British Prime Minister Tony Blair got the agreement he wanted on a massive new European Union aid package for sub Saharan Africa last week but questions still remain as to whether the United States and Japan will back the proposals. Six weeks ahead of the critical G8 summit at Gleneagles, the EU as a whole has committed itself to double its aid programme to Africa by 2010 with an additional promise to reach the UN goal of 0.7 per cent of GNP being spent on aid by 2015. Total aid to developing countries, including Africa, will rise from $40 billion this year to $80 billion by 2010.

At least 41 people are dead and many other wounded after renewed fighting in western Ivory Coast, the army says. The fighting took place near Duekoue, in a cocoa-producing region near the Liberian border. Local officials and witnesses spoke of shootings and stabbings, and said homes had been set on fire.

South African police have arrested 33 people after housing protests in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the protesters who had set up burning barricades and threw stones at passing vehicles. Grievances over housing shortages and poor services have prompted demonstrations in four Cape Town neighbourhoods in the past two weeks.

It has got a sad record of disease, brutality and corruption, and fewer inhabitants than Sheffield. But Equatorial Guinea is one of the key targets of the west's new "scramble for Africa". This mini country located under the armpit of the West African coast has immense quantities of oil; it is currently exporting $4.5bn worth (about £2.5bn) a year. Yet such an astonishing bonanza appears to have done most of the country's citizens no good. Who then, is getting the benefit?

The lure of gold has fuelled massive human rights atrocities in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published this week.  Local warlords and international companies are among those benefiting from access to gold rich areas while local people suffer from ethnic slaughter, torture and rape. The 159-page report, "The Curse of Gold," documents how local armed groups fighting for the control of gold mines and trading routes have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity using the profits from gold to fund their activities and buy weapons.  The report provides details of how a leading gold mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, part of the international mining conglomerate Anglo American, developed links with one murderous armed group, the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), helping them to access the gold-rich mining site around the town of Mongbwalu in the northeastern Ituri district.

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF is pushing ahead with its plans for constitutional reform, and has approved the creation of a 65-member senate, which will serve as an upper house of parliament. ZANU-PF Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa told IRIN that the party's Central Committee agreed on the creation of the new house last week, and would submit the proposal to cabinet for approval before it was tabled in parliament.

The peace agreement signed this year between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) constitutes a road map for resolving other conflicts in the country, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said during a visit to Sudan. Annan called for a quick implementation of the agreement, which was signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 9 January.

Deputy President Jacob Zuma was studying the guilty verdict in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial before making any comment, a statement from the government communications department said in response to the verdict. Shaik was convicted in the Durban High Court on two counts of corruption and one of fraud relating to alleged irregular financial dealings with Zuma.

In the sugar-dominated economy of Mauritius, workers demanded from their bosses that they be allowed to plant vegetables in between rows of sugar cane, the beginning of a broader campaign to convert land under sugar to land for food production and thus develop an alternative economic system. In the context of rampant neo-liberalism, how can alternatives be constructed and what are the strategies and methods that can be adopted? A recent conference entitled ‘Economic Alternatives to Neoliberalism’ took place in Johannesburg and tackled exactly these issues. George Dor from the Southern Africa Centre for Economic Justice provides more details.

Alternatives to today’s dominant neoliberal system must be built from the bottom up. They must be developed through worker and community struggles against the very real ways in which workers and communities are oppressed by the imposition of neoliberal policies.

The development of alternatives entails transforming the state from one that serves neoliberal interests to one that addresses people’s needs. It also requires doing away with certain institutions that advance corporate globalisation. In particular, the World Bank should be shut down.

Alternatives to neoliberalism should not culminate in a more welfarist version of capitalism. They need to challenge the capitalist system itself and lead to a socialist society different from the examples to date that have been called ‘socialist’ or ‘communist’.

These are some of the points that resonated at a workshop, titled Economic Alternatives to Neoliberalism, organised by the Southern African Centre for Economic Justice (SACEJ) and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS) and held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in May.

The Growth of Resistance to Neoliberalism in Southern Africa

The workshop was an outcome of an increasing interest in debating alternatives in the region. This, in turn, is a consequence of the rapid growth of resistance in various organisational forms over the last few years contesting neoliberialism in our region.

These developments are a reflection of the international upsurge in activism against corporate globalisation, including the Zapatista uprising of 1994, the building of international solidarity in support of the Zapaptistas and against neoliberalism, the growth of the Jubilee campaign calling for the cancellation of debt, the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1999, subsequent actions against the WTO, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the formation of the World Social Forum (WSF) and the growth of the international anti-war movement.

Southern Africa has seen the emergence of organisation around issues such as debt, trade and war. It has also seen the mushrooming of grassroots organisations around issues affecting people’s daily lives, such as privatisation, land, water and large dams. In some countries, these organisations have come together in the form of economic justice networks and this has been complemented by various regional networks.

