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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has immediately released a US$20 million second tranche loan to Malawi.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed today the first review of Malawi’s economic performance under a program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The Board’s decision enables the immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 13.02 million (about US$20 million), bringing total disbursements under the program to an amount equivalent to SDR 26.04 million (about US$40.1 million).
In completing the review, the Executive Board approved a request for a waiver of the nonobservance of the end-September 2012 performance criterion on the level of net domestic assets of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM). The three-year ECF arrangement for Malawi in the total amount of SDR 104.1 million (about US$156.2 million) was approved on July 23, 2012 (see Press Release 12/273).
Following the Board’s discussion, Mr. Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, issued the following statement:
“Drought in parts of Malawi lowered overall growth in 2012, and threatened the subsistence of nearly 2 million people. A spike in food prices and the continuing depreciation of the kwacha contributed to a surge in inflation. The external economic environment has also been more difficult than anticipated. Despite these challenges, performance under the Fund-supported program has been satisfactory.
“Tight monetary and fiscal policies are needed now to stabilize the exchange rate and curb inflation. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has appropriately discontinued a temporary facility for uncollateralized lending to banks and increased the policy rate in early December. Fiscal policy is also playing a role, including with the reactivation of the automatic adjustment mechanism for fuel prices which has cut untargeted subsidies that mainly benefit the better off. The bulk of the additional external financing provided by Malawi’s development partners will allow the government to increase outlays on social protection programs without increasing domestic borrowing, although the authorities are well advised to save a portion of those grants to build up international reserves from very low levels.
“The RBM has stepped up its oversight of banks with a view to addressing emerging threats to the stability of the financial system. It is paying particular attention to ensuring that banks facing persistent liquidity problems implement restructuring plans that put them back on a sound financial footing.
“The authorities are making good progress in implementing a wide range of structural reforms. On the budget side, reforms focus on strengthening tax and customs administration, as well as improving public financial management though greater expenditure control and the prevention of arrears. The authorities have also committed to removing regulatory hurdles to improve the investment climate and foster sustained and broad based growth.”

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Public Affairs			Media Relations
E-mail:	publicaffairs@imf.org		E-mail:	media@imf.org
Fax:	202-623-6220		Phone:	202-623-7100

Motlanthe to resign as SA Vice President

South Africa deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe will resign from government and leave the way clear for Zuma to bring Ramaphosa in as deputy president immediately, rather than waiting until 2014.

This comes after  president Jacob Zuma beat Motlanthe  at the ANC convention  by 2983 votes to 991 in a secret ballot. At the same time, Cyril Ramphosa received 3,018 votes from delegates which makes him one of the most popular if not the most popular individual in the ANC right now.

Kgalema Motlanthe probably made the most moving speech of his career when he announced he would not stand for the NEC. Motlanthe who had dedicated 15 years as an ANC office-bearer, 10 as Secretary-General and 5 as Deputy President, thanked the party’s substructures and South African citizens for giving him a chance to serve them.

Delegates gave him a rousing standing ovation.

Kgaleme told them: “ANC is an epitome of democracy. And so we must continue to champion democracy in our country and the world over.”

He said South Africa must de-racialise and rid itself of sexism.

“We must attend to economic challenges of the poverty, inequality and unemployment and use the mandate given by our people.”

Even though he was the loser, he endorsed the new leadership, saying: "The leadership was elected by the entire membership of the African National Congress."

He ended off by thanking Zuma for allowing him to speak even though protocol didn't allow him to.

However the ANC has downplayed Kgalema's decision to step out of government.

" He is not lost to the movement, our former leaders are never lost to us, party spokesperson Jackson Mthembu was quoted by the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday night 

Zimbabwe to regulate internet journalism

ZIMBABWE has threatened to regulate internet such as China to prevent on line publications such as www.zimdiaspora.com being read in the country, it has been learnt.

Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu said there should be appropriate regulations to the internet and other new media platforms as they have a potential to cause strife in society.

Minister Shamu said it was important to instill in citizens and the journalism fraternity progressive values anchored on clear appreciation of national history and cultural heritage so that they appropriately exercise citizen journalism.

The minister said this during a meeting with Deputy Minister of the State Counsel Information Office of China, Mr Qian Xiaoqian, who is in the country for a familiarisation visit.

Minister Shamu said there should be leverage on social media for the people’s good.

“However, it is also important to note that if not wisely utilised and appropriately regulated, these platforms can be a cause of strife in society.

“The so-called citizen journalism facet of the new media means everyone has the potential to disseminate information that is not sometimes inaccurate or undesirable, information which may indeed be in total disregard of the national interest and lead to uncalled for internal strife in a country,” said Minister Shamu.

“Self-censorship, which is a cornerstone in sensible dissemination of information in both the traditional and new media, assumes an abundance of progressive thought in society.”

The minister commended the good bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and China saying Beijing has always supported Harare in the wake of the onslaught by the West.

Zimbabwe, said Minister Shamu, recognised Beijing as the legitimate government of mainland China and Taiwan.

“We support your country on the One China Policy and we continue to plead with our sister countries in the Sadc region to do the same. China should safeguard its territory and national unity by preventing Taiwan from being separated from the mainland. We support your principle of one country, two systems,” he said.

