Ghanaian churches, teachers fight ‘satanic’ sexuality education

Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | george.nyavor@myjoyonline.com

The resistance against the planned introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into the basic school curriculum is intensifying as churches and graduate teachers join in.

The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), an organisation made up of over 200 church denominations in Ghana, has described the plan to begin teaching CSE in all public schools to children from five years upwards as satanic.

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has also said it was not consulted.

NAGRAT President, Angel Carbonu, said on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Monday that graduate teachers are not likely to accept the contents of the CSE curricula.

Controversial CSE

The Ghana government and United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) launched the CSE programme this year in a bid to empower adolescents and young people to attain a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).

Known as the “Our right, Our lives, Our Future (O³), CSE is supported by governments of Sweden and Ireland.

It is being implemented in Ghana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for what proponents say is will be an effective delivery of quality comprehensive sexuality programmes.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has argued that the subject content of the CSE would be age-appropriate to enable say pre-schoolers to be empowered with values that would protect them from sexual harassment.

However, most critics have said the age of five is too early for children to learn about sex. Others say some of the topics, such as “Being Male or Female” under a broader topic of “Knowing Myself” resonates with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activism.

“I won't call it Comprehensive Sexuality Education it is Comprehensive Satanic Engagement,” GPCC President, Rev Prof Paul Yaw Frimpong-Manso also told Daniel Dadzie on the Super Morning Show.

Photo: Rev Prof Paul Yaw Frimpong-Manso

The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council President admits he has not perused the guidelines of the CSE programme for Ghana exhaustively, but said he is convinced that nothing good will come out of the programme.

Rev Prof Paul Yaw Frimpong-Manso said the CSE programme is a surreptitious attempt by some secular Western countries to discourage the worship of God and destroy Ghana’s traditional moral values.

Weak law, strong feelings

Ghana has a loose law on homosexuality.

Legal experts say the country’s laws do not criminalise all the wide range of acts that could be termed “homosexual.”

For instance, the law only criminalises “unnatural carnal knowledge” – explained as when there has been the least degree of penetration.

Hence a sexual act between two females does not qualify as unnatural carnal knowledge and hence cannot be punished.

But many Ghanaians see any form of same-sex activity as illegal.

Physical and violent attacks against LGBT have been reported several times in Accra and other regional capitals.

Also, many Ghanaians are very religious and committed to upholding their traditional moral values all of which are anti-LGBT.

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Rwanda, Uganda relations: Spread of fake news violates Luanda agreement

By Julius Bizimungu

Minister of Justice Johnston Busingye. / File

Rwanda’s Minister of Justice Johnston Busingye has said that the spread of fake news by Ugandan media violates the Luanda agreement that was signed between Rwanda and Uganda.

Uganda’s government-owned publication, New Vision, published a story on Saturday, falsely alleging that President Paul Kagame met Kizza Besigye, a long-time rival of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

In a fabricated version, the newspaper wrote that the President met Besigye in New York.

Busingye, who is also the Attorney General told The New Times that he had reached out to the Ugandan Attorney General, William Byaruhanga on Saturday evening, over the fake news and propaganda that President Kagame met Kizza Besigye recently. 

“I wanted to remove doubt that he and his Government might not be aware that it is fake,” Busingye said. 

The article by New Vision is one of the many propaganda pieces that the newspaper has been spreading.

Busingye said that his Ugandan counterpart “replied acknowledging he had read it and he expressed shock” but that he was yet to give him feedback. 

The fake news comes at a time Rwandan and Uganda are attempting to mend their deteriorating relations after following the signed a memorandum of understanding in Luanda, Angola.

“Indeed it (fake news) violates the Luanda process. It was agreed at the 16th Sept 2019 Rwanda/ Uganda post-Luanda meeting, in Kigali that this hostile propaganda would cease,” Busingye noted.

Ugandan authorities were yet to order New Vision to retract the fabricated news, and neither had it provided any explanation about what may have motivated that.

Efforts to get a comment from Uganda’s Attorney General were fruitless. 

