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 315
30 December 2006 - 5 January 2007


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: 2007 kicks off with strikes
ZIMBABWE: Necessity spurs urban farming
BOTSWANA: San barred from ancestral land despite court victory
SWAZILAND: Obesity in times of hunger
LESOTHO: New policy to help orphans and vulnerable children


ZIMBABWE: 2007 kicks off with strikes

Zimbabwean employees marked the first week of 2007 by taking industrial 
action for better pay, against the background of inflation that 
continues to hover around 1,000 percent.

Hundreds of patients were left stranded during the Christmas holiday 
period as junior doctors in public hospitals across the country went on 
strike to press for better salaries and working conditions, while the 
power supply was disrupted in the capital, Harare, when Zimbabwe 
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) employees decided to stay away from 
work this week.

See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56936


ZIMBABWE: Necessity spurs urban farming

Urban faming, widely practiced by the poor and lower-income groups in 
the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, is fast becoming de rigeur among the 
city's wealthy set.

In affluent suburbs like Avondale and Mabelreign, maize and vegetable 
plots are sprouting up to counter expected food shortages brought on by 
an economic meltdown that has seen the inflation rate remaining well 
above 1,000 percent, the highest in the world.

See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56938



BOTSWANA: San barred from ancestral land despite court victory Despite 
winning their right to return home after a long-fought court battle, the 
San are not being allowed back in the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve 
(CKGR), in the Kalahari Desert, according to an advocacy group.

In December 2006 the High Court of Botswana ruled that the San, also 
known as the Bushmen, had been wrongfully evicted from their ancestral 
homeland in the CKGR in 2002.

See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56912



SWAZILAND: Obesity in times of hunger Despite chronic food shortages 
afflicting all parts of Swaziland, a national survey has discovered that 
55 percent of Swazi women are overweight or obese.

"The likelihood of a woman being overweight (pre-obese) or obese 
increased with age: 70 percent of women 40 to 49 years of age were 
overweight or obese," said the recently published survey by the health 
ministry's Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC), while about 
one-third of women aged 30 to 39 years were classified as overweight or 
obese.

See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56913


LESOTHO: New policy to help orphans and vulnerable children

Lesotho's government has approved a policy to care for its growing 
population of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

The policy, which will cost about US$1.3 million a year for the next 
five years, aims to provide free education, health services, sports and 
recreation facilities, and set up small-scale businesses to make the 
children and their caregivers economically self-sufficient.

See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56901


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 895-1900
Fax: +27 11 784-6759
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za


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