The formation of the World Social Forum has sparked forums at continental, regional, country and local levels. The African Social Forum (ASF) was first held at the beginning of 2002, and the Southern African Social Forum (SASF) met before the end of 2003. Last year, Malawi and Zimbabwe have held national social forums.

The development of these organisational forms has in large measure been prompted by the very real hardships faced by the vast majority of people, both urban and rural, in the countries of the region. The content of organisational activities and struggles has initially of necessity been largely one of contesting the conditions in which the majority find themselves. This has included protest against the harsh realities of life, such as non-delivery of basic needs, high charges for services of poor quality, local corruption and enrichment of the few at the expense of others, to name a few.

Many organisations and networks have played an important role in educating people about the local, national, regional and international context which results in the gross levels of poverty and inequality experienced in the region. There has been a significant deepening of understanding of the way in which neoliberalism undermines people in their places of work and in their communities. The World Social Forum, held for the first time in 2001 under the banner “Another World Is Possible”, raised the inevitable question as to how this other more people-friendly world can be built and the beginnings of attempts to address this question.

Debating Alternatives at the African Social Forum

These developments prompted the hosting of a three-hour seminar at the African Social Forum, held in Lusaka, Zambia, in December last year. It proved to be a very popular event and attracted nearly 200 people.

It was noted that the relative lack of attention to alternatives was perhaps in part due to a fear of reopening divisions that characterised the left in years past. It was also out of concern not to make the mistake of speaking on behalf of people affected by neoliberalism. Nonetheless, elements of alternatives have been part of debate and practice. For example, in Africa, documents such as the Lagos Plan of Action and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) critique of structural adjustment were fundamentally different to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). Anti-debt campaigners have called for and developed ideas around and African People’s Consensus to contest the Washington Consensus. Public sector delivery has been promoted in opposition to water privatisation. Land redistribution, agricultural support and food security have been stressed against GMOs.

The seminar debated how we start to give content to the slogan “Another World is Possible” and how do we do so in a way in which people in social movements drive the development of alternatives.

It was said that talk of alternatives from the top down will run into problems. There is a need to share collective knowledge to demand alternatives. We need social movements to catalyse social change. We must be part of building a groundswell against neoliberalism. In addition, we need to address a theoretical gap, to debate, develop and clarify our ideology. It is important to identify our enemy. We are not fighting poverty, but a system that is ripping us off. We must start to search for alternatives from a position of strength. We have to start talking about political power and collective ownership.

People continued debating in groups and added that we must discuss an alternative vision in local languages, hear people’s voices and develop this vision from the grassroots. This alternative vision must draw from local experiences and emphasize humanity. It must be community based and put people first, not profits. Debate must start on the ground and move to the national, the regional and the international levels. Debate is important because, when you define where you stand, this opens up possibilities for defining solutions. But, debate should result in concrete action and solidarity.

The level of energy and enthusiasm in the seminar and the positive response to the question of whether we should take these debates forward beyond the social forum prompted the organisation of the May workshop. It was attended by some 100 participants, including representation from the union sector, labour researchers, academics, community organisations, social movements, organisations of displaced persons, gender and youth organisations and national and regional economic justice networks.

Understanding Neoliberalism in Southern Africa

On the first day of the workshop, participants shared their collective knowledge of how neoliberalism affects the people of Southern Africa. They provided information on their country experiences, which highlighted the very similar ways in which all the countries in the region are affected.

For example, the textile company, Ramatex, played off three countries, namely Namibia, South Africa and Madagascar, against each other. The Namibian Government exempted the company from taxes, ploughed US$100 million into providing infrastructure for the company’s operations, ensured labour at rates from R300 to R600 a month, required that prospective employees are tested for pregnancy and allowed the company to operate free of health, safety and environmental regulations. The company locked up its factory in the Eastern Cape, an impoverished region of South Africa suffering from a high rate of unemployment, leaving 5 000 people without jobs, and set up in Namibia. This is portrayed by the Namibian Government as a success story.

The state subsidy of the clothing and textile companies in Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and other countries in the region has, at most, provided temporary employment in these countries as the imminent lifting of WTO quotas on Chinese exports will lead to a relocation of production to China.

Privatisation is a key feature of neoliberalism and is being implemented throughout the region. In Tanzania, 45 000 public sector workers lost their jobs, virtually overnight. In Zambia, the figure is 60 000. Privatisation has been accompanied by the growth of labour broking, in which some retrenched workers are hired on a contract basis as non- unionised labour at lower wages and without benefits.

The impact of privatisation is acutely felt by communities throughout the region in the form of the increased cost of services such as water and local telephone calls as well as the decline in the standard and quality of services provided. Inability to pay for housing and services has led to disconnections and evictions. Prepaid meters are increasingly being used to deny people access to services.

