Southern Africa

Careless food storage sidelines Swaziland’s hungry

MBABANE, 23 May 2013 (IRIN) - Mounds of food aid intended for Swaziland’s food insecure were recently found rotting in the government’s main storage warehouses at the Matsapha Industrial Estate, about 25km east of the capital, Mbabane. full report

The anatomy of a Mozambique land deal

 NIASSA, 22 May 2013 (IRIN) - A multi-million dollar “ethical” plantation development in northwestern Mozambique - the initiative of a clutch of Scandinavian faith-based organizations - has faced alleged acts of sabotage by the very people it was designed to assist, illustrating the divisions between foreign benefactors and local communities. full report

Microcredit helps small businesses buck the system in Madagascar

 TOLIARA, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - Justine Sija, 60, begins her day at 4am, when she buys catch from local fishermen to hawk on the streets of St Augustin Village, in Madagascar’s southern Atsimo-Andrefana Region. The work is hard, but in the last year, access to microcredit has boosted both her business and her hope for the future. full report

Cape Town's asylum seekers struggle to get documented

 CAPE TOWN, 16 May 2013 (IRIN) - When Jean Baptiste*, a medical student from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in South Africa in September 2012, he headed straight for Cape Town, where he knew he would be able to stay with his brother. No one at the border told him that it was no longer possible to apply for asylum in Cape Town. full report

Quelling xenophobia in South Africa's townships

 PHILIPPI, 14 May 2013 (IRIN) - This week marks five years since tensions between foreigners and South Africans living in impoverished communities across the country erupted in xenophobic violence, leaving more than 60 people dead and tens of thousands displaced, their homes and businesses robbed and abandoned. full report

Circumcision plans go awry in Swaziland

 MBABANE, 13 May 2013 (IRIN) - It was an ambitious plan to circumcise the majority of men in Swaziland, an effort to reduce the risk of HIV transmission in a country with the world's highest HIV prevalence. How could it have gone wrong? full report

Zimbabwe short on climate change funds

 HARARE, 7 May 2013 (IRIN) - Inadequate funding and limited resources are frustrating Zimbabwe’s efforts to develop plans to deal with the impact of climate change, says a government progress report. full report

Food insecurity opens door to TB in Madagascar

 TOLIARA, 1 May 2013 (IRIN) - Health experts fear the interruption of food assistance in Madagascar is increasing incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Toliara, the capital city of Madagascar’s southern Atsimo-Andrefana region. full report

South Africa's flawed asylum system

 JOHANNESBURG, 30 April 2013 (IRIN) - South Africa attracts the largest number of asylum seekers in the world, but grants refugee status to very few of them, ranking only thirty-sixth in the world for the size of its refugee population, which the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) puts at about 58,000. full report

Shortages of new one-a-day ARV pills in South Africa

 JOHANNESBURG, 19 April 2013 (IRIN) - Just days into the rollout of fixed-dose combination (FDC) antiretrovirals (ARVs) by South Africa’s HIV treatment programme - the world's largest - activists are raising fears of drug shortages. full report