20100412
AFRICA NEWS

The family of Chifundo (Mercy) James, a girl US Pop star Madonna adopted in Malawi, said they are angry with the singer because they were not informed that she was coming with the child. John Banda, a distant uncle to the child, said they heard the news in the media.

He said Mercy was not given a chance to re-unite with her relatives.

“We still take the four-year-old Mercy as part of our community. She is our daughter and child. When we said yes to the adoption, we did not mean that she is completely sold off. She still needs to know where she belongs and our culture should be instilled in her,” he said.

He said this is not what Madonna said when adopting the child.

“She promised to be bringing them back so that they understand their roots. But today we are just hearing from you that she was in the country last week with the child. May be she wants her to forget where her parents are,” said an emotional Banda.

Banda claims that an existing understanding stipulates that the family would be informed each time Mercy was coming to Malawi and that they will be given a chance to see the child.

“Now she is doing to the contrary. We gave her Mercy not that we did not want her, we were concerned of her future. It is our hope that next time she comes we will be able to meet our child,” he said.

The Pop singer adopted Mercy in 2009 at Kondanani orphanage center.

Mercy’s adoption faced resistance from James Kambewa, who claimed to be the girl’s father. Madonna was in the country last week with her two daughters Mercy and Loudes.

20100412
ALLAFRICA

Johannesburg — IT CAN only be a matter of time before Wal-Mart lands on these shores. Sooner or later the world's largest retailer will extend its reach to Africa.

It makes sense. The company that in the year to January posted revenue of 408,2bn and net profit of 14,2bn needs to grow. With the post-recession US consumer still in intensive care, Wal-Mart, with operations in 15 overseas territories already, will expand further outwards.

SA would be a handy base for expansion into the growing, if fragmented, African market, especially if Wal-Mart bought an existing player for an automatic regional footprint.

"The US market that has been the driver of growth for Wal-Mart over the years has really slowed down," says Francisco Chevez, a retail analyst at HSBC in New York. "To generate the kind of growth they have had in the past, they need an additional focus on their international business."

The normally tight-lipped Wal-Mart, which had been looking at Russia, was surprisingly candid last year when it told analysts it had not found a suitable purchase in that market.

"In my view that's indicating Russia's been put on the back burner. It raises the profile of other countries," Chevez says. "Turkey, Colombia and SA are all likely areas for expansion ."

Wal-Mart declined to comment last week.

From a local point of view, Wal-Mart's arrival could be a bonanza. "Wal-mart will pay big time," says Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Investments.

The locals play it down, however. Shoprite chairman Christo Wiese was coy last week. "It is on the same level as the contact we have with the guys from Pick n Pay or Woolworths because we' re all in the same business," he said.

In October, Pick n Pay CEO Nick Badminton said his company had met Wal-Mart staff "out of courtesy", during a recent visit by that company.

Still, it is a possibility. "If a global player pitches up at some point, things are going to get very exciting," Massmart CEO Grant Pattison said in February.

So which company would be the best fit? Shoprite, with 106 stores between SA and Ghana, is one option. "The best footprint by far is Shoprite," Gilmour says.

Shoprite dismisses such talk - perhaps a bit too vehemently. "It would be rather silly for a foreign investor to come into a country like SA with 40-million people," Shoprite CE Whitey Basson said in February. "If I was Wal-Mart I would not waste my time here. I would play in China. The 1,6-billion people should keep them busy for a long time."

Massmart, with retail stores, hardware stores and food retailers in 14 countries, "isn't that far behind", Gilmour says.

Ackerman family-controlled Pick n Pay, with 117 stores, keeps an open mind. "Any approach or offer would be evaluated on its strategic value," chairman Gareth Ackerman said on Friday.

Any dating may be quick. Wal-Mart plays a waiting game but pounces quickly, Chevez says. "They are very opportunistic, when something is right, they will do it."

EL FASHER, Sudan, April 12 (Xinhua) - The higher elections committee in Sudan's North Darfur State in western Sudan on Monday acknowledged technical errors at two polling stations in the state and decided a re-polling in the two stations, but just among National Assembly (parliament) constituencies.

"Errors occurred at two polling stations, one in Mellit area and one in El Fasher. The errors included missing symbols of the national assembly candidates from polling cards, which caused the polling to be ceased," al-Sir al-Meck, chairman of the state's higher elections committee told reporters here on Monday.

"The committee tackled the technical error, and after consultations with the candidates, party representatives and the observers, it has been decided that a re-polling will be held at the two centers, but just for the national assembly votes only", he added.

He further revealed that the polling delayed at the station of Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons, saying that "the delay occurred due to logistical difficulties, but the problem has been tackled and the center started to receive the voters."

