HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Provision of AIDS Drugs Fragmented

It wasn't an instance where absence made the heart grow fonder. A three-day regional conference on improving access to AIDS treatments held in Zimbabwe's capital - Harare - in March, failed to attract a single government representative from the host country.

POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional Parliament Essential for Integration

Parliamentarians from eleven countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have expressed concern at the lack of progress in establishing a regional parliament. This came during a meeting of the SADC Parliamentary Forum currently underway in the Namibian capital - Windhoek.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Efforts to Get ARVs For Kids Are Still in Their Infancy

When AIDS activists have locked horns with the South African government in recent years, it has often been over the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to pregnant women - or adults living with AIDS. The challenges of supplying the medicines to HIV-positive children appear to have received less attention.

DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Willing Hearts Do Battle With Empty Pockets

In a country where funds for social programmes are often lacking, volunteers find themselves being called on to fill the gap. Of late, however, the demands placed on these individuals have become increasingly burdensome.

POLITICS-MALAWI: Mutharika’s Daunting Task

As Malawi's courts grapple with the electoral challenge lodged by the opposition Mgwirizano coalition to last week's poll, the country's new president, Bingu wa Mutharika, is trying to win hearts and minds with talk of poverty alleviation and corruption busting.

CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: "Dogs and Pigs" No More?

"Worse than dogs and pigs" is how Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described homosexuals almost a decade ago, when the gay community attempted to highlight widespread homophobia in the Southern African country.

POLITICS-MALAWI: Elections, at a Time When Malawians Are “Freer But Poorer”

Malawi is scheduled to go to the polls Thursday for general elections - this amidst polling delays, allegations of bias on the part of electoral officials, and deepening poverty.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: New Black Farmers Carve a Niche for Themselves

A bevy of girls emerges from a group of farmhouses, three of them giggling after they spot rare visitors to this part of the world: two Chinese nationals. The men are part of a group of journalists that has been invited to tour various farms, to inspect South Africa's land reform programme.

SUSTAINABILITY: Do ‘Water Wars’ Still Loom in Africa?

When water affairs ministers from countries along the Nile met recently to discuss the fate of the river, Boutros Boutros-Ghali was not in the room with them. But the lingering memory of his comment that future wars would be fought over water probably was.

SUSTAINABILITY: More Rehabilitated Wetlands in South Africa, More Water Supply

As South Africa's new government braces itself for the task of extending clean water supplies to more people, environmentalists are warning there may soon be little water to distribute if conservation efforts are not stepped up.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: "We are everywhere" Says Shadowy Pro-Democracy Group

"When they were interrogating me, they kept asking about ‘Zvakwana!’," says activist Gorden Moyo, describing his recent detention by security officials in Zimbabwe. "I told them I don’t know what it’s about."

EDUCATION-SWAZILAND: School Funds for AIDS orphans So Near – Yet So Far

Swazi school children returned to their hostels Friday (May 7) in preparation for the second term of the academic year. However, a question mark hangs over the fate of thousands of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children who may not be permitted to continue their schooling this term.

DEVELOPMENT: Inequality Remains a Thorn in South Africa’s Side

South Africa will not succeed in reducing unemployment and poverty if it fails to carry out drastic economic and social reforms, a leading trade unionist in the country has warned.

POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Putting the Region Into Clearer Perspective

When compared with other parts of the continent, Southern Africa can seem relatively wealthy and peaceful - the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and ongoing conflict in certain areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo notwithstanding.

PRESS FREEDOM-ZIMBABWE: “No Oomph and Guts” in the Media?

Even within its own ranks, Zimbabwe's ruling party has shown it is intolerant of ambitions hinting at expansion of the tiny independent press.

POLITICS-MALAWI: Electoral Commission Moves From Referee to Sparring Partner

In 1994, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was feted for its fair and efficient organisation of a poll that ousted autocratic ruler Hastings Kamuzu Banda. A decade on, however, the lustre has been rubbed off of the organisation.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Dreaming of a White(r) Christmas

It is 10:00 am, and the organisers are getting impatient. They have sent out invitations to over 200 journalists, most of them foreign correspondents. To their dismay, however, only a handful arrive at the Apr. 26 news briefing organised by the 'Volksversetaksie' - a pressure group which claims to articulate the grievances of Afrikaans-speaking whites, or Afrikaners.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Making the Law Less of an Ass

As thousands of Zimbabwean women have discovered, the law is a blunt instrument when it comes to domestic disputes that threaten health and well-being.

POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Anti-corruption Body Exists in Name Only

The government of Swaziland has allocated R2 million (307,692 dollars) in its budget for an anti-corruption office that does not function, but is sorely needed.

RELIGION: Africa Rejects Donations From Churches That Support Gay Unions

Africa’s Anglican archbishops have vowed never to receive donations from western churches which support the ordination of gay priests.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: All Over – Bar the Shouting

The third straight victory for South Africa's ruling African National Congress raises questions about the effectiveness of the country's political opposition and civil society, and about how long the ANC's "honeymoon" can last.