Reverse migration slowing urbanization rates

HEALTH: Spending your way out of TB infection

LONDON, 17 February 2012 (IRIN) - A hundred years ago there was no way to treat tuberculosis (TB) except with rest, fresh air and nutritious food. Forty years later the discovery of antibiotics transformed treatment and TB has been a curable disease for more than half a century, but the disease still kills nearly 4,000 people a day. The goals set by the World Health Organization (WHO) to halve the incidence of TB by 2015 and eliminate it as a public health problem by 2050 seem far out of reach. full report

FILM: Out of Sight: Blind migrants in Johannesburg

NAIROBI, 15 February 2012 (IRIN) - IRIN’s latest film, Out of Sight, explores the lives of blind undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe as they try and eke out a living begging on the streets of Johannesburg. full report

SOUTH AFRICA: Migrants face unlawful arrests and hasty deportations

MUSINA, 14 February 2012 (IRIN) - Four months ago, Clemence Uzizo, 21, a welder living in Soweto, Johannesburg's most populous suburb, made the mistake of venturing out to a local shop without his asylum-seeker permit. Neither the police who arrested him, nor the immigration officials who detained him, verified Uzizo's legal status before deporting him to Zimbabwe, the country of his birth. full report

ZIMBABWE: Deportations rob vulnerable of remittances

HARARE, 10 February 2012 (IRIN) - Thousands of Zimbabwean households are feeling the effects of lost remittances from family members forcibly returned from neighbouring South Africa since that country resumed deportations of undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in October 2011. full report

SOUTH AFRICA: Asylum-seekers resort to border jumping

MUSINA, 9 February 2012 (IRIN) - At the Beitbridge border post between Zimbabwe and South Africa, asylum-seekers from all over the continent used to jostle with Zimbabwean migrants to gain entry into a country widely perceived as a place of freedom and safety. full report

SOUTH AFRICA: Refugee children miss out on school

JOHANNESBURG, 31 January 2012 (IRIN) - In the inner-city Johannesburg neighbourhood of Berea, where a large proportion of residents are refugees and asylum-seekers, it is not uncommon to see children playing football in the street or killing time at one of the local parks on a weekday. Judith Manjoro, an out-of-work teacher from Zimbabwe, teamed up with some other community workers two years ago to quiz the children about why they were not in school. full report

SOUTH AFRICA: Red tape ensnares asylum-seekers

JOHANNESBURG, 20 January 2012 (IRIN) - Asylum-seekers entering South Africa are no longer being issued with the necessary documents to apply for refugee status. Without a so-called section 23 permit, they are being turned away from Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) and denied the opportunity to legalize their stay in the country. full report

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Floods leave Angolan returnees stranded

JOHANNESBURG, 6 January 2012 (IRIN) - Several thousand Angolan returnees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stranded by floods in northeastern Angola. They are among the first casualties of what promises to be a very wet rainy season in parts of southern Africa. full report

Analysis: South Africa - paper tiger of African peacekeeping operations

JOHANNESBURG, 6 January 2012 (IRIN) - There is an expectation - and has been for several years - that Africa’s economic powerhouse, South Africa, would become a leading player in the continent’s peacekeeping operations, but analysts say this is wishful thinking at best, and possibly misguided. full report