Aug. 23 (GIN) – Bent over the lush grape fields that produce South Africa’s great wines are dirt poor workers, living in substandard shacks and exposed to toxic pesticides, according to a new and alarming report released this week by the watchdog group Human Rights Watch.
Aug. 23 (GIN) – Bent over the lush grape fields that produce South Africa’s great wines are dirt poor workers, living in substandard shacks and exposed to toxic pesticides, according to a new and alarming report released this week by the watchdog group Human Rights Watch.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
HRW said they found farm workers, mostly in the Western Cape Province, largely unaware of their rights. Illegal evictions were common with authorities rarely initiating criminal proceedings. The 96 page report “Ripe with Abuse” by the New York-based group was released this week.
“The wealth and well-being these workers produce shouldn’t be rooted in human misery,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government, the industries and farmers need to do a lot more to protect people who live and work on farms.”
South Africa's farmers association called the report "one-sided, malicious, unfair and highly irresponsible." The head of Wines of South Africa said the study's claims would be investigated.
Farm workers contribute millions to South Africa's economy. For centuries, they were paid in alcohol in the so-called “Dop” system with disastrous health and social consequences. At two farms found by HRW, Dop was still in effect.
The rights group found full compliance with the law in a few cases as well as a variety of positive practices by employers. Some farmers, for example, give workers land to grow their own crops, pay the full cost of medical visits, and provide free food to workers in the winter.
South Africa is the world's seventh-largest producer of wine. Canada, the U.S. and the UK are important export destinations for South African wine. w/pix of farmworker
$260 MILLION INTENDED FOR TOXIC DUMP VICTIMS MUST BE FOUND, AMNESTY SAYS
By Fungai Maboreke
Aug 23 (GIN) – A settlement of $260 million owed to citizens of the West African nation of Ivory Coast, victims of a nighttime dumping of toxic trash by a foreign barge, must be found and distributed, says the rights group Amnesty International.
According to the group, only a handful of the 92,000 victims received any payment and the money paid to the former government of Laurent Gbagbo is largely unaccounted for. “It’s unacceptable that so many people …have not received the compensation they are entitled to,” said Benedetta Lacey, special advisor to Amnesty on the 5th anniversary of the disaster.
Hundreds of tons of highly toxic oil waste were offloaded in Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital, on Aug. 19, 2006. Later it was learned that the British company, Trafigura, was fully aware that its waste was so toxic that it was banned in Europe. More than 100,000 Ivorians required medical attention and 12 victims appeared to show fatal levels of the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide, one of the waste's lethal byproducts.
Trafigura agreed to pay $195 million for about 95,000 victims. A second payment of $20 million was approved as final payment for additional costs and clean-up expenses.
But a group calling itself the National Coordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Cote d’Ivoire managed to hijack some of the funds. Much of the money is now missing and the head of the group has disappeared.
Genevieve Diallo of the victims’ group next to Akouedo dumpsite said: “On the 5th anniversary, we must think about the victims… “Those who have misappropriated the money must be brought to justice. Justice must be done.” w/pix of waste removal expert
KEY AIDE TO MICHELE BACHMANN ONCE CHARGED AS TERRORIST IN UGANDA
By Fungai Maboreke
Aug. 23 (GIN) – A political organizer who helped send Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to victory in the recent Ames Iowa straw poll faced a life sentence in Uganda in 2006 on a gun-running charge.
Peter E. Waldron was held for 37 days, along with six Congolese and Ugandan nationals, in Luriza Prison outside of Kampala. They were charged with possession of assault rifles and ammunition. Waldron was deported back to the U.S. reportedly after intervention from the Bush Administration.
Waldron, originally from Wyoming, spent several years in the East African country. The Kampala Monitor reported he was working with a Congo group to set up a Christian political party in Uganda. He also reportedly told a friend he has worked for the CIA.
He was also rumored to have been working with Congolese rebel militia members to capture Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan guerrilla group the Lord's Resistance Army, and claim a $1.7 million bounty on his head but that planning for the operation went awry, leading police to Waldron's house and the guns.
Waldron ‘s East African ordeal is detailed in The Ultimate Price: The Peter E. Waldron Story, a film whose trailer was abruptly removed from YouTube after The Atlantic online magazine carried a piece on it. A synopsis of the film reads as follows:
"Lebanon. Iraq. Syria. Afghanistan. Pakistan. Uganda. India. For over thirty years, his family never knew where he went -- never knew what he did. Based on a true story, Dr. Peter Waldron was on a mission. Was he a businessman, a preacher, a spy? Tortured and facing a firing squad, he never broke his oath of silence. What secret was worth the ultimate price?"
For now, presidential hopeful Bachmann is standing behind her man. w/pix of P. Waldron
Libyan Leader's Departure Raises New Concerns
Aug. 23 (GIN) – As rebel fighters tightened their grip on Tripoli, many African leaders were largely silent over the prospect of the demise of Libya’s Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
South African broadcaster SABC reported that Angola offered him asylum but it was unclear how he would get out of Tripoli with U.S. officials declining to rule out targeting Gaddafi in a drone attack.
Ugandan opposition leader Nandala Mafabi said Col. Gaddafi’s likely overthrow would be inspirational. “It shows that people can rise against dictatorship and succeed if there is discontent because of a leader overstaying in power or suppressing citizens."
President Yoweri Museveni, however, gave qualified support to his one-time backer. “I have had a lot of problems with Gaddafi but when it comes to foreigners interfering in the affairs of Africa without the permission of the African Union, I cannot support it. The position of Africa is ‘leave Libya to the Libyans to solve’.”
Friends of Gaddafi, now anxiously observing his defeat, include Zimbabwe's President Mugabe, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Mali. As of this week, African recognition of the Libyan rebels was only four countries: Senegal, Gambia, Egypt and Tunisia.
Concerns are growing as to who or what will replace the ousted African “King of Kings” as Gaddafi once called himself.
Columnist Patrick Cockburn observed in a piece titled "No one doubts that Gaddafi has lost. The question is: who has won?" "In Iraq, the Americans dissolved the Iraqi army and excluded former members of the Baath party from jobs and power… Most Iraqis were glad to see the end of Saddam Hussein, but the struggle to replace him almost destroyed the country.
"In Tripoli, as in most oil states, the government provides most jobs and many Libyans did well under the old regime. How will they now pay for being on the losing side?
Cockburn warned: "Long-term opponents of the regime will find it difficult to share the spoils of victory with those who turned their coats at the last minute." w/pix of Libyan rebel
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });