Uganda Rural Community Support USA

The only people and countries that benefited from the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko’s 37-year reign were the West, the so-called big powers. And they are still the ones who could benefit from any upheavals that might engulf that country.

The West led by their chaperon - the United States of America - propped up Mobutu’s tyranny in Zaire since renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The US is extremely sore at the unceremonious departure of their protegee. Its pride was further bruised by Congo’s new President Laurent Desi
re Kabila who has exhibited strong resilience and independence. The norms strangely frowned at by the US.

Since Kabila’s ragtag army sliced through Africa’s third largest country with easy and established his rule in Kinshasa in May, the West has tried very hard to vilify him. They have called him a dictator. Even before he reached Kisangani echoes of massacres of opposition Hutus in the eastern Co
ngo began to reverberate.

That they could have possibly been carried out by hardliner Hutus among the genuine refugees in the camps has completely been ignored. And look who have been trafficking such rumours - non governmental organisations running under the guise of charitable organisations but deeply financed and dir
ected at Langley or in whatever secret organisations in the Western capitals.

Compared to the numerous massacres Mobutu committed on the defenceless Congolese which went unnoticed by Washington. What hypocrisy! It is ironical that the same countries that bred, nurtured and supported Africa’s worst dictators, swindlers and despicably corrupt leaders, who salted away the w
ealthy to buy up European and American cities, denude and impoverish their own countries, should today turn around to harass a man many regard as their saviour. Such double standards must be condemned thoroughly.

Time has come for the West to show appreciation to Africa and its emerging leaders. What is it that is found in America or Europe that has not come from Africa? Why are they in a hurry to see democracy in Congo now which they failed to impose on Mobutu. Is it a case of sour grapes seeing Mr Kab
ila on assuming power has not rushed to their capitals with a begging bowl but was instead trying to consolidate his relationship with neighbouring countries which has caused fear in the West.

If the West wished to see democracy develop in Africa and Congo in particular, the policy of ambivalence should be discarded. No one who has stayed near Congo would ever wish to hurry Mr Kabila. He needs much goodwill from all and especially the West.

The new national team coach should not be allowed to
change the team’s style of play, Chipolopolo Soccer Fans Association
patron, environment minister William Harrington advised at the
weekend.

Harrington, commenting on the decision by the Football Association
of Zambia (FAZ) to employ an expatriate coach, said there isn’t enough
time for the players to adapt positively to a new style of play before
the African Nations Cup finals which gets underway in Burkina Faso on
February 7, 1998.

“We should be a little cautious that the new coach does not bring a
new style of play because if the boys don’t adopt quickly enough, we
stand the risk of elimination from the Africa Cup ” Harrington warned,
advising: “The new coach should concentrate on stamina and improve the
players approach to the game.”

But FAZ spokesman, George Kasengele, said in an interview on Monday
that Zambia has alot of professional players who should not find it
difficult to adapt to any system of play.

“The team has alot of talent but we have to spice it with a
technical approach to reach those levels,” Kasengele said. “Even if he
(new coach) brings in a new style, with the professionals who are
playing abroad, it won’t be difficult for them to adapt.”

And, in a related development, Harrington implored FAZ to include a
representative of his association during the selection of the new
coach “because fans are important stake holders”.

“The success of the team depends on the support from the fans,”
Harrington said. “If the fans don’t approve of the new coach, it could
create problems.”

He disclosed that he would be writing to FAZ today to present a
petition from the soccer fans on the matter. “I will also personally
talk to the FAZ president Mr Teddy Mulonga,” he added.

FAZ announced last week that it had picked a committee, drawn from
FAZ, government and the Zambia Football Coaches Association (ZFCA), to
sit on the panel that will interview the six short listed coaches.

FAZ also announced that it would soon send out invitation letters
for the six coaches to start coming for the interviews scheduled for
mid-October.

Douglas Chiwaya’s 34th minute goal yesterday gave Zambia a well-deserved victory over Algeria in the last game of the haphazardly organised five-team Tanzania soccer invitational.