The workshop took place on the eve of the new president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, taking up office and after his stated intention to visit Africa, so the World Bank received special attention. The World Bank, together with the IMF, has used debt as a means to exert a central role in imposing neoliberal policies on countries throughout the region. In Zambia, these institutions have used the promise of ‘debt relief’ under the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) to intensify cuts in government services and force through privatisation of almost all parastatals. Teachers and nurses earn a pittance, but even so the country cannot stay within the spending limits imposed on government services. When targets are not met, the IMF and World Bank cut resource flows and signal to other funding sources to follow suit. Zambia is thus ‘condemned to debt’.

In Tanzania, these institutions are again promising ‘debt relief’, together with growth and employment, under the latest variant of structural adjustment, namely the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). People have been called on to participate in writing these papers, but the ministry leading the process is that of finance and the international institutions continue to dictate the overarching macroeconomic policy, resulting in a widening gap between rich and poor.

The compliance of the new post-colonial elites has been a central feature in implementing these neoliberal policies. In most countries in the region, the burden of debt makes it very difficult to withstand the imposition of structural adjustment, but, in the case of South Africa, only a small portion of its debt was owed to the World Bank and IMF. Yet, the Government introduced the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (Gear), which bears all the hallmarks of a structural adjustment programme. Moreover, the South African Government has been central to launching the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, endorsing the features of and the institutions that impose structural adjustment.

This facilitates the opening up of the region to the giant corporations and finance houses of the North. At the same time, it creates opportunities for South African corporations to impose themselves on the region and across the continent. These corporations have already had a devastating impact, destroying local production and employment, plundering mineral resources and damaging the environment. Now, the United Kingdom’s Barclays Bank, a key supporter of the Apartheid regime, is bidding to take over the South African ABSA bank, with the willing agreement of the ABSA executive, because the deal will open opportunities to, in the words of the ABSA CEO, “rule the continent”.

These are some of the ways in which neoliberalism manifests at an economic level. Women bear the brunt of these policies. They bear the cost of the failure of neoliberalism to provide services, both financially and emotionally. Women fetch water, bring up children and take care of the sick. This burden is increasing as the impact of HIV/Aids intensifies. The youth in the region are misplaced, unable to find jobs and therefore not in a position to participate economically in society.

The cumulative impact of neoliberalism, structural adjustment and corporate greed is perhaps most starkly illustrated by the deep decline in infant survival rate and life expectancy throughout the region.

But neoliberalism cannot be seen merely in economic terms. Its disastrous consequences inevitably generate resistance, involving various levels of organisation. The implementation of the neoliberal project thus entails both ideological and repressive elements.

At the ideological level, neoliberalism hides behind the façade of democracy. The G7 governments and the international financial institutions have blamed governments in countries suffering the consequences of structural adjustment and the new international trade regime for being corrupt and engaging in wars. The response in the form of Nepad and from many individual countries has been to agree to multiparty democracy and a limitation in presidential terms of office. Yet, policies such as Gear and Nepad and the macroeconomic elements of the PRSPs are strictly non-negotiable.

Neoliberalism also relies on the media, educational institutions and the homogenisation of culture to impose a set of ideas at odds with reality. People are told there is no alternative to the status quo, that this is the way it is. The youth are encouraged to aspire to be rich, in an environment where there are few job opportunities. They are inculcated with notions that individualism and greed are necessary qualities to this end. Lack of service delivery is accompanied by housing lists, prepaid meters and other mechanisms of control that escalate individualism into competition amongst the poor for insufficient resources, fuelling antagonisms such as xenophobia. People are encouraged, from an early age, through advertising and Western forms of culture to aspire to the individual purchase and ownership of commodities and property.

When these mechanisms fail to stem the collectivisation of anger into increasingly organised forms of resistance, the neoliberal system resorts to repression in the forms of legislation restricting protest, national intelligence gathering and the use of the police and military forces. In the case of Zimbabwe, the introduction of structural adjustment led to the free fall of the Zimbabwean dollar, dramatic cuts in services and jobs, resistance and repression. The emergence of the opposition party from the labour movement led to an intensification of violence. The combination of lack of economic opportunities and political violence has resulted in millions of Zimbabweans fleeing the country. Those that have tried to settle in South Africa are continuously harassed by the South African neoliberal state that also faces a crisis of unemployment.

The workshop participants were quickly disabused of the notion that South Africa has moved beyond its violent Apartheid past through the showing of video footage of a peaceful demonstration protesting the lack of service delivery in Harrismith, a small town in the Free State province. The police suddenly, without warning, fired into the crowd, resulting in instant chaos and killing one person. Violence is thus not merely a manifestation of the rule of undemocratic leadership in counties such as Zimbabwe and Swaziland. It is, rather, an essential feature of neoliberalism.

This is not the only way in which violence occurs. The region, in particular the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a battleground between competing corporate interests. At an international level, the appointment of Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank is perhaps the most graphic illustration of the interrelatedness of neoliberalism and war.