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Why Cameroon’s national dialogue will accomplish nothing

BY R. MAXWELL BONE & AKEM KELVIN NKWAIN

President Biya could have outlined a new plan to address the Anglophone crisis. Instead, he announced talks, beginning today, that are doomed to fail.

President Paul Biya of Cameroon has been in power since 1982. Credit: UN Photo/Marco Castro.

On 10 September, President Paul Biya delivered a rare “address to the nation” in which he spoke of the Anglophone Crisis facing Cameroon. Beginning in 2016, the situation in the country’s two English-speaking regions has quickly spiralled from protests by teachers and lawyers into a bloody separatist war.

In the speech, many hoped Biya might acknowledge his government’s role in this rapid deterioration, which has seen brutal crackdowns of peaceful demonstrations, arbitrary arrests and alleged human rights violations by security forces. They also hoped the president might recognise the marginalisation that Anglophone Cameroonians have faced for decades.

Instead, the address took on a defiant tone. Biya started by insisting the government  has already fully addressed the demands made by protesters in 2016. This was the first time since that year that the government has referred to those demands and the claim that they have been implemented is questionable. Biya then claimed that protesters’ grievances are unfounded anyway as the country has always had an Anglophone Prime Minister. While this is true, the premier has also always been side-lined.

The president then became even more combative in talking about the war of secession that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced at least half a million people. He claimed that despite his government’s reforms, radical elements have hijacked the situation for their own interest in calling for an independent state of Ambazonia. He listed several atrocities separatist fighters have committed including murders, rapes, kidnappings, the preventing of children from going to school, and the razing of healthcare facilities. Biya failed to mention the many similarly horrific acts carried out by the military such as the burning down of scores of villages in January 2018 and killing of civilians.

After this revisionist take on history, Biya finally spoke about resolving the crisis. He said there have been “multiple and varied initiatives” to bring the government and secessionists together, but claimed they were premised on separatist propaganda. He was referring to a dialogue facilitated by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, which secessionist leaders and the UN have endorsed but the Cameroonian government has approached with scepticism. Now, Biya made clear the Swiss-led talks are as good as dead in the eyes of Cameroon’s government.

In its place, Biya outlined a new “major national dialogue” to be spearheaded by Prime Minister Dion Ngute, an Anglophone from the Southwest. These talks, he said, would be inclusive and aimed at addressing not just the Anglophone Crisis but “issues of national interest such as national unity, national integration and living together”. Following its announcement, members of Ambazonia’s interim government and leading activists were invited to take part.

Repeating the mistakes of the past

On the surface, this new initiative may appear to be a genuine effort to resolve the Anglophone crisis, but deeper analysis raises concerns.

Firstly, the decision to include citizens from all of Cameroon’s regions and widen the remit of the talks has some merits. Divisions between the two Anglophone regions and eight Francophone have grown. There has been an increase in hostile rhetoric, for instance, with the derogatory term “Anglofools” becoming more widely used. A national dialogue could help mitigate some of these differences.

At the same time, however, the move also diminishes the relative agency of Anglophones in attendance. It risks replicating the dynamics of national events throughout Cameroon’s history in which the perspectives and grievances of English-speaking representatives, who have made up just a quarter of attendees, have been side-lined. The dialogue risks repeating the same dynamics that led to the crisis in the first place. These anxieties are reinforced by fears that the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement will dominate the process, a factor that has raised concerns amongst civil society.

It is also important to note that while secessionist leaders have been invited to attend, the chances of them doing so are slim to none. While the leaders of the Ambazonian independence movement, who are based overseas, have been willing to travel to Switzerland and the US, they have refused to travel to Cameroon or many of its neighbours for fear of arrest. In January 2017 several secessionist leaders were seized in Nigeria and sent to Cameroon for sentencing. More recently, a separatist was detained in Ghana. Others have had family members arbitrarily arrested in Cameroon.

