Thuli Brilliance Makama is not everyone's idea of an environmental hero. An attorney in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, she has made her name not as a conservationist but by investigating the deaths of suspected poachers.

There are growing calls for a forensic audit into Khomanani, Government’s flagship HIV prevention campaign which has cost the taxpayer millions of rand but has very little to show for it. The Khomanani Communication Consortium (KCC), with principal parties Sadmon Projects and Consulting, Sizwe Ntsaluba VSP, Izwi Multimedia and TBWA Hunt Lascaris, won the lucrative R190-million government tender in May 2007.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). A 15-year Review of the implementation of the BPfA (Beijing +15) has seen civil society organisations contribute numerous studies, reports, statements and updates on whether or not commitments made have been met and to offer recommendations on how to improve policy and practice. This update from Siyanda brings together a selection of these materials.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the five-hour detention of Samuel Obiang Mbana, correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Africa n°1 radio, at the police station in the capital Malabo on 14 April. The journalist was arrested at Malabo international airport where he went to cover arrivals for an extraordinary summit of heads of state of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

£36,554 – £40,964 per annum + benefits
London, Waterloo
Closing date: 27 April 2010
Interview date: w/c 3 May, 2010

We aim to hit the major causes of poverty head on. Two of the biggest are climate change and the abuse of power. Working with and lobbying contacts at the highest level – including government, UN and EU representatives – you’ll steer and deliver policies that tackle environmental and governmental injustice. We’re looking for three senior policy or advocacy champions with experience in the following areas and we are particularly interested in candidates from the Global South:

Global Advocacy and Alliances
Targeting international decision makers, you’ll focus on influencing EU and international policy in climate negotiations and wider economic justice issues.

Climate Justice & Poverty Over
You’ll investigate and steer politically-appropriate policy on climate justice and its links to poverty eradication.

Accountable Governance
Lead and support key partners as you research and devise policy that aims to counter inequality and promote inclusion in developing countries. To find out more and apply, please visit

Closing date: 27 April 2010. Interview date: w/c 3 May 2010.

Christian Aid is a registered charity in the UK (no. 1105851) and Scotland (no. SC039150).
Company no. 5171525

Tanzania's business community has rejected the government's suggestion to raise minimum wages in the private sector by 100 percent, saying it is unpayable. Employment, Labour and Youth Development Minister Juma Kapuya early this week an nounced that the government and stakeholders in the labour sector had agreed to the hike, but the business community's reaction has not been in favour of the move because it would hurt private enterp rises.

Women and children will benefit equitably from family and national resources should the proposed constitution sail through, law experts have said. Speaking at a land reform forum Friday, law experts said the draft law guarantee equitable access to matrimonial property and public land, and provides for the enactment of laws to govern the same.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has lamented the failure of the unity government to fully implement all the terms of the Global Political Agreement by partners in the inclusive government saying this was holding back economic revival progress. The Prime Minister said this in his opening address of a business conference held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo Wednesday.

Cameroonian editor Germain Ngota has died in prison in the capital, Yaounde. He was the managing editor of the Cameroon Express and one of three reporters detained in March on charges of fraud and using false documents. An adviser to the Cameroonian journalists' union (SNJC) said Mr Ngota was not given any medical treatment during his detention.

Zimbabwe's power-sharing government has not carried out critical media reforms as promised under the country's September 2008 Global Political Agreement, Human Rights Watch said in a report. The 26-page report, "Sleight of Hand: Repression of the Media and the Illusion of Reform in Zimbabwe," says that the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the former sole ruling party, still holds the balance of power in the coalition government forged with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the former opposition movement, in February 2009.

More than 77 million children in 16 countries will be vaccinated against polio from tomorrow (24 April) in the critical second round of a synchronized effort to stop a polio outbreak across west and central Africa. However, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone have postponed their campaigns until 7 May after vaccine delivery was delayed by the closure of airspace in Europe due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Existing stockpiles in the other 16 countries will allow this vaccination campaign to go ahead.

Since the first days of the earthquake, many humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have issued warnings about the increased risk of gender based and sexual violence. The risks are well founded. Thousands of displaced people are sleeping in public spaces in just one square meter or even less; women are obliged to bath almost naked under the eyes of the other residents and passers-by; children sleep alone at night because they are unaccompanied or their mothers are working outside the camps in order to feed them.

Despite the progress that has been made in the AIDS response in Africa, many challenges remain that prevent people from accessing the HIV prevention and treatment services they need, a top United Nations official said during a visit to Senegal. Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), noted that in 2008, about 45 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV in Africa were receiving antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission to their children, up from 35 per cent the previous year.

Thousands of Zimbabweans have been left stranded at the Beitbridge border post after South African immigration officials refused to recognize a newly introduced Temporary Travel Document. According to reports from the state owned Herald newspaper ‘South African port officials allegedly fired their guns to frighten the affected travellers into crossing back to the Zimbabwean side of the border

On Sunday 18 April an ANC MP in the Provincial Parliament by the name of Dora Dlamini intimidated Nozuko Hulushe, a Kennedy Road resident and Abahlali baseMjondolo member, and demanded that she withdraw her assault charge against a local ANC leader before the case goes to trial.

"In the case of Zimbabwe today, both supporters and opponents of sanctions exaggerate their importance. The international community, both global and regional, has other tools as well. Key issues are not only when to lift or relax sanctions but also how much support Western countries will provide for economic recovery. Even more decisive will be whether Zimbabwe's African neighbors can strengthen their diplomacy by backing it with effective pressures, even if they hesitate to use the word sanctions." - Briggs Bomba and William Minter.

FOSSFA has launched the African FOSS Reporter Award Competition 2010. The award aims to highlight the impact of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) on the development of Africa. It recognizes outstanding reporting for a general audience and honors individuals (rather than institutions and publishers) for their coverage of FOSS. The competition is run in partnership with Deutsche Welle and supported by OSIWA as part of an initiative to raise public awareness of FOSS in Africa.

The mission of this conference is to identify and celebrate indigenous and evolving male, female and/or gender variant same-sex sexual practices, identities and communities, including expressions of gender diversity, and to promote their social acceptance and their physical and social well-being.

La Via Campesina, FIAN, Land Research Action Network and GRAIN, together with over 100 allies, are issuing a loud appeal to stop the current wave of land grabbing that is taking millions of hectares of farmland away from rural communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Their appeal coincides with the release of a new World Bank report that confirms the massive extent of of the current land grab assault and puts forward seven "principles" to make these land deals socially acceptable.

The Tanzania Police Force has put 68 Ethiopian migrants in custody pending their arraignment in court for illegal entry into the country, it was officially reported Wednesday. According to Tanga Regional Police Commander Liberatus Sabas, the Ethiopians claimed during interrogation they had no intention of either staying or committing offence in Tanzania but we retransiting to South Africa.