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 295
12 - 18 August 20064


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Much ado about money
SWAZILAND: Reading project to improve critical thinking
ZAMBIA: Politicians sign contract ahead of vote
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe not on SADC heads of state agenda
SOUTH AFRICA: Deadline for land transfer negotiations set
NAMIBIA: A case of two countries
ZAMBIA: Teaching hospital struggles to cope with health workers strike


ZIMBABWE: Much ado about money

Long queues formed at post offices, known as the 'poor man's bank', as people
desperately tried to exchange old Zimbabwean dollars for new denominations
before the Monday deadline.

Zimbabweans were caught off-guard earlier this month when Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono introduced monetary reforms designed to rein in hyperinflation,
which is hovering at about 1,000 percent. He set a three-week deadline for
about Z$40 trillion (US$160 million) in old currency to be exchanged for new
denominations, and introduced a new official exchange rate of Z$250 to US$1,
from the old official rate of Z$250,000 to the US dollar.


SWAZILAND: Reading project to improve critical thinking

Pre-school children in Swaziland are the focus of a novel large-scale reading
project that aims to push literacy levels to 100 percent among the adult
population and encourage independent thinking.

Although the country of about one million people has a literacy rate of more
than 80 percent - relatively high compared to other countries in the region -
this figure is misleading, according to the Swaziland Reading Association, as
the ability to read does not necessarily translate into critical thinking.


ZAMBIA: Politicians sign contract ahead of vote

Political hopefuls in Zambia are signing 'social contracts' with disillusioned
voters ahead of a September 28 election in which poverty, health, public
services and corruption are expected to be major campaign issues.

Zambia recently ushered in a series of laws and regulations designed to deliver
a fair and transparent vote after international observers roundly condemned the
last general elections, held in 2001, amid allegations of fraud and vote
rigging.


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe not on SADC heads of state agenda

Civil society organisations in Southern Africa have called on the region's
leaders to stop ignoring Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, saying the
'business as usual' approach is not working and the region is suffering because
of it.

In a communique submitted to the foreign ministers of the 14-member grouping,
NGOs expressed disappointment that successive summits had consistently ignored
Zimbabwe's plight, despite growing evidence of its regional impact. A two-day
SADC meeting in Lesotho's capital, Maseru, began on Thursday but no talks on
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown or its repressive security laws were scheduled.


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Band aid for med ical brain drain

New laws introduced by the British government this week are unwittingly giving
the southern African region a temporary reprieve from the brain drain of
medical staff.

The new laws stipulate that employers in Britain will only be granted work
permits for foreign nurses if they can prove that no suitable British or
European Union candidate can be found. But regional nursing associations in
southern Africa said the new legislation would not address the "push factor"
that was the underlying cause of the malaise.


SOUTH AFRICA: Deadline for land transfer negotiations set

South Africa's agriculture minister has courted controversy with commercial
land owners after she said the government would terminate its 'willing-seller,
willing-buyer' land restitution policy and begin expropriating property from
the country's white farmers early next year.

Agriculture Minister Lulama Xingwana threatened to end negotiations with white
farmers in six months in order to speed the transfer of land to blacks. Despite
years of negotiations with white farmers and the establishment of the Land
Claims Commission, the current ANC government under President Thabo Mbeki is
still a long way from closing the book on all outstanding land restitution
claims by its target date of 2008.


NAMIBIA: A case of two countries

The treason trial of a dozen members of a Caprivi secessionist group facing the
death penalty is likely to result in a miscarriage of justice, a human rights
organisation says.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in Namibia said the treason trial
of the Caprivi secessionists, taking place in Windhoek, the capital, had
proceeded in the absence of the accused and their lawyers, in direct
contravention of the country's constitution.


ZAMBIA: Teaching hospital struggles to cope with health workers' strike

An understaffed university teaching hospital is bearing the brunt of a health
workers' strike as it tries to cope with an unprecedented caseload at the only
functioning public health facility in the capital, Lusaka.

Unionised health workers and ministry of health medical staff embarked on a
work stoppage earlier this month, demanding better pay and working conditions,
as well as the payment of outstanding allowances. The strike has spread from
Lusaka to the western province of Copperbelt.


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