Southern Africa: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 342 for 14 - 20 July 2007
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
JOHANNESBURG, 20 July 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS ZAMBIA: NGO independence is under threat
SWAZILAND:
ARV rollout on track but not without challenges
ZIMBABWE: Operation Murambatsvina victims at the back of the queue for housing
LESOTHO: Hungry for assistance
ZIMBABWE: Daughters fetch high prices
as brides
ZIMBABWE: White farmers begin returning home
SWAZILAND: Facing the challenge of climate change ZAMBIA: NGO independence is under threat Civil society fears that the imminent
introduction of legislation aimed at regulating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will severely compromise their work and independence, and could even result in their operations being closed down. The NGOs bill, introduced this week in parliament by justice minister George Kunda, calls for "the registration and co-ordination of NGOs - [and] to regulate the work, and the area of work of
NGOs operating in Zambia". See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73318 SWAZILAND: ARV rollout on track but not without challenges Despite the Swazi government's
claim that it is hitting its targets as it rolls out life-prolonging ART (antiretroviral therapy), HIV/AIDS activists warn that the government may be aiming too low and that serious challenges remain,
particularly regarding women. There were over 15,000 patients on the programme, but this number was expected to double by the end of the year, the ministry of health told a conference on ART this
week in the central commercial town of Manzini. AIDS organisations, however, said the drugs were reaching only a fraction of those who needed them and targets should be radically raised. See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73316 ZIMBABWE: Operation Murambatsvina victims at the back of the queue for housing Scarce building materials, earmarked to re-house victims of
Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina, have been diverted to other projects, including work on a mansion for President Robert Mugabe in an exclusive suburb of the capital, Harare. In the winter of
2005, informal homes and markets were demolished in the ZANU-PF government's Operation Murambatsvina, aimed at clearing slums and flushing out criminals, but which left more than 700,000 people
homeless or without a livelihood. Many who had nowhere to go were forced into government-sanctioned resettlement camps on the outskirts of urban centres, with no source of employment. See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73296 LESOTHO: Hungry for assistance In the wake of the most severe drought in 30 years, the kingdom of Lesotho has declared a state of emergency and
appealed for international assistance for over 400,000 people in need of urgent food aid. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) reports, the cereal
harvest, of which the largest part is maize, Lesotho's staple food, has been slashed by over 40 percent. Approximately 328,000 metric tonnes (mt) of cereals are required to feed the country.
Farmers welcomed the call for assistance, saying that without help they would have nothing to feed their families. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73291 ZIMBABWE:
Daughters fetch high prices as brides Daughters have become a high-priced commodity in Zimbabwe, where a dowry has become a means of escaping poverty in a rapidly declining economy. With most
Zimbabweans struggling to survive, parents have taken to demanding "absurd" amounts of money and other commodities from their in-laws, looking to the bride-price as one way to make ends
meet. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73272 ZIMBABWE: White farmers begin returning home HARARE, 16 July 2007 (IRIN) - Scores of white commercial farmers, who left
Zimbabwe after their farms were seized as part of President Robert Mugabe's land-reform policies, are returning home as the promise of greener pastures elsewhere in southern Africa fails to
materialise. Justice for Agriculture (JAG), an independent organisation established to support about 4,000 farmers left landless after implementation of the 2000 fast-track land-reform programme to
redistribute land to blacks, said about 100 farmers who had left to settle in other countries in the region had returned to Zimbabwe. "It never rains but pours for the commercial farmers.
Following numerous constraints that almost turned them into paupers in countries like Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi, the farmers decided to come back, and more could be returning," JAG chairman
John Worswick told IRIN. It is not known how many farmers left the country as a result of the land-reform process. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73259 SWAZILAND: Facing
climate change Agricultural experts gathered on Thursday 19 July to find answers to Swaziland's perpetual crop failures and ongoing food shortages at the first National Agricultural Summit,
convened by King Mswati in the country's second city, Manzini. They blamed climate change for declining food production. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), over 400,000 of a total
population of 1 million Swazis are now dependant on some form of food aid - double the number in 2006. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73337© IRIN. All rights
reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