The secessionists have made it clear that they would not partake in a “national dialogue” anyway. They see the crisis as a battle between two peoples, Ambazonians and Cameroonians. Moreover, hundreds of their activists are in prison and several of the movement’s leaders were recently sentenced to life in prison on charges of terrorism.

When it was announced that President Biya would deliver a special address to the nation, many hoped he would signal a change of course. Instead, he denied the existence of longstanding grievances and the role his government’s violent actions have had in leading to today’s deadly war. It is clear that the national dialogue, which begins today, will not differ from those carried out in the past. Any Anglophones that attend will walk away disappointed as Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions continue to suffer.

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Stage set for successful 2020 Burundi elections, Foreign Minister tells General Assembly

REPORT from UN News Service

View Original

With organizational and financial preparations for Burundi’s 2020 elections well underway, Ezechiel Nibigira, Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the UN General Assembly on Monday the Government is wary of, and will not tolerate, any outside interference in the polls.

Mr. Nibigira declared that there is an increasingly favourable climate for free, transparent and calm election, and warned that any attempt by other countries to interfere with the elections would be an attack on Burundi’s sovereignty.

Several “positive gestures” from the authorities towards ensuring peaceful elections, were outlined by Mr. Nibigira, including the promotion of freedom of expression and allowing new political parties to exist; the decision of Burundi’s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, not to stand in presidential elections scheduled for 2020; the reintegration of refugees and political exiles; and the release of more than 2,000 prisoners since the beginning of the year.

However, “foreign actors”, declared the Foreign Minister, are attempting to destabilize Burundi ahead of the elections; support those who attempted a coup against President Nkurunziza in 2015; and distract the people of Burundi from the core matter of the elections, and the implementation of a national development plan.

Burundians, he continued, are opposed to all foreign interference in national affairs.

Turning to security, Mr. Nibigira described the situation as “stable, calm and under control throughout the whole territory,” with Burundians in all parts of the country enjoying their full civic and political rights.

Burundi, he said, welcomes the large-scale, voluntary return of refugees who fled the country in 2015 which, he said, demonstrates a return to peace, calm, confidence, and the stability of the country.

The Foreign Minister reiterated his Government’s call for Burundi to be removed from the UN Security Council’s agenda, and called for reform of the body which, he said, by denying the African continent of a permanent seat, is depriving 1.2 billion Africans of the same rights enjoyed by citizens of the current permanent members.

Concerning the UN 2030 Agenda, Mr. Nibigira said Burundi is integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its national development plans, as well as local and regional plans, and will produce regular reports on the implementation of the SDGs.

The Minister called for more ambition, action and resources to make the Agenda a reality, adding that the climate crisis is compromising decades of progress.

On the subject of peace operations, Mr. Nibigira said that, while they are not perfect, such operations remain very useful for the maintenance and consolidation of world peace. For that reason, Burundi called for adequate, sustainable and flexible budgets to allow UN and African Union peace missions to successfully conduct their operations.

“Burundi, which contributes some 6,000 men to peace missions, reiterates its commitment to continue its substantial contribution to peacekeeping operations throughout the world”, thus returning the favour to countries that supported Burundi during the most difficult periods of its history.

“My country, Burundi, has never stopped believing in international solidarity, multilateralism and a rejection of “might is right” diplomacy”, concluded Mr. Nibigira.

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Ivory Coast farmers expect strong start to cocoa main crop after rain

ABIDJAN, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast cocoa farmers predicted a strong start to the October-to-March main crop on Monday after above average rains in most of the growing regions last week.

The marketing season starts next month in the world’s top cocoa producer and farmers said they were waiting for the new government-set farmgate price, expected to be higher than last season, to sell their beans.

A mix of rainfall and sunny spells would help beans dry properly and strengthen the development of pods for harvests next year, they said.

“There is cocoa everywhere. Farmers are just waiting for the new farmgate price to sell,” said Amidou Toure, who farms near the western region of Duekoue.

“This year trees have produced lots of pods,” Toure said. “The main crop is promising.”

Data collected by Reuters showed rainfall in the western region of Man, which includes the region of Duekoue was at 41.1 millimetres (mm) last week, 7.1 mm above the five-year average.

