AU summit ignores Zimbabwe crisis

again from SWRadioAfrica.

summary: they don't see the increased violence as a problem, so why waste their time on it?

SA population to shrink after 2030

from Moneyweb.

it's because of HIV, and also smaller families due to family planning.

MDC workers seek refuge

from SWRadioAfrica:

"...Two hundred MDC-T members were forced to seek refuge at their party’s Harare headquarters, after ZANU-PF youths hunted them down in Mbare over the weekend.

The MDC-T also reported that the ZANU PF youths besieged their Mbare office, where they allegedly assaulted staff, stole computers and vandalised furniture. Despite this, it’s understood the police did not make any arrests...."

Civil service unrest continues

from Newsday (SA):

"...Civil servants last week got a paltry salary increment of 24% while housing and transport allowances were increased by between $6 and $9, bringing the salary of the lowest paid teacher to $241, inclusive of allowances.

They rejected the increment and gave the government a seven-day ultimatum to come up with new figures...

The unions are demanding $502 as the starting salary for the lowest paid worker."

NeoImperialism?

StrategyPage has this in an article about the Congo:

December 18, 2010: Police broke up a riot by soccer fans in the town of Lubumbashi (Katanga province). The fans were angry when their team lost a close match. What's truly interesting about this is that the crowd thought the Japanese referee was Chinese and yelled that the Chinese referee should go home. The rioters subsequently attacked several Chinese owned stores in Lubumbashi. China has signed agreements with the government to provide infrastructure (roads, power lines, etc) in exchange for Congolese natural resources. Many Congolese believe the agreement is a return to colonialism. The rioters may be an ominous warning to the Chinese.

TOR

anyone in Zimbabwe who is worried about being detected while on the internet might want to look into downloading TOR:

"...Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. .."

Connected Africa

BBC has webpage here that posts stories of the internet in Africa.

Funny voters on Zim voting rolls

from the star:

one third of voters on the Zim voter rolls are very very old (and probably dead) or too young to vote.

Zim AG investigating Tsvangirai

from CNN:

"...

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- The attorney general in Zimbabwe has set up a team of lawyers to investigate whether Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can be charged with treason or conspiracy related to revelations by the website WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks published U.S. cables last week saying Tsvangirai and his party leadership were planning with U.S. diplomats for Washington to contribute to a fund to buy-off security service chiefs to achieve regime change in Zimbabwe.

"I want to get the legal opinion of the legal experts to see if I can proceed with prosecution," Attorney General Johannes Tomana said an interview Monday. He said the six-member team would remain secret "to maintain its independence and professional integrity" and would submit its recommendations by end of March...."

Mugabe Ill?

from Zimbabwe Mail a report about Mugabe's latest illness:

No he's not ill, says his spokesman...he's just recovering from prostate cancer after surgery in a Malaysian hospital.

Although prostate cancer is a common cause of death, in many older men, it is slow growing and isn't necessarily fatal. But without details if it was merely large prostate from non cancerous causes, or if it was cancer or if the cancer was high grade or not, as a doc I can't comment more.

SADC court says Zim gov't undermining rule of law

from SWRadioAfrica:

"...The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal last month ruled in favour of Barry Gondo and eight others, who successfully sued the State in the Zimbabwe High Court after being beaten and tortured by security agents. The group argued in the SADC Tribunal that the government was refusing to pay the damages ordered by the High Court, in their cases dating back to 2003 and 2007.,...

"...The ruling comes as an important victory for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, where the State has displayed a decade long disregard for Court orders. The Zimbabwe Human Right NGO Forum, which led the case before the Tribunal last year, said the ruling is a “progressive.” The group added that it supports the opinion of civil society that one of Zimbabwe’s main challenges is “the absence of the rule of law.”

Abuse continues

the Zim independent, via All Africa

"...The MDC-T led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai charged in a statement on Wednesday that at least one of their supporters was abducted in Masvingo at gunpoint by a known assailant, but the police refused to open a docket on the matter on the grounds that the issue was too political for them to get involved...."

Civil servants to strike?

from Zim online

"

The Apex council that met with the government in the capital yesterday brings together civil service unions -- the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Zimbabwe Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ZIMTA), Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ), College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe (COLAZ) and Public Service Association (PSA).

The offer rejected by workers would have seen the lowest paid among them taking home about $160 up from $128 with the highest paid civil servants earning around $241 per month.

Transport and housing allowances were similarly slightly increased from $7 to $20 and from $6 to $12 respectively.

Chikowere said civil servants want the lowest paid worker taking home around U$500, money the unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai -- which says it already is using 60 percent of total collected revenues on salaries -- says it does not have."

immigrant news

from the Times (SA)

On Wednesday the department announced that a moratorium on the deportation of Zimbabweans who don't have the proper papers to be in the country, would stay in place until August 1, to allow for the 275,762 applications for the legalisation of their stay in South Africa to be processed.

-----------------------

and then there is this: from an article about some Chinese detained for bad visas:

Zimbabweans are currently up in arms over the influx of Chinese and Nigerian business people who have taken up most of the shop space in the country’s main towns and cities.

(posted by accident: I meant to post on my Makaipablog, but never mind...)

African Entrepeneurs

Smartplanet has an article about Africa's growing economic clout:

The Economist, in fact, just published information, culled from the International Monetary Fund, that shows that six out of 10 of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2001-2010 were in Africa, and seven out of 10 will be in Africa in the in 2011-2015 timeframe.

As categorized by The Economist,The fastest growing economies over the next four years will be

1. China (9.5%)
2. India (8.2%)
3. Ethiopia (8.1%)
4. Mozambique (7.7%)
5. Tanzania (7.2%)
6. Vietnam (7.2%)
7. Congo (7%)
8. Ghana (7%)
9. Zambia (6.9%)
10. Nigeria (6.8%)

Source: The Economist

of course, the bad news: If you start low, it's easier to grow your economy statistically...it's playing with numbers. You need to compare the actual size of the economy to get real information.

Big money

according to the Miami herald, those huge amount Zimdollar bills are a collector's item

the coming civil war in Sudan

The New Sudan?

Not getting a lot of press, but there is a major referendum in the Sudan later this month, and the black areas in the south are threatening to secede. International help may be needed to help "birth" these new nations.
the problem? The south has oil, and there are issues about the Nile water being diverted.
Story and map at the African Executive:

LA Times story HERE.

StrategyPage linkHERE.

why does this have anything to do with Zimbabwe?

Well, Bashir has stolen billions, and if the world lets him get away with stopping democracy, and refuses to let the south leave, it would be another signal to Mugabe that he can get away with anything.

WikiLeaks supporters attack Zim websites

from the Sydney (Australia) morning herald:

Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, has become a victim of online attacks by supporters of WikiLeaks.

Cyber activists said they had brought down government websites after Mr Mugabe's wife, Grace, sued a newspaper for $US15 million for publishing a WikiLeaks cable that linked her with the alleged trade in illicit diamonds, and Zimbabwe considered treason charges against the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, over talks with US diplomats revealed by WikiLeaks.

Anonymous, a loose-knit group that has vowed to paralyse sites that act against WikiLeaks, said on its website: ''We are targeting Mugabe and his regime in the Zanu-PF who have outlawed the free press and threaten to sue anyone publishing WikiLeaks.''