The Zambians who dominated the game with Masautso Tembo, Freddie Mwila Jnr and Muhammed Seedat in outstanding form, could have won it more convincingly but for poor finishing. The only goal of the match played at the refurbished National stadium in Dar-es-Salaam was set up by a lively, Seedat-T
embo duet that allowed the Power Dynamos man the space to fire home. Coach George Mungwa lauded the team for its performance and singled out Tembo, the Algerians’ main tormentor as his man-of-the-match.

“Every time he had the ball, the fans went wild. He was in great form,” said Mungwa of the Zamsure striker who should have had at least a goal to his name. In what may well be his last game as in-charge of the team, Mungwa said he was happy with the attitude shown by the players in the match.

“They promised me they would do it and I am glad they’ve lived up to their word,” he said, referring to a meeting he had with the team after their poor showing in Saturday’s scoreless draw with Tanzania. Zambia’s victory was tempered somewhat by an injury to Nkana’s Musole Sakulanda who had to
be withdrawn for Roan United’s Justin Sakala.

Sakulanda, playing only his second game for Zambia was hurt by a crude tackle by an Algerian defender as the tricky striker who leads the FAZ Premier Division scorers’ chart, headed goalwards. Mungwa said Algeria, fellow qualifiers for next year’s African finals and the last team to beat Zambia

at Independence stadium, got rather physical after falling behind.

He was impressed with the way the Zambian team held out as the Algerians pressed for an equaliser. “For the first time in a long time, I thought we played more mature in all the departments,” he said. Goalie Davies Phiri of Kabwe Warriors, shielded by a cordon thrown round his goal by Mufulira
Wanderers’ Allan Kamwanga, Power’s Jones Mwewa, Roan’s Hilary Makasa and Nchanga Rangers’s Elijah Tana, was hardly bothered.

In midfield, the Zambians also looked impressive, with plenty of clever play and hard graft from Seedat, later replaced by Wanderers’ Vincent Mutale, and John Lungu of Roan. Mungwa said the opposition provided by Algeria was just the kind Zambia needed to sharpen up for Burkina Faso. The game w
as watched by the biggest crowd to turn up for the poorly organised tournament, which also involved Kenya and Zanzibar.

In the stands were Zambian High Commissioner to Tanzania Joel Chitafu and University Commission of Inquiries commissioners led by Kabunda Kayongo. The Zambian embassy later at night threw a cocktail party for the players and officials. TEAM LINEUP Davies Phiri, Allan Kamwanga, Elijah Tana, Jone
s Mwewa, Douglas Chiwaya, Fred Mwila Jnr, John Lungu, Mohammed Seedat (Vincent Mutale), Hillary Makasa, Masautso Tembo, Musole Sakulanda (Justin Sakala).

The only way to stop the influx of illegal immigrants into South Africa is by helping them develop their own countries, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said in Nelspruit on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference, on his first day of the two-day visit to the province, Mbeki said “high voltage” fence between South Africa and Mozambique would not stop the flow of illegal immigrants in the country even if it can be switched on.

“South Africa will not develop properly with large number of immigrants, we need to help and develop our neighboring countries like Swaziland and Mozambique,” Mbheki said. Mbeki also said proclamation of land by town councils was a national drive and need to be discussed at a national context.

“A frame work is needed to solve the issue with all relevant representatives from the house of traditional leaders, national and local governments,” he said.

Mbeki also said the aim of Masakhane Focus Week was to educate people about being part of the development of their country. “The only way for residents to participate in the development of the country, is to pay for services rendered to them.

“If residents do not pay for services, the supplier of that service has a right to stop the service,” he explained.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in Mpumalanga opposed Premier Mathews Phosa on Monday and rejected Nelspruit’s pioneering R300-million water privatisation scheme.

Phosa publicly supported the contentious initiative last week during a visit to the town by deputy president Thabo Mbeki, calling the decision to contract out management of the provincial capitol’s water and sanitation services a “giant step in the right direction”. The ANCYL announced in a st
atement on Monday that it would use its political influence and expertise at organising physical protests to oppose the scheme. ANCYL provincial general secretary, James Nkambule, also criticised Phosa’s office for failing to reply to a detailed written objection to the scheme which the league re
portedly delivered in mid-August.

