Polity - Week in Review

South Africa

MIDRAND - Deputy President Baleka Mbete says that a unified approach comprised of all sectors of the economy and society is needed to fight crime in the country. She believes that nationwide involvement will leave no space for criminals to operate. Public private partnerships need to bring about practical initiatives and be harmonised. Anti-crime intelligence needs to be strengthened and skills development within the intelligence unit should be improved. Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa says that corruption and ill-discipline in the police service will not be tolerated. He adds that addressing corruption is a challenging task but needs to be undertaken.

DURBAN - The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) states that journalists must be impartial during the upcoming political elections. Sanef assures the South African public that the media will uphold the professional values and codes of conduct that prevail in the industry. The forum says it has noted and condemned the utterances of journalists expressing preference to cover certain political parties and not others. Journalists are expected to adhere to the press code that commits all journalists to report objectively without fear or favour. Sanef also appeals to political parties to let journalists do their jobs freely in the run-up to the elections, especially as the electioneering atmosphere and campaigns gain momentum. The forum says that the press system of self-regulation, with Joe Thloloe as the ombudsman, is serving its intended purpose of holding the media accountable.

DURBAN - Marking World Aids Day, Deputy President Baleka Mbete urges all South Africans to act as leaders on HIV and tuberculosis in their community. Despite the high prevalence of HIV in South Africa, Mbete says there have been significant gains through government's national strategic plan, with, for example, the largest anti-retroviral treatment programme in the world. She says HIV/Aids and TB are national priorities requiring urgent action. The government's goal is to halve new infections by 2011. Health Minister Barbara Hogan says South Africans need to work together to save future generations. The Health Department pledges to scale up mother to child ARV treatment. Doctor Peter Piot, executive director of United Nations Aids (UNAids), says that more than half a million people in South Africa are still alive because they are receiving antiretroviral treatment. He states that the challenge for South Africa is to get the treatment to everyone who has been diagnose.

KEMPTON PARK - African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob Zuma states that South Africa needs to be an effective developmental state if it is to achieve social transformation. He says that the country's economic growth needs to be supported by health and education transformation, a fight against crime, rural development and agrarian and land reform. Key to achieving these priorities is the extablishment of an effective developmental state. This will ensure a coherent state intervention in the economy to achieve the ANC's objectives of building a sustainable economy that is able to create jobs and meet the country's developmental needs. Zuma adds that he creation and retention of decent jobs will be the primary focus of the all economic policies of an ANC government. He explains that the ANC's trade and industrial policies, macro-economic policy stance will be aligned to achieve decent work outcomes. Zuma emphasises that quality economic growth needs to be ensured. He adds that the ANC manifesto is not designed to be a list of empty promises, but rather an achievable plan.

Africa & World

VIENNA - The United Nations atomic agency calls for greater trust and investment in using radiation to bolster crops against climate change and disease as a way to save millions from hunger. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that this technique has been around since the 1920s and proven effective, but its spread has been limited by phobias over the words "radiation" and "mutation". Unlike bio-engineered genetic modification (GM) of crops, irradiating plant species - known as "induced mutation" - does not introduce any foreign genetic material. Chikelu Mba, head of the plant breeding laboratory run jointly by the IAEA and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says that this method is safe and cost-effective, requiring no notable upgrade in infrastructure beyond investment in training people in the method in needy countries. Pierre Lagoda, overall chief of the IAEA-FAO project, acknowledges that the technology still faces resistance because of prejudices against anything nuclear. Mba says, however, that they are just mimicking nature.

HARARE - Zimbabwe's government defies a southern Africa tribunal ruling to stop the seizure of white-owned farms and will continue its land reforms. A Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal rules that Zimbabwe's planned seizure of dozens of white-owned farms violates international law and should be halted immediately. The tribunal says that Zimbabwe should take every measure to protect the possessions and property of 75 white farmers who challenged the legality of a contested land reform programme, and also orders that other farmers be compensated for land taken. But Didymus Mutasa, minister of state for national security, lands, land reform and resettlement, says that President Robert Mugabe's government will ignore the judgement. He says the tribunal is day-dreaming because Zimbabwe's government will not reverse the land reform exercise. He adds that there is nothing special about the 75 farmers involved in the contestation and that they plan to take more farms. Mutatsa says that the process does not involve discrimination against farmers, but rather a correction of land imbalances.