Towards Alternatives to Neoliberalism in the Region

On the second day, the workshop moved towards debating alternatives on the basis of the collective understanding developed on the first day. An initiative was started last year, called Alternatives to Neoliberalism in Southern Africa (Ansa). It has been developed by researchers and research institutions affiliated to labour movements in the region. A concept paper was presented to and debated by the regional trade union body, SATUCC and it was agreed to do various sectoral studies. This process is nearing completion and the intention is now to debate the concept paper and sectoral studies amongst unions and social movements at national level.

The Ansa initiative identifies the state as a crucial site of struggle and sees the transformation of the state as critical to the implementation of alternatives. There was extensive debate about the nature of the state in Southern Africa. It was argued, on the one hand, that the nature of the state is essentially capitalist and that Southern African states are cogs in the big machine of global capitalism and, on the other, that the state is inherently neutral and can be reclaimed. The notion of the state as a capitalist state and as an institution that needs to be transformed thus requires much more debate.

It was also argued that the state is under siege, that it is disappearing and that it is becoming non-existent. This was countered by the perspective that the North needs the Southern African states, but in changed form, as vehicles to open up the region to Northern interests. The state is thus increasingly disappearing as a provider of services and a mechanism for regulating corporations and, simultaneously, increasingly visible as an instrument of repression.

The Ansa initiative also defines Africa as badly integrated into the global economy. It was integrated under colonialism and continues to be integrated in a way that reinforces exploitation. This requires selective delinking from the global economy and relinking on Africa’s terms. Related to this point is that of poor cooperation between states in the Southern African region and the domination of the South African economy over the other countries of the region. It is thus important to build a strong and balanced regionalism to both allow for integrated development across countries of the region and generate the economic weight to relink into the global economy on the region’s terms.

The bottom-up approach to developing alternatives, as so clearly stressed at the Lusaka seminar, was reiterated throughout the workshop. Alternatives must be based on the here and now. They have to be developed within the ambit and experience of the working class. We have to support grassroots struggles and become part of the rank and file. We must point the way forward beyond what already exists and challenge the rank and file towards developing a vision.

It was suggested that there are fundamental differences between neoliberalism and welfare capitalism and that there are many similarities between Keynesianism and Marxism. But it was countered that welfarism is introduced at times when capitalism is being challenged, in order to protect the rule of profit and the capitalist system. Neoliberalism is, in turn, introduced at times when the capitalist system encounters problems of accumulation, in order to address the crisis of profitability. There was broad support that an alternative vision needs to look beyond the capitalist horizon and identify methods and actions to challenge the rule of capital. Accommodation within the capitalist system will not provide a lasting solution. We need a different world “for all workers, at all places, for all time”.

The campaign for an alternative economy in Mauritius, led by Lalit, provides a good example of how to link the here and now to the development of an alternative economy. It entails building confidence through struggle. This requires the development of reasonable and winnable demands. These demands, in turn, need to be consistent with the development of an alternative economy, in this way functioning as the germs of a new society.

The Mauritian economy is based on the sugar, textile and tourism industry, all of which are in crisis. Lalit held discussions with workers in the sugar and agricultural industries who were anxious about their jobs. This led to a small pamphlet that served as a tool to initiate discussion. A demand that did not directly threaten the bosses was developed, namely to interline the rows of sugar cane with vegetables. This was followed by a demand that government taxes the sugar cane fields that are not interlined. This is now part of a broader campaign to convert land under sugar to land for food production, a key element of an alternative economy.

Various specific alternatives were explored, including the development of cooperatives and participatory budgeting. The Malawi Economic Justice Network, in its short few years of existence, has already grown to the point where it develops detailed analyses of the national budgets, educates parliamentarians on budgetary issues and influences government in its budgetary decision-making.

It was noted that cooperatives and participatory budgeting do not necessarily constitute the building blocks of alternatives to the neoliberal system. They can be used for strengthening the system or for fighting against it. Cooperatives must be economically successful, inspire confidence and be part of democratic movements in order to be part of the solution. Likewise, participatory budgeting must start from the ground and must incorporate more than just shifting money into different categories towards changing the way in which government works.

It was suggested that all too often organisations are focused on their own issues and concerns. Building alliances, demonstrating solidarity with other struggles and engaging in joint campaigns are vitally important. For example, the region has been so decimated by the World Bank and IMF that organisations across countries need to stand together in opposing these institutions. The Wolfowitz presidency provides the ideal opportunity to link with the anti-war movement to build an international coalition against the role he played in the “military war” against Iraq and role he is now assuming in the “economic war” against Africa. This is a key moment to intensify the call to shut down the World Bank and other international financial institutions. Of course, this in turn provides the opportunity to debate the forces behind these institutions and identify further strategies against the G7 governments, transnational corporations and finance capital.

Any attempt to build economic alternatives to neoliberalism also needs to take account of its ideological and repressive elements. As potentially viable alternatives are developed, the neoliberal system will do all in its power to repress these initiatives. Therefore, as well as being visionary and identifying offensive demands towards realising that vision, attention must also be given to defending the space that is available to develop alternatives. The closing down of forms of expression, passing of restrictive legislation and acts of violent repression must be resisted together with the building of alternatives. Maintaining the space to be able to develop alternatives is thus an integral dimension of the struggle for alternatives.