Mr Qian said China would continue to support Zimbabwe, particularly in condemning the illegal sanctions against Harare.

“We will continue calling for the sanctions removal,” he said.

Mr Qian and his delegation latter visited the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and held a meeting with parastatal’s management led by Mr Happison Muchechetere.

They also visited Zimpapers where they held a meeting with the company’s editors and senior executives led by the group chief executive officer, Mr Justin Mutasa.

Zuma has been re-elected as leader of the ANC

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma  has been re-elected leader of the ANC, a victory that virtually guarantees him another 5 years in power.

He received 2,983 votes against Kgalema Motlanthe’s 991.

 Zuma's win at the ANC elective conference tees him up for another seven years as head of state.

The more than 4,000 ANC delegates crammed into a marquee in Bloemfontein erupted into wild cheers when Zuma was confirmed in the top party post. A beaming Zuma then walked on stage to shake hands with his colleagues and members of the party’s election commission..

 More results:

Ramaphosa

Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa was elected the ANC's new deputy president on Tuesday.

He received 3018 votes against Tokyo Sexwale's 463 and Mathews Phosa's 470.

He would take over from current deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Motlanthe was nominated for the position, but withdrew his candidacy on Monday.

Mbete
Baleka Mbete retains her position as ANC chairwoman after being re-elected at the ANC's Mangaung conference on Tuesday.
She received 3010 votes. Current deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise was the other candidate, but only received 939 votes.

Mantashe

Gwede Mantashe will retain his position as secretary-general of the African National Congress.

He was re-elected at the ANC's 53rd national conference in Mangaung on Tuesday, with 3058 votes.

He defeated Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who got 901 votes. Mbalula was nominated by those calling for a change of leadership

Duarte

Jessie Duarte has been elected deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress.

She stood for the position uncontested after the incumbent, Thandi Modise, withdrew her candidacy on Monday.

Baleka Mbete retains her position as ANC chairwoman after being re-elected at the ANC's Mangaung conference on Tuesday.
She received 3010 votes. Current deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise was the other candidate, but only received 939 votes.
Mkhize
KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairman Zweli Mkhize will take over the position of party treasurer general from Mathews Phosa.
Mkhize was chosen at the African National Congress's national elective conference on Tuesday, with 2988 votes. He defeated Gauteng ANC chairman Paul Mashatile, who got 961 votes.
Mashatile was nominated by those calling for a change of leadership.

Nelson Mandela Was a High Ranking Communist

Despite decades of Nelson Mandela denying that he was an official member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) during his Soviet-backed war on the Apartheid government, evidence uncovered recently by British historian Stephen Ellis shows otherwise. The new research confirmed that not only was the African National Congress (ANC) leader a member of the SACP, he may have actually been a senior official working with the party’s Central Committee.

Still, for 50 years, while admitting that he was influenced by Marx and other communist luminaries, Mandela has denied — in public, at least — that he was an actual member of the Communist Party. But now, documents discovered at the University of Cape Town by Stephen Ellis, a professor based at the Free University of Amsterdam, completely contradict Mandela’s bogus claims.
Among other evidence, Ellis found minutes from a secret SACP meeting of top leaders in 1982. The papers document a high-level Communist Party functionary’s discussion about Mandela having joined the SACP around 20 years earlier. That would mean he joined in the beginning of the 1960s, probably 1961 or 1962, well before he was prosecuted for, among numerous other crimes, membership in the outlaw party backed by some of the most ruthless tyrants on the face of the Earth.
“There was an accusation that we opposed allowing Nelson [Mandela] and Walter [Sisulu, a fellow activist] into the Family [a code word for the party],” Communist leader and SACP Central Committee member John Pule Motshabi was quoted as saying in the minutes. “We were not informed because this was arising after the 1950 campaigns [a series of street protests]. The recruitment of the two came after.”
Experts including Ellis, who first identified and publicized the documents, said it was some of the most compelling evidence to date proving that Mandela was actually a member of the SACP. However, some analysts attempted to dismiss the new finds as insignificant, portraying the former South African president’s party membership as a mere alliance of convenience that was supposedly necessary to overthrow the existing government.
Had the proof been more widely disseminated decades ago, though, it would have been much harder for the Western establishment, including the U.S. government, to openly join forces with communist tyrants to support the controversial figure in his often-brutal guerrilla war. Indeed, if the world had only been paying attention, the signs would have been obvious to even a casual observer.
Today, if the truth had been known back then, South Africa might be a very different place, too. As The New American reported recently in a series of articles citing some of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, the so-called “Rainbow Nation” is currently facing the threat of both genocide and full-blown communism as white farmers are massacred and ANC-SACP politicians plot more robbery.
“Communist parties are dogmatic organizations. They never move anyone up to the central committee unless they know them to be die-hard Communists,” explained anti-communist analyst Daniel Greenfield in a piece for FrontPage magazine. “If Mandela was in the central committee, then he was a longtime member in good standing who had proven himself.”
Of course, Mandela has long been accused of being a member of the SACP, even by multiple party officials, going back about five decades. His wife Winnie was famous for being a rabid proponent of “necklacing.” The brutal punishment, used against fellow blacks who disagreed with the ANC, involved placing a burning tire filled with gasoline around a victim’s neck that killed slowly and painfully.
During Mandela’s prosecution for sabotage and treason, prosecutors also produced a document written by the controversial figure in which he actually boasted of being a Communist Party member. On being released from prison, Mandela proclaimed at a rally: “I salute the South African Communist Party for its sterling contribution to the struggle for democracy.” He appeared (and was photographed) at multiple rallies with SACP boss Joe Slovo in front of a giant hammer and sickle.
The ANC and its terrorist wing, founded and led by Mandela, were dominated by the Communist Party as well, and the influence goes back decades. “No major decision could be taken by the ANC without the concurrence and approval of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party,” former ANC and SACP leader Bartholomew Hlapane testified before the U.S. Congress before being executed by an assassin. Support from the communist terror regimes ruling China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union for Mandela, his ANC, and the SACP is also a matter of historical record.
Today, unsurprisingly to analysts who were paying attention two decades ago, the ANC rules South Africa in an unholy alliance with the SACP and an umbrella group for labor unions. Numerous top officials, including recent ANC presidents, have publicly admitted to also being members of the SACP. South Africans of all colors are now paying the price.