Al-Meck affirmed that the security arrangements at the polling stations were progressing as planned without any violations, pointing out that it was 100 percent safe at all parts of the state.

The polling stations in the North Darfur State amount to 420 with 630 electoral committees. Some 691,871 voters in the state are to cast their votes to select their representatives for the presidency, state governors, national assembly and state legislative councils.

Sudan's NEC agrees to extend polling period for two days
English.news.cn 2010-04-12 23:56:30 FeedbackPrintRSS

KHARTOUM, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) on Monday agreed to extend the polling period of the current general elections for two more days to last till Thursday.

"The NEC, following an emergency meeting, decided to extend the voting period for two days to end on Thursday April 15," NEC spokesman Salah Habib told Xinhua.

"The NEC will issue a statement later to cite the reasons behind the extension", he added.

The decision came after a lot of technical and administrative mistakes were found during the first two days of the general elections, the first multi-party election held in this African country in more than two decades.

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the independent NEC acknowledged administrative and technical mistakes during the first day of the voting process in Sudan's general elections.

"Administrative and technical mistakes have accompanied the distribution of the ballots in 26 out of 821 polling stations in Khartoum State", said the NEC in the statement.

Meanwhile, the dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in southern Sudan asked on Sunday an extension for three polling days.

Jambo Susan, a senior official responsible for the SPLM election campaigns, told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of the semi- autonomous southern Sudan, that the SPLM had asked the NEC for the extension without specifying the time it needed.

"We have noticed a lot of mistakes since the polling process started on Sunday morning, including names of candidates were wrongly printed on the ballots, and we need more time to correct these mistakes," the SPLM official noted.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday described the beginning of the polling process in Sudan's elections as difficult.

Speaking to reporters at the Juba airport, Carter said that the elections were supposed to begin on Monday instead of Sunday to allow the NEC to complete its logistical preparations.

The Carter Center, which was founded by the former U.S. president, is the only U.S. non-governmental organization authorized by the Sudanese government to monitor the general elections, and has sent 65 observers to Sudan.

In a report released on March 17, the Carter Center warned that the poor preparation could impact negatively the process and suggested to delay briefly the electoral process.

Sudan's media reported that the first day of Sudan's general election was marred by delay, confusion of candidates' names and symbols as well as withdrawal of some candidates for the national parliament while the opposition parties decry the failure of the process.

Among the errors the Sudan state media reported were voters mutilating the ballots by over-marking their choices and delay in receiving voting boxes.

In many parts of the country voting began in the afternoon because the polling stations have not yet received the ballots denying thousands of voters the opportunity to cast their votes.

Eight candidates have announced their withdrawal from the race including three journalists running as independents protesting the omission of their symbols in the ballots at many voting centers.

Others said that there was widespread discrepancy in voter records with many names missing or moved to different locations.

But the way things proceeded on the first day of the elections came to no one's surprise given the complexity of the elections that is meant to pick a president and a head of the government of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan, 24 governors as well as members of the state and national assemblies, using three different voting systems and up to 12 ballots.

Many among more than 16 million Sudanese voters are also voting for the first time

20100412
BUSINESS DAY

Johannesburg — ESKOM said on Friday Siemens would not benefit from new contracts financed through the World Bank loan for the Medupi power station because of a settlement agreement between the bank and Siemens following the company's admission of corruption in some of its businesses.

The exclusion of Siemens contracts from the World Bank funds is the result of a corruption and bribery scandal that rocked the engineering giant in several countries. In the past few years, Siemens has faced various corruption and bribery allegations, and has subsequently been hit with fines for its transgressions.

Siemens southern African energy division is a major supplier to Eskom's power stations.

A settlement agreement between the bank and Siemens, reached in July last year, includes a "voluntary restraint" in which Siemens undertook to refrain from bidding on World Bankfinanced activities or projects for two years, beginning January last year until December this year. In that period, Siemens will not be a supplier or manufacturer of goods or be a supplier or subcontractor for works and services.

The agreement, however, allows Siemens to continue with the implementation of existing contracts concluded before January last year.

Eskom finance director Paul O'Flaherty on Friday confirmed that Siemens would not benefit from contracts financed from the World Bank loan.

O'Flaherty said, prior to the approval of the loan, the international bank reviewed Eskom's processes. "The bank did a full review of all the contracts we have placed. Remember we applied for the loan when work on Medupi had already started," he said.

In the agreement, Siemens undertook to fight fraud and corruption. "Siemens will also continue to provide information on any additional cases of wrongdoing related to past, present and future (World) Bank projects in which Siemens is involved to the bank's institutional integrity vice-presidency, which investigates fraud and corruption in (World) Bank group-financed activities," it said.

In the settlement the company also agreed to pay 100m over the next 15 years "to support anticorruption work".