Taking the Next Steps

The final day of the workshop considered practical ways forward. It was noted that the workshop was perhaps a first of its kind in bringing together such a wide range of organisations and movements for a rigorous discussion of this nature. In particular, it was recognised that the participation of people from the labour sector together with people from social movements and economic justice organisations was a major step forward.

Two divergent experiences of the unions and social movements were highlighted. In Angola, trade unions have only emerged in the last decade or so and are concerned primarily with wages. For example, the teachers union is not yet taking up issues relating to the lack of classroom facilities, syllabi, books and the like. There is very little interaction with other organisations.

In Namibia and South Africa, the unions were a central force for political change in the years of Apartheid. But they have since separated themselves from their social base in the communities. The unions engage in dialogue with government and business, the social movements resist neoliberalism in the streets.

This workshop thus signifies an opportunity to forge new alliances and to overcome divisions and rebuild old alliances.

All participants at the workshop will take forward the issues and debates in their organisations. National networks will share the debates amongst their members. Regional networks will identify ways in which to take forward joint campaigns, two of which include the campaigns to shut down the World Bank and against Barclays and ABSA. The Ansa initiative and SACEJ will explore ways to deepen debate between unions and social movements.

Finally, an event to share and take forward the debate will be organised to take place at the Southern African Social Forum, scheduled to take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, in October this year.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

One of the things that the disability movement has done successfully in the UK and in many other countries has been to put an end to the patronising, paternalistic approach that presents them as victims and objects of pity. On one disability rights website, I came across the wonderful slogan ‘Never about us Without us’. That should be the rallying cry of the African mobilisation for the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP- Africa) that was launched recently at a meeting attended by representatives of some one hundred organisations from 25 African countries.

Plans for mass mobilisations, concerts in African countries, television and radio programmes are well on the way across the continent, conceived of and organised by Africans for Africa. Would the Geldofs and Comic Reliefs of this world have launched a call for mass mobilisation about disability without the involvement of the disability movements? So how come they can do this in relation to Africa? What is it about us that allows these folk to behave so? For how much longer can we allow Northern development agencies and charities to portray us either in the form of ‘development pornography’, to use Rotimi Sankore’s words (see the Pambazuka News article at or as mere bit-players, extras on the film sets of their fundraising operations? African diaspora organisations and other black organisations in the UK have already protested about the virtually all white line up of artists selected for the Geldof roadshow. Isn’t it time that we added our voice of protest to demand: NEVER ABOUT US WITHOUT US!

Are you enthusiastic, energetic and capable of innovative and creative thinking around the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)? Fahamu is looking for a recruit to work on our use of SMS and other new technologies to support social justice campaigns in the Africa region.

Answering to the News and Information Coordinator, you will:

- Liaise with campaign partners;
- Develop a database of mobile phone numbers;
- Assist in managing an SMS alert system to support the campaign;
- Disseminate information via SMS and email;
- Assist in promotion and marketing of associated services;
- Assist in the research and development of new initiatives.

We urgently need someone who is:

- Tech savvy and aware of the latest ICT developments and their relevance to the African continent;
- Computer literate and comfortable with the use of a computer as an essential tool of everyday life for emailing, internet research, word processing and excel;
- A sound communicator with the ability to write clearly and concisely;
- Able to demonstrate an ability to think creatively;
- Capable of meeting tight deadlines and working under pressure;
- Highly proficient in English (added languages, especially an African language, Arabic or French, would be an advantage);
- Able to motivate and inspire.

Ideally, the candidate will be Cape Town based, although applications will be considered from across the African continent. The candidate will have a university degree in media and communications, development, social science or any other relevant subject. Prior experience in an information, communications or advocacy role will be strongly taken into account.

The job is for a fixed period of six months in the first instance. This is a part time position that we envisage will require a commitment of two-and-a-half days per week. Remuneration will be commensurate with experience.

If you believe you fit the above details please send a one-page covering letter and two-page CV to [email protected] by 09 June 2005 (deadline extended). Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Thousands of Rwandans are converging on an ill-equipped transit centre in northern Burundi after the authorities dismantled several border sites and ordered the closure of another transit centre. Songore transit centre has a capacity for 800 refugees and was already overcrowded with 1,000 residents before the transfers started. An additional 1,500 asylum seekers have already arrived at the site since Saturday, and many more are coming.

Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has for the past three years been promoting an untested diet for people with AIDS-related illnesses, and now believes that it could be an alternative to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. As the AIDS epidemic intensifies, thousands of sick and desperate people have turned to controversial nutrition nurse Tine van der Maas who advocates that the immune system can be restored through a diet based on garlic, lemons, olive oil and a supplement called Africa’s Solution.

"Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) notes with grave concern the ongoing unjustified and illegal action which has been taken against licensed flea market operators, tuck shop operators and street vendors by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Harare Municipal Police in the previous days. In an operation codenamed “Operation Murambatsvina” police descended upon individuals operating within and without greater Harare and, without any lawful order or justification and without following the principles of natural justice summarily evicted the majority of these operators and destroyed or confiscated their goods. This was done even where the affected individuals were able to produce proof that they were legitimately carrying out their business therein."

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty was officially launched at the Miatta Conference Hall Youyi Building in Freetown, Sierra Leone on the 25th May 2005. Participants came from platform memebrs and from other Civil Society Organisation (National and International), School children, the Media, Government officials, the Private Sector and the general public.

Legislation on marital rape and equality in the family could save the lives of countless women and girls, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the speaker of Uganda's Parliament. The Domestic Relations Bill, which has languished in parliament for more than a decade, would afford women and girls greater equality in matters relating to marriage, divorce and family property. It would also make marital rape illegal. Scheduled for debate in May, it was delayed once again after President Yoweri Museveni said the bill was "not urgently needed," and after members of parliament asked for more time for consultation. Debate is now anticipated in June.

Thousands of Rwandans seeking asylum in Burundi, most of them women and children, must not be coerced to return home without having their asylum claims fairly examined, Human Rights Watch has said. Rwandan asylum seekers in Burundi, who began fleeing Rwanda in late March, numbered some 7,000 by early May. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) moved about 2,000 of them to two official sites to afford them better security and access to assistance.

Take the issue of 'Boer' out of this and I agree 100% and have been saying for years that SA won the South African war of destabilisation. I remember in 1984 being in Harare working with Zimbabweans on a book on regional politics, when we had a team of SA venture capitalists visit us. They told us that SA entrepreneurs were opposed to apartheid, and to the war of destabilisation, and were keen to move beyond both. 'We are well placed to serve the rest of Africa,' they assured us, better placed than the industrialised West, 'as we understand Africa. We are closer and have the infrastructure to serve Africa'.

They were looking forward to the time when politics would allow them to move out from SA's borders. I doubt the impetus comes from the 'Boers' though - this is internationalized capital and its going to be increasingly black SA capital (as Black Economic Empowerment takes hold).  Mugabe and his people were well-aware of the SA 'threat' as Zimbabwean entrepreneurs hoped to spread beyond their borders too. When I was working in Uganda in the late 90s I took note of the struggle there between SA and Kenyan capital, both anxious to capture the re-emerging Ugandan market, in terms of media, supermarkets, hotels, travel companies, etc.

Who owns the Kenyan capital and companies? Is it 'Indians' (as Ugandans complained)? Probably in part, but the issue is not ethnicity any more than it is in SA's case with the Boers - its a matter of capital doing its capitalist thing, moving in to places where there are markets, profits to be made, and competing with other capital in the process. Now, the question is, is this bad for Africa?

Well, having lived in 'black' Africa for 14 years and worked in 6 different 'black' African countries, I can say that there is a lot of room for improvement in the way things operate on the continent, e.g., in the provision of goods and services, development of infrastructure, raising of capital for investment, etc... all those things needed to improve livelihoods and living conditions. Will capitalism do this, SA, Kenyan, international or not? If not capitalist forms of production, what other ways to improve the livelihoods of Africa's millions?

People talk of trade (rather than aid) doing the job of development - but trading what? How to raise production without capital and capitalist forms of ownership/work/etc? We are running out of alternatives as we have seen state-sponsored economic development, local capitalism and patrimonialist forms of economic organisation fail to serve the needs of the masses. What other form of development can we try that have a good chance of improving the living standards of Africans? SA's entrepreneurs have seen an opportunity and have moved in. Will that help improve Africans' standard of living (compared to aid? compared to the otherwise minimal investment/trade in Africa coming from the North?)  Its a problem I have debated in my own head for years.

Applications for this one-year contract (renewable) with the South African New Economics (SANE) Network are invited from suitably qualified persons. SANE advocates and demonstrates a new paradigm of macro economic policy and sustainable development to end poverty and create an equitable society. To that end it designs and implements local economic development projects to demonstrate alternative models. It also conducts education and training for organisations and individuals to promote critical thinking.

Bridges.org's "Comparison Study of Free/Open Source and Proprietary Software in an African Context: Implementation and Policy-Making to Optimise Public-Access to ICT" was published last week to provide needed background information and advice to people who want to make sound software choices that are right for their local environments. The report represents the first comprehensive analysis of software choices in the African public-access context. The study looked at 121 computer labs in Namibia, South Africa and Uganda, examining the range of factors that affect software choices; the realities of the current situation in Africa; and the long-term implications of software choices for Africa.

