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 272
25 February - 3 March 2006


CONTENTS:

SWAZILAND: Ban on political parties to be challenged
ZIMBABWE: New MDC faction leader calls for unity
SOUTH AFRICA: From ghetto to fabulous - inequality highlighted by local
   elections
LESOTHO: Kingdom records heaviest rainfall in two decades
INDIAN OCEAN: Islands struggle to keep Chikungunya outbreak in check
MOZAMBIQUE: Teams out to assess extent of earthquake damage
ZAMBIA: Govt de-registers 13 opposition parties


SWAZILAND: Ban on political parties to be challenged

Swaziland's oldest political party, the Ngwane National Liberatory
Congress, has said it will test whether the country's new constitution
has unbanned organised opposition to royal rule. Analysts and political
parties have complained that the new constitution, formulated by the
Constitutional Review Commission headed by King Mswati's brother, Prince
Mangaliso Dlamini, remained vague on the key issue of legalising
political parties. Organised political opposition groups were banned by
royal decree in 1973 by King Sobhuza, father of the current monarch.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51931


Patients pay price of hospital crisis

Underfunded and understaffed, the burgeoning numbers of patients with
AIDS-related illnesses over the past decade has left Swaziland's largest
state-run hospital struggling to provide adequate health care.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51990


ZIMBABWE: New MDC faction leader calls for unity

Former student turned scientist, Arthur Mutambara, who was elected
leader of a faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Movement for
Democratic Change at the weekend called for united front to oust the
ruling ZANU-PF. Mutambara told delegates to the congress of the
pro-senate faction that his immediate goal would be to try and reconcile
the opposition's feuding camps.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51932


Travel costs force students to stay home

Zimbabwean students and parents already struggling to keep up with a 150
to 500 percent hike in school fees, this week, were hit by an increase
in transport costs. Transport fares, which have been rising steadily
since last year has made its impossible for many students to attend
school regularly.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51930


SOUTH AFRICA: From ghetto to fabulous - inequality highlighted by local
elections

Though the ruling African National Congress looked set to win almost 70
percent of the votes polled in the local government elections on 1
March, the polls brought into focus disparities between South Africa's
mainly middle-class beneficiaries of economic transformation and their
less well-off countrymen. Sporadic violent protest against the slow pace
of service delivery across the country over the last two years has
highlighted the anger and resentment among those living on the margins
of society, nearly 12 years after the end of apartheid.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51953


Sexual assault hidden in culture of silence

Little progress has been made to eradicate rape and other forms of
gender-based and sexual violence in South Africa, still reeling from
generations of race-based oppression. The public's recent display of
support for former deputy president Jacob Zuma's, charged with rape,
provided a sharp reminder that gender equality issues have fallen by the
wayside in South Africa's new democracy.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51986


LESOTHO: Kingdom records heaviest rainfall in two decades

Lesotho, battling with a long spell of drought, experienced its heaviest
rainfall in almost two decades, which has destroyed more than a third of
the crops in the ground ahead of the April harvest, according to the
agricultural NGO, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM).

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51939


Crack in dam wall sparks safety concerns

Heavy rain also caused a crack in the wall of Mohale dam in Lesotho, one
of the world's highest rockfill dams, sparking concern among
neighbouring communities.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51962


INDIAN OCEAN: Islands struggle to keep Chikungunya outbreak in check

Mosquito-borne Chikungunya fever is spreading among Indian Ocean islands
with authorities fighting to contain the virus on La Reunion, Mauritius
and the Seychelles, and with Madagascar and the Comoros feared to be
next. There is no vaccine or treatment for Chikungunya, Swahili for
'that which bends up' referring to the stooped posture of those
afflicted by the disease. According to WHO, the main preventative
measure is to stop proliferation of mosquitoes by reducing their
breeding grounds.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51954


MOZAMBIQUE: Teams out to assess extent of earthquake damage

Mozambican authorities and aid agencies are still trying to assess the
impact of the earthquake which struck the centre of the country last
week, leaving four people dead, 36 injured and 288 families homeless.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51965


ZAMBIA: Govt de-registers 13 opposition parties

As the country gears for elections this year, the Zambian government
de-registered 13 opposition parties on Friday, said news agencies. The
parties have been banned because they failed to submit annual returns
indicating their new office bearers and financial reports as required by
law. Earlier in the week, three opposition parties - the United Party
for National Development, the United National Independence Party and the
Forum for Democracy and Development - announced that they would join
hands to field a single presidential candidate for the elections.
Michael Sata, leader the Patriotic Front party was also in the news
after he was arrested for allegedly defaming President Levy Mwanawasa.
Sata, who was close to former President Frederick Chiluba, was also
arrested last year on charges of spying and sedition.


IRIN-SA
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Fax: +27 11 784-6759
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za


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