Pambazuka News 429: Zuma on the verge of victory
Pambazuka News 429: Zuma on the verge of victory
Eleven members of a Darfur rebel movement have been sentenced to death by a Sudanese court in relation to a 2008 attack on Khartoum. The court passed the ruling on the members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on Wednesday.
Some of the developing world's largest rivers are drying up because of climate change, threatening water supplies in some of the most populous places on Earth, say scientists. Researchers from the US-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) analysed data combined with computer models to assess flow in 925 rivers — nearly three quarters of the world's running water supply — between 1948 and 2004.
Michela Wrong’s latest book “It’s Our Turn to Eat: the Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower” has stirred controversy in Kenya. Through the struggles of anti-corruption whistleblower John Githongo, Wrong examines how corruption has plagued the country. Transparency Watch spoke with Wrong about the themes behind her book: identity, history, cynicism and integrity.
The Angola government is considering over US8.6 billion investment to boost the transformation of the industry between 2009 and 2012, Angola's deputy-minister for industry Kiala Gabriel has announced. Mr Abriel said the amount will be channeled to various sub-programmes like those of reconstitution of the human capital and creation of infrastructures to support the development.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has pleaded with the President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to meditate with the Gambian authorities in a case of a missing journalist, Ebrima Manneh since 2006. According to a letter from RSF addressed to Dr Mohamed Chambas, the president of ECOWAS, the president’s involvement will convince the Gambian leadership to shed light on the whereabouts of the missing journalist.
The battle between the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank over the allocation of cars to MPs has left ministers open to charges of hypocrisy by the legislators as they have more than two vehicles each while trying to block their colleagues in parliament from taking any from the central bank.
Illiteracy rates in West Africa are the highest in the world, cramping development and weakening citizens’ power to effect socio-economic and political change, say education agencies, who are calling on governments and donors to step up literacy and education efforts. Sixty-five million West African adults – 40 percent of the adult population – cannot read or write according to a new study, 'From closed books to open doors – West Africa's literacy challenge'.
The number of women dying in childbirth in Liberia has nearly doubled since the 1980s, according to a recent UN report that has policymakers calling for urgent attention to reproductive healthcare. While the report shows encouraging trends in infant and child survival, it puts maternal mortality at 994 women per 100,000 live births in 2007 compared to 578 in 1987.
An environmental NGO in northern Senegal is about to go to market with “green charcoal” – a household fuel produced from agricultural waste materials to replace wood and charcoal in cooking stoves. Given that Senegal’s trees are disappearing, finding viable alternatives is a must, a Ministry of Energy official says. At least half of Senegal’s 13 million people rely on wood and charcoal for household fuel, while 40 percent relying on petrol products like butane gas, the ministry says.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has described the complaints made by the Libyan Embassy in Rabat against three Moroccan newspapers - namely, "Al-Masaa", "Al-Garida Al-Oula" and "Moroccan Events" - as a threat to freedom of expression and the press in Morocco which must be confronted.
Many Algerian journalists and human rights lawyers recently told CPJ that the siege on independent journalism has gradually intensified over these past three years and that your government seemed increasingly inclined to use harsh measures to silence and punish critical journalists.
Senators in the Swaziland Parliament have threatened to charge the local media with contempt of Parliament following stories about an altercation between the Senate President and a Senator.
On 16 April 2009, Moses Ndene and Kebba Yorro Manneh, two sports journalists of privately-owned FM station City Limit Radio, were arrested and briefly detained by the Gambian police for allegedly criticising the administration of sports in the country.
After nearly a year of seemingly endless talks brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Zimbabwe’s long-ruling ZANU-PF party and the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formed a coalition government in February. Opposition entry into government is a landmark development, and broad segments of the population are optimistic for the first time in years that a decade of repression and decline can be reversed.
A Rwandan man living in the United States state of Kansas was arrested on Thursday in connection with the 1994 genocide in his home country, the US Department of Justice said. Lazare Kabaya Kobagaya (82) was arrested on charges of lying on his naturalisation fraud and misusing his alien registration card, officials with the Department of Justice said.
Made possible through a generous grant from the Fred J. Hansen Foundation, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice's (IPJ) Women PeaceMakers Program invites four women from around the world who have been locally involved in human rights and peacemaking efforts. Women accepted into this program are seeking ways to further their peacemaking efforts in their home countries.
