Southern African Development Community Agrees on New Election Guidelines
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Southern African leaders have agreed to a set of rules aimed at enhancing the transparency of elections and democratic rule in the region.
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BRUSSELS, Aug 27  (IPS) - The new EU member states will soon take lessons in  development cooperation from  developing countries.
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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on  Thursday appointed a new electoral commission to run  parliamentary polls due in March under a law which the  opposition says does not guarantee a free and fair vote.
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JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 28 -- South African prosecutors on Friday delivered new corruption charges to Jacob Zuma, who only last week was elected leader of the African National Congress, his attorney told news services.
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A South African court allows prosecutors to use documents for a possible new graft case against the ex-deputy leader.
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POLOKWANE, South Africa  - South Africa's ruling ANC elected Jacob Zuma as its new leader on Tuesday, dumping President Thabo Mbeki and putting the populist Zuma on course to lead the country in 2009.
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THE MDC has embarked on a campaign to discredit the Government by claiming that it is not implementing the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, yet the opposition partyâs senior
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South African President Thabo Mbeki says developing countries must unite and fight their corner.
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South Africa will unveil a new plan  aimed at fighting its HIV/AIDS crisis on Friday, seeking to  calm bitter debate and revamp policies that have thus far done  little to stop the epidemic.
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WINDHOEK, Namibia - The southern African nation of Namibia voted on Monday for a successor to the only leader the country has ever known, and election officials said the first of two days of voting started smoothly.
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Africa&#39;s new representative body, the Pan-African Parliament, has opened its first session in its new home in South Africa. South African President Thabo Mbeki was joined by drummers and dancers to welcome
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Zimbabwe is to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 29 March, the government says.
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WINDHOEK, February 15  (IPS) - The Southern African Development Community (SADC)  should engage in serious discussions to prevent the economic  partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union from  destroying its regional integration efforts.
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Rival union federations have agreed to coordinate get-out-the-vote and other efforts for November.
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South Africa says it will sign up to the OECD convention to clamp down on the bribery of foreign officials.
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(InfoWorld) - A new framework for regulatory and policy issues recently signed by African information and communication technology (ICT) ministers should speed implementation of the continent's biggest broadband networks, they say. At a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, two weeks ago, ICT ministers signed a protocol that hammers together guidelines for new and ongoing projects. The meeting was organized by the e-Africa Commission, part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and brought together ministers from eastern and southern Africa. Zambian Communications and Transport Permanent Secretary Peter Tembo told the IDG News Service that the aim of the new guidelines and infrastructure plans is to integrate Africa's telecommunications by connecting networks across the continent. Rwandan President Paul Kagame after the meeting said the new protocol will enable eastern and Southern African governments to work together to develop the region's telecommunications sector and to bring down the high cost of communication. The e-Africa Commission operates under the aegis of NEPAD, whose broadband infrastructure network seeks to ensure a level playing field and equal access to infrastructure. The e-Africa Commission has two major plans: to integrate existing infrastructure, and to construct new infrastructure. The protocol commits the signatories to the construction and operation of broadband infrastructure networks including the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) project. The other major project is Comtel, a broadband infrastructure project spearheaded by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in conjunction with NEPAD. It is to connect 21 eastern and southern African countries to Europe and Asia. The protocol also calls for African countries to harmonize their national policies and regulations to facilitate the construction and operation of the infrastructure. At the moment, eastern and southern African countries have different policies and regulatory methods and agencies. In addition, the protocol provides for the formation of a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV), a consortium made up of regional telecommunication companies to own, manage and maintain the EASSY project and terrestrial infrastructure network. "The protocol facilitates provision of ICT broadband infrastructures to support high-speed, high-quality and reliable telecommunication in the eastern and southern African region," said Tembo. The EASSY project will be built by French telecommunication giant Alcatel SA -- soon to merge with the U.S.'s Lucent Technologies Inc. -- at the cost of US$280 million, and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2007. The company to construct the Comtel project has not yet been named. However, the project is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2007 and will cost $30 million, according to Comesa assistant secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya. The Comtel project will be owned and operated by the national telecommunication organizations from the 21 countries.
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POLOKWANE, South Africa  - South Africa's ruling ANC on Monday nominated President Thabo Mbeki and his bitter rival Jacob Zuma as the sole candidates to lead the party in an election on Tuesday.