U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa

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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 257
12 -18 November 2005


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Donors wary of funding housing programme
ANGOLA: Dos Santos promises free polls but short on details
MALAWI: Political squabbling takes precedence over rising food
   insecurity
SOUTH AFRICA: Asylum seekers enjoy little protection, says HRW
SWAZILAND: New policy recognises value of NGOs
MADAGASCAR: Aid needed now to save hungry children
NAMIBIA: Govt appeals for info on mass graves
ZAMBIA: Bishops add their weight to constitutional debate


ZIMBABWE: Donors wary of funding housing programme

The Zimbabwean government says it is willing to accept UN assistance to 
house people affected by its urban clean-up campaign, but donors are not 
clamouring to fund the programme.

"The government wants us to build shelters for its own list of 
beneficiaries, while we would like to help all those in need and left 
homeless," said a western diplomat.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50162


AIDS orphans and vulnerable children bear the brunt of collapsing 
economy

She's a sex worker, but not many passers-by would suspect that the 
slight figure standing in a narrow street opposite a nightclub in 
Zimbabwe's gold-mining town of Kwekwe is also a university student.

Tracy Bunjwali, a second-year business studies scholar and part-time 
prostitute, says her biggest fear is that she might bump into somebody 
she knows while out on the streets waiting to be taken to a nearby 
hotel-cum-brothel.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50110


MDC split spells doom for opposition politics, say analysts

A split in Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
will effectively derail opposition politics in the country for some time 
to come, say analysts.

Divisions in Zimbabwe's official opposition looked poised to degenerate 
into a permanent split on Sunday when MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai 
accused members supporting the party's participation in this month's 
senate elections of working in cahoots with the ruling ZANU-PF to 
destroy the party.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50109


ANGOLA: Dos Santos promises free polls but short on details

President Eduardo Dos Santos used the occasion of Angola's independence 
day celebrations to deliver a speech promising elections and greater 
prosperity, but critics said he failed to outline a proper timetable for 
the polls.

Thousands - including Portugal's president and several African leaders - 
turned up at Luanda's Cidadela football stadium on Friday for the 
festivities, the biggest celebrations since independence from Portugal 
30 years ago.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50090


Post-Marburg, country emerges stronger

The deadly Marburg haemorrhagic fever outbreak in Angola has finally 
been consigned to history after claiming 227 lives, but the country 
handled the crisis "very well" and was now in a stronger position to 
face any future epidemic, according to the deputy health minister.

Jose Van Dunem told IRIN on Wednesday that he was "very relieved" to see 
the back of the Ebola-like virus in Angola, which the ministry and the 
World Health Organisation (WHO) declared over on 7 November.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50160


Aid flights threatened by lack of cash

UN World Food Programme (WFP) flights, which bring aid to half a million 
hungry Angolans and ferry more than a thousand humanitarian workers to 
remote areas every month, could soon disappear unless the UN agency 
receives more funding.

"If we don't get any funds, in two weeks from now we will have to begin 
cutting back services," WFP's Country Director Rick Corsino told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50154


MALAWI: Political squabbling takes precedence over rising food 
insecurity

Malawi's political crisis hit a new low this week with the arrest of 
vice-president Cassim Chilumpha on corruption charges, igniting a new 
round of squabbling among the country's leaders.

The arrest was connected to a financial scandal during his time as 
minister of education, but is also being perceived as linked to the feud 
between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his former party, which is 
seeking to impeach him.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50141


Malnutrition numbers keep rising

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of malnourished 
children admitted to nutritional rehabilitation units (NRU) at clinics 
in Malawi in the past few months, according to the UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF).

In the south of the country, where the food crisis has been particularly 
severe, a UNICEF survey recorded a 22 percent increase in admissions to 
NRUs in October. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) reported last month 
that compared to the same period in 2004, admissions to NRUs in August 
2005 were 41 percent higher in the central region, up by 24 percent in 
the south, and by 15 percent in northern Malawi.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50134


SOUTH AFRICA: Asylum seekers enjoy little protection, says HRW

A leading international human rights organisation has criticised South 
African officials for allegedly harassing and extorting money from 
desperate asylum seekers and refugees.

In a 66-page report, 'Living On the Margins, Inadequate Protection for 
Refugees and Asylum Seekers In South Africa', the New York-based Human 
Rights Watch (HRW) claimed that while South Africa had adequate refugee 
laws on paper, asylum seekers, who lived on the sidelines, did not enjoy 
any protection in practice.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50158


Guns and gender violence - a lethal combination

Victoria [not her real name] thought she had the law on her side when 
she left her abusive partner and successfully applied for a protection 
order against him.

According to provisions set out in South Africa's 1998 Domestic Violence 
Act and reinforced by recently enacted firearms legislation, the order 
gave the police powers to confiscate the gun that had repeatedly been 
used to terrorise her.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50137


SWAZILAND: New policy recognises value of NGOs

The Swazi government has finally recognised the developmental role civic 
groups can play, passing guidelines this week on the creation, 
registration and running of Non-Governmental Organisations.

"We view this step as an indication that government regards NGOs as 
equal partners in development, and appreciates the contributions they 
make," said the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations 
(CANGO), in a statement.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50164


Country's first urban OVC care centre rising to the needs

Gigi's Place is an unlikely name for Swaziland's first urban community 
care centre for orphans and vulnerable children, but it has put down 
roots in the gritty community it serves and celebrated its second 
anniversary at the weekend.

"I apologise for naming Gigi's Place after myself," said Gigi Nkosi, a 
fashion doyen and socialite who founded the centre, "but I am 
capitalising on my 'celebrity status' here in Swaziland to attract 
donors. We are entirely donor-funded, and the corporations have been 
supportive."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50108


MADAGASCAR: Aid needed now to save hungry children

Alarming results from a recent survey in Madagascar show that 
malnutrition levels have reached up to 74 percent in some parts of the 
remote southeastern region of the country.

According to the study conducted by the Ministry of Health, the United 
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and a number of local NGOs, 400 
children were already suffering from acute malnutrition and would die in 
the next few weeks if interventions were not put in place.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50143


NAMIBIA: Govt appeals for info on mass graves

The Namibian government this week called for information on two 
apartheid-era mass graves discovered at a former military base in the 
northern town of Eenhana near the Angolan border.

"We are appealing to the conscience of those who served in the former 
South African Defence Forces (SADF), who are probably living in South 
Africa, to come forward with any information they might have [to help 
identify the bodies]," said Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Namibia's minister 
of information and broadcasting.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50088


ZAMBIA: Bishops add their weight to constitutional debate

Zambia's influential Catholic bishops on Wednesday warned President Levy 
Mwanawasa of the danger of blocking demands for a popular assembly to 
rewrite the country's constitution.

In a pastoral letter the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), which in the 
past has intervened at critical stages in the country's history, called 
on Mwanawasa to immediately enact a law creating a constituent assembly.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50163


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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