BY  Trevor Loudon

Nelson Mandela still in hospital

As the sun sets the anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela will clock a eleveth day in undisclosed  hospital in the capital Pretoria, South Africa.

Mandela who was being treated at 1 Military hospital in Pretoria was later transferred  to  undisclosed private hospital where he was operated after being found with gallstones which went successful.

However the  Presidency on Thursday declined to confirm a report that former president Nelson Mandela was not being treated in 1 Military Hospital  as initially thought.

 “The Presidency has been consistent that (Mr Mandela) is in a hospital in Pretoria and avoided identifying the precise hospital for reasons regarding the privacy for Madiba and his family,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said.

He said this was to ensure his treatment was administered in the most conducive conditions for his recovery.   

“For those reasons we have avoided disclosing the precise hospital.”  

A large contingent of journalists from local and international media have been camping outside the 1 Military Hospital since Saturday.Earlier on Thursday President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela was "recuperating" in hospital.
 

    Mandela has been hospitalized since Dec. 8 for tests and later medical treatment for a recurrent lung infection.

President Jacob Zuma and delegates at a convention for the African National Congress political party honored Mandela on Sunday in song.

Mandela was a leader of the ANC and served as the nation's first democratically elected president under the party's banner.

Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa. He served one five-year term as president before retiring from public life.

Mangaung bomb plot: More arrests likely

Bloemfontein - More arrests were expected after four rightwing extremists were held for suspected terrorism charges, police said on Monday.

Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Billy Jones said his team was investigating further.

"Yes, we are expecting to make more arrests but we cannot reveal further details at the moment," he said.

The four were arrested on Sunday.

"The suspects are aged between 40 and 50 years old," said Jones.

Evidence

"Their premises were searched and evidence supporting the investigation was seized."

Jones said the arrests were the result of a successful joint law enforcement operation.

He said the group would be charged and brought before a court soon.

No further details about the police operation or where the four people were arrested were given.

Meanwhile, the newly established Federal Freedom Party (FFP) said in a statement that at least two of the people arrested are members of their party.

Its national secretary Francois Cloete said their president and a member of their executive council were arrested in Mookgopong (Naboomspruit), Limpopo.

Cloete described FFP as a "party that promotes self-determination of the Afrikaner/Boer people in a confederal political model".

South Africa Since Mandela

By Bill Keller 

In 1994, shortly after Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first president of all South Africans, one of the local newspapers ran an interview with him under a huge, boldface headline: “MANDELA: I’M NOT ‘MESSIAH.’ ” That this would be considered banner news testified to the degree of myth and the unreality of expectations that attended the man.

Mandela is now 94 and hospitalized, recovering from gallstone surgery and a lung infection, the latest echo of the tuberculosis he suffered during his years in the dusty contagion of prison on Robben Island. He may linger in the hospital, or he may be discharged to continue his largely oblivious old age at the retirement house he built in his native Transkei. Either way, this is an apt time to think a few thoughts about what Mandela bequeathed his people, for better and for worse.

Mandela’s most valuable gift to South Africa was a culture of patient compromise. He did not triumph over apartheid by spending 27 years in prison and then cashing in his moral superiority. He triumphed by spending 27 years in prison and then doing an elaborate deal with the men who put him there — a deal that temporarily protected the jobs, the lands and the industrial wealth of the white minority, a deal that made the disenfranchised majority wait patiently for their reparations, a deal that minimized the flight of white capital and expertise and averted a prolonged blood bath. He was, in short, a politician, of a sort that was rare in the African National Congress then and is in woefully short supply today, here and in Washington: a politician with high purpose, a clear eye on the future, an immense generosity of spirit and deep reserves of discipline and resourcefulness.

Returning to South Africa, I was not much surprised to find that this blessed and abused country has fallen short of the promise of Mandela’s days. That is not Mandela’s fault, but it is part of his legacy. For what he left in his wake was not really a government yet, or even a genuine political party, but a liberation movement, with the mentality, customs and culture of constant struggle.

