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 339
23 - 29 June 2007


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Someone might be listening
MOZAMBIQUE: Green lobby opposes dam construction
SWAZILAND: Media clampdown after alleged deaths due to lack of
   medicines
MADAGASCAR: Law to curb widespread sexual exploitation of children
MOZAMBIQUE: Left with nothing
ZIMBABWE: Poor quality garbage tells a tale
LESOTHO: Journalist forced to 'insult' prime minister in broadcast


ZIMBABWE: Someone might be listening

The Interception of Communications Bill, awaiting only Zimbabwean 
President Robert Mugabe's signature to become law, will further 
constrict the flow of information already hampered by other laws deemed 
repressive, claimed civil society groups.

If approved by the president, the law will empower the government to tap 
telephone conversations, check emails and monitor cyberspace for 
material seen as posing a threat to national security.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72994


MOZAMBIQUE: Green lobby opposes dam construction

Mozambique is proposing to build another giant dam on the Zambezi River 
in the hope of boosting development, but which environmentalists believe 
will add to the damage caused by the existing Cahora Bassa dam, one of 
the largest hydroelectric schemes in Africa.

The new dam, Mphanda Nkuwa, would be built approximately 60km downriver 
of Cahora Bassa in the northwest of the country. Planners intend to 
produce a peak output of 1,300 megawatts of electricity, about equal to 
Mozambique's total current consumption. Most of the power will be 
exported to neighbouring South Africa, although surplus electricity will 
also be used to lure investment in domestic heavy industry.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72996


SWAZILAND: Media clampdown after alleged deaths due to lack of medicines

Swazi authorities have banned health workers from talking to the media 
in response to a spate of stories highlighting the impact of a critical 
drug shortage.

"It has been drawn to the attention of the ministry that there are 
health workers who indiscriminately communicate to the press without 
authority. You are warned to abstain from such behaviour because it is 
totally unacceptable to the ministry," said a memo circulated to all 
healthcare workers.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72984


MADAGASCAR: Law to curb widespread sexual exploitation of children

The sexual exploitation of children trafficked internally from 
Madagascar's poverty-stricken rural areas to tourist hotspots appears to 
be widespread in the island country, according to new reports.

A study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in two coastal cities - 
Toamasina in the east and Nosy Be in the northwest - found that between 
30 percent and 50 percent of female commercial sex workers were aged 
under 18. The UN agency also recorded anecdotal information indicating 
that some traffickers could be recruiting rural children for domestic 
work in urban areas.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72960


MOZAMBIQUE: Left with nothing

While visiting various projects in Mozambique's Zambezia Province in the 
north of the country last year, Chris McIvor, programme director of Save 
the Children, a UK-based non-governmental organisation that helps 
children in need, came across a house being built for four orphaned 
children aged between three and 12.

"What has happened to the original house where they lived with their 
mother and father? Why are they not living there?" he asked the 
community. The answer was that their father's extended family had taken 
it; they had taken all the children's belongings too, leaving them with 
nothing.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72918


ZIMBABWE: Poor quality garbage tells a tale

What people discard tells you something about their level of wellbeing: 
for the garbage collectors who trawl through the trash at the municipal 
dumpsite in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, things have never been so 
bad.

The roar of a refuse collection truck approaching the dumpsite on the 
outskirts of the southern city triggers a newfound desperation among the 
rubbish recyclers trying to make a living from other people's leftovers.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72983


LESOTHO: Journalist forced to 'insult' prime minister in broadcast

A Lesotho radio journalist charged with subversion told IRIN he was 
forced to broadcast a letter, on pain of death, denouncing the country's 
leader on his early morning radio show.

Thabo Thakalekoala, a freelance reporter and talk show host at Harvest 
FM, was arrested on the steps of the private radio station's offices in 
the capital, Maseru, after his broadcast on Friday. He appeared in court 
on Monday and was released on R1,000 (US$140) bail after being charged 
with subversion in terms of the 1984 Internal Security Act.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72932


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