This is the first and the only Coronavirus show in Angola where the most ordinary citizens show their brilliant talents.
The heroes of the program are the most ordinary citizens - they share with the audience their songs, poems and real stories of how the Coronavirus pandemic affected their lives.
We launched the “Corona Voice show” campaign to provide a space for young women and men around Angola to share their views, experiences and initiatives.
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Your sponsorship will help the most affected people by covid-19 to take the first step out of poverty.
Our girls back to school campaign is ongoing. Day 26
Once girls are taken out of schools, the probability of them going back is very low. This is not to say that we are forgetting the boys, but we should not forget that girls are most vulnerable.
Today we invited Felicia, she will share with us the impact of covid-19 on her academic life.
My name is Felicia Paulo, I am 9 years old and I study in 3rd grade.
Felicia how the coronavirus affected your studies?
Well, the coronavirus hindered my studies and I'm not studying since March 2020. I haven't seen my colleagues and my teacher for a long time.
In this time that you are at home, have you done anything to continue learning?
Yes I do. My father has brought some topics and exercises that my school has distributed to solve at home.
From March 2020 until now that you are not studying, have you not forgotten anything you learned before the pandemic?
I forgot some things.
And how have you been turning?
By solving some exercises at home, reading my notebooks and books.
Have you been following the preventive measures against the coronavirus?
Yes, I wash my hands very well, I always use the mask and disinfect my hands with alcohol gel.
Are you afraid of the coronavirus?
Yes, I am very afraid.
OK thank you.
We are facing a global pandemic like no other which threatens the progress made by AU Member States in terms of access, participation and completion at primary and secondary levels of education in the African educational landscape.
We need to engage with teachers and school directors so they can understand what's happened during the school closures and what are some of the things that girls' have gone through, and the challenges they need to address once kids come back to school.
We launched this campaign to ensure that every girl is able to learn while schools are closed and return to the classroom when schools safely reopen. Everyone can play a role in supporting girls Everyone education - whether you Everyonere a teacher, parent, student, journalist, policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen.
Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Tell us your story!
Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus would you like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the poverty among women?
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Your sponsorship will help the most vulnerable girls and women to take the first step out of poverty.
The United Nations Information Service’s Graduate Study Program (GSP) is the longest-running educational program of the United Nations. Now in its 59th year, over the decades the GSP has trained thousands of youth from over 100 countries. The seminar provides an opportunity for participants to deepen their understanding of the United Nations System and the International Geneva through first-hand observations, lectures, research, group work, and visits to Geneva-based institutions.
The 59th Graduate Study Program will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from Monday, 28 June to Friday, 9 July 2021. It will comprise lectures given by representatives of the United Nations and other Geneva-based organizations, visits to institutions , and daily work in working groups under the guidance of expert moderators.
Requirements
Fluency in English is essential.
As several sessions and discussions may be held in French, working knowledge of French is also needed.
Applicants must be between 22 and 32 years of age at the time of application.
Applicants must be enrolled in a master Aps degree program or a postgraduate degree program at the time of application.
Applicants who have already participated in previous editions of the Graduate Study Program will not be able to apply again.
One plot includes surrounding the Capitol and murdering Democrats to allow Republicans to take control of the government.
WASHINGTON ― Capitol Police briefed Democrats on Monday night about three more potentially gruesome demonstrations planned in the coming days, with one plot to encircle the U.S. Capitol and assassinate Democrats and some Republicans.
On a private call Monday night, new leaders of the Capitol Police told House Democrats they were closely monitoring three separate plans that could pose serious threats to members of Congress as Washington prepares for Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.
The first is a demonstration billed as the “largest armed protest ever to take place on American soil.”
Another is a protest in honor of Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed while trying to climb into the Speaker’s Lobby during Wednesday’s pro-Trump siege of the Capitol.
And another demonstration, which three members said was by far the most concerning plot, would involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court, and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol ― perhaps even killing them ― so that Republicans could take control of the government.
The members of Congress whom HuffPost spoke to Monday night were extremely concerned by the call.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” one member said.
Officials on the call warned lawmakers about sharing too much information with the media, saying that divulging specific dates, times and countermeasures could aid the organizers of the plots. HuffPost is not disclosing certain information, such as who appears to be organizing these plots and when they are to take place.
