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Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai rejects gay rights move

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Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan Tsvangirai joined Robert Mugabe’s government a year ago

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has joined President Robert Mugabe in dismissing calls to enshrine gay rights in the new constitution.

“I totally agree with the president,” he said, state media report.

Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe once said gays were “worse than pigs and dogs”, sparking international condemnation.

Gay rights has become a controversial issue in several African countries in recent months.

Mr Tsvangirai joined his long-time rival Mr Mugabe in a power-sharing government a year ago but relations between the two men remain tense.

‘Very worrying’

President Mugabe told a belated celebration of International Women’s Day that he had recently learned of moves to introduce gay rights in the new constitution currently being discussed.

“That issue is not debatable, it’s not up for discussion,” he said, according to the state-owned Herald newspaper.

“It is just madness, insanity. The ancestors will turn in their graves should we allow this to happen.”

And Mr Tsvangirai said he agreed.

“Women make up 52% of the population… There are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men?”

Chesterfield Samba, director of the Gays And Lesbians of Zimbabwe (Galz), told the BBC News website he was seeking clarification of the comments.

But he said, if confirmed, they would be “very worrying”.

He also confirmed that Galz would be making a submission to the constitutional review commission.

Although homosexual acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, Galz has an office in Harare and Mr Samba said the police generally left them alone.

Supporters of Mr Tsvangirai hope the new constitution will pave the way for free elections, possibly as soon as 2011.

In Uganda, an MP has introduced a draft bill which makes homosexual acts punishable by life in prison and death in some circumstances.

In Malawi, a gay couple has spent three months in jail after holding a party to celebrate their engagement.

And in Kenya, police intervened after rumours that a couple were planning a gay wedding.

BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8588548.stm

 

Zuma in unity rallying call on visit to Uganda

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President Zuma is welcomed by Uganda officials at Statehouse in Entebbe. Extreme right is President Museveni. Photo by Stephen Wandera

 

By Emmanuel Gyezaho  (email the author)

Daily Monitor, http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/886494/-/wjtoan/-/index.html

 

Posted Thursday, March 25 2010 at 16:15

In Summary

The ANC leader found moment to commend Uganda for backing South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement in the late 1980’s.

 

Kampala

Visiting South African leader Jacob Zuma has challenged African leaders to work towards unifying the continent as key ingredient for development. Addressing a special sitting of Parliament, Mr Zuma said Africans can only be liberated from economic slavery if they stand together as one, telling MPs that economic integration is a key remedy to the dire situation that the continent finds itself today.

Although the African continent is rich with natural resources, the S.A leader said Africa remains the poorest continent in the world.

“It is only by unity our people and pulling our economies that we will overcome this devastating legacy,” he said.

Mr Zuma moved to tap into the pan-african sentiments of his audience as he moved a passionate appeal to African statesmen to develop capacity for their people to trade with each other across borders.

“Our economic development is constrained by borders colonialists imposed on the African landscape,” said Mr Zuma. “That is why we are in support for economic integration. We must overcome these borderlines and draw our own lines.”

He said Africans should concentrate on drawing lines that represent “roads, railway lines and fibre optic cable lines.”

The ANC leader found moment to commend Uganda for backing South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement in the late 1980’s.

“The people of South Africa have not forgotten what Uganda did for them during their time of need,” he said. “Our words of gratitude should be heard by all in this beautiful country. We will always remember the sacrifice.”

Uganda was a place of refuge for hundreds of South African dissidents and exiles and hosted a military training camp for the rebel wing of the ANC in Kawaweta, Mubende District. The camp, named after renowned South African anti-apartheid politician Oliver Reginald Tambo, was upgraded into a school of leadership for senior police, prisons and military personnel with South African taxpayer’s funds. President Zuma will officially open the school tomorrow afternoon.

 


 
 
 
   

 

 

 

Burundi: 155,000 Burundian refugees granted Tanzanian citizenship

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 About 155,000 Burundian refugees, seeking Tanzanian citizenship, have had their requests granted, according to a communiqué from the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), published on Thursday in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital.

Some of the refugees fled from Burundi in the 1970s because of the ethnic clashes there.

According to the UNHCR, however, some 500,000 other Burundian refugees in Tanzania had elected to return home since 2002.

Read more at: http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/burundi:-155,000-burundian-refugees-granted-tanzanian-citizenship-2010031245723.html

Remittances update — Africa General

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 Remittances update

http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/rem1003.php

Editor’s Note

A 2009 report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) notes that some 30 million African workers outside their countries send home approximately $40 billion a year in remittances. But with only as many “payout” locations on the continent as in one Latin American country (Mexico), the process is expensive and dominated by two large money transfer companies which work primarily with banks. There are large untapped opportunities for lower costs, particularly for rural Africans, if more governments allowed and fostered the participation of post offices and micro-finance institutions in remittance transfers.

A 4-page newsletter, Financing Facility for Remittances, with a report on the 2009 Global Forum on Remittances is at:http://www.ifad.org/remittances/newsletter/1.pdf

For statistics on remittances to and within Africa, see: http://www.ifad.org/remittances/maps/africa.htm

For a previous AfricaFocus Bulletin on remittances, see: 
“Africa: Sending Money Home,” at 
http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/rem0711.php 
END editor’s note 

 

South Africa to send 22 Ugandans home

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Some of the Ugandans held in South Africa meet a ugandan delegation led by Minister Matia Kasaija and Gen. Kayihura. Photo by A. Kloppre 

By Faridah Kulabako  (email the author)
Posted Tuesday, February 2 2010 at 00:00

 

Kampala

Twenty-two Ugandans who were arrested in South Africa over charges of contravening immigration laws are to be deported starting this week. The detainees aged between 23-50, who were arrested during Christmas season, are said to have illegally entered South Africa while others had expired visas.

The 22 detainees, who are being held at South African repatriation centre in Krugersdorp awaiting deportation, came to the limelight last week during an official visit of a Ugandan delegation to South Africa.

Members of Parliament Emmanuel Lumala Dombo, Nathan Byanyima, Rose Namayanja and Lt. Saleh Kamba accompanied the delegation.The delegation was led by Internal Affairs State Minister Matia Kasaija and included the Inspector General of Police Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, the Commissioner General of Prisons, Dr Johnson Byabashaija, and ministers Rukia Chekamondo (Privatisation), Charles Bakkabulindi (Sports).

‘Greener pasture’
The Ugandan detainees, some of whom have been incarcerated for over a month, confessed to have gone to South Africa without relevant visas to ‘seek greener pastures’.
“We are not criminals, we only came to seek greener pastures, earn an extra coin and invest home,” a member of the delegation quoted some of the captives as telling the Ugandan officials.

Mr Kasaija confirmed that screening the detainees was on-going and that they will be flown back to Uganda any time. He cautioned Ugandans against using illegal entry means, saying they should always use proper channels for visiting and working in a foreign country.
“Having a passport is a right. No one should risk life again in such a way,” he said, adding that finding the detainees was a coincidence since they had gone for a public-private partnership mission.

Consul Wilson Twinomugisha, the second secretary at the Uganda High Commission in South Africa told Daily Monitor on telephone that as the World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in June, draws closer, more people with illegal documents will be deported for security reasons.

He said Ugandans will be deported in two batches with the first one expected this week.
Some of the detainees are said to have been selling traditional medicine, which they said is a lucrative venture in South Africa. 
Others seized include Mozambicans and Zimbabweans.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/853992/-/whx3kf/-/index.html