ZIMBABWE – A law prohibiting abortion services for women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18 is unconstitutional, Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled. In his ruling handed down on Nov. 22 and made public this week, Judge Maxwell Takuva said since Zimbabwe’s laws already criminalise marital rape and sex with a minor, victims should be allowed to abort if they become pregnant.

The ruling is significant, given Zimbabwe’s restrictive abortion laws that often lead women and girls into illegal and unsafe backstreet abortions that in many cases turn fatal. Abortion is allowed in very few circumstances in Zimbabwe, including such as if the pregnancy endangers the life of a woman, or if there is a risk of a physical or mental defect “of such a nature that (the child) will permanently be seriously handicapped.” Women can also access legal abortion services in cases of unlawful sex such as incest. (Jamaica-Gleaner)

Photo: Virginia Mavhunga, a 13-year-old teenage mother, stands at the entrance of her home in Murehwa, 80 kilometres  northeast of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. (AP)

The reports regarding child abuse in the  Maria Hoeve Children’s Home at the hands of the owner, have triggered the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing (Sozavo) to beef up the inspections of the nation’s children’s homes. The inspector visited Maria Hoeve twice before closing this children’s home.

The spokesman of the president, Jason Saiman, pointed it that “it is alarming that children are still being treated this way in 2024”. “The children in children’s homes need lots of love and care because they are the next generation. The children from  Maria Hoeve were sent home to their parents and the children’s home has been closed until further notice. The ministry has assured that as of this moment inspections will be carried frequently in order to prevent these situations,” said  Saiman.

 Last week parliament passed a bill aimed at improving and protecting the rights of children. Meanwhile Sozavo is trying to figure out if an investigation must be launched in response to the reports of child abuse in the children’s homes that recently came to light.

NAMIBIA (South Africa)  – Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, from the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), looks set to become Namibia’s first female president with more than 90% of the votes from last week’s disputed election now counted. The electoral commission said she had won more than 58%, with her closest rival Panduleni Itula getting just over 25% of the vote share.

But following logistical problems and a three-day extension to polling in some parts of the country, Itula said on Saturday that his party would not recognise the results alleging electoral malpractice. Swapo has been power in the large but sparsely populated southern African country since independence in 1990.

It had led the struggle for nationhood against apartheid South Africa. Ahead of last Wednesday’s general election there had been some speculation that it would suffer the fate of other liberation parties in the region. South Africa’s African National Congress lost its outright parliamentary majority in May and the Botswana Democratic Party was kicked out of power after nearly six decades following October’s election.

A party stalwart, Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is currently the vice-president, is a trusted leader having served in high government office for a quarter of a century. Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan is currently Africa’s only female president, so Nandi-Ndaitwah would be joining an exclusive club if she is victorious. To avoid a second-round run-off, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner.

A trained dentist, Itula, of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), is seen as more charismatic than Nandi-Ndaitwah and managed to dent Swapo’s popularity in the last presidential election in 2019, reducing its vote share to 56% from 87% five years earlier. The IPC has said it will “pursue justice through the courts” and has encouraged people who felt that they had been unable to vote because of mismanagement by the electoral commission to go to the police to make a statement. (BBC)

Photo: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been serving as vice-president since February. (Reuters)

The bus fares were officially yesterday. Passengers currently have to pay an additional SRD 2 for a bus ride through the city as the bus fare for a city ride went from SRD 12.50 to SRD 14.50. The bus fares for a bus ride on other routes were raised with at least SRD 6.

Monday the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Tourism announced that the bus fare hike would go into effect immediately. Henk Sacco, chairman of the National Youth and Student Organization Suriname, expressed shock in response to the bus fare hike. “This is not the right time for a hike. Parents, pupils and students are confronted with this hike out of the blue. Many people have a tight budget and will not be able to afford it,” said Sacco who added that people who have several children and who take several buses each day will be hit the hardest. Sacco pointed out that many students called him last Monday to explain that they would most likely have to drop out of school because of the bus fare hike.

Rawien Bainath, spokesman for the Private Bus Owners’ Organization, explained that the bus fares were officially set on Monday morning and that the bus owners had been waiting for new fares since 2021.

LEBANON – Deadly Israeli air strikes and a mortar attack by Hezbollah have raised fears that the ceasefire in Lebanon could collapse. Ten people were killed in southern Lebanon on Monday night, the health ministry said, after Israel carried out its biggest wave of air strikes since both sides agreed last week to end 14 months of conflict. The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah fighters, launchers and infrastructure and urged Lebanese authorities to prevent what it called the group’s “hostile activity”.

Hezbollah had earlier fired two mortars at an Israeli army base in a disputed border area, saying they were a warning over what it saw as “repeated violations” by Israel. No casualties were reported. The US, which along with France brokered the agreement and is monitoring compliance, said that “largely speaking” the ceasefire was holding despite the violence. Under the deal, Hezbollah has been given 60 days to end its armed presence between the Blue Line – the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel – and the Litani river, about 30km (20 miles) to the north. Israeli forces must withdraw from the area over the same period, and Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers are due to deploy there. (BBC)

Photo: Israeli soldiers on patrol in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. (Getty Images)

CHINA – After a two-year investigation, a government report concluded dangerous virus research in China ‘is the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.’  The 525-page report from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final findings Monday and presented several of the ‘strongest arguments’ to support the lab leak theory. They wrote there are biological characteristics of the virus that are not found in nature; there is evidence to support a single introduction of the virus to humans, not multiple zoonotic spillover events; and Wuhan – where the virus was first detected – is home to China’s largest SARS research lab – the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).