With an average of 100 children under five dying each day, it may be hard to believe that Zimbabawe was once the country of choice for medical treatment in Africa. In this video report, Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, in Harare, explains why the healthcare system there has not been able to regain its title.

On 8 May 2012, the Johannesburg High Court declared that a girl taken in and treated as a daughter by a woman in Soweto could inherit as her customary law heir. Judge Coppin declared the daughter (who prefers to remain anonymous and will be referred to as ‘Ms K’) to be the descendant of a woman who died intestate in 2006. This was despite the fact that the woman never formally adopted Ms K and was not her birth mother. Lawyers for the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) successfully argued that Ms K had been adopted in terms of customary law and should be recognised as her mother’s descendant in terms of the Reform of Customary Law and Succession and Regulation of Related Matters Act 11 of 2009.

A Zimbabwean minister has ordered traditional leaders to seize land belonging to homosexuals and expel them from their communities. Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, who belongs to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, said homosexuality was a 'foreign value'.

The United Nations has adopted global guidelines for rich countries buying land in developing nations. The voluntary rules call on governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples who use the land. It is estimated that 200m hectares, an area eight times the size of Britain, has been bought or leased over the past decade, much of it in Africa and Asia.

The trial of journalist Ramiro Aleixo began on 11 May, 2012, at the Luanda Provincial Court, in Angola. Aleixo stands accused of the crimes of defamation, slander and injury against the military justice system, namely its Supreme Court and office of the military attorney. From a legal standpoint, the accusation against Mr. Aleixo has two serious flaws, says the blog makaangola.org.

Employees at Kayerekera Uranium Mine in Karonga have gone on strike demanding a 40 per cent salary increase in the wake of the recent devaluation of the Malawi currency, the kwacha last week. Effectively, this has completely halted all activities at the mine which is supposed to run for twenty fours on daily. A senior management employee was reported as saying that their demands are justified by the 49.7 per cent devaluation of the kwacha.

Conducting research requires funding, and today's research follows the golden rule: The one with the gold makes the rules. A report just released by Food and Water Watch examines the role of corporate funding of agricultural research at land grant universities. The report found that nearly one quarter of research funding at land grant universities now comes from corporations.

To celebrate the African novel and its adaptability and resilience, Kwani Trust announces a one-off new literary prize for African writing. The Kwani? Manuscript Project calls for the submission of unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora. The prize seeks fresh, original work that explores and challenges the possibilities of the novel.

This National Geographic infographic by John Tomanio is staggering. Using the metaphor of a tree, it charts the loss of US seed variety from 1903 to 1983. And what you see is that we’ve lost about 93 per cent of our unique seed strands behind some of the most popular produce.

Abuzar Al Amin, former deputy editor-in-chief of Rai Al Shaab, a Sudanese newspaper affiliated with the opposition Popular Congress Party, was arrested in May 2010. He was convicted and sentenced to five year’s imprisonment. Abuzar Al Amin was finally released on bail on 22 August 2011. However, the charges against him have not been dropped and he has not been brought before a court. As a result, he is currently limited in his capacity to work due to the risk of re-arrest.

NOTE DE L'ÉDITEUR:

Les lettres qui suivent font partie d'un échange émouvant et d’une rare perspicacité entre deux femmes qui ont été, pendant des décennies, des leaders respectés de mouvements citoyens en Afrique de l'Ouest. Deux femmes connues pour leur sagesse, leur courage, leur créativité et leur engagement sans faille pour la justice, la paix et le bien-être de leurs pays respectifs, la Guinée-Bissau et le Mali. Cette semaine, Pambazuka est heureux de partager une partie de ces correspondances personnelles, échangées à la suite des coups d'Etat survenus d’abord au Mali en mars, puis en Guinée-Bissau en avril. Les lettres ont été traduites du français et sont signés avec des noms d’emprunt pour la sécurité de ces femmes, de leurs camarades et de leurs familles en ces moments difficiles qu’ils sont en train de vivre. (La version en anglais des lettres peuvent être lues à http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82019]

Statement of a group of National and International NGOs in Guinea Bissau concerning the Coup d'e tat of April 12, 2012.

In this audio recording from Chatham House, Pa'gan Amum, Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Secretary General and Chief Negotiator of the Republic of South Sudan discusses the increased tensions between Sudan and South Sudan and gives his thoughts about how to solve the pressing issues of security, oil revenue sharing and border demarcation in order to prevent further deterioration in relations.

Ghana-based sub-regional press freedom body Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has said that some students in Mali ransacked a private radio station, 'Radio Kayira', destroyed broadcasting equipment worth about FCFA 18 million approximately (US$3,571,950), and stole more than FCFA 2 million (about US$398,556) in cash.

The spy chief for South African police, Richard Mdluli, has been moved from his powerful post pending the outcome of an investigation against him, the police minister said Wednesday. Mdluli has been embroiled in controversy since he was charged with murder and corruption in 2011. The charges were provisionally withdrawn earlier this year and a court inquest opened. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa told lawmakers that the inspector general of intelligence would further look into claims that Mdluli was spared a trial due to political meddling.

Tanzania will campaign for South African Home Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is seeking to become the next chairperson of the African Union Commission. But neighbouring Kenya has turned down a request from South Africa to support its candidate. When meeting with a South African delegation, President Mwai Kibaki said South Africa's ambition for the AU top job clashes with Kenya's own interest to have Erastus Mwencha, a Kenyan, for the post of deputy chairperson.

The policy prescriptions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed to change the fundamentals of the economies of African countries and must be re-examined for the continent to develop, says a Professor of Law. 'The fundamentals remain unchanged. That the structure of African economies remains unchanged means that there will be no meaningful development,' Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, a member of the Council of State, said at the launch of 'The Oxford Companion to the Economics of Africa' in Accra.

The conviction of a prominent member of Equatorial Guinea’s beleaguered political opposition is a travesty of justice, Human Rights Watch said. A trial court in the city of Bata found Wenceslao Mansogo Alo, a medical doctor, guilty of professional negligence and sentenced him to three years in prison in a politically motivated trial.

'As we look forward to celebrating the 54th anniversary of Africa Liberation Day, we look back to its founding principles to assess and plan the onward progress of the African revolution.'

Though apartheid ended on paper, black South Africans in uMshwathi continue to struggle against being uprooted from farmlands by white land grabbers.