Three of 18 HIV-positive Namibian women have won a court case in which they accused local hospitals of sterilising them without their consent. A judge who ruled in favour of the trio on Monday did not decided on awarding damages in the case. The women are seeking about $150,000 each in compensation.
SA no to extradition
The constitutional court ruled on Friday that South Africa cannot deport people at risk of facing the death penalty, unless their country of origin gives assurances that they would not be executed. The court dismissed an application by the ministers of justice and home affairs, trying to reverse a South Gauteng High Court judgment passed in September last year on two Batswana accused of murder.
Plenty of food in Bots
Botswana is Africa’s second most robust country on food security after South Africa, the country from which it imports more than 80% of its food. This was despite local and regional estimates indicating widespread crop failure and the growing threat of food shortages. The Economic Intelligence Unit ranked Botswana and 104 other countries around the world across three categories.
Mthethwa laments chaos
SA Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa hopes recent management appointments will end public spats, intelligence information leaks and other “tendencies” in the police. He lamented the chaos that had characterised police management in recent times, including the axing of national police commissioner Bheki Cele and the on-off-and-on suspension of crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.
Stop oil search, Malawi told
Tanzania has asked Malawi to stop its oil and gas exploration activities in Lake Malawi until the border dispute between the two countries is resolved. Malawi said last October that it had awarded exploration licences to UK-based Surestream Petroleum to search for oil in Lake Malawi, which is also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania. Malawi claims that it owns the whole lake according to colonial boundaries, but Tanzania claims half of the lake.
Namibian trauma
A recent report says many Namibians still suffer from post-war trauma caused by the liberation struggle, 22 years after independence from South Africa. It said the former South West
Africa Territorial Force and South African Defence Force members, children of the liberation struggle and some members of the public continue to suffer from post-war traumatic stress, anger, frustration and unresolved grief.
Cosatu slams racism
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has called on Minister of Higher education to investigate racism complaints at the University of North West’s Potchefstroom campus. A number of black workers have allegedly been suspended for fighting for their rights. Cosatu also wants investigations into the mysterious death of a student who drowned early this year.
Banda blames greed
Malawi’s President Joyce Banda says Africa’s woes are caused by the greed and irresponsible governance style of most of those holding the mantle of leadership. She accused many rulers of failing to appreciate the need to be accountable to the people or be committed to open and transparent government that could reduce poverty in the continent.
Rising crime in Moz
The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa has called on Mozambique to tackle rising crime, amid a wave of high-profile kidnappings and as the country becomes a major corridor for trafficking of African wildlife to Asia. OSISA challenged the
Mozambican government to put forward the strategic framework for crime and violence prevention. It added that inequality, corruption, organised crime, high number of street dwellers, a weak justice system and youth unemployment had contributed to the high crime levels.
Post published in: Africa News