South Africa loses again

Malawi under-17 national team inflicted more misery on South Africa when they kicked out their junior side 2-1 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on Saturday in a second round game to progress to the next round in the Under-17 Africa Youth Championship. It was a painful loss for the South Africans.Popularly known as Amajimbos, the young South African lads failed to make amends for their 0-1 first leg loss a fortnight ago at their own backyard.The team also failed to wipe tears in the eyes of their people following the failure of their senior side Bafana Bafana to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. The senior side disappointed fans last Saturday when they lost to Nigeria 0-1.The Flames of Malawi scored their goals in the first half through Tony Chitsulo and Andy Simkonda whereas South Africa scored their consolation goal through Lebohang Moloto. He scored two minutes into injury time. The Malawians are through with 3-1 on aggregate.The Flames’ coach John Kaputa praised his side for the win but was quick to say that they could have scored more goals had they not relaxed. Meanwhile, the Malawi under-17 side will play Namibia in the last qualifying round of the 8th edition of the Africa Youth Championship finals to be played in Algeria next year. Namibia went through after defeating Zambia 4-2 on Sunday.In another development, the Malawi senior national team, which is preparing for a tough encounter against DR Congo on October 10, will play a friendly game against Madagascar on October 5. The Southern African side who are in Group 12 with nine points the same as DRC, need to win their last game in Blantyre if they are to progress.

Tanzania to export gas to Kenya

Tanzania is to start exporting natural gas to Kenya. Artumas Group Incorporation based in the Southern African country has been given the task to spearhead the business venture, according to media reports.A source at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals told The East African that gas exports to Kenya will depend on whether they can satisfy local demand adding that the plant has a capacity for 300MW.The report further disclosed that early last year, the Tanzania government effectively licensed Artumas to generate electricity to be supplied to Lindi and Mtwara, two of the country’s underdeveloped regions.A statement from the firm said that the Tanzania government has given approval to the company to finalize negotiations with the relevant parties for the export of compressed natural gas to off-take clients in Mombasa, Kenya.However president and chief executive officer of Artumas, Stephen Mason was unavailable for any comment. The approval by the Tanzanian government allows Artumas to move forward to conclude the relevant project agreements which include long term gas sales with the off-take customers and transportation services with the compressed natural gas shipper. This would be a good move for the country which depends on tourism and agriculture for its economic development.

Zambia’s elections go Hi-tech

Zambia has moved a step higher in its democratic system by introducing the use of biometric data to identify missing voter registration cards for the upcoming presidential elections in October 30th. The election follows the death of president Levy Mwanawasa at Percy Military Hospital in Paris.The electoral commission of Zambia (ECZ) has already established a permanent register, capturing biometric data from voters in the form of fingerprints, the ECZ’s deputy director of IT, Brown Kasaro, said in an interview.Fingerprints were collected prior to the 2006 general election, uncovering thousands of duplicate registrations, Kasaro said. Individuals were using multiple National Registrations Cards bearing different names, “either lack of ignorance or just out of wanting to cheat,” he added.Despite arguments by opposing political parties in the 2006 elections, Kasaro also revealed that the ECZ will use computers and fax machines to manage results for the upcoming election. To overcome fears of computer error, the ECZ intends to hold a series of meetings with political parties on the process, according to IDG News Service.The ECZ hopes to tabulate results at the Mulungushi International Conference Center, Kasaro said, with the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation airing the proceedings live. The commission will also use GIS (geographical information system) technology to produce maps in delineating each constituency prior to the election.However, Zambia Media Women Association coordinator Emelda Yumbe expressed her fears in an interview that computers may be used to manipulate results and rig the election, noting most Zambians are not computer literate.