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Southern Africa: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 339 for 23 - 29 June 2007

29 Jun 2007 15:30:38 GMT
Source: IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, 29 June 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

ZIMBABWE: Someone might be listening MOZAMBIQUE: Green lobby opposes dam construction SWAZILAND: Media clampdown after alleged deaths due to lack of medicines MADAGASCAR: Law to curb widespread sexual exploitation of children MOZAMBIQUE: Left with nothing ZIMBABWE: Poor quality garbage tells a tale LESOTHO: Journalist forced to 'insult' prime minister in broadcast

ZIMBABWE: Someone might be listening

The Interception of Communications Bill, awaiting only Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's signature to become law, will further constrict the flow of information already hampered by other laws deemed repressive, claimed civil society groups.

If approved by the president, the law will empower the government to tap telephone conversations, check emails and monitor cyberspace for material seen as posing a threat to national security.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72994

MOZAMBIQUE: Green lobby opposes dam construction

Mozambique is proposing to build another giant dam on the Zambezi River in the hope of boosting development, but which environmentalists believe will add to the damage caused by the existing Cahora Bassa dam, one of the largest hydroelectric schemes in Africa.

The new dam, Mphanda Nkuwa, would be built approximately 60km downriver of Cahora Bassa in the northwest of the country. Planners intend to produce a peak output of 1,300 megawatts of electricity, about equal to Mozambique's total current consumption. Most of the power will be exported to neighbouring South Africa, although surplus electricity will also be used to lure investment in domestic heavy industry.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72996

SWAZILAND: Media clampdown after alleged deaths due to lack of medicines

Swazi authorities have banned health workers from talking to the media in response to a spate of stories highlighting the impact of a critical drug shortage.

"It has been drawn to the attention of the ministry that there are health workers who indiscriminately communicate to the press without authority. You are warned to abstain from such behaviour because it is totally unacceptable to the ministry," said a memo circulated to all healthcare workers.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72984

MADAGASCAR: Law to curb widespread sexual exploitation of children

The sexual exploitation of children trafficked internally from Madagascar's poverty-stricken rural areas to tourist hotspots appears to be widespread in the island country, according to new reports.

A study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in two coastal cities - Toamasina in the east and Nosy Be in the northwest - found that between 30 percent and 50 percent of female commercial sex workers were aged under 18. The UN agency also recorded anecdotal information indicating that some traffickers could be recruiting rural children for domestic work in urban areas.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72960

MOZAMBIQUE: Left with nothing

While visiting various projects in Mozambique's Zambezia Province in the north of the country last year, Chris McIvor, programme director of Save the Children, a UK-based non-governmental organisation that helps children in need, came across a house being built for four orphaned children aged between three and 12.

"What has happened to the original house where they lived with their mother and father? Why are they not living there?" he asked the community. The answer was that their father's extended family had taken it; they had taken all the children's belongings too, leaving them with nothing.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72918

ZIMBABWE: Poor quality garbage tells a tale

What people discard tells you something about their level of wellbeing: for the garbage collectors who trawl through the trash at the municipal dumpsite in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, things have never been so bad.

The roar of a refuse collection truck approaching the dumpsite on the outskirts of the southern city triggers a newfound desperation among the rubbish recyclers trying to make a living from other people's leftovers.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72983

LESOTHO: Journalist forced to 'insult' prime minister in broadcast

A Lesotho radio journalist charged with subversion told IRIN he was forced to broadcast a letter, on pain of death, denouncing the country's leader on his early morning radio show.

Thabo Thakalekoala, a freelance reporter and talk show host at Harvest FM, was arrested on the steps of the private radio station's offices in the capital, Maseru, after his broadcast on Friday. He appeared in court on Monday and was released on R1,000 (US$140) bail after being charged with subversion in terms of the 1984 Internal Security Act.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72932

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Last updated:Fri Jun 29 15:34:52 2007