YAOUNDE, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen foreign leaders will converge in Yaounde to mark Cameroon's National Day on May 20, also the 50th anniversary of the Central African country's independence, the government said on Monday.

Among the leaders invited by Cameroonian President Paul Biya are Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, South Africa's Jacob Zuma, Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore and the presidents of the five other countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, or CEEAC.

In addition, there will be President of the African Union Commission (AU) Jean Ping, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former French minister for culture and justice Jacques Toubon, who was named by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as the secretary general of the committee organizing Africa's jubilee independence celebrations.

On the sidelines of these festivities, the eminent scholars from Cameroon, Africa and other parts of the world will hold an international conference on May 18-20, with a theme of "Africa, an opportunity for the world. Realities and challenges".

Cameroon was the first of the 14 former French colonies to win independence in 1960, following an armed uprising by nationalists. The Cameroonian president created a national committee in February to organize the anniversary.

20100412
BUSINESS DAY

Johannesburg — FIXED-line telephone provider Telkom is in discussions to sign a contract with Zimbabwe's TelOne to provide the state-owned entity with a wide range of management services such as engineering expertise.

Telkom was reported to have been in discussions to buy a 49% stake in the fixed-line operator TelOne but last week Telkom denied those claims.

Telkom is embarking on an expansion drive across the continent to increase its revenue base following the sale of its shares in Vodacom, which contributed substantially to Telkom's earnings. It is also positioning itself to provide integrated services including IT, management services and a wide range of telecommunications products and services including mobile, which it expects to launch this year.

Charlotte Mokoena, the CE of Telkom Management Services, said last week Telkom "is not in any discussion to purchase equity in TelOne. However, the company has been discussing, and is close to concluding an agreement, to provide management services (such as professional engineering and other functional services) to assist TelOne to prepare and build for the future."

The Zimbabwean Herald newspaper reported last week that the negotiations between the parties were under way. It quoted TelOne's spokesman Collin Wilbesi saying the negotiations "are under way, but we signed a nondisclosure agreement".

According to the Herald, its sources from TelOne said the cash that would be received if a deal was struck through the partial privatisation would be used for refurbishment of equipment. Equipment at the country's sole provider of fixed-line telephone services has been vandalised and some of it worn out by age.

Telkom has operations in Zimbabwe through its internet service provider subsidiaries Africa Online and MWeb Africa.

It also owns telecommunications group Multi-Links, which gave it a presence in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria.

Although Telkom has a presence in 33 countries in Africa, the performance of those businesses, especially Multi- Links, which it bought for more than R2bn three years ago, have been sluggish.

Telkom was forced to write off about R2bn after losses from Multi-Links in its interim results for the six months to September last year.

The Nigerian subsidiaries remained a focus area for Telkom, which is restructuring the business to return it to profitability as it believes the Nigerian market had significant growth opportunities.

KHARTOUM, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese police authorities in Khartoum on Monday said that their plan for securing the polling process in the country's general elections was progressing as planned, reported official news agency SUNA.

The police forces have affirmed their ability to secure the polling process, the voters and the candidates.

"All the received reports affirmed that the process was progressing well", said police officer lieutenant general Mohamed al-Hafez Hassan Attiya, director of Khartoum State police, according to the report.

He praised the positive role of the citizens and their contribution to securing the electoral process and urged them to provide further cooperation to bring the process to safety.

al-Tayeb Babikir, chairman of the executive chamber for securing the elections in Khartoum State, said that the police forces were securing and protecting the polling stations which amounted to 820 all over the state.

He affirmed that the security situation was calm, saying that " the security situation in the state is in its best condition due to the wide presence of the police forces. The citizens play an essential part in the process of securing the elections at all stages", according to the report.

The Sudanese police has deployed around 100,000 soldiers nation- wide to secure the polling process in which over 16 million Sudanese voters cast their votes.

JUBA, Sudan, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday described the beginning of the polling process in Sudan's elections as difficult.

Speaking to reporters at the Juba airport, Carter said the elections were supposed to begin on Monday instead of Sunday to allow the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC) to complete its logistical preparations.

Carter arrived in south Sudan on Monday to get acquainted with progress of the polling process in the region.

He visited the Attla Barra polling station in Juba and expressed hope that the voters would be able to vote under natural circumstances.

Carter is expected to visit polling stations outside Juba to get acquainted with progress of the polling process.

He said he would meet President of southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir Mayardit and Chairman of the national elections commission in the south and listen to reports of his center's observers in the region.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Sunday criticized what it termed as mistakes during the first day of the polling in the south and demanded extension of the polling days to enable around 4 million southern Sudanese voters to cast their votes.

