Cross-posted from PRI The World

In South Africa, a four-year saga over a political cartoon is over, and the winner appears to be the cartoonist, Zapiro, the pen name of Jonathan Shapiro.

Sunday President Jacob Zuma announced he was dropping all charges against Zapiro and a local newspaper The Sunday Times, over a cartoon published in 2008.

It showed a woman wearing a sash with the words ‘Justice System,” being pinned down by four figures who say, “Go for it, Boss.” The “boss” is Zuma who’s shown standing over the woman unbuckling his belt. The cartoon caused a furor across South Africa.

At the time, Jacob Zuma was not yet President and he was facing a corruption trial – eventually dismissed. He’d also recently been acquitted of rape. Zuma sued, seeking damages of $5 million rand, about $578,000.

Over the next four years Zapiro penned versions of the cartoon using different characters which prompted more outrage from Zuma.

Then suddenly last week, just as the trial was about to start, Zuma said he would accept 100,000 rand or about $11,000 and an apology.

Zapiro laughed it off.

Sunday, Zuma dropped the case entirely, even the request for an apology.

Zuma’s office said in a statement that though the cartoon was an affront, it wanted to avoid a precedent that could limit free speech.

President Zuma has championed legislation in recent years that critics say could muzzle the press. He also faces re-election in December for the leadership of the African National Congress.

Refa wa zamani wa soka aliyewahi pia kuwa Mwenyekiti wa Chama cha Soka Mkoa wa Mara, Abdallah Majura Bulembo, ameibuka kidedea na kuwa Mwenyekiti Mpya wa Jumuiya ya Wazazi wa CCM Taifa baada ya kuzoa kura nyingi na kuwaacha mbali wapinzani wake John Barongo na Martha Mlacha (Mbunge wa Viti Maalum CCM).

Akitangaza matokeo ya uchaguzi huo jana, msimamizi wa uchaguzi huo uliofanyika mjini Dodoma, Steven Wassira, alisema Bulembo ameshinda baada ya kuzoa kura 680 atashika wadhifa huo kwa kipindi kijacho cha miaka minne.

Alisema kuwa Martha Mlata alipata kura 190 na hivyo kumaliza katika nafasi ya pili huku  John Barongo akiambulia kura 42 tu na hivyo kuwa nyuma ya Bulembo na Mlata.

Akizungumza baada ya kutangazwa kuibuka mshindi na kutangazwa rasmi kuwa mwenyekiti wa Jumuiya hiyo, Bulembo aliyekuwa akishangiliwa ukumbini mfululizo aliwashukuru wajumbe kwa kumpa ushindi wa kishindo, lakini akawaasa baadhi ya watu walioshindwa kwenye uchaguzi huo kukubaliana na matokeo ili kuendelea kukijenga chama chao.

"Miaka minne iliyopita nilisimama pia mbele yenu hna kuwaomba kura, lakini nikashindwa kwa vile kura hazikutosha... hata hivyo niliwashukuru sana na kuahidi kurudi. Leo nimetimiza wajibu huo. Lakini nasikitika kuona wenzangu ambao hawakusimama hapa," alisema Bulembo.

"Kura zao hazikutosha, hawakusaini, wamekimbia, wanaanzisha ajenda mpya... nawakumbusha kuwa katika Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) kuna kushinda na kushindwa. Wakubali matokeo kama mimi nilivyofanya miaka minne iliyopita," alisema Bulembo ambaye katika uchaguzi uliopita alishika nafasi ya pili baada ya kuzidiwa kura na Balozi Athumani Juma Mhina (sasa Marehemu) aliyetwaa nafasi hiyo.  

Wengine waliofanya vizuri katika uchaguzi huo ni pamoja na Pandu Silima na Haji waliotwaa nafasi za ujumbe wa NEC-CCM kutokea Zanzibar huku wagombea wengine watatu wakiwamo Mussa Azzan Zungu, Jasson Rweikiza na Adam Malima wakitwaa nafasi ya ujumbe wa NEC-CCM kutokea Tanzania Bara.

Mbali na kuwahi kuwa refa na Mwenyekiti wa Chama cha Soka Mkoa wa Mara (MRFA), Bulembo pia aliwahi kuwa Mjumbe wa Kamati ya Utendaji ya Shirikisho la Soka Tanzania (TFF).

