Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-284: 26-May-06
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 284
20 - 26 May 2006
CONTENTS:
ZIMBABWE: A slow simmer may reach boiling point
ZAMBIA: Death of leader a blow to opposition parties
SOUTH AFRICA: Gun Free Zones, a new weapon in the war on crime
NAMIBIA: AU peer review mechanism on hold
ZIMBABWE: A slow simmer may reach boiling point
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has resolved to embark on
crippling strikes if employers, including the government, do not award
workers salaries pegged against the bare necessity of the 'poverty datum
line'. Farm workers have announced that they will down tools next week,
after complaining that their new employers, mainly senior government and
military officials, were only paying them a monthly wage of Zim$1.3
million (US$12.80). On average, workers earn about Zim$15 million
(US$148) a month, way below the Zim$42 million (US$415) an average
Zimbabwean family needs to meet its most basic monthly needs.
As inflation of more than 1,000 percent pushes up the cost of living,
Save the Children-UK (SCF-UK) has raised the alarm over increasing
numbers of Zimbabwean children illegally entering Mozambique to escape
poverty at home. Meanwhile, the government's inability to import drugs
because of a shortage of foreign currency has impacted on efforts to
stamp out a cholera epidemic. The latest outbreak, reported over the
weekend, has claimed 15 lives and infected 45 people in the northeastern
town of Guruve, 150km from the capital, Harare.
Meanwhile, a recent report published in the Harvard University Africa
Policy Journal has urged the international community to start preparing
for Zimbabwe's economic recovery after President Robert Mugabe steps
down. Waiting for Mugabe's term to coming to end, might be too late,
warns the report.
See reports:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53476
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53541
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53475
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53566
ZAMBIA: Death of leader a blow to opposition parties
The death of Zambian opposition heavyweight Anderson Mazoka has
delivered a blow to an alliance of parties looking forward
optimistically to general elections at the end of the year. Mazoka's
loss affected the opposition to such an extent that his supporters
assaulted Information Minister Vernon Mwaanga as he arrived to deliver a
message on the government's funeral arrangements to mourners and party
supporters gathered at Mazoka's house in the capital, Lusaka, on
Thursday. In the 2001 general elections, Mazoka narrowly lost by just
two percentage points to President Levy Mwanawasa, amid condemnation of
the poll as seriously flawed by international observers.
See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53539
SOUTH AFRICA: Gun Free Zones, a new weapon in the war on crime
South Africa has one of the world's highest levels of gun violence, but
in one small corner of Soweto, a huge township on the outskirts of
Johannesburg, things are beginning to change. Gun Free Zones - public
places where firearms are unwelcome - endorsed by Gun-Free South Africa
(GFSA), a gun-control lobby group established in 1994 as a response to
decades of armed violence, has made a difference.
A recent report commissioned by Oxfam and carried out by Gun-Free, said
South Africa has 3.7 million legally registered firearms and an unknown
- but by some estimates even larger - pool of illegal guns. The
country's international notoriety for violent crime has had a damaging
impact on foreign investment; resources urgently needed to develop the
country's underfunded health and education sectors have been spent
instead on safety and security measures.
See reports:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53514
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53228
NAMIBIA: AU peer review mechanism on hold
Namibia would have little trouble meeting the requirements of the
African Union's African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), but the government
has chosen to wait until it can afford the US $92,000 required to join
the process. The APRM was developed to ensure that the policies and
practices of participating states conform to a set of agreed political,
social, economic, and governance values. Commitment is voluntary.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53493
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