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 393
13 - 19 September 2008


CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: "Double-ups" not packing for home
SWAZILAND: Voters hoping to make a difference
AFRICA: Humanitarian Air
SWAZILAND: Ignoring protests will not make them go away
ZIMBABWE: Raising a moribund economy
LESOTHO: Makoanyane Letsoara: "I want to be able to help others who
   don't have"
LESOTHO: High, dry and hungry
SOUTH AFRICA: Constitutional Court may decide fate of safety camps
LESOTHO: Mathabang Letsoara, "We have less than half a sack of maize to
   live on"
LESOTHO: A village tries new ideas to beat climate change



ZIMBABWE: "Double-ups" not packing for home

Zimbabwe's political agreement is yet to reverse the flow of migrants 
looking for a better life in South Africa; smuggling people in and food 
out remains a thriving business, with long-distance drivers competing 
for a slice of the action.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80494


SWAZILAND: Voters hoping to make a difference

Swaziland's humanitarian crises were uppermost in the minds of voters 
casting their ballots in the parliamentary election on 19 September.

"I don't care about politics, I care about feeding my family. My 
candidate promised us food," said Charles Nkosi, a motorcar mechanic in 
the Mbekelweni constituency, north of Manzini, the country's commercial 
hub.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80496


AFRICA: Humanitarian Air

Often the forgotten heroes of humanitarian assistance, pilots play a 
critical role in making sure that aid gets to where it is needed most 
around the world - and sometimes they pay the ultimate price.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80480


SWAZILAND: Ignoring protests will not make them go away

Swazi police on 18 September detained trade union leaders and 
pro-democracy activists attempting to blockade the landlocked country's 
border with South Africa, to press their demands for political reform in 
the kingdom.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80469


ZIMBABWE: Raising a moribund economy

Financial aid is vital to the recovery of Zimbabwe's once vibrant 
agricultural and industrial sectors, but will only come if the new 
inclusive government speedily adopts "comprehensive and workable 
frameworks" to address the dire economic straits prevailing, analysts 
told IRIN.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80467


LESOTHO: Makoanyane Letsoara: "I want to be able to help others who 
don't have food."

Makoanyane Letsoara, a subsistence farmer in Ha Tsiu, a village 100km 
east of Maseru, capital of Lesotho, is in his forties and the sole 
supporter of his family of six - his mother, wife, children and younger 
siblings.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80446


LESOTHO: High, dry and hungry

Mantseuoa Rantho has been feeding her family on credit. "We call it 
living on skoloto [credit] in Sesotho," she says. She now owes her 
neighbours in Ha Tsiu, a village tucked away in Lesotho's Thaba Putsoa 
Mountains, 100km east of the capital, Maseru, three bowls of maize-meal.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80444


SOUTH AFRICA: Constitutional Court may decide fate of safety camps

An interim order by South Africa's Constitutional Court could keep 
temporary shelters open for the foreigners displaced by xenophobic 
violence earlier this year - or it could leave more than 4,000 camp 
residents out on the street.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80438


LESOTHO: Mathabang Letsoara, "We have less than half a sack of maize to 
live on"

Mathabang Letsoara, in her early twenties, lives with her family of six 
in Ha Tsiu, a village 100km east of Maseru, capital of Lesotho. Food 
production in their village has fallen steadily.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80398


LESOTHO: A village tries new ideas to beat climate change

Chief Paulosi Lebakeng is a troubled man. Food production has dipped in 
his village of Ha Tsiu, perched about 2,500m above sea level on the 
Thaba Putsoa mountains, about 100km east of Lesotho's capital, Maseru.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80365


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