Message-ID: <5115B27EDC2BD311892800C0DFEE3FC30F6E2F@mail.irin.org.za>
From: IRIN - Southern Africa <IRIN-SA@irin.org.za>
To: Southern Africa Readers <subs@irin.org.za>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 13:55:14 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Prev-Sender: owner-irin-english@ocha.unon.org
Precedence: bulk
Subject: SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN News Briefs [19991230]
Sender: IRIN - English Service <english@ocha.unon.org>

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN News Briefs, 30 December 1999

CONTENTS:

ZIMBABWE: Elections delayed
ZIMBABWE: Government calls an emergency meeting with civil servants
ANGOLA: Police use batons to break up anti-poverty march 

ZIMBABWE: Elections delayed

Zimbabwe's general elections which were expected to be held in March next
year may have to be delayed until June to allow time for a national
referendum on the country's proposed constitutional reform, media reports
said on Thursday.

Emmerson Mnangagwe, minister for justice, legal and parliamentary affairs,
said a delay might be necessary so that the elections could be held under
the new constitution. He added that it would also give the government time
to compile a new voters roll. Recently the United Nations described the
existing voters rolls as being "flawed". 

Zimbabwean media reports said that the delay was likely to come under sharp
criticism from opposition groups in Zimbabwe, who have already staged
protests against the proposed constitution. According to opposition groups
the new constitution does not take into account and reflect the "real
wishes" of the Zimbabwean people.

Government calls an emergency meeting with civil servants

Meanwhile, the government has called for an emergency meeting with civil
servants after they threatened to strike if demands for a 150 percent pay
increase were not met. 

Media reports said the government had offered civil servants an increase of
about 40 percent. Last month cabinet ministers and parliamentarians were
awarded pay hikes of up to 300 percent.  "We feel there is no justification
for government to say they cannot give us 150 percent salary increases when
they awarded ministers 237 percent," a spokesperson for the teachers'
association, the largest of the government workers' unions, was quoted as
saying. In October this year, inflation in Zimbabwe reached a record high of
70 percent.

ANGOLA: Police use batons to break up anti-poverty march 

Angolan police have used batons to break up an anti-poverty march in Luanda
the Associated Press (AP) said on Thursday. It said marchers had gathered
outside Roman Catholic church on Wednesday to appeal to the church to help
persuade the Angolan government to address poverty in the country. The
marchers had intended to hand a petition to Bishop Alexandre de Nascimento.
The report said that dozens of police broke up the gathering, forcing the
people to scatter into side streets. 

[ENDS]



Contact IRIN-SA (Tel: +27 11 880 4633, e-mail irin-sa@ocha.unon.org) for
more information or free subscriptions.


Item: irin-english-2215

[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999

Subscriber: zdwf-@t-online.de
Keyword: ANGOLA