In the centre-western region of Daloa, producing a quarter of Ivory Coast’s national output, farmers said they were cutting pods hit by the black disease to avoid contamination.

“We will have lots of beans until at least December,” said Albert N’Zue, who farms near Daloa. “But if the weather is too wet in October we can lose a lot to the black pods disease.”

Rainfall in the region of Daloa, which includes Bouafle, was 37.9 mm last week, 8.1 mm above the five-year average.

Similar comments were reported in the eastern region of Abengourou where rainfall was slightly below average and in the southern regions of Agboville and Divo, where it was above average.

In the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro farmers remained upbeat on the main crop prospects.

In the western region of Soubre farmers said they were hoping for sunny spells in October to ensure good quality beans.

Data showed rainfall in Soubre, which includes the regions of San Pedro and Sassandra, was 24 mm last week, 2.9 mm above the five-year average.

Average temperatures ranged from 25.2 to 27.1 Celsius. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Juliette Jabkhiro and Alexander Smith)

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Manchester United ‘fear Eric Bailly will be out until the new year’ as Ivory Coast star battles back from knee injury

Eric Bailly's slow-moving progress from a nasty knee injury have left Manchester United officials in fear that the centre back won't make a return to fitness until the New Year. 

Bailly is struggling to recover from a knee injury that has seen the 25-year-old sidelined for the duration of the current campaign, having picked up the knock during a pre-season outing against Spurs.

The Ivorian underwent surgery in early August and club doctors were optimistic that the defender would make a speedy recovery.

Eric Bailly's slow-moving progress from a nasty knee injury have left Manchester United officials in fear that the centre back won't make a return to fitness until the New Year.  

Bailly is struggling to recover from a knee injury that has seen the 25-year-old sidelined for the duration of the current campaign, having picked up the knock during a pre-season outing against Spurs.

The Ivorian underwent surgery in early August and club doctors were optimistic that the defender would make a speedy recovery.

 

Eric Bailly suffered a serious knee injury during a pre-season game against Tottenham Hotspur

However, according to The Sun, medical staff have been surprised at the length its taken for Bailly to recover. 

That news will come as a disappointment to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is looking to find a solution to a questionable defence. 

The £80million signing of Harry Maguire has shored things up to an extent, but United still look vulnerable at the back, as showcased in their 2-0 away loss to West Ham United last time out.

 

Manchester United medical staff are said to be concerned with Bailly's slow recovery

 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may be without the 25-year-old until the New Year

Bailly has been unable to deliver in a United shirt since joining from Villarreal in 2016, owing to injury setbacks and a lack of form. 

Once fully fit, the £30million signing will have to dislodge either Maguire or Victor Lindelof from Solskjaer's starting eleven. 

United have conceded six goals in their first six Premier League games so far this season, and were unable to keep a clean sheet at home to Rochdale in the Carabao Cup last week.  

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Armed attacks kill 10 in Burkina Faso

9 civilians, 1 soldier killed in attacks carried out by unidentified assailants

Alaattin Dogru  

    

DAKAR

At least 10 people, including a soldier, were killed in two terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso, state media reported Sunday.

An unidentified group of motorcyclists carried out an armed attack Saturday on the Dungeon village of Bam province in the northern part of the country, Burkina Faso Information Agency reported.

Nine civilians were killed in the attack.

Separately, a soldier was killed in an attack targeting patrol troops in Deou village of Soum province.

Security forces launched an operation in the region after the attacks.

The state of emergency continues in seven of the 13 regions of the country.

More than 500 people have been killed in the attacks organized by terrorist organizations in Burkina 

Faso in the last four years.

*Writing by Burak Bir

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Nigeria police raid Lagos ‘baby factory’

Four children were rescued along with 19 women

Nigerian police have freed 19 pregnant women from properties in Lagos, which they describe as "baby factories".

Most of the women had been abducted "for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies", a police statement said.

Two women who operated as untrained nurses have been arrested but the main suspect is on the run.