African nations must stop signing away their natural resources in skewed deals with foreign firms, the African winner of the 2009 “Green Nobel” prize said in an interview. Ona, a wheelchair-bound Gabonese activist, has won the African 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize for a decade of activism to protect the Congo Basin Rainforest, the second largest rainforest in the world.
Not long ago, a young Nova Scotian woman working in Guatemala told me how she found herself in a bus being blocked by local people protesting the destructive operations of a Canadian mining company in their community. Fellow passengers advised her to pretend she was American; Canadians were not welcome.
This project deals with the Pan- African e- Network Project launched by the government of India on 26 February 2009 as a part of its ‘aid to Africa’ programme. This project connects the nodal centres in India with 53 nations of Africa through the use of electronic information and technology (ICT) and provides tele-medicine and tele-education to its African counterparts. The pilot project in Ethiopia launched in mid 2007 whereby connectivity between educational and medical centers of excellence in India and Ethiopia was launched has proved to be a success.
Pambazuka News 423: Zimbabwe - hoping for a miracle
Pambazuka News 423: Zimbabwe - hoping for a miracle
Walumbe's* hand stalks our land AGAIN
Oh, each generation has to lose brilliant lives
So the rich can gorge themselves to death
while we die of hunger
Oh Walumbe's hand stalks this land AGAIN
Oi, oi, the young fall to death!
The Travail of Dieudonné is the tale of a triple estrangement. Nyamnjoh’s protagonist is physically separated from his homeland (Warzone), beloved wife (Tsanga) and opulence associated with materialism. The writer adumbrates, ‘Dieudonné misses his home village to the point of tears’. (p. 153) Mimboland, his country of choice, is a dichotomised world where the haves and have-nots cohabitate. While Beverly Hills swims in the niceties of life, Swine Quarter – home to the underprivileged – is likened to a ‘bleeding ghetto’ reputed for its ‘muddy meanders of footpaths and shacks whose walls were delicately sustained by ant-infested wood, human excrement, dog shit…multitudes of rats and cockroaches that celebrated impunity.’ (p. 149)
Originally written back in March 2008 in the wake of Kenya’s post-election crisis, Bhekinkosi Moyo offers some points of reflection on the apparent ease with which citizens’ rights can be manipulated and abused for political ends. Weighing up the emotional difficulty of being a non-resident parent, Moyo reconsiders some of the negative ideas around the supposed callousness of men willing to leave their families for business trips, and decides that there is perhaps ultimately little difference between absent fathers and those chained to their desks at the office.
Lamenting the thin supply of organic African critical and theoretical thinking about the continent, Ronald Elly Wanda argues for the place of African writers in addressing an ‘imposed history’. In light of the understandable tendency of much of the continent’s people to identify more with their own local groups than distant, largely exploitative nation-states, Wanda argues for the need for greater regionalisation as a route towards true independence from colonialism. Underlining the importance of African writers addressing African themes, the author contends that uncovering a genuine spirit of renaissance will only occur when the promotion of African intellectualism is truly normalised.
The DRC’s desire to choose its own mining trading partners, whether Chinese investors or Western corporations, calls the bluff of global financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank, writes Antoine Roger Lokongo. Negotiations the country has conducted reveal how these institutions are putting pressure on the DRC government to ditch the Socomin deal with China – a Beijing-based, joint-venture between the DRC’s Gécamines and a group of Chinese state-owned enterprises – as a condition to get its debt forgiven. That is clearly blackmail, Lokongo maintains, and is inconsistent with the spirit of free trade and globalisation.
In his inaugural address as the new chairman of the African Union (AU), Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has vowed to pursue his vision of a United States of Africa. Gaddafi has been lobbying other African leaders since 2004 to create a United States of Africa and make him the first president. But even on a continent where hunger for power is a status quo, other African leaders appear not to be mesmerised by the political fantasies of the self-declared ‘king of kings’ and ‘leader of the Islamic leadership’, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Among the civil wars, poverty, diseases, and overall African underdevelopment, the new leader of the AU is only interested in his messianic need for a larger political domain where he can implement his despotic rule.
Re: Misinformation on IEC TV ads for voter registration including the ad ‘if you don't vote, you can't complain’
Dear Chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam,
A recent television ad for the campaign for voter registration by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has a line which implies that non-voting South African citizens have no power to bring about change in this country. ‘If you don't vote, you can't complain’ shows the short-sightedness and arrogance of the current political system, which attempts to convince South Africans that voting is the most effective and only way to bring about change in this country.