20100412
BUSINESS DAY

Johannesburg — SOCIAL dialogue was at the centre of employment creation for economies that were recovering from the global recession, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said at the African Employers conference in Johannesburg on Friday.

The conference, attended by labour employer representatives across Africa, was supposed to develop an action plan for job creation and employment in Africa to be presented to a Group of Twenty (G-20) labour ministers' summit on April 19.

Delegates recognised faults in their labour markets and said there was a need for greater productivity, but few concrete measures were declared that could rectify the problems. "If there is one lesson I want to take to the G-20 summit it is the importance of social dialogue in policy formulation and therefore the recovery of our economies from the recession," Mdladlana said.

Despite this call for social dialogue between all labour players, unions were severely underrepresented at the conference, even if it was primarily organised to be a business-government event. Unions had declined invitations to attend, said Business Unity SA (Busa) vice-president Mthunzi Mdwaba, who is also deputy CEO of Kelly Group.

The event was organised by the International Organisation of Employers, the Pan-African Employers' Confederation, the International Labour Organisation and Busa.

Delegates concluded they should follow seven drivers of economic growth that, according to the CEO of Business New Zealand, Phil O'Reilly, New Zealand had "used for decades with general success".

These included building leadership and management skills, creating productive workplace cultures, promoting innovation and technology, investing in people and skills, organising workers, creating networks and collaborations between labour, government and business, and "measuring what matters".

More than R5bn had been set aside to help workers who lost their jobs during the recession, Mdladlana said. Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions of R42bn and R23bn from the Compensation Fund would be invested with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in private sector and government projects. The PIC would report back to the Department of Labour on the number of jobs it created.

20100412
ALLAFRICA

Pretoria — At least 130 000 South Africa Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) members are expected to embark on a nationwide strike today.

Members in Johannesburg are expected to hand over a memorandum to the SA Local Government Association's (Salga) office.

The workers' demands include amongst other things market related wages.

The union is also calling for changes to be made to the way employees are evaluated and the disciplinary code that municipalities use.

The union has also accused Salga of firing workers, thereby undermining service delivery and wasting money on expensive lawyers to handle labour related cases.

Samwu Deputy General Secretary Walter Theledi told BuaNews that the strike will continue until their demands are met.

"We are open for negotiations with Salga, but until such time, the strike continues. We will continue to fight for quality service delivery. Municipalities must use their resources correctly, to fund service delivery and not waste it," he said.

2010-04-12
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Congo Republic complained on Monday it had not been informed of Bharti Airtel's $9 billion deal to buy Kuwaiti telco Zain's African assets in what it said was a contravention of Zain's licence.

Telecoms Minister Thierry Moungalla said the parties had 30 days to remedy the situation or face sanctions that including fines or ultimately the withdrawal of the local licence.

"This is a clear violation of the law in our country," Moungalla said, adding that the government "had within its legal arsenal the right to be informed and to give its agreement in principle" to such deals.

A Bharti Airtel spokesman in New Delhi declined comment when contacted by Reuters, as did Zain's Congo unit.

Congo is at least the second country to object to the deal after Gabon voiced similar complaints on March 29 -- something which did not stop the accord being signed two days later.

Bharti is currently in the process of getting regulatory approval for the accord.

Zain is the dominant mobile operator in Congo with an estimated 1.5 million subscribers, Congolese officials said.

Fines could run to one percentage point of local turnover with other sanctions being a reduction in the duration of the operating licence, a suspension or outright withdrawal of the licence.

20100412
BUSINESS DAY

Johannesburg — THERE are obviously some important "positives" in the fact that the World Bank has agreed to SA's request for a $3,75bn loan to help Eskom build its power stations. There were powerful environmental doubts expressed - by the US and UK and Netherlands because the new Eskom plants are to be coal-fired - so the fact that the loan has been granted is a relief, in a way.

It is not that the money for the Medupi plant now under construction could not have been found some other way (as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said recently). But it would have come at higher cost, to taxpayers or electricity consumers or both. There's a limit to how much Eskom can borrow on the market in any one year (and it is planning to borrow up to R40bn annually). So without the World Bank loan it is possible the government would have had to do the borrowing instead - in which case taxpayers would have paid in higher taxes or higher borrowing costs.

Or perhaps Eskom could have borrowed more - but at higher interest rates and less attractive repayment terms. And of course even with the loans and recent tariff increase there is still a funding gap on the power stations which Eskom and the government must make a plan to close.

We wish Eskom and the government well. We opposed the World Bank loan not because we don't want the electricity, but because we want it to be politically clean power when it comes on stream. Sadly, the loan helps virtually to guarantee a huge financial reward to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), through its ownership of an investment trust called Chancellor House which, in turn, owns 25% of Hitachi Power Africa, which has a R38bn contract to supply boilers to Medupi. A profit margin of a mere 13% for Hitachi on the Medupi project would steer more than a thousand million rand into the ANC's bank accounts.

