/UPDATE/POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: "It’s Now Time for the People to Speak"

Just an hour and a half after polling stations in South Africa closed Wednesday night, results for the country's third democratic election were already starting to roll in.

DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Strong Currency Undermines Tourism

Swazis tired of hearing their country condemned for having a traditional African monarchy for its governing system are countering that this very culture makes Swaziland a unique place any tourist would want to visit.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: “It’s Now Time for the People to Speak”

While the media mayhem that attended South Africa's first two democratic elections is undoubtedly a thing of the past, there was still a blizzard of flashbulbs when the country's first citizen cast his ballot Wednesday morning.

/ANNOUNCEMENT/ POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Third Democratic Poll Kicks Off

South Africa's third democratic election got underway at almost 17,000 polling stations across the country Wednesday morning, with reports of isolated problems at certain venues.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Election Campaign Revives Memories of State Brutality

At first glance Lupane seems no different from other rural districts in Zimbabwe. Its tranquillity, coupled with a canopy of luxuriant forest, gives no indication of the recurring droughts that plague the area.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Decades After Liberation, Landmines Remain Lethal

Rumbidzai Zulu, a woman in her early twenties, stares at the freshly bandaged stump that used to be her leg. A landmine blew off the limb while she was looking for firewood in the bush - also claiming the life of her unborn child - and she is struggling to come to grips with the trauma.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Campaign Financing in the Spotlight

Mention disputes over party funding, and the image that might first come to mind is that of Republicans and Democrats in the United States, trading allegations about reliance on special interest groups. However, the matter has also sparked controversy in South Africa recently, as the country prepares for its third democratic election.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Casts Shadow on Upcoming Election

As the countdown to South Africa’s Apr. 14 general elections entered its final week, researchers warned that the AIDS pandemic could undermine efforts to entrench democracy in the country.

POLITICS-MALAWI: A Blow to UDF Ambitions for Further Victory at the Polls

As Malawi's general elections draw closer, deepening national poverty is haunting efforts by the ruling United Democratic Front to remain in power.

POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Uneasy Donors Stay Put – For the Time Being

The sacks of maize that are keeping Mbali Mthembu's family alive bear the stamp "United States of America". The 25- year-old mother of three collects her monthly food stipend from a distribution point near the village of Siphofaneni in Swaziland's eastern Lubombo region, which has been hard hit by three years of drought.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Instead of Targeting Sex Workers, Police Harass All Women

It is retold so often that the account of how an embarrassed government minister rescued a female relative, who had been caught in a police sex worker crackdown he sanctioned, has become something of an urban legend.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Coup Plot Threatens Peace Talks

The arrests of army officers for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government of President Omar Hassan al Bashir in Sudan have caused a wave of panic over the future of peace talks underway in neighbouring Kenya.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Addressing Apartheid’s Legacy of Homelessness

Of all the achievements chalked up by South Africa's ruling African National Congress over the past 10 years, none seems to match its gains in providing housing for the poor.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Clerics Join Forces Against Hunger and Violence

"Deliver us from evil", a simple prayer from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament – yet one that resonated powerfully in Zimbabwe this weekend.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: A Positive Spin-off From the AIDS Crisis

It may be a dim silver lining to a particularly dark cloud, but one apparent result of the AIDS pandemic in Swaziland is that fewer people in the country are smoking.

ECONOMY-SOUTH AFRICA: Land and Jobs Still Scarce for Blacks

As a group of visiting academics discovered, it takes just a quick trip to Soweto - a sprawling black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg - to be confronted with the problems that still plague South Africa, 10 years after the advent of democracy.

RIGHTS: Zimbabwe and the World Bank Under Scrutiny at CIVICUS

Human rights activists from Zimbabwe have called on African leaders to condemn what they describe as ongoing human rights violations in their country. This came during the biennial meeting of the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS), which ended Thursday (Mar. 25).

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Examining a Decade of Democracy

Academics and political analysts from around the world have gathered in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, for a conference on the achievements of the first decade of democracy in the country.

HEALTH-MALAWI: Drug Theft Poses Threat to Battle Against TB

Malawi joined other countries Wednesday in commemorating World TB Day - this to draw attention to a disease that claimed two million lives last year, according to the World Health Organisation. However, the efforts of Malawian officials to curb tuberculosis are being dogged by the theft of TB drugs from state hospitals.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: A Polarised, Muddy Election Campaign

As the date of South Africa's general election grows closer, the gloves are coming off in campaigning amongst political parties - even though the outcome of the poll is expected to hold few surprises.

RIGHTS: Civic Groups Want a Bigger Voice in SADC

Delegates to the biennial conference of the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) have called on the Southern African Development Community to become more responsive to the concerns of civil society.