One member was explicit that these groups were trying to get journalists to report on their demonstrations.
“Some of their main communications to organize these have been cut off, so they’re purposely trying to get the media to report on this as a way to further disseminate information and to attract additional support for their attacks,” this member said.
Democrats were told that the Capitol Police and the National Guard were preparing for potentially tens of thousands of armed protesters coming to Washington and were establishing rules of engagement for warfare. In general, the military and police don’t plan to shoot anyone until one of the rioters fires, but there could be exceptions.
Lawmakers were told that the plot to encircle the Capitol also included plans to surround the White House ― so that no one could harm Trump ― and the Supreme Court, simply to shut down the courts. The plan to surround the Capitol includes assassinating Democrats as well as Republicans who didn’t support Trump’s effort to overturn the election ― and allowing other Republicans to enter the building and control government.
All of these plots may never materialize. The Capitol Police have established a new perimeter with fencing and razor wire, and the National Guard has already been called in to help protect the Capitol and lawmakers.
But while Capitol Police assured members they were prepared for these terrorist plots, there was obvious concern from a number of lawmakers.
One topic of discussion was the need to put every member of Congress through a metal detector before the inauguration. A member on the call told HuffPost that there was an “eyes-wide-open realization” that Capitol Police needed to take precautions against “all these members who were in league with the insurrectionists who love to carry their guns.”
“You can’t just let them bypass security and walk right up to [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris at inauguration,” this lawmaker told HuffPost.
Another area of concern was the Trump administration’s involvement in tamping down an insurrection. “I don’t think anyone has confidence that the folks at the Pentagon, that may or may not even be needed for some of this, or the Department of Homeland Security, where we don’t even know who’s in charge, are going to be cooperative,” one member told HuffPost.
One Democrat on the call also raised the issue of security for members coming from their residences to the Capitol, as well as traveling to Washington, given recent confrontations at airports and on flights between some protesters and lawmakers. One member who spoke to HuffPost said the Capitol Police didn’t have a satisfactory answer about that concern.
This member mentioned how the briefing had underscored the wisdom of Twitter suspending Trump’s account, as well as tens of thousands of accounts associated with the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon, and said the decision to cut off the social media platform Parler “looked a lot smarter” given the efforts to recruit armed extremists to come to the nation’s capital in the coming days.
“It’s a decision that might ultimately save lives,” this member said.
One of the lawmakers who spoke to HuffPost said members of Congress were all experiencing difficult reactions to the storming of the Capitol last week.
“Most of us are feeling that,” this Democrat said. “But we are also feeling that we don’t have time to indulge too much of it, that this is not about us, that it’s about a job that’s way bigger than us, and we are just going to suck it up and get through, and we’ll talk about how nutty it is on the other side.”
Amanda Terkel and Jennifer Bendery contributed to this report.
Chengeto Tapfuma, 59, has become accustomed to pain and loss. Three years ago, she lost her only daughter after a long illness and became the sole provider for her four grandchildren, who are now aged between eight and 13.
The oldest will start secondary school in Harare Thes Budiriro suburb, close to where they live, next year.
While she was still mourning her daughter's death, her two-roomed cottage, the place she has called home for the past 10 years, was levelled after being declared an “illegal structure”, leaving her young family homeless.
As a bulldozer roared into the sprouting suburb on December 8, residents were ordered from their homes with the few possessions they could grab, and then the demolitions began.
Together with 134 other households in Budiriro 5, an extension of Harare .s Budiriro suburb which has grown up over the past 10 years as people have built informal structures there, they stood in the heavy rain and watched their homes were pulled down.
Like councils in other urban areas of Zimbabwe, Harare City Council is facing a rise in illegal settlements which have emerged as powerful businessmen known as land barons have parcelled out land without proper planning and approval.
While many legal housing cooperatives, which are approved and registered by city councils, do buy land in order to help local people build homes, some land barons have set up illegal housing associations and have illegally sold land they do not own to unsuspecting residents.
As a result, Harare City Council has taken legal action to deal with the malpractice, targeting more than 20 housing cooperatives it says are operating illegally.
“Due to the rampant illegal occupation on open spaces of land by land barons in Harare, the Harare City Council took illegal occupants of such land to court,” the minister of local government, July Moyo, said on December 16, one week after the demolitions in Budiriro 5. “To date, Harare City Council has secured 23 court rulings in their favor, and 22 are yet to be executed.”