Police said that male babies would be sold for $1,400 (£1,100) and the females for $830.

They added that the children were to be trafficked, but it was not clear who or where the potential buyers were.

Stories of these so-called "baby factories" are not uncommon in Nigeria. There have been several raids in the past including one last year when 160 children were rescued.

This time four children were rescued.

Image captionThe women travelled to Lagos after being told they had jobs as domestic workers

What happened to the women?

The rescued girls and women, aged between 15 and 28, had been lured to Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, from different parts of the country with the promise of employment.

But they were then held in the properties and raped.

"[A] woman came to pick me at the [bus] park and brought me here," one of those rescued told the Vanguard newspaper.

"The next day, I was summoned by our madam, who told me that I would not leave the premises until next year," she is quoted as saying.

"So far, I have slept with seven different men before I discovered I was pregnant. I was told that after delivery, I would be paid handsomely."

Another victim told the BBC that she was held against her will and prevented from leaving when she discovered her baby was going to be sold. Another said that her phone and money were taken from her and she was told she could not leave the home to seek medical help despite her condition.

The women and children have now been rehoused and are being rehabilitated, the police said.

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Cameroon dialogue starts as Anglophone separatists pull out

National dialogue in trouble as separatists skip talks calling for international mediation to resolve crisis.

 

Cameroonian soldiers sit at the entrance to a polling station in the capital Yaounde [File: Nic Bothma/EPA]

Cameroon will start a "national dialogue" on Monday in a bid to end the separatist conflict in the country's Anglophone provinces, but key rebel leaders have already refused to participate.

Nearly 3,000 people have died and half a million fled their homes since fighting broke out in 2017 between the army and armed fighters who want independence for Cameroon's two English-speaking provinces.

The talks, led by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, are scheduled to take place from September 30 to October 4 at the Congressional palace in the capital Yaounde. 

by Yuhniwo Ngenge

President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 37 years, hopes the talks will end a crisis that is also hurting the economy of the coffee and cocoa-producing Central African country.

October 1 marks the second anniversary of the spiral towards conflict - the declaration of the self-described "Republic of Ambazonia" for Cameroon's English-speaking minority.

Even before it began, the national dialogue ran into trouble with many activists arrested and experts voicing scepticism that it would yield tangible results.

English-speakers account for about a fifth of Cameroon's population of 24 million, who are majority French-speaking.

Anglophones are mainly concentrated in two western areas, the Northwest Region and the Southwest Region that were incorporated into the French-speaking state after the colonial era in Africa wound down 60 years ago. Many locals there complain of discrimination and marginalisation.

In a report published last week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) estimated that around 3,000 people have been killed by separatist violence and the military crackdown.

The ICG said the talks do not include separatists or Anglophone leaders who support more federalist solutions.

"It thus risks further frustrating Anglophones widening the gulf between the two sides and empowering hardliners," the group said.

"The government should make greater space for Anglophones, particularly federalists who are willing to attend. It should also seek a neutral facilitator."

Biya's government has rejected both a return to more federalism and any proposed separation.

But Anglophone supporters are also divided between those two options for their regions.

The government's dialogue spokesman, George Ewane, said Cameroonian authorities had held preliminary discussions with some separatists, adding that even hardliners were welcome to join the talks.

'Smokescreen'

Mark Bareta, a separatist leader who is very active on social media, was the one most open to dialogue and it was through him that invitations to the others were sent, Ewane said.

But on Friday, Bareta announced that he was pulling out, saying that "the only way to have real negotiations is to hold them on neutral territory".

Of the 16 separatist leaders invited, those heading armed groups such as Ebenezer Akwanga and Cho Ayaba are also snubbing the talks.

Akwanga told AFP that the event was a "smokescreen for the international community rather than an attempt to secure a complete and lasting solution ... to the annexation of our country, Southern Cameroons."

Most of the leaders have expressed willingness to hold talks with the government but in the presence of an international mediator and in a foreign country with the terms for secession the main item on the agenda, according to the ICG.