That would make it one of the richest political parties in the world and make the job of creating a genuine multi party democracy here almost impossible. The World Bank had an opportunity to make its loan on condition that Chancellor House pulled out of Hitachi but it chose not to. It was and is a shameful decision, and the ANC is in an untenable situation while it stands to benefit from the Hitachi link.

That does not mean, sadly, that it will not press ahead and defend its holding. There have already been all sorts of attempts to justify it. Hitachi won the contract while a member of the ANC finance committee, Mohammed Valli Moosa, was chairman of Eskom, but he insists that audits have shown the contract was clean.

But that's just it! The ANC funds itself (starting with the arms deal) by leeching off government contracts over which it has undue influence. This time though, no actual cheating was necessary. All Hitachi had to do was win the contract fair and square and Chancellor House, through its insightful investment decision, would make a fortune. It is impossible to put that win down to chance, given the circumstances. That may be one of tragedies of the ANC's involvement. It will sully everything it touches.

The affair will do little for SA's growing reputation as a corrupt country and the ANC should quickly dismantle Chancellor House (as its treasurer Mathews Phosa promised more than two years ago) or get Chancellor House out of Hitachi. There were reports at the weekend that this would now be done, hints that the World Bank had made its loan on a sort of unwritten understanding that the ANC would not pocket the money.

We will not hold our breath. There's clearly an argument inside the ANC about whether to take the money or not. Secretary-general Gwede Mantashe sandbags the issue every time he is asked about it. He can't see the problem.

But the problem is clear. The ANC made much, at the Polokwane conference that felled Thabo Mbeki , of the fact that the party was "taking back" control of the government. It cannot claim now that it has that control and not take responsibility for the decisions it takes - including the awarding of a contract to Hitachi from which it will benefit.

If the ANC does not do the right thing and get out of Hitachi, the inheritors of the Medupi billions when they are paid in four or five years' time will be the current leadership of the ANC Youth League. Perhaps someone should send World Bank boss Robert Zoellick some video clips illustrating the leadership qualities of Julius Malema and let him chew on what he has done.

Secretary-general Gwede Mantashe sandbags the issue every time he is asked about it. He can't see the problem.

2010-04-12
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 13 civilians were killed in fighting between Somali government forces and hardline Islamist militants in the capital Mogadishu on Monday and bomb blasts killed six people, rescue services and the police said.

The insurgents fired mortars at the city's airport from their stronghold in the crowded Bakara market, triggering return shellfire from African Union (AU) peacekeepers based at and near the airport.

"We have so far carried out 13 dead civilians and over 30 who were injured. The death toll is higher and we are busy collecting casualties," ambulance service coordinator Ali Muse told Reuters. The death toll is likely to rise, he said.

Police and residents of Somalia's war-weary capital said two remotely controlled roadside bombs aimed at an AU convoy killed four civilians and two police officers.

"The first bomb nearly hit the AU's last car. Some policemen and residents ran to the scene, and then the next bomb exploded killing these people," police officer Nur Salad told Reuters.

Somalia's fragile government controls just a few blocks in the capital and al Shabaab rebels, who want to impose a harsh version of sharia law on the anarchic nation, control large swathes of southern and central Somalia.

The government has said for several months it will launch a major offensive against al Shabaab rebels, who have professed loyalty to al Qaeda, and Hizbul Islam militants.

Shells also landed around a strategic road junction known as K4 that links the airport to the residence of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

The chaos onshore has allowed pirate gangs to flourish and make millions of dollars from hijacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the crew of a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines flagged merchant vessel hijacked early on Sunday comprised 11 Indians, 10 Tanzanians, and five Pakistanis.

20100412
IRIN

Harare — Zimbabwe's plan to host a North Korean soccer side for the June 2010 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring South Africa is rekindling memories of the Matabeleland massacres in the 1980s, amid a current climate of political intolerance.

Soon after independence from Britain in 1980, President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF launched Operation Gukhurundi - a Shona phrase for "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains" - on the pretext of tackling insurgents and counter-revolutionaries sponsored by apartheid South Africa.

He unleashed the Zimbabwean army's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade in the provinces of Matabeleland North and South, and Midlands in southwestern Zimbabwe, strongholds of the rival ZAPU party, led by Joshua Nkomo. More than 20,000 people were killed in Operation Gukhurundi.

Now, the planned visit by the soccer side is leading to a resurfacing of emotions and vows of protests against the "unwanted visitors".

Political temperatures have also been ratcheted up recently by disagreement within the unity government - a fragile coalition between Mugabe's ZANU-PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and an MDC splinter party led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambura - over a new constitution.