The Budiriro 5 demolition was the first of these 23 orders to be executed and the casualties are the local residents, who say they believed they had bought their land plots in good faith from a legitimate housing association.
The temporary shack that Chengeto Tapfuma has been forced to build to provide shelter for her four grandchildren, for whom she has cared since the death of her daughter three years ago. The family has nowhere else to live after their home was demolished by bulldozers last month [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Waiting in vain and in the rain
After the demolition gang departed Budiriro 5, mountains of crumbling brickwork and rubble remained, a reminder of more than 10 years of investment and sweat by the homeowners gone to waste in an instant. With her grandchildren wailing in the rain, clinging to her arms and legs, Chengeto says the agony of losing her daughter came right back to her.
Her pain and frustration are evident. “It seems like a vital organ was forcibly extracted from my fragile body,” she says. “Speaking to anyone, even you journalists, is helpless because nobody is willing to listen and help us anyway.”
After the demolition of her home, Chengeto managed to put up a small shack on the site, but all of her personal possessions were lost when the bulldozers came.
At night, Chengeto and her grandchildren shelter in the shack. But when the rain is too heavy, the family tries to stay with relatives in the area. Meals most days are donated by well-wishers.
Feeding a fire to boil water for tea, Chengeto says, “The government promised to bring us food and tents to shelter us, but they haven’t come back yet. We have nothing to feed the children, after everything was damaged by the rain.
“We have nowhere else to go, this is our home.”
Game of thrones
Chengeto’s life – and the lives of her neighbours – has been thrown into chaos because of a dispute over ownership of the land on which their homes were built.
Residents say they bought their plots of land from Tembwe Housing Cooperative in 2010, making them the lawful owners. Members of the cooperative have paid monthly subscriptions for their plots; in total, the 134 members of Tembwe Housing Cooperative say they have each contributed $3,600 since 2010. It is a large sum considering that many families here earn about $50 per month.
Residents of Budiriro 5 contemplate their next move, resolving to stay put for as long as they can [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
They say that Tembwe Housing Cooperative, whose name is derived from the armed struggle against British colonial rule, which ended in 1980, told them it had acquired the land lawfully from the council.But Harare City Council claims it did not sell the land to Tembwe Housing Cooperative and instead, it announced in 2015 that it intended to sell the land to another cooperative – Events Housing. The resulting dispute has been raging ever since.
In a December 16 statement following the demolitions, July Moyo, the local government minister, said, “While it is a fact that Events Housing Cooperative was in the process of being allocated the said piece of land, Tembwe Housing Cooperative invaded the land resulting in the Harare City Council and the two cooperatives dragging each other to court.
“The occupations are also championed by individuals who are seeking to profiteer from the ordinary peoples’ quest for land and housing. These land barons are causing chaos and frustrating orderly development in Harare.”
The residents do not agree with this version of events. Jennifer Mtami, 31, a mother of five who has been displaced by the demolitions, says, “We were told by both the city council and the government department that registers cooperatives that our cooperative was legally registered with the government. Every member contributed US$30 per month as subscription fees, and we wanted development to take place. We got water connection that was inspected by the city council.”
Land disputes between cooperatives or with the city council regarding boundaries and proper use of an area are not uncommon, particularly where land is of high quality.
Unlike other wetlands in the area – areas where water covers the soil, or is present at or near its surface – this portion of land has attracted a lot of interest from rival developers because of the good quality of its soil, and its suitability for building and habitation. Other wetlands which have been occupied across Harare and neighbouring towns have, by contrast, been frequently flooded.
A 2019 inquiry commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa into the sale of state land by land barons and the city councils in and around urban areas since 2005 observed that “land was either invaded by home seekers, invaded by war veterans for agricultural purposes, which subsequently morphed into urban settlements, or allocation to cooperatives, trusts and land developers by the responsible ministry, who pocketed proceeds”.
The report noted, “Aspiring or sitting Members of Parliament created new urban settlements as a way of mobilising political support, and use of names of top ruling party leadership to exert undue influence on government institutions and processes.
“Housing development has occurred on unplanned areas such as wetlands, under power lines, on top of sewer lines or sites designated for schools and clinics.”
