Zambian activist cries out against state-sponsored harassment

Zambian civil rights activist Brebner Changala has claimed that it is ironic that the Patriotic Front government that came to power through sustained public meetings is denying the opposition and Zambians the right of assembly and accused the major national media outlets of caving in to the “whims of the ruling elite”.

Changala was only recently discharged of a state-engineered drug trafficking charge, labelling the country’s Drug Enforcement Commission as a “state-sponsored terrorist organisation on government pay roll”. He went on to add that the mainstream media in Zambia had blacked out opposition political parties making participatory democracy difficult to thrive in the southern African nation.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308270376.html

Swazi king’s newspaper editor says elections were “treason”

The chief editor of King Mswati III's newspaper, the Swazi Observer, has accused Swaziland's Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) of committing treason for its poor handling of the elections in the kingdom. Mbongeni Mbingo said that the EBC was “never ready” for the elections in the first place and that they should have been ready given the ample time they had to prepare. He then said what they have done is “treasonable” and added that the EBC could not be allowed to ruin the election.

The Swazi Observer is widely believed to be a mouthpiece for the Swazi monarchy and a propaganda tool, clearly signified in the fact that the paper forgot to mention that King Mswati appointed the EBC in 2008.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308261939.html

Jacob Zuma arrives in Malaysia

South Africa’s President Zuma arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for an official visit in commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Africa and the south-east Asian nation.

The visit is aiming to improve co-operation in business, trade and investment, as well as to promote South Africa’s tourism industry and potential investments there. Malaysia is already South Africa’s largest investor from that area of the world through companies like Petronas and Golden Hope, while South African companies like Denel, Sasol and Sanlam all have offices in Malaysia. The visit will also build on existing ties in education, culture, art and sport.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308261452.html

Tsvangirai presidential challenge to be aired this weekend

MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai's Constitutional Court application, challenging the outcome of the just-ended elections, will be heard on Saturday. Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC-T spokesman, told SW Radio Africa that the matter will be heard by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku over the weekend. He said the petition will be heard 2pm Saturday "and everyone with papers to file should do so by Friday".

Meanwhile in a related matter, the High Court was by Wednesday evening still hearing two other petitions lodged by Tsvangirai, who wants the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release voting material pertaining to the presidential election.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308150270.html

ENI pays Mozambique $400m tax

The Italian energy company ENI has agreed to pay 400 million US dollars in capital gains tax to the Mozambican authorities. The tax agreement was announced on Tuesday when the ENI Chief Executive Officer, Paulo Scaroni, met Mozambican President Armando Guebuza in Changara district in the western province of Tete.

ENI heads the consortium exploring for hydrocarbons in Area Four of the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where vast deposits of natural gas, amounting to some 80 trillion cubic feet, have been discovered. ENI signed an agreement on 13 March with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), under which CNPC was to pay 4.21 billion US dollars for 28.57 per cent of the ENI stake in Area Four. Since ENI held 70 per cent of the rights to Area Four, this equated to 20 per cent of the total stake.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308150355.html

Election blunder in Swaziland

A major blunder by Swaziland's Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has meant some people were forced to nominate candidates in the forthcoming primary election for a second time. The EBC erroneously combined two election districts at the nominations during the weekend of 3 to 4 August 2013. When the mistake was discovered the EBC ordered the people of Njabulweni, near Lubhuku, in the Dvokodvweni Constituency, to nominate again. The blunder is the latest in a long line of problems besetting the election. Some people boycotted the election nomination completely in protest that venues selected for the nominations were unsuitable. Elsewhere equipment failures delayed the start of nominations.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308141800.html

Zimbabwean women forced to flee after refusing to reveal voting choice

Women political activists in rural Zimbabwe told Amnesty International they have been threatened with violence and forced to flee with their children for refusing to reveal their vote to supporters of Robert Mugabe's party during harmonized elections. The women said they resisted instructions from Zanu-PF supporters to feign illiteracy, blindness or physical injury, which would have meant someone else marking the ballot on their behalf,

At least six women said they left home with their 12 young children after facing intimidation from village heads in Mukumbura district, Mashonaland Central Province soon after the 31 July poll. "It appears the ZANU-PF supporters wanted to ensure that these women did not vote for the other parties and tried to compromise the secrecy of the ballot," said Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Africa.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308070503.html

Swaziland woman banned from elections for wearing trousers

A Swazi woman was banned from being nominated to stand as a member of parliament because she was wearing trousers at the nomination centre. A second woman at a different chiefdom was denied the chance to nominate a candidate for the same reason.

Nomination centres opened cross the kingdom at the weekend as Swaziland prepared for the first round of the national election later this month. Mana Mavimbela was disqualified from putting her name forward for parliament at Lubulini because she wore a pair of trousers at the Royal Kraal where nominations took place. The presiding officer Lindiwe Sukati refused to allow her to stand because Mavimbela was wearing a pair of black jean trousers and a golf T- shirt.

Human Rights lawyer Mandla Mkhwanazi told the Times of Swaziland newspaper the presiding officer had infringed upon Mavimbela's rights under the Swaziland Constitution which did not discriminate against an individual on the basis of how they dressed.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308061076.html

Credibility of Zimbabwean elections questioned

A dispute continues to grow over the transparency and legitimacy of Zimbabwe’s elections last week and the issue could be headed for the next summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after Botswana publicly questioned the credibility of the polling. Botswana is a long-standing critic of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and has announced that the findings of its 80-strong observer team suggested that "an acceptable standard for free and fair elections" had not been met.

The Botswana statement focused on problems around the voters' roll, the forms of identification needed to vote and what it called "credible allegations" of people being denied the right to vote - issues similar to those raised by the official observer missions of SADC and the African Union.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308060815.html