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Taarifa via blogu ya Sraika Mkali

Matthew7829 has been selected from Reedy Creek Elementary as a finalist for this week's grade 4th-6th "Artist of the Week" award... but he/she needs your vote to win!  The student who receives the most online votes between now and Saturday November 3 will be selected as the featured Artist of the Week.  To cast your vote, simply click on the following link: www.artsonia.com/aotw/vote/1/20536211

The winning "Artist of the Week" will be featured on the Artsonia homepage during the upcoming week (starting on Sunday) and will receive a commemorative plaque from Artsonia.  In addition, Blick Art Materials has generously donated $100 gift certificates to the winning teachers and $50 to the winning artists.

Voting is limited to one vote per computer per day for each age group.

Thank you for helping us celebrate the creativity of students around the world!

cross-posting the following article from NPR.org, written by SCOTT HENSLEY

A month ago NPR wrote about results from an experiment in getting the most effective malaria drugs to more people who need them in Africa.

The idea was to subsidize the cost of drugs, sometimes to a price point below their wholesale cost, and make them more widely available.

Now the findings, presented publicly at a meeting in Washington, have been publishedin The Lancet.

In most of the countries where the subsidies were tried, the share of the market forartemisinin-combination therapies, or ACTs, went up a lot. In Zanzibar (part of Tanzania) and Nigeria, the ACT drugs helped drive down sales of one-drug treatments. Those so-called monotherapies, which are cheaper, are a problem because they can spur drug-resistant malaria.

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria program, or AMFm, brought more than 100 million doses of malaria drugs to clinics and pharmacies in 2011.

"The programme has been highly controversial," the authors of the study acknowledge. A big worry: Middlemen would pocket the subsidies and consumers, especially the poorest ones, wouldn't benefit.

Others say the program, a pilot test of the concept, hasn't been able to show it saves lives or made a dent in resistance. The aid group Oxfam blasted the approach, saying it's risky and a distraction:

The Affordable Medicine Facility–malaria has shown no evidence that it has saved the lives of the most vulnerable or delayed drug resistance. Rather, this global subsidy has incentivised medicine sales without diagnosis and shown no evidence that it has served poor people. It poses a risk to public health and could skew investment away from effective solutions.

Oxfam recommends that the board of the Global Fund pull the plug on it next month.

But supporters of the idea, writing an accompanying editorial in The Lancet, disagree, saying a board vote against the program would be a mistake:

Most importantly, it will kill a programme that, when fully implemented, rapidly met its benchmarks despite the many constraints, expectations and unrealistic timelines imposed on it. We must acknowledge that an efficient approach to subsidising antimalarial drugs has worked, making them available in the private sector where people go to buy them.

After cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage along the East Coast this week. Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey and brought with it major flooding, travel disruption, structural damage, and power outages. New York City was especially hard hit. The storm system was so large ­-- nearly 1,000 miles wide at times -- it brought blizzard conditions to West Virginia and 20 foot waves to Lake Michigan. It is projected Sandy will have caused about $30 billion in damages in the U.S.A. To date, the storm claimed more than 100 lives.  Below are some photos snatched from Boston.com, (click here to see all 57) collected by Lloyd Young.

                                                                                                 ---- --------------------------

N.Y. Drama: Officer Dies After Saving Family; Videos Show Rooftop Rescues
(story by MARK MEMMOTT, via NPR)

Heartbreak and heroics on Staten Island in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy:

— "Police say off-duty Officer Artur Kasprzak, 28, who was assigned to the 1st Precinct in Manhattan, got six members of his family — two men aged 69 and 31, three women aged 68, 31 and 30, and a 15-month-old baby boy — into his attic to escape the rising waters around 7 p.m. Monday," NY1 reports.

Then, after saying he was going to check the basement, Kasprzak wasn't seen again — until his body was found in the home's basement the next day. A cause of death hasn't yet been determined.

— Using "Helicopter 23," which is named in honor of the 23 New York City Police Department officers who died on Sept. 11, 2001, members of the department's aviation and scuba unit rescued five adults and a child from rooftops on the island Tuesday. Four videos have been posted showing the dramatic moments. In this one, fast forward to about the 5:00 mark to see the rescue.