An abandoned couch sits outside one of the demolished houses in the Budiriro 5 neighbourhood [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Who is to blame?
Further complicating the dispute over Budiriro 5, the opposition-controlled Harare City Council, which claims ownership of the land, has denied that it is responsible for bulldozing the houses there. Instead, it blames the ZANU-PF government.
Hostilities between opposition-controlled city councils and the central government date back to the 2000 elections when the new main opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) won an unprecedented 57 parliamentary seats in mainly urban areas, a record for the MDC since independence in 1980.
Currently, the MDC Alliance (a grouping of opposition parties which includes the original MDC) controls 28 of the country’s 32 municipalities in towns and cities, while the governing party has much greater support in rural areas, and exists in urban areas primarily as the opposition.
The resulting political feud between the governing ZANU-PF and the MDC Alliance over control of urban councils has caused upheaval for common residents.
The MDC Alliance, in particular, complains about interference from the governing party over the running of council business, resulting in disruption of water and refuse collection services.
The MDC Alliance also says it has inherited chaotic services, inefficient administration systems and a scourge of land barons protected through their political links.
Neither side will officially take responsibility for ordering the demolition of people’s homes and the dispute over who exactly is to blame continues on social media channels.
On the day of the Budiriro 5 demolitions, December 8, Information Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana tweeted: “I am told @cohsunshinecity [the Twitter handle belonging to the City of Harare Council] is going to demolish 134 houses under Events Housing Cooperative in Budiriro. They obtained court order to carry out the demolitions.”
Nelson Chamisa, the main MDC Alliance opposition leader, denied his party was to blame. “The heartless and cruel demolitions of citizens’ homes is a violation of the dignity and security of persons,” he told the media two days after visiting the affected residents. “This command politics based on iron-fisted governance style must be resisted by us all. Those responsible please stop it.”
Harare City Council Mayor Jacob Mafume did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
In previous statements, however, he has stated that residents will be given the chance to prove ownership of land if they can do so. On December 10, he wrote on Twitter: “I have asked the officials to compile the court orders that are there advertise them on all platforms. Those with a legal basis be allowed to prove. Need to be humane always in Covid-19 times. In the meantime, we hold in abeyance all processes.
“I am sorry for the pain that have been caused to the victims who have been victimized twice. Land barons should be brought to account first. We now have a humanitarian crisis which should have been foreseeable. We need to show empathy in this hard times.”
Householders’ possessions were destroyed by the bulldozers that flattened the neighbourhood [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
‘We have nowhere to go’
Martha Samanga, 43, is one resident of Budiriro 5 who has not yet lost her home. However, she says, the bulldozers could be back at any time. “Ten years since the suburb started being built, we are now called illegal residents by the city council and the court but this is not a wetland compared to some areas in Budiriro [which are waterlogged and not fit for building],” says Martha. “They promised to return and destroy the rest of the homes, including mine, and we are still waiting for them.”
At least Martha still has a home, unlike Vimbiso Farasi, 41, and her three children, for whom every day is a struggle, sleeping in the rain in temporary shelters.
“I have three young children, and we have nowhere to go,” she says. “We built this temporary structure, but it is not safe for my family.”
The met department has forecast more rain in the coming days.
The residents of Budiriro 5 are yet to meet the relevant authorities from the council to discuss the way forward. The government has suggested relocating them to an open ground, far from Budiriro 5. The proposed area is still within Harare, but, while close to shops and schools, has no running water.
“The authorities don’t want to come and address us. They must come and meet us, and tell us the way forward,” says James Chimeramombe, 46, a now homeless self-employed father of six.
Children play beside the ruins of a bulldozed house in Budiriro 5 [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
History of corruption
Opposition and ruling party politicians, councillors and officials have been among those who have pounced on vacant land, parcelling it up and dividing it among themselves, or selling it on illegally to home seekers, even land located on top of sewer lines and other reserved amenities on which it is illegal to build.
In a bid to clean up such corruption in urban areas, the late opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, led a purge of corrupt councillors in 2010. But the rot had already set in.
A November 2020 report by Tabani Mpofu, head of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) in the office of the president, singled out city councillors. It said: “Corruption has a direct and adverse effect on the society within which it is practised. There is no better illustration of this fact than the dire circumstances that residents of Harare and other urban centres find themselves in.