The widespread condemnation of the report condemning the police execution of suspects exposes our hypocrisy. How can we, who are demanding a new democratic constitution, be unwilling to defend such fundamentals of democracy like the right of all to a fair trial, the separation of powers, and even the right to life?
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries joined a crowd of automotive suppliers setting up low-cost plants on Europe's eastern rim. It opened factories from Poland to Bulgaria and today has a dozen facilities in the region. But now, Sumitomo is shifting production south of Europe-to the ancient Moroccan port of Tangier and to Bou Salem, a market town set among wheat fields in northern Tunisia. As costs rise in Eastern Europe, the company says, it's getting harder to make a profit. North Africa, by contrast, offers far lower wages and plenty of eager workers.
We are writing to express our concern over the lack of progress in the police investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri. In January, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the police to investigate Nyaruri’s murder, whose slashed and decapitated body was found January 29 in Kodere Forest near his hometown of Nyamira.
Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) has urged President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to publish the report of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reforms Panel, set up in 2007 to propose ways for credible elections. The group has also called on the president to reconsider its decision to reverse the recommendation of the Uwais Panel on the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On 28 March thousands will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20, ahead of its 2 April summit on the global financial crisis. Even before the banking collapse, the world suffered poverty, inequality and the threat of climate chaos. The world has followed a financial model that has created an economy fuelled by ever-increasing debt, both financial and environmental.
Covering sex, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drugs and the law, health, violent crime, self defence, abuse, sexual assault, keeping safe, education admission, rules and regulations, exclusion, reports and records, examinations, safety, student finance, studying and training, applying for work and finding a job, work and training contracts, rights at work, losing your job, banking, income tax, spending, among other things. The Youth Survival Guide is a must-have reference for matriculants and young adults.
President Barack Obama has extended for another year U.S. sanctions that target Zimbabwe's president and others linked to him, saying some people are continuing to undermine the country's democratic processes. The White House issued the notice on Wednesday, the same day that Zimbabwe's former opposition leader called for an end to political oppression and police violence in his first parliamentary address as prime minister.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was established in 1984 by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to honor these courageous and innovative individuals striving for social justice throughout the world. The recipients are chosen through an extensive annual selection process. Every year from February until March, the public is invited to nominate creative and courageous non-governmental human rights defenders. The nomination deadline is March 15, 2009. Nominations will not be accepted past this date.
A radically different website is launched this week – is conceived, designed, funded, written and implemented by a Scottish software developer based in Zimbabwe – Alex Weir. The intention of this site is to stimulate economic development in the Third World – the timing may be fortuitous, since the whole Global Economy is greatly in need of stimulation...
The chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Jean Ping strongly condemned the assassination of the President of Guinea Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira hours after that of his army chief of staff, General Batista Tagme Na Wai and called on political leaders in the country to rally behind the legitimate authorities. Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States announced that it would send a ministerial delegation to Bissau to ‘engage all stakeholders in an effort to restore confidence among the political actors, civil society and security services and return the country to constitutional normalcy’. Elsewhere, the chairperson of the AU Commission, following a deadly suicide bomb attack that killed 11 Burundian soldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia, reiterated the AU’s determination to support peace and stability in Somalia and promised to speed up the formation of the security sector in the country. Also in peace and security news, a new report launched by the United Nations Environment Programme analysing the links between the environment, conflict and peacebuilding through fourteen case studies argues that intrastate conflicts are likely to drag on and escalate without a greater focus on environment and natural resources in the peacebuilding process. Marking the start of the military exercise of the stand by brigade of the Southern African Development Community, the deputy staff chief of the Angolan Armed Force praised progress made since its creation up to the present in terms of the participation of member states in peace keeping operations in various parts of the world.
The African Monitor, while praising the formation of the unity government in Zimbabwe and the role played by regional leaders and former President Thabo Mbeki in facilitating the process, said that priority has to be given to addressing urgent humanitarian needs in terms of food, medical supplies and other basic necessities to restore the dignity of Zimbabweans. After the 12th ordinary summit of AU heads of State and Government called for an immediate lifting of the sanctions on Zimbabwe to ease the economic and humanitarian situation in the country and the formation of a unity government. According to some analysts, 2009 looks promising for Zimbabweans as a credible and inclusive power sharing could mobilise further international financial help.