History tells us that such liberation movements do not so easily make the transition to stable democracies. Think of the shabby heritage of the Castros, the tyranny of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, the long nightmare of the Bolsheviks or Kwame Nkrumah’s descent into authoritarian rule in Ghana. Examples abound. Even our own revolution required a civil war to settle things. Liberation movements are held together and defined by what they are against. The African National Congress, which is marking its centenary year, was from its early days a conglomeration of interests and ideologies, from rainbow-coalition idealists to black nationalists who chanted for the blood of white farmers, from Communists to Westernizers, from guilt-ridden white liberals to power-hungry opportunists. It had exile factions and in-country factions, prison factions and underground factions. It was inevitable that, once the shared enemy of white oppression was conquered, they would fall to quarreling over the direction and the spoils.

Liberation movements — operating surreptitiously and conspiratorially — thrive on discipline and suspicion, and punish deviation or dissent. The A.N.C. in its exile ran some camps that make the torture scenes in “Zero Dark Thirty” seem benign. Mandela, to be sure, sometimes strayed from the collective will to show unusual initiative. Most important, while still in prison he sensed the vulnerability of the white rulers and opened preliminary discussions without consulting his A.N.C. comrades; he was sure they would disapprove. But he remained a party man at heart — to such an extent that he let the party elders choose as his first deputy president and successor a man, Thabo Mbeki, whom Mandela did not much like or trust. (A friend who would know tells me that after retiring, Mandela took sensitive conversations outdoors because he believed Mbeki had bugged his home.)

Mbeki was not as awful a president as the retouched history of his time suggests. He expanded a safety net to a lot of desperate people, and contributed to a first-world business climate that made outside investors feel welcome. But ultimately he fell into a kind of paranoid isolation — the most horrifying symptom being his insistence that the rampagingSouth African AIDS crisis was a white-invented myth. The party stripped him of his officein a grotesque ritual humiliation — the kind of knives-out display that is customary for liberation parties feeling their power. It is still not uncommon to hear “the opposition” demonized as if they wanted a return to the cruelty of apartheid.

Liberation movements — prizing ends over means — are not always particular about their friends or scrupulous about their transactions. President Mandela left no record of being on the take, but he was always accessible to the businessmen who tithed to the A.N.C. Under the flag of human rights, his government sold arms to such exemplars of human rights as Rwanda, Indonesia, Algeria and the Republic of Congo — in some cases simply rewarding regimes that had backed the A.N.C. in exile.

“Conflict of interest” is often treated as a luxury of the elitist press, and it is natural that some of those who paid dues in the struggle feel a bottomless sense of entitlement. The newspaper headlines here daily scream of scandal, beginning at the very top with President Jacob Zuma, whose singular accomplishment has been to make Mbeki look like a paragon of virtue. Zuma has diverted many millions of dollars of state money and special-interest largess to enlarging a lavish homestead in a region, Nkandla, ravaged by poverty and AIDS.

One crude measure of South Africa’s moral decline is to compare Zuma’s fortress — helicopter pad, tennis courts and soccer field, planned underground bunkers — with theretirement refuge Mandela built, its blueprint copied from the warden’s cottage at his last prison for the very Mandela-esque reason that the floor plan was familiar.

On Sunday the A.N.C. opened its five-day electoral conference to renew the leadership ranks of the A.N.C., which then becomes the party’s election list in 2014. The predictions are that Zuma will remain at the top of the party and the country until 2019. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is gaining adherents but is reckoned to be many years away from being much more than a nuisance at the national level.

In the 18 years since coming to power the A.N.C. government has created a substantial black middle class (more in the public sector than the private) and a smaller, conspicuous cadre of black privilege. But it has not — perhaps could not have — significantly narrowed the gulf between the shack-dwelling underclass and everyone else. Inequality breeds serious resentment, violent protests over undelivered services, strikes, fatalism. The way old Soviet-era Russians sometimes tell you things were better under Brezhnev, you can even find blacks who speak of apartheid times with nostalgia.

The urgent question now is whether the movement that is Mandela’s bequest to his country can mature into a more credible government before the public runs out of its famous patience and starts looking for a new messiah.

Published by the 

SA Presidency still not saying where Mandela is being treated

1 Military Hospital on Saturday. Military Police were still guarding the entrance of the hospital despite rumors that Mandela was discharged. 

Mandela underwent procedure to remove gallstones

Pretoria: South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on Saturday underwent a successful procedure to remove gall stones, a week after he was admitted to hospital for a lung infection, the office of the president said.
According to the statement  Mandela  underwent a procedure via endoscopy to have the gall stones removed at unknown private hospital this morning 15 December 2012 ," it said in a statement.

"The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering," it added, using the clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known.

It is reported that the  94-year-old is being treated at a private hospital in the capital Pretoria. Initial tests revealed that he was suffering from a recurring lung infection

According to inside sources Mandela was operated at Medi Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria this morning and was later sent back to 1 Military Hospital 

 

"The medical team decided to attend to a lung infection before determining when to attend to the gall stones", the statement from the presidency said.

