OSISA - Economic Justice

Economic Justice programme

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:29:42 -0500

VISION

A region whose citizens live above the line of poverty, where economic growth primarily serves human development needs such as household food security and access to health and education, and where there is a greater ability on the part of citizens to enjoy socio-economic rights.

MISSION

To contribute towards social organization in the countries of the region, for the purposes of advocating for, and monitoring, universal citizen access to socio-economic rights and human development needs.

Economic Justice funding guidelines

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 08:35:06 -0500

[see also General guidelines]

OSISA will endeavour to support –

Advocacy initiatives that increase citizens’ participation in national and sub-national budget planning and public expenditure monitoring, ensuring the prioritisation of resources for education, health and other human development needs.
Civic and media efforts for public economic literacy.
NGO initiatives that complement poor capacity of regional governments to negotiate effectively in the multilateral trading system, and with creditor and donor governments for loan and aid terms respectively.

Natural resource revenues should fight poverty

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:06:26 -0400

On the 16th of March 2008, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) convened a civil society roundtable to discuss the impact of revenue flows from natural resources on poverty eradication in SADC. This followed the critical observation that the proceeds from exploitation of natural resources in general and extractive industries in particular, are not finding their way into poverty eradication programmes in the region. As a result, most of Southern Africa is trapped in the “resource rich- poor countries” dichotomy.

Police clash with Katanga miners

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:23:42 -0500

Police clash with DR Congo miners
BBC news 7/3/2008
Hundreds of miners have clashed with police in the Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province. At least one miner was reportedly shot dead and 30 others injured as police tried to evict them from an old quarry. The miners were digging for copper and cobalt ore in a quarry belonging to the state mining company, Gecamines. Thousands of casual miners are afraid of losing their livelihoods as the government seeks to sell mining concessions to foreign investors. Police started evicting the miners from the quarry in Kamatanda - near the country's border with Zambia - on Thursday ... Gecamines went bankrupt in 1990, and its mines have since been invaded by thousands of self-employed diggers and artisanal miners ...

500 Chambishi mineworkers fired

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:00:02 -0500

Zambians sacked over China attack
BBC News 6/3/2008
Some 500 Zambian mine workers have been sacked after rioting and attacking a Chinese manager. Those sacked have three days to reapply for their jobs, while seven union officials have also been arrested. The Chinese manager at the Chambishi copper smelter in northern Zambia was admitted to hospital after the assault ... "They have all been dismissed with immediate effect," company spokesman George Jambwa told the AFP news agency. "We have given three days to those who want to be re-employed to write to us and give reasons why they should join our company." Albert Mando, general secretary of the National Union of Mining and Allied Workers (Numaw) said he was "surprised" by the dismissal, adding that the union could not negotiate when its officials had been arrested ... The protest was sparked by rumours that members of the Chinese management team were about to go on holiday, which workers feared would delay negotiations to improve their conditions of service ...

FLEC claims successful attack in Cabinda

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:30:24 -0500

'Deadly attack' in Angola enclave
FOXBusiness - USA
A secessionist group in Angola's Cabinda region says it has killed three soldiers and severely wounded a foreign worker in separate ambushes on Monday. A Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (Flec) spokesman said it would attack anyone who entered the oil-rich enclave without approval. He said the foreigner was employed by a Portuguese firm. There has been no independent confirmation of the attack. Most separatists signed a peace deal in 2006, but one Flec faction did not. The province does not share a border with the rest of Angola - it is sandwiched between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Africa's west coast. A Flec spokesman said the foreigner was targeted because he was travelling area with security officers. We have warned many times people not to enter the territories controlled by our army and people don't respect this," he told the BBC. "They usually get accompanied by bodyguards, the military, so when they do so they become military targets - we are obliged to fight against them." ...

Managers held hostage at Chambesi

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:08:02 -0500
Chinese managers held hostage
News24.com 4/3/2008

Lusaka - Striking construction workers at a copper smelter in Zambia took a group of Chinese managers hostage on Tuesday in protest at their poor working conditions. Police were called to the site to free the hostages and calm tensions after workers locked the Chinese inside their offices and shut the perimeter gates, said company spokesperson George Jambwa. More than 500 workers at the $200m Chinese-owned site near the town of Chambesi began their strike action on Monday to press for better wages and safer working conditions ... Workers, who staged a similar work stoppage one month ago, said their salaries amounted to a mere $50 a month and complained of poor medical facilities ... Chinese investors in the southern African nation were often criticised for poor safety records. This criticism grew after 50 Zambian miners died in an explosion at a Chinese-owned Chambeshi copper mine in 2005 ...

Zimbabwe: inflation hits 100 000%

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:18:14 -0500
Zimbabwe inflation hits 100,000%
BBC News 22/2/2008
Zimbabwe's soaring inflation hit an annual rate of 100,000% in January, new official figures show. Ongoing shortages of food and fuel helped drive inflation from December's rate of 66,212%. Government officials say the shortages make it hard to work out inflation with any degree of accuracy ... The economy has been in trouble for seven years, with supplies of basic foodstuffs, cooking oil and petrol all running low. The central bank has introduced new banknotes to cope with the spiralling prices. Last month it issued a 10 million Zimbabwe dollar note ...