In economic news, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, while acknowledging that the current financial crisis could have serious impact on African economies, said that recent decline in fuel and food prices came as a relief for most of the continent and that Africa could seize the moment and press on with reforms aimed at ensuring greater competitiveness. United Nations experts told participants at an ‘Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa’ workshop that African Governments failed to take advantage of technological advances that can improve the delivery of services to their citizens and urged African countries to invest heavily in infrastructure to make the most of emerging technologies.
In other news, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade hailed the transformation of the existing AU Commission into an Authority of the Union saying that it was a landmark decision in achieving the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the African peoples’ desire to achieve continental unity. African economists and top academicians met in Nairobi at a congress to deliberate on the possibilities for the adoption of a single African currency as a process of economic and political integration of the continent. Their recommendations will be presented to the June summit of the heads of state and government. The African Network of Professionals is organising the biggest gathering of professionals to share ideas and accomplishments, deliberate on political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological barriers that hamper the development of effective, efficient and sustainable professionalism on the continent.
In environmental news, African ministers who met in Namibia expressed their support for the work of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa in leading efforts to achieve a sustainable green revolution and noted that it should be complemented by investment in rural areas. Meanwhile, the AU Commission launched a new campaign aimed at reducing the risk of preventable diseases becoming major public health issues and encouraged African countries to launch national health programmes to fight the unhealthy lifestyles that are rapidly catching up with Africa’s growing middle-class.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, on his arrival in Mali on the first leg of a four-nation African tour, expressed his desire to extend China’s trade and investment links in Africa despite the economic downturn. Heads of multilateral development banks invited to a meeting by the African Development Bank to discuss responses to the global financial and economic crisis, underlined their commitment to play a counter-cyclical role to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Finally, decisions and declarations of both the executive council and the assembly of heads of state and governments are now available for download.
The peace and security council of the African Union (AU) condemned the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and recommended the chairperson of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, send a delegation to the UN Peace and Security Council to aimed at stopping the indictment. Elsewhere, the AU called on the authorities of Guinea Bissau to cooperate with other stakeholders in launching a full investigation into the assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and General Batista Tagme Na Wai to help identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The AU Commission chairperson sent a delegation led by the Commissioner for peace and security, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, to Madagascar for consultations with the Malagasy parties in pursuit of a peaceful and negotiated solution to the current political crisis. The AU chairperson, Libyan leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi, received representatives of the AU Commission in Tripoli to discuss key issues such as the implementation of decisions and declarations adopted during the 12th AU ordinary summit, the situation of peace and security on the continent and actions being taken by the Union to address these.
As the world celebrated International Women’s Day, the AU, while enumerating instruments and mechanisms aimed at promoting and protecting women’s rights in Africa, reiterated its commitment to eliminate violence against women and girls and said that men should be more involved in the recognition of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women.
Furthermore, the chairperson of the council of ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Foreign affairs minister of South Africa Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma stated that while SADC supported the integration of Africa, regional integration had to be achieved before the formation of a single AU government could be realised. The general secretary of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, a body established in 1997 to create a platform for the region’s legislators to share knowledge and experiences in governance, explains why the Forum needs to be transformed into a fully-fledged parliament to consolidate its role in advancing democracy, development, wealth creation and poverty reduction.
In other news, with the possibility that a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council could be allotted to Africa, countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Libya, Senegal, Kenya, and Botswana have commenced ‘to lock horns in a diplomatic tug-of-war’ over which country is the best candidate to occupy the seat. The former president of Botswana and current chairperson of the advisory board of the newly created Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, Festus Mogae, said Africans should stop blaming others for the continent’s problems, but instead take responsibility for some of Africa’s ills. Finally, the Director of Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global financial meltdown could wipe out the financial successes recorded by African countries over the past decade.
The international Women Won’t Wait. End HIV and Violence against Women. NOW! campaign celebrates its two year anniversary and International Women’s Day. The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day - March 8, 2007, to demand that policy makers and donors integrate responses to violence against women in global and national AIDS programmes and allocate resources to these responses.
On the 2nd day of March 2009, we, the Delft-Symphony Pavement Dwellers, received a notice from the Sheriff of the Court to appear in the Cape High Court on the 20th of March 2009 at 10h00. After over a year living on the road, the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government are finally applying for our eviction. The Sheriff delivered the letter and various legal documents with the support of over 20 Metro Police, SAPS and Law Enforcement vehicles and there was a total of over 100 police present with bulletproof vests, guns and various other dangerous items.