Habari, picha na video via GSengo blog

Watu watatu akiwemo mtoto mdogo wameumizwa vibaya mara baada ya kuangukiwa na ukuta wa nyumba kwaa jiwe lililoporomoka kutoka mlimani jijini Mwanza. 

Waliokumbwa na ajali hiyo ni Bw. Msalam Husein ambaye ni  dereva (30) na mkewe Bi. Nadia Grecian ambaye ni mama wa nyumbani (25) pamoja na kichanga wao Asfati Mslam (aliyechini ya umri wa mwaka). 

 Tukio hilo limetokea leo hii majira ya saa 6:00 mchana katika nyumba wanayoishi kilima cha Sabato mtaa wa Ngara eneo la Mlimani B Kirumba jijini Mwanza ambapo pamoja na kwamba ni majira ya mchana watu hao  mke na mume walikuwa wamejipumzisha kitandani, (yawezekana kutokana na hali ya hewa kwa mvua inayoendelea kunyesha leo tangu asubuhi hadi muda huu tunakupa taarifa) ndipo wakakutana na ajali hiyo.

UPDATE:

Mtoto  Asfati Mslam amefariki dunia leo majira ya saa 9 na dakika kadhaa alasiri katika hospitali ya mkoa wa Mwanza, Sekou Toure alikokimbizwa yeye na wazazi wake mara baada ya kuumizwa vibaya kwa kuangukiwa na ukuta wa nyumba yao kupitia mawe yaliyoporomoka kutoka kwenye msingi wa nyumba iliyo eneo la juu mlimani jijini Mwanza. 

Mtoto  Asfati Mslam amezikwa jioni ya le kwenye makaburi ya Waislamu ya Ngara Kirumba eneo la Mlimani B.

Taarifa kwa vyombo vya habari

Mtandao wa Jinsia Tanzania (TGNP), Shirika linalofanya kazi za kutetea  masuala ya kijinsia, haki za wanawake na wasichana ikiwemo haki ya uzazi salama tumeshtushwa na kusikitishwa na kauli iliyotolewa na Mkuu wa Wilaya ya Handeni Mkoani Tanga Ndugu ,Muhingo Rweyemamu kuhusu kukamatwa na kufungwa kwa wasichana waliopata mimba kama njia ya kushinikiza watoe majina ya wanaume waliowapa mimba. Habari hizi zimeandikaa katika  gazeti la the Citizen la tarehe 26 Oktoba 2012 na  athari zake  kwa wasichana kuchambuliwa zaidi na gazeti hilo hilo  tarehe 27 Oktoba 2012

Inasemekana kuwa wasichana mashuleni katika Wilaya ya Handeni wanalazimishwa kupimwa ujauzito na wanapokutwa na ujauzito wanafukuzwa shule. Wasichana hawa hupelekwa polisi kwa mahojiano zaidi endapo watakataa kuwataja wanaume waliowapa mimba. Vitendo hivi vya udhalilishaji  vimetolewa taarifa  kwenye  mikoa mingine ya Tanzania ikiwemo mikoa ya  Mbeya na Iringa. Swali la kujiuliza ni kwa nini msichana aadhibiwe vikali namna hiyo?adhabu ya kwanza kupata ujauzito akiwa mwanafunzi/umri mdogo, adhabu ya pili anafukuzwa shule/ nyumbani na dhabu nyingine akamatwe na kupelekwa polisi. Tunaelewa kuwa kuna mazingira mengi hatarishi yanayochangia mtoto wa kike kubakwa na kupata ujauzito, ukiwemo umbali wa kutoka nyumbani hadi shuleni,ukosefu wa mabweni,  gharama mbali mbali ikiwemo michango ya shule, mazingira duni ya kujifunzia na kufundishia, ukosefu wa chakula cha mchana, watoto wa kike hushawishiwa kujiingiza kwenye kubakwa na hatimaye kupata ujauzito na kukatishwa masomo.