Mozambique-SA border retards growth

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:10:59 -0500
Bottleneck at Mozambique border causes alarm
Mail & Guardian Online - Johannesburg,South Africa
Inefficiency at one of the border posts between South Africa and Mozambique is a key constraint to accelerated growth of trade and investment between the two countries, the Maputo Corridor Links Initiative (MCLI) said on Thursday. MCLI chief operating officer Barbara Mommen said delays in the movement of

Malawi sets new tobacco prices

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:41:51 -0500
Malawi sets new tobacco prices for buyers
Reuters South Africa - Johannesburg,South Africa

LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawian tobacco farmers are expected to be paid a minimum of $2.70 per kg this year for their crop, up from last year's $1.85 per kg, a senior government official said on Thursday. Tobacco is the southern African nation's mainstay, accounting for over 70 percent of Malawi's exports and 15 percent of its gross domestic product, but for the last two years low prices have led to cuts in production. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Patrick Kabambe said that the new prices have been agreed upon with buyers and other stakeholders in the industry. "The minimum price set for the leaf is $2.20 cents which is more than last year minimum price of $1.85 cents" ... For many years tobacco prices had hovered around 70-90 U.S. cents per kg, far lower than the $1 the industry says it costs to produce one kg of the golden leaf. But from last year prices improved and farmers sold their crop between $1.70 and $1.60 per kg for the first time in several years, after President Bingu wa Mutharika ordered buyers to offer better prices or leave the country. Limbe Leaf Tobacco, majority owned by the Swiss-registered Continental Tobacco Company, and U.S.-based Alliance One Tobacco, are the active buyers who were ordered to peg the prices at a minimum price of $1.1 per kg and $1.7 for higher grade leaf. Wa Mutharika, who also farms tobacco, accused buyers of running a cartel to fix prices ... Last year, the government registered another international buyer, U.S.-based based Premiere Leaf, in a bid to get better prices. Two undisclosed Chinese companies are expected to buy the crop this year ...

SA mining in DRC and Zambia

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:26:55 -0500
Needham confident about Metorex's standing in DRC, Zambia
Mining Weekly - Garden View,South Africa
Once again proving that ‘Africa is not for sissies', South African miner, Metorex's CEO Charles Needham on Thursday explained the firm's interactions with the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, where it operates copper mines, and assured investors that he felt confident about

Strikes, sabotage at Xinavane plantation

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:20:37 -0500
Mozambique: wildcats and sabotage on the sugar cane plantations
libcom.org - London,UK
600 seasonal workers at the Xinavane sugar plantation in Maputo province of Mozambique have been on wildcat strike since last Friday (15th February). The workers are demanding a wage increase of over 100%, from 1,100 to 2,500 meticais (from US$46 to US$104), as well as protective clothing, overtime for working on Sundays and the right to a day off in

Key witness grilled in Namibian copper case

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:20:30 -0500
Namibia: Key Witness Put Through the Wringer in Copper Fraud Trial
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
A Key prosecution witness in the Telecom Namibia scrap copper corruption trial is set to face a fifth day of cross-examination when the trial continues in the High Court in Windhoek today. Having endured five days of defence lawyer Willie Vermeulen, SC, dissecting and whittling down the testimony he has been giving before Judge

Africo update on the DRC mining review

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:04:53 -0500
Africo Resources Ltd.: Update regarding the DRC mining review
FOXBusiness - USA

TORONTO, Feb. 20, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) -- Africo Resources Ltd. announces that Swanmines sprl. has received written notification from the Minister of Mines in the DRC of the results of the revisitation of the mining agreement with respect to Swanmines sprl., which is the entity that holds the exploitation permit on the Kalukundi copper and cobalt property. Africo Resources owns 75% of Swanmines sprl. through its wholly-owned subsidiary H&J Swanepoel Family Trust s.p.r.l. A response has been requested by February 27, 2008, although there has been an indication that this time period can be extended. The notification outlines the following matters: The absence of a feasibility study that led to an arbitrary determination of the shareholdings in Swanmines; the reduction of Gecamines' interest in Swanmines and, finally, the dispute between H&J (Africo's subsidiary) and Akam Mining which has resulted in the curtailing of Swanmines' activities. The notification goes on to indicate the Government's requirements ...

Botswana awards Morupule power tender

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:47:01 -0500
Botswana: Morupule Tender Awarded
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Two Chinese companies have been awarded tenders for the expansion of Morupule Power Station, while Government will tap into the massive Caborra Bassa power station in Mozambique, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, said at a briefing of business representatives in Gaborone on Monday. Kedikilwe told the BOCCIM prompted session that government intended to fast-track and incentivise the contractors to speed up the first phase of the 300MW project ... The Botswana Power Corporation has also entered into a bartering arrangement with a power station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in terms of which the BPC will supply it with coal in return for power supply. The BPC is also engaged in negotiations with a bigger power station at Hwange near Bulawayo, also in Zimbabwe. Botswana's sole power utility is looking at investing in the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Organisation (ZESCO), which operates the Hwange Power Station. The Namibian power utility NamPower has invested US$40 million - approximately P256.8 million - in the same power station. Kedikilwe disclosed that the BPC had successfully negotiated a contract for the supply of 35MW from Mozambique's massive Caborra Bassa power station and that plans were afoot to increase the supply to 50MW by the end of the year, escalating to 200MW in due course ...