POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: A Tumultuous Week

In recent years, political developments in Zimbabwe have been as hot a topic of conversation in South Africa as they were in Zimbabwe itself. The past week has not proved an exception to this trend.

POLITICS-BOTSWANA: Voters Expected to Choose More of the Same

With the gaze of the international community fixed on next week’s presidential election in the United States, little attention has been paid to the fact that Botswana is also scheduled to go to the polls within the next few days.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: In Praise of Grace Under Pressure

Images of floods, drought, famine, refugees and malnourished children in Africa have long made the continent appear relentlessly disaster-prone. But, says Francoise Le Goff, these pictures only tell part of the story.

U.S. ELECTION: Africa Barely on the Candidates’ Radars

With U.S. voters anxiously contemplating the body count arising from the United States' deployment in Iraq - as well as the associated threat of terrorism - it was probably to be expected that Africa would get little "face time" in the presidential election.

RIGHTS-THAILAND: Deaths in Custody Could Inflame Muslim South

A clash at the start of this week between hundreds of Muslim protesters and heavily armed Thai troops in the country's south - which left over 80 dead - has delivered a blow to Bangkok's view that it has the local communities on its side.

POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Electoral Code to Make Its Debut

Voters in Botswana go to the polls this week to elect a new parliament and local government. The diamond-rich nation will become the first to test a new electoral code of conduct adopted by the Southern African Development Community in August.

DEVELOPMENT: An Ambitious Agenda for the Helsinki Process

Their typical day starts at five in the morning or earlier. Balancing a pot on their heads – and sometimes with a baby strapped to their backs – women in rural Africa may walk up to 12 kilometres a day to fetch water.

HEALTH-ZAMBIA: HIV-Positive Prisoners Find Freedom a Mixed Blessing

The HIV pandemic has proved a divisive force in several African countries, not least Zambia.

ECONOMY-SOUTHERN AFRICA: A Peaceful Alternative for Tourists

Samao Zandamela of Maputo, Mozambique gazed out his taxi window at the towering bulk of the landmark empty shell of the Four Seasons Hotel, and said, ‘’When that is reopened, it will mean more business for me. More visitors, more passengers. Tourism will not make me rich, but it helps.’’

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Deputy President Not on Trial. Really?

A high-profile court case in South Africa is putting the deputy president firmly in the spotlight - even though he is not the one on trial.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: No Respite for Ostrich Product Exporters

The European Union's decision this week to extend the ban on ostrich imports from South Africa because of an avian influenza scare in the country has caught the local ostrich sector by surprise, industry representatives say.

ECONOMY-ZIMBABWE: "Zhing-Zhong" Gets the Thumbs Up – From Consumers

Zimbabwe’s clothing manufacturers understand too well why Asian economies are often referred to as "tigers". With feline swiftness, low-priced imports from the East have cut a swathe through the local clothing, textile and footwear market.

HEALTH: UNICEF Urges Greater Commitment to Reducing Child Mortality

First, the good news: while nearly one in five children was dying before the age of five in the early 1960s, this figure had dropped to less than one in 12 by 2002.

ECONOMY: Businesses in Southern Africa Run an Obstacle Course

It was a case of ideals clashing with reality this week, as far as doing business in the Southern African Development Community was concerned.

ENVIRONMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Ivory Debate Again Takes Centre Stage

Certain conservationists in Africa say they will oppose any move to revive commercial exploitation of elephants, at the 13th Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which opens in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in the first week of October.

CORRUPTION-MALAWI: Mutharika Bites the Hand That Fed Him

It was not something expected of a president who was roundly denounced as being a front man for his predecessor, when he took office.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Mixing Politics with Food

Food and politics, as Zimbabweans are finding out, are not always mutually exclusive. If they were, what would explain official claims of a bumper harvest when independent assessments suggest otherwise?

DEVELOPMENT-ZAMBIA: From Famine to Feast

It has been a bumper year for Zambia on the agricultural front. According to the head of the country’s Food Reserve Agency, Frida Luhila, Zambia is now able to export maize for the first time since the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy came to power in 1991. Maize is the country’s staple food crop.

HEALTH: Tuberculosis Resurges in Southern Africa

Fuelled by a burgeoning AIDS problem, tuberculosis is on resurgence in southern Africa where health officials are beginning to talk of integrating programmes to fight the two diseases.

CULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: Helping Men Become Men

In the Nguni languages, which include Zulu and Xhosa, an "indlavini" is a violent and reckless man who disrespects elders and tradition. The indlavini emerged in the early twentieth century, when millions of South African men migrated to towns – looking for jobs in the gold and diamond mines.

EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA: Are Preschoolers Getting Their Due?

"Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man," goes the old Jesuit saying – an advertisement, if ever there was one, for the virtues of preprimary education.