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 292
15 - 21 July 2006


CONTENTS:

MALAWI: New twist in political drama
ZAMBIA: Aiming for a free and fair election
SOUTH AFRICA: Welcome worn out for "foreigners"
SWAZILAND: Food aid still needed after another poor harvest
AFRICA: Media getting the word out on HIV/AIDS
ZIMBABWE: Ruralisation is the new trend


MALAWI: New twist in political drama

It was a case of 'don't touch that dial' in Malawi this week: first former 
president Bakili Muluzi was arrested on corruption charges, then, just 
hours later, the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Gustav 
Kaliwo, was fired.

A statement from the office of President Bingu wa Mutharika said Kaliwo 
was suspended on Thursday "for not following the right procedures"; Muluzi 
was called in to answer questions on the disappearance of US$9.5 million 
of donor money during his time in power.


ZAMBIA: Aiming for a free and fair election

Zambians go to the polls in September in the first test of a new law 
designed to promote a fair ballot and ease the tensions that boil over at 
every election.

The new electoral act bans the use of public money for campaigning by the 
ruling party, and forbids unbalanced coverage by the state-owned media - 
two issues seized on by international observers who condemned the last 
general elections, held in 2001.


Media wings clipped "in the interest of free and fair" poll

Zambia's at times cavalier media may be forced to tread more cautiously in 
covering the run-up to this year's general elections.

Under a new electoral act they will not be able to publish speculative 
analysis, unsourced opinion polls or predict the result before the 
official announcement, unless they are willing to risk a five-year jail 
sentence or US$2,500 fine.

"All public and private media personnel shall not broadcast their own 
political opinion, commentary or assessment," reads one clause of the new 
act passed early this year. The law also compels the media to identify the 
source of any published opinion poll, and the margin of error.


SOUTH AFRICA: Welcome worn out for "foreigners"

The growing hostility of South Africans towards "foreigners" from the rest 
of the continent keeps Anthony Sanko, an asylum seeker, indoors as much as 
possible.

"South Africans hate foreigners more than ever. Some of them are no longer 
hiding their hatred of foreigners behind [the alleged loss of] jobs or 
high crime rates - they just want us to leave their country," said Anthony 
Sanko, a Liberian who left his country two years ago.

Acts of organised violence against African migrants break out 
periodically; Somali-owned businesses in the informal settlement of 
Diepsloot, outside Johannesburg, have been repeatedly torched and looted 
this year.


SWAZILAND: Food aid still needed after another poor harvest

Swaziland will once again be reliant on food aid this year to feed one- 
fifth of its people, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

Cereal production was even lower in 2006 than last year due to poor rains 
and the impact of AIDS. Swaziland has the world's worst HIV infection rate 
at over 40 percent of adults.


AFRICA: Media getting the word out on HIV/AIDS

Media coverage of health issues in sub-Saharan Africa has been inadequate 
in terms of both content and quantity, but more creative approaches are 
now being used to address these shortcomings.

"Some major social issues of our times are simply not covered, like gender 
and AIDS," Colleen Lowe Morna, director of GenderLinks, a Southern African 
think-tank, told African editors and journalists at a conference organised 
by the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) in Johannesburg last 
week to discuss ways of improving health coverage.


ZIMBABWE: Ruralisation is the new trend

In most countries the problem is how to deal with the pressures of 
rural-urban migration; in Zimbabwe the opposite is the case as city folk 
head to the countryside to escape the rocketing cost of living.

The government's three-month urban cleanup campaign, Operation 
Murambatsvina ('Drive out filth'), bulldozed houses and market stalls 
deemed "illegal structures" last year, affecting over 700,000 people.

For a growing number of Zimbabweans the solution seems to be to try and 
make a fresh start in the rural areas, where life is cheaper.


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