He was previously hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, when he was kept for two nights.

Mandela has a long history of lung problems dating back decades to when he contracted tuberculosis while in prison.

Mandela undergoes procedure to remove gallstones

The Presidency wishes to provide the following update from the doctors treating former President Nelson Mandela:

The former President was hospitalized on 8 December 2012 for a series of tests to be carried out by the doctors. The tests revealed that there was a recurrence of the lung infection and that Madiba had developed gall stones. The medical team decided to attend to a lung infection before determining when to attend to the gall stones.

This morning, 15 December 2012, the former president underwent a procedure via endoscopy to have the gall stones removed. The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering.

President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of all South Africans, wishes Madiba speedy recovery.

We wish to once again appeal for privacy for Madiba and family.  

Tight security at Mangaung

Security at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, where the ruling  ANC was holding its national conference, has been beefed up.

Journalists  were scheduled to have a meeting with organisers this morning but on arrival they were refused entrance onto the campus.

Reporters had to park their cars outside campus and walk.
All entrances to the university were guarded by police officers.

Police at the entrances said cars needed to be searched and checked at the Tempe Military Base. Each vehicle would then receive a clearance sticker which would allow them access to the campus.

Service providers and ambulances were also turned away because they did not have clearance stickers.
The African National Congress’s national conference starts tomorrow.
source – Sapa

andela still being treated in undisclosed hospital

Nelson Mandela remained in hospital on Saturday, a week after he was admitted for treatment for a lung infection, a government official said.

According to the presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj  Mandela is still in hospital, still comfortable and receiving treatment.

 However Maharaj could not comment on rumours that the 94-year-old could be soon being discharged from Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital, a private facility in the capital Pretoria.

It was not clear when Mandela was moved to the private hospital from the One Military one, the country's top military healthcare facility where government officials initially said Mandela was being treated.

The Heart Hospital bills itself as the first and "only hospital of its kind a private, specialised heart hospital."

Journalists Search for Nelson Mandela

Mandela is in the hospital and for the past five days journalists in South Africa have camping outside Military 1 hospital in Pretoria reporting on his condition  just to be told that they were at the wrong hospital.

 Just yesterday reporters  learned that they  were at the wrong site when the presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj  inform them that the former president was at a separate unidentified hospital.”

The mix-up occurred amid rumors that Mandela had died, which his spokesman denied, but neither the family nor the government are disclosing his location.
 
However government still persist that  Mandela was still receiving treatment in hospital.
“The doctors attending to former president Nelson Mandela report that he has had a comfortable 24 hours and that he remains under treatment in hospital,” said presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj.

He said doctors had not given any information about when he might be released.
Rainy weather has not discouraged news crews camping outside the Hospital in Pretoria, in an attempt to get updates on Mandela’s health.

Mandela is believed to be recuperating in the private institution, despite confirmation on Monday by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that the statesman was at a military facility.

Yesterday, journalists from local and international media parked their vehicles along Celliers Street, overlooking the private hospital’s main entrance.

Among the media there was the Eyewitness News (EWN) team which reported that: “The name of the hospital is known by Eyewitness News, but this is not being released to respect Madiba’s dignity.”
That report shifted attention from the 1 Military Hospital at the Thaba Tshwane Military Base where the media had been camping since last weekend.

Since yesterday morning, the number of journalists kept increasing at Mediclinic as details of the reported new hospital filtered through.

At around midday, a convoy of three black vehicles with police lights and sirens entered the Mediclinic Heart Hospital.

Hospital security barred journalists from following the cars into the premises.
Moments later, the vehicles came out escorting a fourth one – a black military ambulance with yellow army number plates.

At that stage reporters at the scene were speculating that Madiba may have been discharged.
However, journalists stationed at the 1 Military Hospital across town reported that the convoy entered the state facility after leaving the private hospital.

EWN reported on Thursday that Mandela (94) was not receiving treatment at the military facility as had been widely reported after Mapisa-Nqakula’s interview.

Mapisa-Nqakula spoke to reporters outside 1 Military Hospital after seemingly visiting Mandela there.
At the time, she said: “He’s doing very, very well and it is important to keep him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause a state of panic, because I think that is not what all of us need.”

The presidency said it had not been the government’s intention to mislead the public or the media.
Maharaj said he had only stated Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital.

“It is not part of any strategy or tactic by government to mislead the public. We have never had that intention. We know to keep to the facts and we’ve been rigorous,” he said in an interview on Talk Radio 702.
The Beeld newspaper reported that Mandela had been admitted under a pseudonym, which was known to the newspaper.

Mandela was flown to Pretoria from his home in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape.
The presidency said he was suffering from the recurrence of a previous lung infection and was responding to treatment.

Mandela’s hospital stay is his longest continuous period in hospital since 2001, when he underwent seven weeks of radiotherapy after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was 83 at the time.
In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for an acute respiratory infection. He had contracted tuberculosis while in prison.

Will Malawi might be probed into Samora Machel crash?

 The  South Africa's police have launched a new investigation into the 1986 plane crash that killed Mozambican leader Samora Machel.