ZANU-PF favours the adoption of a constitution drafted ahead of the violent March 2008 elections - known as the Kariba Draft - which concentrates power on an incumbent president, while the MDC favours a people-driven constitution, and argues that such a provision was made in the September 2008 Global Political Agreement, which paved the way for the unity government formed in February 2009.

Outreach teams have been trained to gather and compile information from Zimbabweans about what they expect in a new constitution, and will be deployed once funding is available.

Tariro Makumbe, a member of the MDC youth wing in the ZANU-PF rural stronghold of Muzarabani, in Mashonaland Central Province, in the north, fled to the capital, Harare, after her home was razed. She had objected to a ZANU-PF aligned chief's decree that not everybody would be permitted to contribute their views when the constitutional outreach team visited the area.

Censoring the constitution

"We were told that only selected ZANU-PF officials, youth and war veterans would be allowed to speak - anybody who spoke without authority would be beaten up after the constitutional outreach teams had left," she told IRIN.

We were told that only selected ZANU-PF officials, youth and war veterans would be allowed to speak - anybody who spoke without authority would be beaten up after the constitutional outreach teams had left

Those selected to speak at the consultative meetings would favour the Kariba Draft, which includes the position that the fast-track land reform process launched in 2000 is irreversible, and that Zimbabwe will never again be a colony.

In recent weeks ZANU-PF and its youth wing has apparently launched Operation Hapana Anotaura (Nobody Speaks) to allow only the views of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to be expressed to the constitution evaluation teams during meetings in rural areas.

"We have it on good authority that ZANU-PF has launched Operation Hapana Anotaura to stop grassroots people from freely airing their views during the constitutional outreach programme to be done by the Parliamentary Select Committee," the Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ), an NGO working with traumatised communities, said in a statement.

"CCDZ is working in deeply polarised communities where Zimbabweans live in fear, and violence and intimidation is a living reality that haunts them on a daily basis," the statement said.

Elias Mudzuri, energy minister in the unity government and organising secretary of Tsvangirai's MDC, said he encountered increasing levels of political intolerance while travelling recently to the opening of a clinic in the Mashonaland Central Province.

"ZANU-PF youth militia set up roadblocks and threatened villagers from attending the function. We should not be allowing such acts of brutality to be taking place in modern Zimbabwe. I shudder to imagine what villagers in the remote parts of the country, who support the MDC, have to go through at the hands of marauding ZANU-PF militia who take the law into their hands at will."

Secretary-general of the MDC's youth wing, Solomon Madzore, told IRIN his organization was planning to visit rural areas to "conscientise" people, so that they should actively and openly participate in the constitution-making process.

"We want to remove the element of fear by talking to our parents and the general populace in the countryside," he said. "There is nothing illegal about the constitution-making process, which is a product of the inclusive [unity] government."

2010-04-12
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's elections commission on Monday announced a two-day extension to voting until April 15, after many voters experienced delays across Africa's largest country in the first open elections in 24 years.

"There is a two-day extension throughout the whole country," Sudan's National Elections Commission Secretary-General Jalal Mohamed Ahmed told Reuters.

"It is to give more time to the voters," he added.

South Sudan's main party on Sunday asked for a four-day extension in the south where a mostly illiterate population was grappling with 12 ballot papers and where decades of civil war had devastated infrastructure.

The complex presidential, legislative and gubernatorial polls, which began on Sunday, is aimed at transforming Sudan from a nation emerging from decades of multiple civil wars to a democracy.

After a boycott by the main opposition in the north, the vote now looks likely to confirm the 21-year rule of Bashir -- the only sitting head of state wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, which alleges he was behind mass murder and rape in Darfur.

Across the country -- even in the capital Khartoum -- voting materials were not delivered to stations, the wrong ballots arrived at many centres and opposition and independent candidates said their names or symbols were either missing or incorrect.

Many had complained and asked for an extension to the voting to compensate for the delays and resolve the problems.

20100412
IPS

Durban and Cape Town — Eugene Terre'Blanche, killed on his farm on Easter weekend, is catalysing racial tension in South Africa in death much as he did in his life.

Thousands of supporters and sympathisers attended the funeral of the head of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement) in the rural town of Ventersdorp, in South Africa's North West Province on Apr. 9. The leader of the white supremacist organisation was killed on his farm on Mar. 29, allegedly by two of his black employees, now in custody.

The killing has put the spotlight on the tensions and violence that persist in rural South Africa between landowners - predominantly white - and black farm workers and farm dwellers.

The killing comes just as a prominent member of the ruling African National Congress party's Youth League, Julius Malema, was cited for hate speech for singing an ANC struggle song that calls on listeners to "kill the farmer". Agricultural unions representing landowners say as many as 3,000 white farmers have been murdered on farms across the country since 1994.