An Ethiopian film about the regime of the country's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam has won the chief prize at Africa's main movie awards ceremony. Teza was the unanimous winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga at the event in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Director Haile Gerima's award was accepted by his sister Selome, who also co-produced the film.
Comrades Oscar and Oulu,
They may have shot you dead,
but they have not shot down what you believed in and stood for.
They may have destroyed your physical bodies,
but your spirit and what you believed and stood by is now more alive than ever.
They may have tried to remove you physically from Kenyans’ minds,
but the two of you are more alive now in Kenyans’ minds than ever,
more so in the minds of the helpless young widows
and children of victims of extrajudicial killings,
more alive to the whole world that has stood by you and is crying for justice in your case.
cc The murders of the Kenyan human rights activists Oscar Kamau King'ara and Paul Oulu reveal a wide malaise across Kenyan society with regard to basic human rights, Kang’ethe Mungai writes. Stressing that the murders send a clear warning sign to human rights defenders of the existence of a ‘death squad’ likely operating under government auspices, Mungai reflects on some of the confusion around the underground Mungiki sect and its war with the country’s police. The author argues that the public deserves both greater objective information on the sect and public declarations by its leadership in order to make informed opinions detached from government rhetoric. This, Mungai contends, will enable the government and civil society to properly engage with a group of considerable appeal among the country’s marginalised youth in a peaceful way befitting the memories of campaigners like King’ara and Oulu.
cc In the face of the global economic downturn, ArcelorMittal and its Liberian employees and subcontractors are unlikely to reap the benefits of the steel company investment in iron ore production in Liberia any time soon, writes Rebecca Murray of IPS (Inter Press Service). ArcelorMittal met with the approval of watchdog Global Witness for negotiating ‘a deal that remains profitable and safeguards the interests of the host country and its people’. In the current climate, however, Liberia is reluctant to impose conditions on investors, while contractors are willing to compromise on working conditions, fearful that unionising would put their jobs in jeopardy. The company posted losses of over US$2.6 billion globally in their last quarter.
cc Comments made by South Africa’s Department of Housing after a Durban High Court Judge dismissed an application by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA to declare the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007 unconstitutional have met with opposition from the church, academia and civil society organisations. In an article criticising Abahlali’s legal representatives for portraying the legislation as ‘inhumane and unconstitutional’ and ‘designed to allow the government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people’, the department said that its policy was informed by consultation with slum dwellers and stakeholders including Slum Dwellers International (SDI). SDI countered that it does not support the Slums Act, which would make it legal to evict people living in informal settlements should the government choose to do so. Bishop Rubin added that independent experts have confirmed that there are serious reasons to be concerned by the legislation and that it was wrong and counterproductive to treat shackdwellers and the poor as stupid and criminal. ‘No one should fear that their fragile home will be bulldozed and that they will be banished to a transit camp far outside of the city where they work and their children attend school’, he said. A number of organisations have signed a statement in support of Abahlali baseMjondolo.
cc Economic sanctions against Zimbabwe are worsening the plight of ordinary citizens in an already harsh climate and should be lifted immediately, urges an ‘Appeal for Zimbabwe’ launched in Mali in February. Signatories to the petition declared that drinkable water, food and medicine must ‘cease to be deployed as weapons of war’, and reminded the UK, the US and the EU ‘of the exorbitant social and human cost of the punitive measures’ they have used in a bid to drive regime change in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is grappling with 94 per cent unemployment, the highest inflation rates in the world and food shortages affecting an estimated seven million people.
cc While Kenya is formally a democracy, it lacks the political culture for this form of governance to thrive, says Makau wa Mutua. Wa Mutua argues that the successful investigation into and accounting for of British atrocities committed against members of the Mau Mau liberation movement currently being led by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) will trigger the process of national healing necessary to the sense of national identity and common purpose Kenya needs in order to succeed as a democratic state.
cc A government conference encouraging citizens to tell them about ‘the Kenya we want’ via censored media channels is unlikely to yield positive change, suggests feminist activist Awino Okech. Okech calls for Kenyan women to self-organise and engage with political structures using the frameworks provided by feminism or, she cautions, history will not judge them kindly for failing to take on the issues of their time.
cc The Nigerian government's alleged approval for field testing of genetically modified cassava plants by a US-based plant science centre puts Nigeria in danger of trading away its food future to colonialists under the guise of agricultural biotechnology, Friends of the Earth Nigeria/Environmental Rights Action (FoEN) have warned. They and over 30 local civil society groups have called for an immediate end to the trials, to be conducted by the National Root Crops Research Institute with the reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee – a body that currently has no legal power to grant such an approval. In addition to its concerns about the effects on biodiversity and human health of GM crops, FoEN says that Nigerian food security lies in building the capacity of its farmers, not in GM foods.