This  comes after a tip-off that South Africa's apartheid-era officials engineered the crash, reports say.
Mr Machel's death plunged the region into crisis, as African governments accused South Africa's then-white rulers of assassinating him.

But South Africa government  insisted that it had not killed Mr Machel.
South Africa's privately owned Times newspaper reports that President Jacob Zuma has sanctioned the inquiry launched by the elite police unit, the Hawks, following a tip-off in January.

His approval came on the strength of evidence obtained by investigators, including documents, photographs and voice recordings, it reports.

Capt Paul Ramaloko of the South African Police Service confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that an investigation had been launched, but gave no further details.

In 1987, South Africa's Judge Cecil Margo - assisted by US and UK experts - blamed negligence on the part of the plane's crew for the crash.

This is how Malawi can be linked on the death  of the Mocambique president Samora Machel.

 When the plane of Mozambique’s revolutionary leader, Samora Machel, crashed on the night of October 19, 1986 killing him and 34 others, Apartheid South Africa immediately blamed it on "pilot error".

"The Russian crew were high on Vodka," crowed Pik Botha, the then foreign minister.

Now a new investigation into the crash is proving too hot for South African government and other countries such as Malawi

Here is the events leading to Samora Machel's plane crash were Malawi was mentioned


  The crash happened at a time when Mocambique government was in the midst of an armed attack by the National Resistance Movement in Mozambique (RENAMO). RENAMO was a rebel group backed by the South African and Rhodesian government. There was also mounting tension between South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi. The Mozambican Chief of Staff accused the President of Malawi, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, of setting up a base for RENAMO in tis territory and issuing the rebels with travel documents. One month prior to the crash, an angry Mozambican President Machel issued his Malawian counterpart with an ultimatum to stop his support for RENAMO. He threatened to seal off Mozambique's borders with Malawi.
On 7 October 1986, a fter six South African soldiers died in a landmine explosion on the Mocambique border, the SA Minister of Defence, Magnus Malan, threatened the Mozambican leader personally when he said, "He will clash head-on with South Africa." The two countries got embroiled in a bitter verbal exchange. Two weeks before the crash, the South African government accused Machel of having revived his support to the banned African National Congress (ANC) and its guerilla forces.
On 18 October, Carlos Cardosa, Director of the Mocambican News Agency Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), received an anonymous message informing him that the President (Machel) had died. The message was very bizarre as Machel was preparing to leave for Zambia. On the same day before leaving for Zambia, Machel had convened a meeting with journalists, FRELIMO leaders and military officers. Machel announced that he had received information that the South Africans wanted to eliminate him. He gave instructions to his Cabinet and Party what had to be done if he failed to return.

Mandela Making Progress - Doctors

Doctors treating former South African President Nelson Mandela have  said  he  is recovering from a lung infection that has kept the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader in hospital for the last five days

" Mandela  has made progress during the past 24 hours and they are satisfied with the way he is responding to treatment," President Jacob Zuma's office said a statement released on Wednesday

Tata as locally known   by his supporters  was admitted to Pretoria's '1 Military' Hospital on Saturday after being flown from his home village of Qunu in a remote, rural part of the Eastern Cape province.

The government only gave the first concrete details about his condition on Tuesday, saying he had suffered a recurrence of a lung infection.

When he was admitted, officials stressed there was no cause for concern although domestic media reports suggested senior members of the government and people close to him had been caught unawares.

He has since spent most of his time in his ancestral home in Qunu, a village in the impoverished Eastern Cape province.

His fragile health prevents him from making any public appearances in South Africa, although he has continued to receive high-profile domestic and international visitors, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton in July.

Ghana's opposition goes to court over presidential poll result

Ghana's main opposition party says  it will challenge in court the results of a December 7 poll in which incumbent president John Dramani Mahama was declared winner with 50.7% of the vote a move which has caused controversy amongst party supporters

After this was announced   the Democratic Congress (NDC) supporter  was stabbed in Accra by  Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

 However it is also reported that  his supporters have grown increasingly restless and embarked street protests and sometimes attacked journalists in the nation's capital.

The New Patriotic Party, whose leader Nana Akufo-Addo, lost to Mahama, has said the vote was marred by irregularities.

"We are contesting the results, so we are going to court," Nana Asante Bediatuo, the party's legal adviser, said

"We believe we have enough evidence of malfeasance during the voting, and we are filing as soon as possible after putting them together," Bediatuo said.

The disputed poll in the gold, oil and cocoa producing nation has raised fears of unrest in a country which has managed 30 years of successful democratic changes of power despite its location in the heart of west Africa's so-called "coup belt".

A contested election in 2008, in which Akufo-Addo lost by less than 1%, pushed the country to the brink of chaos, with disputes over results driving hundreds of people into the streets with clubs and machetes.

Soldiers guarding hospital treating Nelson Mandela

Soldiers have been posted outside 1 Military Hospital to screen vehicles entering the building, where Nelson Mandela is being treated 

All vehicles entering at  the hospital's  are stopped and inspected by   Military police  before allowing them onto the premises.

Vehicles belonging to news crews, including an outside broadcast vehicle, were turned back at the entrance.
Several journalists milled outside, metres away from the security checkpoint.

