Weekly Round-Up - IRINSA-301: 29-Sep-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 301
23 -29 September 2006
CONTENTS:
ZAMBIA: Slow road from one-party rule to democracy
ZIMBABWE: UN denies NGO accusations of "being in bed" with Mugabe
SOUTH AFRICA: Zuma slammed for views on homosexuality, same-sex
marriage
SWAZILAND: Drug shortage brings resurgence of folk remedies
ANGOLA: NGOs accuse gov't of brushing off looming cholera epidemic
NAMIBIA: Women want prominence without tokenism
ZAMBIA: Slow road from one-party rule to democracy
Zambia's faith in democracy is being tested by the failure of successive
leaders to entrench democratic norms while in office, political analysts
and civic organisations said on the eve of the country's fourth
multiparty elections this week. There were signs of growing impatience
among the electorate since Zambia emerged from 27 years of one-party
rule under founding President Kenneth Kaunda in 1991 and embraced
multiparty democracy, because people have yet to taste the fruits of
democracy, political analysts said. For the first time voters saw the
use of transparent ballot boxes to allay fears of vote-rigging;
finger-printing to tackle voter fraud; a ban on political parties using
public money for campaigning purposes; checks aimed at eliminating
biased coverage by the state-run media; and a heavier reliance on
computer technology for speedier publication of results.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55728
ZIMBABWE: UN denies NGO accusations of "being in bed" with Mugabe
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe has denied
accusations that it was "in bed" with President Robert Mugabe's
government.
A nongovernmental organisation (NGO), the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition,
made the claim ahead of a consultative meeting between civil society and
the government, hosted by the UN last week, on setting up a National
Human Rights Commission. Nixon Nyikadzino, a media officer with the
coalition, said the Mugabe regime was "pulling wool over the eyes of the
UNDP".
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55771
Plans to harmonise elections leading to discord
Zimbabwe's parliamentary opposition party are objecting to plans to
delay the scheduled 2008 presidential elections by two years and hold
them in concert with the 2010 parliamentary elections. Nathan
Shamuyarira, spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, was quoted recently
by the state-run media as saying that discussions were taking place
within the party to "harmonise elections", an action that would require
parliamentary approval. However, a few days later, Shamuyarira told IRIN
that the ruling party was not planning to extend Robert Mugabe's
presidential term of office. The possibility of extending Mugabe's
presidency, who came to power in 1980 after the demise of Ian Smith's
white-minority rule of the then Rhodesia, is seen as providing time to
manage a fierce presidential succession battle in the party's ranks.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55758
Politics not need determines govt aid - rights NGO
Distribution of government aid is being politicised by the ruling
ZANU-PF party in Zimbabwe's eastern province of Manicaland, according to
a faith-based rights organisation. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), in
a new research report, said most of the victims were members of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but did record
instances of ZANU-PF supporters being sidelined. Lists of beneficiaries
for government assistance, like subsidised fertiliser, antiretroviral
AIDS drugs, aid to orphans and some food support, are drawn up by local
authorities, most of whom back ZANU-PF.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55727
The continent's original people survive by begging
The remnants of Zimbabwe's San people are eking out an existence on the
edge of oblivion. About 1,200 San, or Bushmen, are surviving in grinding
poverty through a lack of government support, low literacy levels and
alleged discrimination, which has condemned them to a life on the
fringes of society. About 1,500 years ago several million San people
roamed southern Africa. Their numbers fast dwindled with the arrival of
cattle-herding people from central Africa and white colonists from
Europe, and today the formerly nomadic people number less than 100,000.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55759
Global effort to fight deadly TB strain
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will convene a "global task force"
in Geneva in October to thrash out a battle plan against extremely
drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), a deadly, drug-resistant disease
that has already killed 60 people in South Africa and is threatening to
spread across the region. Experts fear that South Africa's high rates of
HIV/AIDS - about one in nine of the country's 45 million people are HIV
positive, making them acutely susceptible to tuberculosis - could
fast-track XDR TB into becoming a global epidemic. HIV infection rates
are similarly high in the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Lesotho,
Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, which have yet to report any XDR TB
cases.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55750
Zuma slammed for views on homosexuality, same-sex marriage
Outraged human rights activists have slammed former South African deputy
president Jacob Zuma's condemnation of same-sex marriages. Zuma,
perceived as a leading contender for the country's presidency,
reportedly described same-sex marriages as "a disgrace to the nation and
to God" at a public meeting to celebrate Heritage Day in his home
province of KwaZulu-Natal, on South Africa's east coast, earlier this
week. His remarks were made while the South African parliament was
conducting public hearings on the Civil Union Bill that would legalise
same-sex marriages, in conformance with a Constitutional Court ruling of
more than a year ago ordering parliament to change the law to allow
homosexual couples the same status, benefits and responsibilities as
heterosexual couples.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55741
Drug shortage brings resurgence of folk remedies
The unavailability of pharmaceutical drugs is forcing Swazis to rely on
traditional medicines to alleviate their ailments. The government, which
created the shortages by its failure to issue drug tenders to companies
supplying clinics and hospitals, is publicising traditional and herbal
treatments as a remedy for its negligence.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55742
NGOs accuse gov't of brushing off looming cholera epidemic
Health experts fear the coming rainy season will reignite the cholera
outbreak that has already claimed 2,214 lives since February this year.
Angola's infrastructure - including its health system - was ruined
during a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, and although there have
been some efforts to improve living conditions the country still has one
of the world's highest child-mortality rates, with one in four children
dying before the age of five. The causes underpinning the cholera
epidemic, such as the treatment of sewerage and drinking water, have yet
to be addressed. Observers say the recent spike in the oil price has
created a booming economy in the continent's second largest oil
exporter, but this dividend has not been reflected in health
infrastructure spending.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55739
NAMIBIA: Women want prominence without tokenism
Women's organisations are calling on government to pick up the pace of
gender reform in Namibia, demanding that the ruling South West Africa
People's Organisation (SWAPO) field an equal number of women candidates
in the 2009 general elections.
Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55773
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