“Service delivery in Harare has deteriorated to such an extent that garbage collection is almost non-existent in most suburbs with many urban centres going for decades without water,” the SACU report added.
In 2005, just as winter began, nearly 700,000 citizens of Zimbabwe were rendered homeless and destitute when then-President Robert Mugabe demolished houses deemed as slums in a campaign said to be targeting illegal housing and commercial activities in a bid to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
Nearly 2.4 million people were indirectly affected. The directive was viewed by the MDC opposition as retribution towards urban voters for electing them into power in their areas. The United Nations called the episode a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
Inside one of the demolished houses in Budiriro 5, a family’s possessions lie ruined by the bulldozers and the rain [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Voices of defiance
As the 2023 general elections draw closer, residents of Harare suburbs like Martha, Chengeto and James anticipate that politicians will flood the area, as usual, canvassing for votes. With the majority of their identification particulars destroyed by rain during the demolitions, their lives are in disarray, though residents of the area are confident they will rise again if they get assistance from charities and government.
“We need assistance urgently to get identification documents for us and our children because they were destroyed by the rain,” says Jennifer Mtami, 31, a mother and one of the displaced residents of Budiriro 5.
The residents say they are not going anywhere; that they just want to restart their lives.
“We are ready to rebuild but we are afraid the homes will be destroyed again and bring others in our place,” Chengeto says. “Corruption is ruining our lives because we were here for the past 10 years, and they should have sorted the area and given us the first priority. We are prepared to pay the council whatever they want for the land.”
Meanwhile, the cabinet has directed the demolitions to stop, for now, until the rainy season is over, by around March.
The word Budiriro means “prosperity” in the prevalent Shona vernacular, but for the affected residents, their neighbourhood has brought them very far from that.
A former Zambia President, Kenneth Kaunda is dead.
He was 96.
Kaunda was born in Chinsali, the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Kaunda was a qualified teacher and taught in a number of schools for years. In 1951, he left teaching to become Organizing Secretary of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress for the Northern Province.
In 1959, Kaunda broke away from the ANC and formed his own party, the Zambian National Congress (ZANC).
In 1964, Kaunda became the first president of an independent Zambia. He remained in power until 1991, when he stepped down following pressure from his own people and the international community.
Kaunda revealed in 2001 on a visit to Houston upon invitation by the African Community Organization that he took over Zambia with only 140 university graduates who were native Zambians and had to build from there.
He was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba. Since stepping down as president, Kaunda has been involved in various charitable organizations.
The late Kaunda wrote his popular autobiography late Zambia Shall Be Free ’in 1962.
Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI) yielded Akz 4.13 billion via electronic money e-Kwanza in 2020, as part of operations carried out by 112, 380 registered customers, according to the institution’s press release reached Angop.
It said that the rise in operations owed to the increase in users in the last half of 2020, which attract more merchants who subscribe to the contract for accepting payments made via e-Kwanza.
In document released by Brand 15s Communication and Management Office, predicts the acceptance, payments and withdrawals network exceeding 15,000 merchants by the end of 2021.
Of this number, six thousand already in the first half, across the country, making it the ideal solution for payments and transfers without physical contacts.
The financial institution put at 2,200 the number of employees it has in the country outs 18 provinces, who received the Christmas and New Year numbers eve incentive in their e-Kwanza account and carried out their financial transactions with the support of this service.
BAI announces, on the other hand, that it started on Monday a national campaign to attract customers, and announced plans to create 54,000 new private accounts.
This value demonstrates that the e-Kwanza service, in addition to benefiting non-bank people, especially in the informal market, also supports the movement of large amounts of money and serves people and bank companies that want to operate safely and quickly.
Residents of Budiriro 5 contemplate their next move, resolving to stay put for as long as they can [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
An abandoned couch sits outside one of the demolished houses in the Budiriro 5 neighbourhood [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Householders’ possessions were destroyed by the bulldozers that flattened the neighbourhood [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Children play beside the ruins of a bulldozed house in Budiriro 5 [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
Inside one of the demolished houses in Budiriro 5, a family’s possessions lie ruined by the bulldozers and the rain [Derick Matsengarwodzi/Al Jazeera]