On Monday, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said Mandela was "doing very, very well" while undergoing unspecified medical tests at the military hospital.

She offered the first government confirmation that Mandela, 94, was at the hospital. He has received military medical care since 2011.

The office of President Jacob Zuma also confirmed on Monday that Mandela was fine, but did not offer further details.

President Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday morning and found him to be "comfortable and in good care".
In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint.

In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests, but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela has had other health problems. He contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

Ghana's Mahama likely to win the presidential election

Ghana President John Dramani Mahama is likely to win the presidential election against his  rival Nana Akufo-Addo.


  According tp local media  Mahama held a slim lead over Akufo-Addo. on Sunday with nearly all votes counted

Privately owned Joy News television, based on provisional results from 261 of 275 districts, said Mahama had 50.03 percent and Akufo-Addo 48.05 percent.

The station added that "Mahama is the likely president-elect of Ghana," however the electoral commission had not made any declaration.

It based its finding on trends of already tallied votes in addition to an analysis of outstanding districts, it said. It also reported that turnout was at 81 percent.

Ghana's presidential and parliamentary polls were held on Friday, but polling stations in some areas re-opened on Saturday after a new biometric system and late delivery of materials led to delays.

The stakes are especially high in a nation with a booming economy fuelled by a new and expanding oil industry. Ghana is also seeking to further burnish its credentials as a stable democracy in turbulent West Africa.

Nelson Mandela still in hospital

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is still in hospital  for medical tests, although the government has said there is no cause for alarm. President Jacob Zuma confirmed in a statement on Saturday  that the 94-year "Tata" as he is known  by his supporters, was admitted to to a Pretoria hospital for "medical attention" but it gave no details of Mandela's condition. "President Zuma assures all that Madiba is doing well and there is no cause for alarm," it said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said the former president is undergoing routine tests at a military hospital in Pretoria, the capital, just north of Johannesburg.  Like many South Africans, Maharaj referred to the anti-apartheid icon by his clan name, Madiba.  “President Zuma assures all that Madiba is doing well and there is no need for alarm.  We have previously said, and we repeat, that he will be receiving medical attention from time to time which is consistent with his age,” he said. However Maharaj gave few details, citing patient confidentiality.  He  would not say whether Mr. Mandela was taken to the hospital by helicopter or what medical tests he was undergoing. The military has largely taken over responsibility for the former president's medical treatment.  Maharaj said the hospital was chosen because it has all the facilities  Mandela needs and where his privacy is secure. This is the second time Mandela has been   admitted to hospital,  in February  he was admitted because of abdominal pain, but released the following day after a keyhole examination showed there was nothing seriously wrong with him. He has since spent most of his time in his ancestral home in Qunu, a village in the impoverished Eastern Cape province. His frail health prevents him from making any public appearances in South Africa, although in the last few months he has continued to receive prominent visitors, including former US President Bill Clinton.

Ghana election: John Mahama VS Nana Akufo-Addo

Long queues were reported  as voters in Ghana   are selecting their next president and a 275-seat parliament in elections which is seen as  a model for democracy in Africa.

Some 14 million people are expected to turn out for Friday's poll. President John Dramani Mahama, in office only since July when he as vice president succeeded President John Atta Mills when he died in office, is facing seven contenders.

His main opponent is Nana Akufo-Addo, a former foreign minister, who lost the 2008 election to Mills by less than 1 percent.

Ghana, a nation of 25 million, has previously held five transparent elections in a row. Nearby Mali, which was also considered a model democracy, was plunged into chaos this March following a military coup.

As polls opened, local press reported that   there were queues in all regions of the country.


The 2008 election was decided by just 30,000 votes in the run-off.
After gaining the most votes in the first round, Mr Akufo-Addo, from the then governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), was praised for peacefully accepting his defeat.

Ghana has held two peaceful transfers of power since military rule ended in 1992.
'Ready to go'

Ghana Police team up with Military to beef up security during election

Ghana’s police have teamed up with the military to provide a “five layer security force” as part of an effort to bolster security to ensure a peaceful general election Friday.

“We have managed to put together a very encompassing security arrangement in place to ensure that this very important election will come and go peacefully," said police spokesman Cephas Arthur.

“We are putting one unarmed security officer at the polling station to handle any security disturbance there,” continued Arthur. “The next tier is the Patrol Team who will move from one polling station to another. We also have the Reserved Unit, which has been attached to every district and region, and we also have the Action Unit. If these units can’t handle the situation then we will call in our friends from the military as the last resort.”

Arthur’s comments came after security personnel voted Tuesday to enable them provide protection against violence during the vote.

He said the police have been taking precautions to prevent any acts that could undermine the election as well as the country’s stability.  He also said they are working with other security organizations to provide a formidable security arrangement for the election.

Arthur says the agencies are ready to protect prospective voters in the run up to the election.

But, some Ghanaians have expressed concern about possible violence during the vote despite a pledge by all of the presidential candidates to encourage their supporters to eschew violence.
       
Supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have clashed following accusations and counter accusations of intimidation and harassment during campaigns in the run up to the election.