For young people living in poverty in coastal Kenya, surfing the internet and learning how to use computers make most sense when these skills mean better economic opportunities and work-readiness. In recognition of this, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) announced on May 26 2005 that the winner of the APC Africa Hafkin Communications Prize for 2004-5 is the "Global Education Partnership - Wundanyi" in Kenya. Global Education Partnership - Wundanyi (GEP) is a not-for-profit organisation located in the Taita Taveta District of Kenya. It has created a 12-week comprehensive training programme that focuses on "entrepreneurship and work-readiness skills" for local youth from 15 to 24 years.

Zimbabwe will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Southern Africa Social Forum 2005 in Harare, from 13-15 October 2005. This year's SASF is expected to bring together thousands of participants from community-based groups, social movements and civil society organizations from SADC under the theme, 'Popular and Democratic Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism'.

The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence (2000-2010) is aimed at fostering peace through education, promoting sustainable economic and social development, human rights promotion, equality between women and men, tolerance, participatory communication, and promoting international peace and security. The Culture of Peace program focuses on making and keeping peace at the grassroots level through education programs and mass media communications which facilitate mass participation. Read more by clicking on the URL below or visit http://www.ipeacei.org/ to find out more.

Carolina for Kibera, Inc. (CFK) is a 501(c)(3) international non-governmental organization housed at the University Center for International Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Supported by private donations and grants from the Ford Foundation and the World Bank, CFK has established a youth sports association, girls' center, and medical clinic in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya.

This new anthology is the product of some seven years of writing, editing, collecting and collating of poetry emanating from Malawi. Many of the poems in the collection hark back to the time of major political changes between 1992 and 1994. The poets are predominantly women and men from Malawi, both new and established voices. They include: Steve Chimombo, Frank Chipasula, Zangaphee Anthony Nazome, Patrick O'Malley and Francis Sefe. Some poems by the Nigerian, Niyi Osundare, which he wrote for, and dedicated to Jack Mapanje, are also included.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the criminal charges brought against two journalists from the private weekly newspaper Trumpet. Managing editor Sydney Pratt and reporter Dennis Jones were arrested and were being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the capital, Freetown, where the paper is based. Both have been charged with "seditious libel" under Sierra Leone's draconian 1965 Public Order Act, which local journalists have long struggled to have removed from the books.

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Ebilmaali, editor-in-chief of the independent daily "Akhbar Nouakchott", was freed on 21 May 2005 after being held for three days. Following his release, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the police wanted him to show them the hiding place of Jemil Ould Mansour, an Islamist opposition leader he had recently interviewed.

"The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-South Africa and the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) are deeply shocked by the judgment in the Johannesburg High Court banning publication by the Mail & Guardian of further details of the "Oilgate" scandal. The scandal involves oil company Imvume, state oil company PetroSA, and the questionable gift of R11-million of taxpayers' money to the 2004 election fund of the African National Congress plus a further irregular payment of R11-million of taxpayers' money to make good the shortfall created by the payment to the ANC. The two organisations regard the issue as a matter of great public interest because of the improper use of taxpayers' money and the judgment which has enabled legal censorship to be imposed on the newspaper."

Despite claims that Bt cotton will catapult African farmers out of poverty, recent reports revealed that the majority of Bt small-scale cotton farmers on the Makhathini Flats in South Africa have stopped planting Bt cotton because they cannot repay their debts. A five year study by Biowatch South Africa, has shown that small-scale cotton farmers in Northern KwaZulu Natal have not benefited from Bt cotton and that the hype surrounding this case is just that - a media hype created by American biotechnology companies to try and convince the rest of Africa why they should approve genetically modified crops. A summary of this study has just been published in GRAIN's quarterly magazine, Seedling (available at http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=330).

The global movement to reduce the price of medicines and expand access to antiretroviral Therapy (ART) continues to gather momentum. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest number of people living with AIDS, millions of dollars are being directed at this cause through governments as well as through the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Ensuring access to treatment is a human right. It is important that attempts to provide a comprehensive response to the HIV epidemic, including access to drugs, are fully supported. However, there are a number of inadequately acknowledged pitfalls associated with the push to rapidly expand access to ART in this region. Unless the push to expand access to ART is placed within the context of comprehensive health systems development, it may fail to achieve the desired aim of reducing AIDS-related mortality.

The combination of drought and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa could put up to seven million people at risk of starvation over the next few months and "threaten to undermine the precious progress" made in HIV/AIDS treatment in the region, U.N. officials said on Wednesday, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports. World Food Programme Executive Director and the U.N. Secretary General's Special Envoy for Southern Africa James Morris, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman and 10 U.N. representatives of countries in the region met on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss current HIV/AIDS programs, U.N. reforms and the need to ramp up humanitarian responses to the pandemic.

A group of HIV positive people in Solwezi, the administrative capital of Zambia's Northwestern province, is helping its members access antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) with the proceeds from its income-generating activities. The hammermill project of the Network for Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+) in Solwezi, about 700 km northwest of the capital, Lusaka, is also making it possible for members to go for viral load testing.