Nkambule also accused Nelspruit’s ANC dominated town council of betraying its stated RDP principles but declined to comment on how the apparent policy rift would effect the ANCYL’s support of Phosa’s nomination for election as ANC deputy president in December.

Nkambule spearheaded the ANCYL’s initial support for Phosa’s nomination and has been instrumental in creating support for Phosa’s nomination in the party’s other provincial structures.

The contentious water and sanitation scheme has been touted as South Africa’s first attempt to relieve government of the financial burden of supplying basic services such as water and sewerage by creating private sector managed bulk services through a 30-year public/ private partnership.

The R300-million contract will be awarded to one of three foreign bidder companies later this week despite months of fierce opposition from the Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) affiliated South Africa Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).

“Water provision is core to the upliftment of rural communities and needs to remain in the complete control of government. Officials are trying to hide their privatisation of water provision in Nelspruit by using words such as partnerships, but the fact remains that they are privatising water,”

he said. “We remain unequivocally opposed to this scheme and will not allow it to be approved.”

Lashing out at environmentalists and other interest groups for not speaking out against the scheme, Nkambule questioned the motives of individuals involved in piloting the initiative through council.

“We are surprised the same people who screamed and cried like babies over the Dolphin agreement, which only sought to build hotels in bushes and create jobs, haven’t made a sound about this scheme,” he explained.

“Their silence and therefore support of water privatisation smells of political hypocrisy of the highest order.” The ANCYL’s written objection calls for an investigation into the role played by Town Clerk Roelf Kotz’e but doesn’t outline any alleged conflicts of interest.

ANC provincial spokesperson, Jackson Mthembu, who is also MEC for Public Works, declined to comment on the ANCYL statement but confirmed that the party would convene a meeting between itself and the ANCYL, so that “the mother body can resolve this matter”.

Nelspruit’s ANC mayor, Isaiah Khoza rejected the ANCYL’s criticism as unfounded, stressing that the council wouldn’t be able to supply equitable water or sanitation services to all Nelspruit residents using the council’s present limited budget.

“With a capital budget of only R20 million per year, it will take us decades to build the necessary infra-structure. At current costs, this infra-structure will cost over R300-million - an expense which will now be picked up by the private sector,” Khoza said.

A German sponsored anti-crime sports project due to be launched on Friday is the first municipal spin-off from Mpumlanga’s recent rash of twinning agreements with foreign provinces or states.

The programme, dubbed Sports Against Crime (SPACE), is being funded and managed by volunteers from the German province of North Rhine Westfalia.

Aimed at creating crime free “comfort zones” within townships and other urban areas, SPACE also hopes to equip the region’s youth with lateral thinking, problem solving, conflict resolution and better muscle co-ordination skills through the development of community initiated and run sports club
s.

Project co-ordinator Nonhlanhla Maseko told African Eye News Service (South Africa) on Thursday that Nelspruit had secured an as yet unspecified amount of funding from the North Rhine Westfalia provincial government to operate the capacity building project for at least three years.

“We’ve also realised that the way to make a real impact and to also measure the programme’s effectiveness, is to introduce a number of completely new group games to targeted youth,” adds Maseko.

“Each game, sport or other leisure activity will be built around civic minded ideas and will be designed to be played with the smallest possible amount of equipment.”

Among the physical activities on the project are novelties to rural areas such as Nelspruit such as ‘professional’ Frisbee throwing, indlaka, trust and leadership games, acrobatics and a series of Tai Chi meditation type exercises.

“We hope that these games will take root in the community and lead to more creative leisure time activities and a new consciousness amongst the youth,” she said. The project will be officially launched at a “something for everybody’s taste” festival in KaNyamazane on Friday.

The launch ceremony will include a video on German’s youth culture and sporting activities and will be followed cultural dance activities by performances of local cultural dance groups.

Nelspruit began its final selection process to award the town’s contentious R350-million water and sewerage service tender to a private sector company for 30-years on Thursday, the council said in a statement.

The tender, portrayed as a private public partnership by the council and not as “pure” privatisation, has been fiercely opposed by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and its affiliate, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Only three companies are still in the running for what Nelspruit chief executive, Roelf Kotze, says will be South Africa’s first municipal commercialisation of water and sanitation services. The winning company will be announced during the first week of October.