“The campaign period also served as a test case and we are lucky to have recorded very minimal incidents," he said. "We recorded numerous incidents in the previous elections, but because this one has been secured, just a couple of them occurred. It has largely been very peaceful this time.”

He called on Ghanaians to have confidence in the police, saying they and other security systems have “been able to secure and deliver safely five different elections since 1992. We do it to the admiration of the world.”

Source Voice of America 

Sakina Kamwendo failed to meet the SABC's editorial policy- SABC

 South Africa Broadcasting Cooperation  acting Chief Operations Officer (COO), Hlaudi Motsoeneng, says the broadcaster pulled the Metro FM talk show on the "Road to Mangaung" off air last night because it did not meet the corporation's editorial policy code of balance and fairness.

Motsoeneng  made the remarks during  a media briefing at Auckland Park on the SABC's decision to stop the radio station's panel discussion with newspaper journalists on the media coverage of the ANC elective congress.

According to reports the  journalists were  denied the right to go on air by a mysterious caller who canned their scheduled interview on Metro FM's "Talk with Sakina".

However  in a media statement, the SABC claims  that there was no mysterious caller, but rather an editorial decision was taken to cancel the interview.

He  says going ahead with the discussion would have transgressed the SABC's  Editorial Codes. "The discussion was about the ANC.  Our view is simple; you need the ANC to be part of that discussion. We are not banning anyone as people say. We are only saying we should be fair to all citizens of this country and we stick by that decision."

  In agreement with Motsoeneng  SABC Group Executive of Radio, Leslie Ntloko, agrees with Motsoeneng. "According to the SABC editorial policy, which is guided by the broadcasting act, when an event of national importance is of a party political nature, editorial staff must ensure that SABC policies of objectivity, accuracy, fairness, impartiality and balance are adhered to. So our decision was made in view of the fact that these were not followed," says Ntloko.

Military Police Clash anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo

Egyptian riot police have fired teargas at protesters demonstrating against President Mohamed Morsi near the presidential palace in the capital  Cairo.

According to local press almost  ten people have been injured in clashes, reports further indicates that
Protesters have broken through police lines in front of the palace.

Thousands of protesters gathered to march to the presidential palace in protest of Morsi's decree which grants him near absolute powers, and a draft constitution which was quickly adopted by his allies.

"Freedom or we die! Mohammed Morsi! Illegitimate! Brotherhood! Illegitimate!," a crowd of several hundred protesters chanted outside a mosque in the Abbasiyah district earlier Tuesday.

Protesters also gathered outside Morsi's residence shouting, "Down with the sons of dogs. We are the power and we are the people!"

Morsi has called for a nationwide referendum on the draft constitution on December 15.

Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in North Kivu - Humantiarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Moustapha Soumare

Twelve days after the take-over of Goma by the M23 rebel movement, the humanitarian and protection situation remains extremely worrying in North Kivu. At least 130,000 people are displaced in spontaneous sites and camps in and around Goma. The majority have fled the fighting in the area over the past two weeks.
As the implementation of the decisions of the Kampala Declaration gets underway and the M23 withdraws from Goma, the protection of the civilian population must be a priority for all, in line with the ongoing efforts of MONUSCO and international partners. Goma has a population of nearly 800,000 and while awaiting that the Congolese authorities regain full control over the city, one cannot exclude the risk of looting or renewed violence.
I call on all parties to honour their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to protect all civilians.
Humanitarian agencies are stepping up their effort on the ground to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable. NGOs and UN Agencies provide the displaced with water, food, basic necessities and medical care, including for the wounded. Humanitarian protection activities are equally important in this context, including assistance to victims of sexual violence and reuniting separated children with their families. Humanitarians are also facing an additional challenge with the contamination of many areas by explosive remnants of war, particularly north of Goma.
Some of the displaced people have already chosen to leave the crowded camps in Goma to return to their homes, where the fighting has stopped. However, thousands of people are at the same time fleeing armed groups’ brutal attacks which are on the rise in other areas of North Kivu, particularly in Masisi. In this context, the situation will remain volatile and hundreds of thousands of people will continue to depend on emergency aid for their survival.
I salute the persistence of humanitarian actors who continue their work under extremely precarious security conditions in the Goma area. To sustain these efforts, I call on all parties to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to people in need wherever they are, and to ensure the protection of displaced and host communities and their access to assistance.
I hope to see the ongoing regional initiatives lead to an effective and lasting resolution of the recurring crisis in eastern DRC, to allow the hundreds of thousands of Congolese to no longer have to suffer from the human tragedies seen every day on the ground.
I thank donor countries for their generosity. Thanks to resources made available through the Humanitarian Pooled Fund, we have been able to rapidly organise an effective humanitarian response. New pledges made by several partners following the most recent deterioration of the situation in the Kivus will help continue alleviating the suffering of thousands of people, in spite of the low funding levels of the 2012 Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP). The HAP has so far received only 56 per cent of the US$791 million required to respond to the humanitarian needs in the country. The DRC is also affected by severe epidemics (measles, cholera…), alarming levels of chronic malnutrition or food insecurity that has worsened since the beginning of this year.