Farm worker organisations challenge the figure, and say black people remain subject to harassment, dispossession and assault by landowners. Terre'Blanche himself served time in prison for assaulting an employee who survived the attack, but sustained serious brain damage.

Several hundred kilometres away from Ventersdorp, in the 60 kilometres between the towns of Newcastle and Volkrust, on the northern border of KwaZulu-Natal, the landscape is tranquil enough: grazing cattle and sheep, occasionally interrupted by fields of maize, soya beans and wheat.

But race relations between the mainly white farmers and black farm-workers, and tenants in this area have been tense for decades.

Mangaliso Kubheka, leader of the Landless People's Movement (LPM), says his organisation has recorded thousands of cases of farm workers and farm dwellers being assaulted, denied water, grazing land, burial rights, cropping areas and through-ways to move from one place to another by farmers.

Apartheid legacy

Busisiwe Mbatha, an 84-year-old widow, says her family lived on what is today the Wykom farm, near Newcastle, for many years. In the 1960s, she says, their land was divided into several livestock farms and many of their neighbours forced out of the area.

"Only a handful of families were left behind and our men provided labour to the farms. When my husband died, my children also worked on the farm. The previous farmers were okay because they allowed us to keep livestock and we had plots where we planted our fruits and vegetables. But when the latest of these farmers sold their land in 2003, a new and harsher farmer took over."

Mbatha says that he tried to evict the family, but they resisted. "Three years ago he just came into our kraal and took all my 17 cows. He went for the cows of four other families living on the same farm. He didn't utter a word and I tried going to the police without any help," she says tearfully.

She says this farmer has since leased the farm and left without compensating them for their livestock. Residents on the farms say the majority of landowners mistreat farm tenants and farm labourers alike.

"Many people in the farms still live in fear, grinding poverty and landlessness. Some are forced to drink dirty water that they share with cows because farmers deny them access to clean water. Our people are assaulted and are prone to diseases because of living in these inhumane conditions," Kubheka told IPS.

Robin Barnsley, the president of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (KWANALU), admitted that some farmers in the province are abusing the rights of farm workers and tenants but he said farm relations in the province have come a long way.

"One would not want to generalise, but there are places where there are tensions and frustrations and there are areas where relationships are good and sound. There are farmers who are mistreating people living in the farms. But these farmers are a tiny minority. I would say it boils down to personalities and other issues related to those personalities," he said.

Barnsley said most of the tension results from the slow pace of land reform. "I think the officials dealing with land reform are not doing their jobs properly and this leads to frustrations from communities who have lodged claims are waiting years for their claims to be finalised."

He adds that some farmers have taken the initiative to help farm labourers by providing them with land for free. "There a number of these initiatives. One that comes to mind is between Ladysmith and Bergville and another one in Melmoth. Apart from this, (there is the) KWANALU development desk which helps mentoring small farmers and communities engaging in commercial farming."

Land rights activists concede that there some farmers have accepted and even participated in land reform and the dismantling of apartheid's legacy in rural areas. Philani Kubheka (no relation to the LPM's Kubheka) is head of a project near Ladysmith, where a farmer has donated a few hectares to farm tenants, where they have planted potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables.

"Families living in this farm keep some of the food and sell the rest. We are grateful to this farmer and wish other farmers could take a leaf from him," says Philani.

Speaking from a modest office in the provincial capital, Pietermaritzburg, Musa Zakwe, the deputy director of the Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), says his organisation has compiled a list of hot-spots where most abuses take place, including the district in which Newcastle and Volkrust fall. AFRA has been chronicling abuses on farms and and trying find solutions since 1979.

"Although the South African Constitution and laws protect people in the farms against abuses, the reality on the ground is that their rights are abused on a daily basis. What is even worse is that police don't take their concerns seriously because they tend to listen to farmers (rather) than to farm labourers or tenants," he told IPS.

Zakwe adds that government agencies have been too lenient on abusive farmers and that land reform policies have been far too slow to have any effect in improving the lives of people living in the farms.

He says in the main farmers are clinging on to land they barely use in the hope that government will pay more for it eventually, but unrest is on the increase amongst landless people as the wait for land drags on.

"We have tried to meet with (farmers) to resolve these issues and find amicable solutions so that we could live together and share the land, but many of them ignore us," says the LPM's Kubheka. "They tell us that we must go to the government and solve the problem there," he said.

"It is not that we like or condone what happened to Terreblanche," Kubheka says. "Many people think his killing was planned but I beg to differ. Why do you think a 16-year-old boy (developed) such hatred that propelled him to commit such a crime? If my child grows up seeing me being assaulted and belittled daily, he grows up with that hatred and one day he may want to avenge my sufferings, without any instigation or incitement from me."

