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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SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 288
17 - 23 June 2006


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: When the going gets tough, the tough turn entrepreneurs
SOUTH AFRICA: More Zimbabweans seek asylum
NAMIBIA: People respond to anti-polio campaign
COMOROS: New government launches corruption probes
SWAZILAND: AIDS slows school building in rural areas
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Better research needed to combat trafficking


ZIMBABWE: When the going gets tough, the tough turn entrepreneurs

Just when it seems life could not conceivably get any tougher for 
Zimbabweans, it invariably does. The country has been in economic 
decline for the past eight years, and real crisis for at least the last 
four. Fuel, electricity and water are now being rationed in the capital, 
Harare, and most basic household items are in short supply or 
extortionately priced.

The statistics cataloguing the despair - unemployment at over 80 
percent, inflation at close to 1,200 percent, manufacturing levels at 
their lowest since 1971 - have become numbing. To make ends meet, 
besides holding on to their day jobs, Zimbabweans have begun 
moonlighting as small-scale entrepreneurs, selling cigarettes and sweets 
after hours.

Meanwhile a furore erupted this week over the UN Committee for 
Development Policy's recommendations to rank Zimbabwe as a 
least-developed country (LDC). Zimbabwean officials were furious with 
the committee's findings, which said the country had not only remained a 
low-income country for a protracted period, but had also become more 
economically vulnerable. The government, however maintained that 
Zimbabwe's problems were a result of "illegal sanctions" imposed by 
western nations. The government's rejection of the findings means the 
country cannot be included in the official table of LDCs.

Full related reports:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54114
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54059


SOUTH AFRICA: More Zimbabweans seek asylum

Encouraged by recent successes in asylum applications, more Zimbabweans 
are seeking political refuge in South Africa, according to human rights 
NGOs.

The number of Zimbabweans applying for asylum in South Africa rose 
sharply in the first three months of this year to 7,211. Zimbabweans 
account for 38 percent of the total 18,800 requests, according to 
government figures, said Jack Redden, the spokesman for the UN refugee 
agency, UNHCR. A faith-based rights NGO, Solidarity Peace Trust, which 
works with Zimbabwean refugees, said intense lobbying had made South 
African home affairs officials more sensitive to the plight of asylum 
seekers. South Africa recently turned down an asylum application from 
Roy Bennett, a Zimbabwean opposition MP who was imprisoned for eight 
months in 2004/2005 for shoving a minister in parliament. He fled the 
country earlier this year after authorities said he had conspired to 
assassinate President Robert Mugabe.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54080


New AIDS threat looms

A rise in HIV infection rates in South Africa's Western Cape Province 
could be linked to the growing popularity of a relatively new but highly 
addictive and easily accessible drug, some analysts are beginning to 
suspect.

In a 2002 national report on HIV prevalence based on a sample of more 
than 16,000 women attending antenatal clinics in the country's nine 
provinces, Western Cape had an infection rate of 12.4 percent, compared 
to between 16 percent and 36.5 percent in other provinces. The figure 
rose by three percent in 2003 and 2004. At about the same time, Andreas 
Pluddemann, a senior researcher in alcohol and drug abuse at the Medical 
Research Council, recalled sporadic queries about a mysterious substance 
known as 'tik' or a crystalline form of methamphetamine, began reaching 
the offices of the South African National Council on Alcohol and Drug 
Abuse, and the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54041


NAMIBIA: People respond to anti-polio campaign

Thousands of Namibians flocked to polio vaccination points during a mass 
immunisation campaign this week, as the death toll from the virus 
outbreak rose to 15. Even large retail stores in the capital, Windhoek, 
were turned into mini-clinics as shop managers and assistants helped 
administer the polio vaccines. The first polio case in the outbreak 
reported on 8 May in the small town of Aranos, 395km south of Windhoek. 
The poliovirus, which has affected all but two of the country's 13 
regions, has been identified as an Indian strain, which was also 
reported in Angola last year.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54108


Crackdown on informal bars sparks protest

A recent clampdown on Namibia's numerous unlicensed bars has been 
applauded by those claiming they are a source of crime and violence, but 
their proprietors took to the streets protesting they had been stripped 
of their only means to make a living.

Demanding amendments to the Liquor Act, some 1,000 angry 'shebeen' 
owners marched on parliament in the capital, Windhoek, last week. 
Shebeens in townships and informal settlements have mushroomed since new 
and more lenient legislation was passed in 1998 to replace the strict 
liquor laws of the former apartheid era. Small drinking outlets were 
legalised as was the sale of homemade brews like the popular 'tombo' and 
'ashipembe'.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54039


COMOROS: New government launches corruption probes

A probe into more than 30 senior former public officials accused of 
corruption is proof of the new Comoran government's commitment to 
tackling graft, Vice-President Idi Nadhoim told IRIN. Moderate Sunni 
Muslim religious leader Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, popularly known as 
"the Ayatollah", was elected president last month in the first peaceful 
change of power since the country's independence from France in 1975.

Within three weeks of assuming office, his government has acted on 
claims of corruption around several former public officials, including 
ex-vice president Caabi El-Yachroutu Mohamed, who was a leading 
contender in the recent polls. Former departmental heads of public 
enterprises are also being investigated, said Nadhoim.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54110


SWAZILAND: AIDS slows school building in rural areas

Deaths of parents from AIDS-related illnesses in rural Swaziland has 
slowed the rate of school construction, school officials told Prime 
Minister Themba Dlamini during a visit to the north of the country. The 
government does not construct schools, leaving it to the communities to 
determine their needs. At 33.4 percent, Swaziland has one of the highest 
HIV infection rates in the world. Each with a population of a few 
hundred, the villages in the region reported they were burying two 
parents every week.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54038


Children in for a better deal

Swaziland has finally got around to drawing up legislation focusing on 
the protection of children's rights.

More than a decade has lapsed since Swaziland ratified the UN Convention 
on the Rights of the Child, but preparing legislation has been 
complicated by the influence of powerful traditional authorities and a 
conservative populace that in some instances needs to be convinced 
children require protection and have needs that must be met.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54128


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Better research needed to combat trafficking

The evil of human trafficking has become a hot-button international 
issue, but not that much is actually known about the practice, according 
to a new study by the South Africa-based Institute of Security Studies.

In a report entitled 'Getting to grips with trafficking: Reflections on 
human trafficking research in South Africa', researcher Robyn Pharoah 
argues that before policy makers rush to respond to a phenomenon 
shrouded in secrecy, there is a critical need to make sure the 
information on which decisions are based is accurate.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54086


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