A local Tanzania pharmaceutical company will begin producing generic anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) in mid-2006 from a factory in the northern town of Arusha, an official with the firm announced on Monday. "We are optimistic that the locally produced ARVs will be accessible to many HIV/AIDS patients in Tanzania," Ramadhani Madabida, the managing director Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries (TPI), told IRIN.

The International Monetary Fund's top economist on Wednesday criticized debt relief proposals for poor countries as being "one size fits all" and said they should be tailored to the situations of individual countries. In commentary in the IMF's Finance and Development publication, Raghuram Rajan said outright debt relief proposed by some Group of Seven rich countries were not suitable for all countries and should be better crafted.

President Thabo Mbeki has issued a stern warning that corruption will not be tolerated among members of his cabinet and the executive structures in provincial and local government. Mbeki says the government will have to ensure that the work of its executive structures - national ministers, provincial premiers and provincial ministers as well as mayors and members of their executives - "is not undermined or compromised by corruption". Mbeki's comments come amid intense scrutiny of Deputy President Jacob Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, who is on trial in the Durban High Court, facing fraud and corruption charges for allegedly soliciting a bribe from French arms company Thales. Zuma has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

Up to two-thirds of women in certain communities in Lagos State, Nigeria are believed to have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in the family, with neither the Lagos government nor the Federal government doing anything to stem the tide of violence – and in some cases even condoning it, said Amnesty International at a press conference launching a new report, Nigeria: Unheard voices – violence against women in the family.

At first sight, international migration, despite its growing scope and magnitude, does not feature prominently in the original framework of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The relationship between migration and the MDGs has not been widely explored, although both the migration and development communities are becoming increasingly aware of the link between international migration and development.

How can the global community achieve the goal of gender equality and the empowerment of women? This question is the focus of Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals endorsed by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 and of this report, prepared by the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality. The report argues that there are many practical steps that can reduce inequalities based on gender, inequalities that constrain the potential to reduce poverty and achieve high levels of well-being in societies around the world. There are also many positive actions that can be taken to empower women.

Gaborone businesswoman Kenamile Mosiieman is a locksmith, a profession that has always been associated with men. Mosiieman has been operating her locksmith business - known as Kenny's Locksmith - since 1994. She recalled that it was very difficult when she started the business, which is situated at African Mall. "Starting the business was not easy. I used to make around P4.50 per day and rentals were high. Everything was difficult," said Mosiieman, who is the first Motswana businesswoman to operate a locksmith.

IRIN Radio Southern Africa, in collaboration with Radio National de Angola, has launched a serial drama entitled "Camatondo" to support Angola's post-war reconciliation. The drama explores the stories of refugees and displaced persons, while also providing information related to healthy living and everyday development challenges facing rural Angolans. Camatondo mirrors the evolving realities and challenges faced by the resettling rural population, including storylines about reconciliation, psychological trauma, agricultural modernization, HIV, gender issues, micro-credit schemes, governance and electoral education, among others.

"The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Somaliland (CJPS) condemns, without reservations, recent attempts to use - and misuse - history, to serve narrow political interests. Whether it is the intention or not, the predictable result will be to create conflict, suspicion and animosity among the clans and people of Somaliland, to the detriment of all concerned. The issue has come to the fore because of clashes between the Chair and Vice-Chair of the parliament, disagreements that have become increasingly bitter and vocal."

Signs of despair and looming starvation are evident almost everywhere in Zimbabwe's countryside which is suffering from the government's destruction of commercial agriculture and a third successive year of drought. Normally at this time, as the short southern winter begins, people would be completing the harvest of maize, the staple food, and be preparing to deliver their produce to the sole legal grain buyer, the government's Grain Marketing Board.

What are associations of working children and youth, and others child led organisation doing in the towns of Africa together with their supporting structures, to increase their rights? Calao Express, is a new monthly electronic newsletter edited by Enda TM Dakar. It is made up of the contributions of child led organisations.

Many developing country leaders have embraced information and communications technology (ICT) as an engine for growth and development. However, translating a grand vision into practical steps that fit the local context, and then executing it effectively, is easier said than done. Decision-makers need to know where the country stands in terms of ICT availability and use, so they can plan toward their goals.

Namibia hosts the 17th All Africa Student Conference (AASC) from May 27 to 29 in Windhoek, the first time the organisation convenes in Africa in its 16 years of existence. The conference brings together students from Africa and the Diaspora, as well as individuals from organisations working in the interest of Africa and the Diaspora. It mainly aims at providing students of African descent with a forum to share and exchange ideas and information and to promote linkages between Africa and the Diaspora.

Housing protests in Gugulethu and Khayelitsha set Cape Town ablaze on Monday as residents burned tires in Landsdowne Road, Khayelitsha as well as Gugulethu. In Gugs, the whole of NY1, the township thoroughfare, was blockaded every 100 metres with piles of burning tires. Residents were expressing anger at the lack of service delivery in terms of houses as well as water and electricity for informal settlements.