South African opposition parties have gone to court to try and force debate on a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma. The application for the urgent interdict was launched by Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko on Friday, and will be heard at the Cape Town High Court. The application seeks an order to hold the debate on the vote of no-confidence before Parliament rises for the year – likely the end of this week.
MDC-SA Youth: new faces
The MDC-T’s Youth Assembly this week made changes to its South African executive, which saw Juma Ulete become new deputy chairperson and Butholezwe Nyathi the deputy secretary. They will act in those capacities pending the decision of the Youth council. The positions fell vacant after the relocation of Obert Machingura and Sydney Nyamasoka, who were deputy chairperson and secretary, respectively. Former deputy secretary, Isabel Mkhosi, became the acting secretary.
Censor child stories: MISA
The Media Institute of Southern Africa Swaziland has raised concern over the lack of censorship on stories that report on children. Spokesperson Nomenzi Masuku said the organisation discovered story headlines that did not follow children’s rights. Others were single sourced. Masuku was addressing reporters from different media houses in the country during a training workshop on how to report children’s stories without inflicting more pain and violating the children rights.
Moz pilots on strike
Pilots and crew members at Mozambique’s national airline went on a strike early this week, temporarily grounding the carrier. Flights out of the capital Maputo were stopped as workers fought for higher wages and better working conditions. International flights Sunday to Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe were cancelled.
Lake Malawi: mediation agreed
Malawi and Tanzania have finally agreed to appoint an international mediator to resolve a long-running border dispute over Lake Malawi, thought to sit on rich oil and gas reserves. Malawi claims sovereignty over Africa’s third-largest lake, while Tanzania says it is entitled to half of it. The dispute, which dates back half a century, has threatened to sour relations between the two countries. Last month Malawi pulled out of talks after it accused its neighbour of intimidating local fishermen, an accusation denied by the Tanzanian government.
Angolan praise for China
The Director of studies with Angola’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Francisco da Cruz, recently praised Chinese investment, which he said had helped transform his country. The Chinese credit line for Angola, worth billions of dollars, was open in 2004 and has since increased more than a 100-fold.
SIM reg: Zambian boycott
Most Zambians have boycotted the registration of mobile telephone users, with only about 300,000 people having submitted details for their SIM cards with all the mobile service providers out of the total subscriber base of eight million. The Zambians fear abuse of their private numbers and personal details by the government. Last week, the Zambian press revealed that the country’s secret service collected data every day from the mobile companies.
Post published in: Africa News