Kotze told African Eye News Service (South Africa) on Thursday that Nelspruit had been forced to look to partnerships with the private sector after realising that it would cost at least R350-million to upgrade water and sanitation in the town’s newly inherited townships.

“With an annual capital budget of only about R20 million, it would take us decades to provide the required standard of services to all our residents. And then we still wouldn’t have any money to expand the existing services in the town itself or to cope with the massive economic and population
growth we’re experiencing,” he said

Citing Buenos Aires, in Argentina, as Nelspruit’s role model, Kotze said that scientific based studies had proven that productivity had tripled, service coverage had expanded dramatically and the quality of client services and responsiveness had all improved after the city awarded private compa
nies concessions to deliver basic services.

Nelspruit’s proposed concession would ensure, Kotze stressed, that the winning company would employ all affected council personnel at the same or better salaries they currently enjoy and that the council would retain control of macro-planning, service standards, delivery time tables and communi
ty involvement.

The council will also retain some control over rates charged to residents. At the end of the 30-year contract, ownership for all physical improvements and facilities will return to the council.

“The council will have no financial obligation towards the private company, relieving us from a huge financial burden. So we can use our financial and manpower savings available for other projects such as upgrading the region’s roads,” he said. The winning bidder is also expected to support bla
ck economic empowerment through share options and local co-operation agreements.

“The company is expected to plow profits back into the town’s economy by making use of local labour, professionals and emerging contractors. It will also have to make proposals on how to contribute towards the academic and practical skills upliftment of our unemployed youth,” he said.

Infrastructural improvement in peri-urban areas, where there are currently “no sanitation services at all and only inadequate communal water resources”, should be visible within one year, Kotze added. A booklet explaining the project is available from Nelspruit’s Public Relations office on (013
) 759 2059.

Nelspruit’s city council started stripping local traditional leaders of their wide-ranging traditional land ownership rights this week in an attempt to give ‘tribal’ residents the opportunity to buy the land they live on.

The controversial initiative was launched after residents in the tribal trust areas complained that they were unable to qualify for housing or other development grants from government and commercial banks as they did not technically own the land they live on.

Residents currently living in the densely populated peri-urban areas such as Daantjie lease their houses and plots for nominal rates, ranging from R2,50 per month, from the local chief.

These traditional leaders hold the land in trust for the tribe and also employ traditional ‘constables’ through a tribal court to police the area. The basis of traditional authority, however, subsists in their control of the land.

Nelspruit council secretary, Tom Sikonela, told African Eye News Service (South Africa) on Wednesday that the effected communities expressed support for the initiative during a special mass-meeting in August.

“The current ownership structure has prevented residents from taking advantage of RDP grants and has also prevented the council from being able to deliver or develop basic services in trust areas,” said Sikonela. “After testing resident’s views, we have an overwhelming mandate to formalise land

ownership via the proclamation of the area.”

Daantjie councillor, Bheka Mazibuko, that traditional leaders were expected to continue playing an important mediatory role in the effected communities and would continue to serve as custodians of traditional values.

A committee of Mpumalanga’s House of Traditional Leaders is deliberating the initiative but could not be reached for comment. Mazibuko added that residents were prepared to accept the increased rates and service charges, as well as the sale price for their sites which would result from procla
mation if they were guaranteed piped water, water-born sewerage and electricity.

“Residents know that ownership will bring about certain obligation such as the payment of bonds, rates and taxes, but at the same time they’ll finally get roads and all the other benefits of structured local governments,” Mazibuko added.

Stressing that there no proper planning or urban development had been done in the tribal areas, Mazibuko said that the formalisation of tribal trusts would be a “massive task”.

“The council has to first map the area, proclaim the land and subdivide it into stands, which will then be sold to individual owners. Certain areas, which may already be occupied by residents, will also have to be demarcated for high density residential or business use,” said Sikonela. “It’s a
massive project but very necessary.”

A similar 1992 proclamation in nearby Matsulu has led to clashes between local chiefs and the Nelspruit council. Concerned groups, including the chief, council and the premier, are currently resolve the issue.

