News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Zimbabwe needs migration policy - Swedish envoy

Posted: 14 Nov 2016 10:05 PM PST

Zimbabwe needs an immigration policy that integrates migration into a broad development agenda, a diplomat says.

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Harare - Zimbabwe, with more than three million people believed to be living in neighbouring South Africa alone, needs an immigration policy that integrates migration into a broad development agenda, the Swedish Deputy Head of Mission to Zimbabwe, Maria Selin said on Monday.

Selin made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of a Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Project Close Out Meeting at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) offices in Harare.

She said the Zimbabwean government was being assisted by the IOM to formulate a migration policy that would integrate the issues of migration into the country's development agenda.

"IOM has also been working with government, not with Swedish funding, on producing the diaspora policy because of course a country like Zimbabwe in the region where you have got so much migration you need to have government policies that really look into all aspects and see not only the challenges but also the potential with migration so that is what the IOM has been able to assist the government with," Selin said.

Selin said SIDA was working with the IOM to promote humane migration and to see whether they could work in communities to support those that were affected by migration.

"It's quite clear that we have had a long standing relation with IOM and we have been working together for many years to support on issues of migration because it is quite an important aspect of development," she said.

Selin said the SIDA, together with the IOM, was working with different communities in order to settle various people who have had to move from their original settlements for various reasons.

"We have been trying to work with them to integrate them into the community and with our support of about $3 million for two years, one thing that we have done is set up three reception centres in Beitbridge ,Plumtree and Nyamapanda that we have now handed over to government so they continue to be fully operational in order to assess the migrants that come back to Zimbabwe," she said.

Despite having to deal with its own migration policies, which were putting a strain on the government finances, Sweden would continue to support Zimbabwe to deal with its migration problems and had availed $3 million to be used over two years.

"The Swedish government is committed to stay in Zimbabwe and we are preparing a new strategy, a five year strategy on development co-operation for Zimbabwe, so despite the fact that the national budget, has been hit pretty hard by the cost of migration, we are now fully committed that this will not have a negative impact on our cooperation in Zimbabwe for years to come," she said.

She said they had a slightly lower disbursement this year but was confident that in the next few years they would fund projects in Zimbabwe to the tune of around $25 million per year.

IOM Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, Rangarirai Tigere, said they were dealing with a number of cases of unaccompanied children, adding that the government of Zimbabwe had put in place measures to provide the necessary assistance to the affected children.

"It's quite a concern that we have been addressing together with government where we have minor children who sometimes migrate or have been separated from those with whom they are travelling with," he said. "We are quite glad that government has put in place measures to provide the necessary assistance when such cases come through the reception and support centres; for instance in Beitbridge and Plumtree, there are child centres run by the relevant ministry to provide relevant support."

Tigere said although he did not have the exact statistics of the affected children, he was convinced the figures were high enough to warrant immediate attention. He said migration affected everyone, including children, adding that the major cause of migration was the economic situation which forced families to move in search of greener pastures.

* Zimbabwe and South Africa are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will see the establishment of recruitment centres at the Beitbridge Border Post.

Acting Deputy Director for International Relations in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Langton Ngorima, said the recently held Bi National Commission meeting in Harare had agreed that the memorandum would be signed during the first quarter of 2017. He said Zimbabwe would also establish immigration centres at its borders that would provide information for migrants to make informed decisions before they crossed into neighbouring countries.

African News Agency

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Ex-Zambian minister’s graft probe details revealed

Posted: 14 Nov 2016 04:00 AM PST

Former Zambian minister Chishimba Kambwili is being probed on how he accumulated a personal wealth after serving the government for just five years.

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Gaborone - Former Zambian Information and Broadcasting Services minister Chishimba Kambwili is being investigated on how he accumulated a personal wealth that includes several plush villas and over 500 flats after serving the government for just five years.

Unnamed sources from Zambian State House told the “Lusaka Times” that the former minister was also being investigated for alleged irregularities in the awarding of several government and private sector contracts to his company, Mwamona Investments.

Kambwili is a director of the company, which is registered in Lusaka as a diversified holding with interests in real estate, property development, civil engineering, haulage transport services and of late, milling.

It also trades as Mwamona Invest, operating from Dumela Industrial Sites in Francistown, Botswana. A possible investigation is expected to focus on how the ex-minister is funding the construction of executive blocks of flats in the cities of Ndola, Luanshya and the capital Lusaka.

It would also examine how Kambwili accumulated a pool of 28 personal vehicles in five years, up from the three he had when he joined parliament in 2008, as well as reports that he now owns multiple properties in London, where his family lives.

In terms of alleged construction fraud, Mwamona Investments would be probed for abandoning government projects which included the construction of a market place in the town of Mwense in Luapula Province.

Other projects which were allegedly fully paid for but abandoned as incomplete, include schools, clinics and roads in Luapula. In the process, government was defrauded of up to $30 million.

Zambian Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesman Timothy Moono said they would decide soon on whether or not to investigate the allegations against Chishimba.

African News Agency

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200 children could die daily in Nigeria

Posted: 14 Nov 2016 02:04 AM PST

Up to half of all children under the age of five are acutely malnourished in north-eastern Nigeria where terrorist group Boko Haram is wreaking havoc.

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Cape Town - Two hundred children could die every day from hunger in north-eastern Nigeria where Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram is wreaking havoc, charity Save the Children said Monday.

Up to half of all children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, the organisation found when screening the health of boys and girls in the region between June and October.

The figure could be even worse in areas that are out of reach because of insecurity, according to the report.

“Children are presenting in desperate conditions and facing severe malnutrition, often in combination with other life-threatening illnesses like pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea,” said Save the Children country director Ben Foot.

Violent attacks on civilians by Boko Haram since 2009 have affected almost 15 million people in north-eastern Nigeria, according to the World Health organisation (WHO).

More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes in the region, while 7 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance, the WHO said.

Roughly 3 million people lived in unknown conditions in inaccessible areas in 2015. Boko Haram’s goal is to enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as sharia. Since 2009, at least 14 000 people have died at the hands of the Sunni fundamentalists in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

 

dpa

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