Polity Week in Review

South Africa

CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) is confident it will win at least 40% of the vote in the Western Cape in next month's election, allowing it to form a provincial government "without too much drama or trauma", says party CE Ryan Coetzee. He says that the projection is based on "scientific" research by the party's tracking service, which also forecasts that the African National Congress (ANC) will come second in the province with significantly reduced support levels, followed by the Congress of the People (Cope). Coetzee says that the party will not hazard a guess on the percentage of the vote it will take in any other region or nationally in the April elections. DA leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille is running for Premier of the Western Cape in what is expected to be the most closely fought race in the country. She has explained the move as part of a strategy to persuade voters that their lives improve where her party is in power, and to gradually win more cities and provinces across the country.

JOHANNESBURG - Speaking after a meeting of the ruling party's national executive committee, African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says that the ruling party is looking past the election and planning for its upcoming term in government. He reports that the ANC has already composed a White Paper on the party's executive structure. It is about "how to ensure that we govern effectively", says Mantashe. Confident of being returned to government after the April 22 poll, the ANC is in the final stages of a White Paper that considers the splitting of some Ministries and the possibility of new Ministries in the executive. The White Paper looks at oversight, monitoring and the evaluation of government's work and improving delivery by cutting out bureaucracy, which hampers the provision of services. Mantashe says that the party is not "obsessed" with a two-thirds majority, as this is required only to amend the Constitution, which the party does not plan on doing. Mantashe adds that the ANC will be intensifying its election campaign in the final stretch ahead of the April 22 poll, hoping for a "decisive victory".

Africa & the world

HARARE - The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic seems to have passed its worst, with both the number of new infections and the rate of fatalities falling. The organisation says that data collection and verification remain a challenge in Zimbabwe, with the effect that weekly statistics are not always accurate or complete. However, the overall trend over the last two months is of a decreasing number of cases and deaths. As at March 17, a total of 91 164 cases with 4 037 deaths had been reported since the start of the outbreak in August 2008, says the WHO. New Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says that official figures probably dramatically underestimate the real number of infections and deaths.

LUANDA - Pope Benedict XVI, at the end of his first trip to Africa as pontiff, urges the leaders of a continent afflicted by poverty and corruption to put the interests of their people first. Speaking in Angola, he says that "the fundamental aspirations of the most needy peoples should be the principal concern of those in public office". The need to end corruption and share wealth has been a recurring theme in the pope's trip to Africa, during which he visited Cameroon and Angola. Many African countries are rich in natural resources but the majority of the population lives in poverty. The pope says that the revenues obtained from the sale of these resources should be used to improve the lives of African people.

NEW YORK - Governments broadly support tough 2050 goals for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions but are split on how to share out the reductions, according to a new guide for negotiators of a new United Nations (UN) climate pact. A document to be presented to the UN climate talks in Bonn next month narrows down ideas for fighting global warming in a new treaty to be signed in December. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN climate change secretariat, says that there is still much to be done. More than 190 governments agreed in 2007 to work out a climate treaty by the end of 2009.