Following the assassinations of two human rights activists and a student earlier this month, Kenyan citizens and civil society organisations have called for the government to reiterate publicly its commitments to ending violence, disarming and demobilising armed groups and militias, and restoring fundamental rights and freedoms. In an open letter and an 11-point demand to the president and prime minister, signatories highlighted the government’s non-implementation of these commitments, demanding, among other actions, an independent investigation into the assassinations.
Women farmers from five continents marked International Women’s Day (8 March) with a declaration reaffirming their willingness to take action to change ‘the capitalist and patriarchal world that gives priority to the market’s interests instead of the rights of people’. In the statement, the Via Campesina Women’s International Committee said it would work towards a just and equal world which recognises the worth and rights of each human being, and where women’s rights – from the right to life with dignity and without violence to respect of sexual and human rights – are human rights. They also highlighted the importance of food sovereignty and respect for biodiversity, undermined among other things by corporate interests.
cc Human rights activist Mary Ndlovu considers the possible outcomes of a four-week-old ‘unholy alliance between Zimbabwe’s former ruling party Zanu PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) and the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) into a ‘Government of National Unity’ (GNU). Already the GNU has survived the arrest and incarceration of senior MDC leaders, Zanu PF’s persistent failure to implement major clauses of the power-sharing agreement on which the government is based, and a car accident widely perceived as an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which killed his wife.
Some have been critical of the MDC’s decision to enter into a power-sharing agreement with Zanu PF before a fairer compromise was reached. But, notes Ndlovu, with the countrywide collapse of public services – from schools to electricity, hospitals, water treatment and banking – many Zimbabweans on the ground believed it was necessary for the MDC to get inside the government to begin the process of reconstruction.
There is cause for pessimism. Zanu PF hardliners seem determined to sabotage the GNU rather than work with the MDC to build Zimbabwe. Some say the MDC has been able to accomplish little since its swearing-in, and that the longer they are unable make progress on disputed issues, the more they will lose credibility and attract criticism from former supporters. Others fear the MDC will be swallowed by Zanu PF’s culture of corruption and cronyism, with Mercedes Benzes rolling out for both boys and girls alike.
But there is also cause for hope. Optimists believe that the combination of the finance ministry and several important service industries are enough for the MDC to show the people that they are concerned and are prepared to commit themselves to work feverishly to begin the formidable task of reconstruction.
Moreover, adds Ndlovu, rumours abound that the military top-brass are using the detainees as pawns or bargaining chips to obtain amnesty for their crimes, afraid to rely on the forces they command. Optimists believe hardliners won’t be able to hold the country hostage forever, as subtle power shifts begin to show themselves on the ground with a large percentage of intelligence officers and lower-ranking soldiers said to be disillusioned with Zanu PF and welcoming of change.
Nevertheless, Ndlovu is critical of the MDC’s failure to make any attempt to mobilise people to demonstrate the departure of the old and arrival of the new, with the task left to others like students and civil society groups such as WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) to test the waters and push the police to take a position.
It is unclear whether Tsvangirai’s injuries and bereavement will create a dangerous hiatus, causing the promise of the GNU to dissipate. What we do know, however, Ndlovu contends, is that each small step will be difficult and concessions will only be won through determination, perseverance and belief that progress can be achieved. And that belief can create reality.
Following the death of Susan Tsvangirai last Friday 6 March, Prespone Matawira rounds up events behind the crash of the Tsvangirais’ vehicle and considers the emotional and political consequences for Zimbabwe's prime minister of losing the support of his wife.
Reflecting on the general progress on tackling gender-based violence on the African continent, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem argues that while enshrining women’s rights in law represents a positive step, it is in the actual implementation of the spirit of the law that genuine advances are achieved.
With the Zimbabwean economy’s dollarisation process fuelling persistent inflation in the country, Prespone Matawira discusses the ‘collective hypnosis’ and the mirage of opportunity surrounding the use of the US currency.
Prespone Matawira writes from Harare about an International Women’s Day spent queuing for water, in a city where communities are banding together to share access to a scarce commodity.