In 1990, a study on violence against women established
that one in six women in the Western Cape experienced domestic
violence. A second study, carried out in 1997, found that every six
days a woman in South Africa was killed by someone known to her.

These horrific facts are borne out by frequent newspaper headlines
and radio reports. The light sentences handed down to child rapists
and murderers of women seem to indicate that officialdom doesn’t share
the outrage from the community that follows such sentencing. What are
we, the women of the Western Cape, doing about this issue?

Last month, the Call To Action campaign was initiated by Carehaven,
the Salvation Army shelter for battered women and their children - the
only one of its kind in the Western Cape. It’s been operating since
1990, offering secure emergency accommodation for up to three months.

While campaign membership fees will be used for operating finances
and the expanding and improvement of the shelter’s services, the Call
To Action project presents far broader goals which can be summed up as
meeting, talking, lobbying and networking - all objectives which call
for Action, with a capital A. Up to 16 women and their children stay
for up to three months in Carehaven’s sparsely furnished rooms, using
a communal kitchen and living room.

Most of the arrivals are both physically injured and emotionally
abused. During their time there, they receive counselling from social
workers, while a child care worker helps to place children in local
schools. Carehaven operates its own creche for pre-schoolers. Abuse of
women is found in all sectors of society, but most of Carehaven’s
residents do not work and range in age between 25 and 35.

The majority come from Mitchell’s Plain, Elsies River, Retreat,
Delft, Manenberg, Athlone, Parow, Langa, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu,
but shelter-seekers have also made their way there from Atlantis,
Saldanha and even Johannesburg.

The new vision for Carehaven includes the building of a separate
emergency trauma unit, enhancing its child care programme, upgrading
present facilities, and developing an income-generating programme that
will allow women to become financially secure and give them confidence
to enter the workplace. Also on the cards is the building of second
stage housing units to offer transitional accommodation for women on
their way to independent living after leaving the shelter.

At the Call To Action launch campaign, chairwoman Veronica Griffin
commented: “The scope and extent of emotional and physical abuse of
women is only recently becoming fully understood. “Because of the
concealed nature of the issue, adequate statistics are not available.
However, we do know it exists in all classes and cultures.

“Since most of the abuse takes place in the home, not only the
women are victims but their children suffer emotionally, physically
and often sexually. I want to be part of changing this.”

Of course, the ideal situation would be to make shelters like
Carehaven redundant, pointed out Carehaven chairwoman Brenda Greyling.
But “… meanwhile we have to provide a place of safety and healing ..
We need … skills training so that women are not thrown back into a
situation of dependence and violence.”

As the politicians fiddle, Cape Town is in danger of
losing parliament and a future opportunity of bidding for the olympic
games.

Former deputy mayor Llewellyn van Wyk has some harsh words about
the people running this city, charging that they are more interested
in scoring party political points in the run-up to the 1999 election
than securing Cape Town’s future.

He accuses councillors of providing no vision and no leadership to
a city at a serious crossroads which is in danger of losing its
legislative capital status and has no guarantee of being South
Africa’s choice of bidding city for a future Olympics.

If Mr van Wyk is right - and he probably is - it is an enormous
pity because it means the city is losing the impetus of the rallying
call of the abortive Olympic bid, that Cape Town has the potential to
rise out of its South Atlantic backwater to become a great world city.

It was more than a dream that held promises of prosperity and a
permanent place on the tourism map. It was one factor that united the
people of Cape Town - for or against the Games - with a new pride in
their city.

In spite of its environmental beauty, Cape Town is a far from
perfect place. It still bears the scars of apartheid and is deeply
divided racially and economically, its population compartmentalised in
places as diverse as Clifton, Manenberg and Khayelitsha. It cannot
afford to lose a single point of unity, not even something as ethereal
as a vision of greatness.

Neither can it afford piecemeal decision-making by people pursuing
their own interests because we will wake up one day and find our
beautiful city has turned into a soulless concrete jungle.

Mr Van Wyk’s idea of a Millennium Institute is a good one - as long
as it is not yet another forum of talking heads but has the influence
to ensure the politicians keep their eye on the ball.