Mfumo wa elimu yetu ya Tanzania unaendeleza matabaka kwani  wasichana wachache wanakwenda kwenye shule nzuri na kwa gharama kubwa  na hata wakipata ujauzito wanaweza kutoa hizo mimba!!!bali  wasichana walio wengi wanakwenda kwenye shule zisizo na rasilimali za kutosha  hasa maeneo ya vijijini na ndiyo wanaofukuzwa wakipata ujauzito. Mfano katika utafiti wa kiraghbishi uliofanywa na Mtandao wa Jinsia Tanzania mwaka huu kwenye vijiji vitatu vya Kata ya Songwa, Mkoa wa Shinyanga wasichana 38 kwa muda wa miaka 2 walikatishwa masomo kutokana na ujauzito.

 Kutokana na vitendo hivyo vya udhalilishwaji, sisi kama wanaharakati  wa masuala ya usawa wa kijinsia, haki za kibinadamu na demokrasia tumechukizwa  sana na tunalaani vikali vitendo na kauli hii ya mkuu wa wilaya  na tunakemea na kusema  yafuatayo:

Madai yetu  kwa Mkuu wa Wilaya ya Handeni  

1. Kuacha mara moja kuwakamata wasichana wanaopata ujauzito na kuwatoa mara moja wale ambao tayari wamepelekwa jela. Pamoja na kuzindua hiyo KAMPENI ya NIACHE NISOME, atuambie kama imeingizwa kwenye mpango mkakati wa wilaya na umetengewe rasilimali kiasi  gani na za kufanya nini???
   
2. Atuweke wazi utaratibu anaotumia kuwawajibisha wahusika kwani kuna taratibu za kisheria zinabidi kufuatwa ili kuwabana na  kama hospitali ya Wilaya ya Handeni ina mashine ya kupima DNA itakuwa Hospitali ya mfano? Je kama  hospitali haina anapaswa kuwajibika??
   

             
Madai yetu  kwa Serikali ya Jamhuri ya  Tanzania

1. Elimu juu ya afya ya uzazi, ikiwemo mbinu za uzazi salama lazima ziwekwe wazi na kufikiwa na wasichana wote na zitolewe bila kuwepo na unyanyapaa wowote
   
2. Lazima kuwepo na ulinzi wa kutosha kwa wasichana na haki ya kufikia elimu bora na nafasi za ajira, maisha endelevu na huduma za afya ya uzazi ambazo zinathamini ustawi wa msichana
   
3. Sheria ya makosa ya kujamiiana ya mwaka 1998 lazima irekebishwe na kuwepo kipengele kinachotoa si adhabu kali tu kwa wanaume wanaowapa mimba wasichana, bali kiongezwe kipengele cha kuhakikisha matunzo ya mtoto na huyo binti na liwe ni suala la kikatiba
   

Kutokana na kauli ya DC tunatoa wito kwa mamlaka ya serikali ya wilaya ya Handeni na sehemu nyingine popote,ya kuweka mazingira endelevu kwa watoto wa kike kulindwa na kufikia malengo yao bila ya kukandamizwa zaidi. Kuwepo na stadi za maisha za kuwajengea uwezo watoto wa kike ambazo zitawapelekea kuwataja wanaume ambao watawasababishia mimba wakiwa bado watoto.

Tunatoa wito kwa wahusika wote na mamlaka za serikali kuchukua hatua za haraka za kutoa elimu ya afya ya uzazi ikiwemo uzazi  salama kwa wasichana na jamii nzima na uingizwe kwenye mitaala ya elimu; kusaidia upanuzi wa usalama wa maisha endelevu kwa wasichana na mazingira rafiki ya kufanyia kazi kwa wote wanawake, wanaume, vijana hasa walioko pembezoni. Tunatoa wito kwa famillia zote, kutoa kipaumbele kwenye mahitaji maalum ya wasichana na kuwapa msaada wanaohitaji katika kufikia elimu bora, afya ya uzazi  salama na  maisha endelevu na yenye heshima.

Kamwe haki ya  msichana haikuzwi kwa kumtupa jela ni kwa kumpa elimu bora ili aweze kufikia ndoto yake ya hapo baadae.

Imetolewa  Dar es salaam leo 31/10/2012 na


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Lilian Liundi
Kaimu Mkrugenzi Mtendaji TGNP