Regarding , the only way to eradicate organised crime is from the top, not the bottom as we are being led to believe. Get rid of the organisers (not one token one) and the protectors in whatever place govt. or otherwise and we will get rid of this menace. Other countries are always ready to forego the small fry in order to trap the big wigs, not so us. We kill even innocents in our fake quest to eradicate the menace.
. so long, but yes we shall overcome. Organize we must, Agonize not as much. But we are headed to a predictably dark segment of our nation's search for itself, perhaps we may get out of the tunnel a better people. the darkest hour is before dawn they say. Yes, now state assasinations are targeted to the powerful as much as they are targeted at the hapless, the powerless, and the very downtrodden. and this is why i say we are entering a new phase of our eventual liberation. because the state has ceased to think and is haphazard in the deployment of its instruments of violence. but the silencing of the lambs may not stop the bleating of the sheep. we shall overcome.
– in all its many forms – is abhorrent to all who believe human life is a gift of God and therefore infinitely precious. Every attempt to intimidate others by inflicting indiscriminate death and injury upon them is to be universally condemned. The answer to Criminal gangs (Mungiki or death squads) however, cannot be to respond in kind, for this can lead to more violence and more terror. Instead, a concerted effort of all people is needed to remove any possible justification for such acts.Acts of violence are criminal acts, and should be addressed by the use of the instruments of the rule of law.
. Maybe Kibaki should be taken to the Hague because this are the likes of Charles Taylor and Mugabe. Using the force to kill innocent kenyans for no good reason: a case should be filed to the ICC so that the evil minded people we have can learn, Its clear that the Idiot spokesperson mutua new about the killing and he kept his word "we will deal with them".
Its saddening to read of by fellow human beings, trying to cover up there sins,why can the same organ of government(the police)do the job they are supposed to do,which is to protect people. It now talks volume when one Kiraithe (police spokesman) say that they dismiss the finding of extra judicial killings, rather than take the opportunity to change now and be judged by history they played a role to change ...
The is an opportunity for all resource-rich countries, like Kenya and much of Africa, to completely change the global system. We have been told to export, grow for export, export and more export. We have ignored our own people. There are a few things that we need to import but not many, and with innovation and work we can make substitutes, use our own resources, make our own goods. It seems impossible - that is what the North wants us to think - but it is not. When Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia was under real sanctions (1965-1980), every effort went into manufacturing substitutes. Of course there was some 'sanctions busting'... oil and medicines were two things we had to import.
To start with, thanx for the . The past months when ever i saw an article about Zimbabwe it was always about something sad-political violance, cholera, inflation,starvation etc.Its such a relief to read on a positive topic and i do think Oliver "Tuku" has managed to fly the countrys flag high, not only the country's but Africa as a whole because issues he raises are shared by a lot of African cultures.The issue on scantly dressed women in musical videos you touched on does affect me personally, i think us women, are allowing ourselves to be used and we should wage a war against it!
If the U.S. is to be taken seriously as a "Global Leader" it must engage the global community in dialogue. is a move in the wrong direction. Such a serious mis-step signals a need for a closer monitoring of the Obama Administration's foreign policy decisions.
: When Africa finally realizes that if She does what She has done in the past, She will get the same results. Weak leadership is the problem causing corruption and other poor rule of law. Opportunities for the future of Africa have been given only to the elitist. The common man in Africa has been forgotten and no power has been given to him because of the lack of having a democracy that works.
Kenya’s dalliance with previous unlikely allies blossomed further last week when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned his tour of the country into a window of business opportunity. As he flew out, the Iranian leader’s imprint on the country’s struggling economy left no doubts about the Middle East nation’s determination to raise its trade and investment portfolios, which hitherto were dominated by the West.
The Newfields Village community has once again been left in limbo by the Cape Town community housing company (CTCHC) which has stopped repairs to the defective Hanover Park houses, claiming it has no more money. We are baffled by this because even though the city sold off its shares in CTCHC last year, it is still a public entity now owned by the National Housing Finance Corporation which falls under department of housing.
WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court again today in a continuation of their trial on charges of disturbing the peace. The matter had been postponed from Thursday last week to give the Magistrate time to rule on a constitutional application on the grounds that the sections under which Williams and Mahlangu are charged violate their constitutional right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
The CODESRIA Democratic Governance Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of governance. The aim of the Institute is to promote research and debates on issues connected to the conduct of public affairs and the management of the development process in Africa. The Institute was launched in 1992 and has been held every year since then in Dakar, Senegal.
