulu-Natal province illustrates the challenges that the prevention of 
mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme still faces, particularly 
in rural areas.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49088


Typhoid outbreak kills two, hospitalises 225

The South African government has set up an inter-departmental task team 
to contain the impact of a typhoid outbreak, which has claimed two lives 
and hospitalised 225 in the town of Delmas, 70 km east of Johannesburg.

The team is currently considering a proposal that Rand Water, one of the 
country's largest suppliers, replace the town's borehole system with 
piped water, said Lebona Mosia, spokesman for Mpumalanga province, where 
Delmas is situated.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49078


Ruling party moves to end rift

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is taking steps to end the 
standoff between former deputy president Jacob Zuma, who faces charges 
of corruption, and President Thabo Mbeki.

Zuma's supporters - among them the vocal leadership of the ANC Youth 
League and the ANC Women's League, the South African Communist Party 
(SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) - have 
alleged that Zuma was the victim of a political conspiracy and that 
state institutions were being used to block his bid to succeed Mbeki.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49016


NAMIBIA: Rights NGOs call for official's resignation over homophobic 
remarks

Outraged human rights organisations on Thursday called for the 
resignation of a Namibian government minister for making homophobic 
remarks.

In a speech at a Heroes Day gathering on 3 September outside the 
capital, Windhoek, the deputy minister of home affairs and immigration, 
Theopolina Mushelenga, accused gays and lesbians of causing HIV/AIDS.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49082


Pressure builds over slow pace of land redistribution

Fifteen years after independence Namibians are still grappling with the 
issue of sustainable and effective land reform in the arid Southern 
African country, IRIN reported on Monday.

Pressure has been building over the slow pace of redistribution, but the 
government argues that too few properties are offered for sale at 
reasonable prices under the current willing-buyer, willing-seller 
arrangement.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49050


ZAMBIA: Renewed focus needed to meet MDGs

Zambia is on track to meet many of the Millennium Development Goals 
(MDGs), but is still experiencing serious challenges in the areas of 
food security and health.

According to the 'Zambia MDG Status Report for 2005', it was unlikely 
that the country would attain three of the 10 MDGs by 2015 - halving the 
number of people suffering from hunger; reducing maternal mortality by 
three quarters; and integrating principles of sustainable development 
into its policies and programmes.


More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49110



Community benefits from free ARVs

The sleepy railway town of Kapiri Mposhi, north of Zambian capital, 
Lusaka, comes alive every Thursday evening when the Tanzania-Zambia 
Railways Authority (TAZARA) passenger train pulls in to disgorge its 
weekly load of business travellers, tourists and drifters from 
Dar-es-Salaam, capital of Tanzania.

Kapiri Mposhi lies in the transport corridor that links Zambia to the 
port of Dar-es-Salaam in the northeast, the Democratic Republic of Congo 
to the northwest and Zimbabwe to the south.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49049


Calls to close food gaps as prices escalate

Relief agencies on Tuesday expressed concern over escalating maize 
prices in Zambia and reiterated calls to close the gaps in food-deficit 
areas.

Muweme Muweme, coordinator of the economic and social development 
research project of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR), 
said in some areas the price of a 25 kg bag of maize-meal, Zambia's 
staple food, has shot up from US $7 to $10 within two months.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49051


New plan to combat malaria

Zambia has launched a strategic plan to combat malaria, which kills 
50,000 of its people every year and causes 40 percent of infant deaths.

Dr Victor Mukonka, director of Public Health and Research at the 
Ministry of Health, told IRIN that the National Malaria Strategic Plan 
for 2006-2011 would scale up interventions to combat the disease and 
provide 80 percent of its target population with prevention measures and 
effective treatment in the next three years.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49067


MALAWI: WB grant of $30 million to help feed people

Drought-stricken Malawi, which has suffered its worst harvest in a 
decade, is to receive a World Bank (WB) grant of US $30 million to 
support emergency recovery activities in that country.

WB approved the International Development Association (IDA) grant which 
will go towards the Malawi Emergency Recovery Project on Thursday to 
support government's efforts to feed its people and resuscitate 
agriculture production.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49109


More than $9 million boost to meet food shortages

Drought-stricken Malawi, which has suffered its worst harvest in a 
decade, is to benefit from more than US $9 million in aid donated by the 
United Kingdom.

The government will use a portion of the much-needed funds to secure 
60,000 mt of maize from South Africa; the remainder will go to helping 
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) feed 3,500 severely malnourished 
children aged under five each month, and subsidising the sale of 
high-yield maize seeds to 700,000 farmers, said a British government 
press release on Tuesday.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49064


SOUTHERN AFRICA: NGOs complain ignored by govts at World Summit

Civil society organisations in Southern Africa have complained about a 
lack of government consultation in drawing up progress reports on 
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be presented at the 2005 UN World 
Summit this week.

NGO coalitions in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and Angola have 
accused their governments of giving civil society the cold shoulder in 
preparing their reports on the MDGs - a set of development goals that 
range from halving poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49014


MOZAMBIQUE: World Bank approves $120 million credit

The World Bank's board of directors has approved US $120 million worth 
of credit to Mozambique to support implementation of the government's 
Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA), the Bank said 
in a statement.

The facility was granted on standard International Development 
Association (IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.5 percent, a service 
charge of 0.75 percent and a maturity of 40 years, including a 10-year 
period of grace.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49085


SWAZILAND: Prime Minister pledges increased health funding

Swaziland's Prime Minister Themba Dlamini has pledged to channel more 
funds into improving public health facilities after an eye-opening tour 
of the country's main state hospital this week.

During a visit to Mbabane State Hospital in the capital on Tuesday, 
Dlamini and several government officials met with the staff, who 
described the serious impact of the lack of resources on the capacity of 
nurses and doctors to deliver adequate healthcare.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49069


IRIN-SA
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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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