2010-04-12
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Four U.N.-African Union peacekeepers are missing in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, the joint mission, UNAMID, said on Monday.

"Four peacekeepers left their base in Nyala (South Darfur) and were going back to their accommodation yesterday," UNAMID spokesman Kemal Saiki said. "They have not been heard from or seen since then."

Darfur has seen a wave of kidnappings of expatriates, including UNAMID soldiers, in the past year, mostly by armed young men demanding ransom.

Saiki said he had no idea what had happened to the four peacekeepers, who had begun the 7 km drive from the base to their accommodation at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT).

"We have immediately informed the Sudanese authorities ... and we are expending all our resources in the region to get information on their whereabouts," he added.

The last foreign hostage in Darfur, Red Cross worker Gauthier Lefevre, was released last month after 147 days in captivity.

Aid workers in western Sudan had hoped his release would mark an end to the kidnappings, which had limited their ability to help the more than 2 million Darfuris who have fled fighting and sought shelter and food in miserable camps.

The abductions began after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir last year, accusing him of war crimes in Darfur. He denies the charges.

Bashir hopes to be elected president in the first open polls in Sudan in 24 years which began on Sunday in defiance of the ICC warrant.

Since a revolt by mostly non-Arab rebels seven years ago, carjackings and banditry have been rife in the remote region bordering Chad.

2010-04-12
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's finance minister said on Monday he was ready to consider a new cigarette tax to boost healthcare spending for low income groups, which is being discussed in parliament.

Egypt is overhauling healthcare and insurance to improve services for its 78 million people, of which about 20 percent live on less than $1 a day, according to the United Nations.

"We (the Finance Ministry) haven't discussed it so far," Youssef Boutros-Ghali told Reuters by telephone, adding that he was ready to discuss a cigarette tax if parliament sought it.

He said parliament wanted to add 1 billion Egyptian pounds for low-income groups to spending already earmarked in a draft health insurance law.

One company, Eastern Company, has a monopoly on cigarette production and sales in Egypt.

Investment bank Beltone Financial said in a research note the tax would lead to a rise in prices without necessarily affecting companies' profits, unless the companies raise the cigarette prices by more than the tax.

"The decision would have a negative impact on inflation, however, with tobacco constituting 2.6% of the urban consumer price index, leading to a one-off rise in inflation," the note said. Core inflation was at 7.04 percent in the year to March.

The daily al-Masry al-Youm on Monday cited Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly as saying the tax proposal would be referred to the Cabinet, which could decide on it within weeks.

The state health insurance authority is also looking to raise student subscriptions in the medical insurance system to 8 pounds from the 4 pounds in the draft bill, the paper said.

"Raising student subscriptions from 4 pounds to 8 pounds will generate annual revenues of 70 million pounds, while taxes on cigarettes will raise around 700 million pounds," al-Masry al-Youm quoted the health minister as saying.

The 20 percent of the population that has no fixed income and another 8 million government employees will be exempt from paying health insurance contributions, Hamdy el-Sayed, head of the parliament's health committee, told Reuters.

"That is why the Finance Ministry has a problem, as it will pay a lot of money to provide them with the service," he said. "And that is why we are suggesting resources to help the government establish the needed funding for the project."

"We are asking the government to force new taxes on cement and cigarettes to be able to fund our project, which is very important to the solidarity of the society," El-Sayed added.

Al-Shorouk newspaper quoted el-Gabaly as saying last week that the government should raise funds for public health expenditures from polluting industries such as tobacco and cement.

20100412
BUA NEWS

Pretoria — President Jacob Zuma is among world leaders participating in the Nuclear Security Summit which aims to find effective measures to secure nuclear material and to prevent nuclear terrorism.

South Africa hopes that the summit would push international cooperation to ensure safety of nuclear materials and facilities, as well as the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

South Africa gave up its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 1993 making it the first and only country to start abandoning a weapons programme voluntarily.

It has also consistently condemned acts of terrorism and shares the international community's concern over nuclear security.

"South Africa maintains that it is important for countries to pool their resources and work together through strengthened multilateral institutions to combat all forms of organised transnational crime, including terrorism," said Zuma's office.

Zuma, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, held a bilateral meeting with convener, US President Barack Obama ahead of the two-day summit.

During the meeting, Obama praised South Africa for being the first country to abandon a nuclear weapons programme.

With the summit, the United States is hoping leaders and representatives from 47 countries can agree on specific steps to make nuclear material more secure, preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear materials and weapons.

Zuma is being accompanied by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of Energy Dipuo Peters, Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele among other senior government officials.