As the world, including Zimbabwe, commemorates International Women’s Day,
members of WOZA find little to celebrate. As organisations, both local and international, take the opportunity afforded by International Women’s Day to speak out about the need for gender equality, respect for women’s right and an end to violence, WOZA joins the chorus. Yet we understand that women in Zimbabwe, and Africa as a whole, need much more than rhetoric – they need action. And actions speak louder than words.
A new report by REDRESS and Reprieve, Kenya and Counter-Terrorism: A Time for Change, details the horrific stories of the arbitrary detention of 150 victims in Kenya from 21 different nationalities. Many of these were tortured and ill-treated; many were rendered to Somalia and then transferred to Ethiopia. There are also allegations of interrogation by foreign intelligence services, including British agents. Many of the victims have now been released, but the whereabouts of others are still unknown.
Independent publisher, Écosociété, which published the book "Noir Canada" (Black Canada) that denounces the practices of Canadian gold mining companies in Africa, received a new libel lawsuit for $5 million by Banro Corporation. Écosociété is already confronted with an initial lawsuit for $6 million, launched by Barrick Gold after the book’s publication. According to the publisher, in both cases they consist of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
An explosive book about Kenya’s December 2007 bungled election has been launched in Stockholm. The book, Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and The Future of Kenya written by Mr. Okoth Osewe, a Kenyan author, takes the position that the December 2007 election was rigged by the Samuel Kivuitu-led Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) in favor of Mr. Mwai Kibaki who was immediately sworn in as President in a hurriedly convened secret ceremony at State House Nairobi on Sunday December 30th 2007.
President Rupiah Banda has launched the US$400 million Kariba North Bank extension project and said the Government had placed emphasis on building new power stations as well as expanding the existing ones. Mr Banda said to facilitate this development in the electricity sub-sector, the Government was in the process of concluding the legislation to make the sector one of the priority sectors in the provision of incentives under the Zambia Development Act.
Comrades, as the Landless People's Movement, we were arrested on Sunday 1st March and put in custody and freed on bail of R500 each. We were eight. Our names are Maureen Mnisi, Maas van Wyk, Ivy Seno, Elsie Mkhuma, Shelia Masenodi, Gasa Radebe, Michael Dlamini and Chester Maluleka. One of us is under age (16 years). The case is remanded to the 25th of March. We appreciate your support, even on the 25th
Nearly 15 years since apartheid ended, millions of black South Africans still live in self-built shacks – without sanitation, adequate water supplies, or electricity. But A Place in the City will overturn all your assumptions about ‘slums’ and the people who live in them. In this film, shot in the vast shack settlements in and around Durban, members of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the grassroots shackdwellers’ movement, lay out their case against forcible eviction and for decent services with passion and eloquence, in a political climate where grassroots campaigners like them are more likely to be met with rubber bullets than with offers to talk.
Indexkenya.org is an online index of articles published in Nairobi newspapers. The focus of the articles indexed includes culture, law/governance, reproductive health, and other topics about which information is difficult to obtain. The index will ultimately include details of articles published since 1980. The actual content of an article is not provided, rather online citations describing the articles. Hard copy of any article indexed can be ordered directly from the Kenya Indexing Project. This database will be updated on a regular basis.
The Radical Youth Network (RYN), along with the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) strongly condemns the killing of Teboho “Diventsha” Tsotetsi by members of the Sebokeng Community Policing Forum (CPF). It is not the first time the community of Zone 20 in Sebokeng has experienced attacks from the people they claim to be protecting them. Sebokeng Police station has become a haven for thugs and gangsters!
A24 Media has announced the launch of its much?anticipated online stills collection, which contains some of the best photographic collections in Africa, digitised for the first time. The collection charts the past 50 years of the continent’s history, and features never?before?seen work from world?renowned photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts. With images available online; the collection is diverse in content, capturing images ranging from wildlife, culture, sports and portraits from the Maasai of Kenya even to iconic images of the late John F. Kennedy of the USA.
Helen Zille and the City of Cape Town need to stop trying to score cheap political/elections propaganda points and be honest with the people of Cape Town (see press statement of City of Cape Town below). The so-called ‘water management devices’ are simply pre-paid meters in drag. Like the pre-paid meters which have been declared unconstitutional and illegal by the Johannesburg High Court, these devices dispense the 6000 ‘free’ litres per month/per household and then automatically cut off.
Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society is a new, user-friendly and authoritative publication on United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms – explaining how they work and exploring the many important ways that civil society actors including NGOs can contribute to their work.