However, more moderate Anglophones like Cardinal Christian Tumi, the influential archbishop of Cameroon's commercial capital Douala, have welcomed the initiative and urged the separatists to participate.

'We can't talk to ghosts'

An official from the Southwest Region said traditional chiefs had asked armed groups to attend the talks but they had spurned the offer.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, however asked the groups to "emerge from the woodwork", adding that "measures have been taken to ensure the security of those who attend."

"We cannot talk with ghosts," the official said.

Locals are meanwhile divided about the outcome of the talks.

No good can come of this. It's a game," said a hardcore secessionist who identified himself as Agbor.

"If we must go for talks, it would be to discuss the terms of separation and not anything else," he said.

But Jeannette Benga, a prominent figure of civil society in Buea, the capital of the Southwest region, voiced hope that "the two come to an agreement."

Blaise Chamango, the head of an NGO said the five-day talks were not enough to "debate the anglophone crisis and the other major problems in Cameroon."

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25 cars seized from son of Equatorial Guinea president to be auctioned

NEWSBY NWAFOR

A collection of luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea’s vice president Teodorin Obiang Nguema will be auctioned off in Switzerland on Sunday and are estimated to bring in 18.5 million Swiss francs ($18.7m).

“This is an exceptional sale,” Philip Kantor, of British auctioneers Bonhams, told AFP. “It’s a private collection of super cars, with very low mileage.

Among the cars to go under the hammer at a Geneva golf club are seven Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, five Bentleys, a Maserati and a McLaren.

The most expensive lots are a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, valued at between €4.8m and €5.7m ($5.2m or $6.2m) and yellow Ferrari hybrid at between €2.4m to €2.6m.

The cars were all confiscated by Swiss justice after the opening in 2016 of a financial wrongdoing case against Obiang, son and likely heir of Equatorial Guinea’s authoritarian President Teodoro Obiang Nguema who has ruled for 40 years.

All will be sold with no reserve price.

In February, Swiss prosecutors said they were dropping charges of financial wrongdoing against Teodorin Obiang Nguema but were confiscating the luxury cars as part of the case.

Under the Swiss penal code, prosecutors can choose to drop charges in this category if defendants offer compensation “and restore a situation that is in conformity with the law.”

Playboy reputation

Equatorial Guinea has also agreed to give Geneva 1.3 million Swiss francs to cover the costs of the case.

As vice president with responsibility for defence and security, Teodorin Obiang has a reputation for a playboy lifestyle.

In October 2017, a Paris court handed him a three-year suspended jail term after convicting Obiang of siphoning off public money to buy assets in France.

He was accused of spending more than 1,000 times his official annual salary on a six-storey mansion in a posh part of the French capital, a fleet of fast cars and artworks, among other assets.

He was also given a suspended fine of €30m.

In September, Brazilian media said that more than $16m in cash and luxury watches were seized by Brazilian Police and customs officers from luggage of a delegation accompanying Obiang on a private visit.

Brazilian daily, O Estado de Sao Paulo, quoted a diplomatic source from Equatorial Guinea as saying the money was to pay for medical treatment Obiang was to undergo in Sao Paulo.

The watches were for the “personal use” of the president’s son and were engraved with his initials, the report said.

Obiang is reputedly on a fast track to succeed his father.

Last October, he was promoted from colonel directly to division general, without passing through the normal intermediary rank of brigade general.

The following month, he presided over a cabinet meeting for the first time.

The tiny West African nation is one of the continent’s top petroleum producers and has a population of just 1.2 million.

The country is regularly cited by NGOs as one of the most corrupt in the world.

(AFP).

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Criminals are now hijacking and renting out South African land and buildings

Staff Writer

Criminal syndicates and corrupt government officials have hijacked millions of rands worth of state-owned buildings and land, and are now renting out the properties to unsuspecting tenants.

While the government reportedly has properties worth over R127.7 billion across the country, the Sunday Times reports that it is unable to keep track of which land has been stolen because the register of immovable assets is in complete disarray.

According to the paper, public works minister Patricia de Lille has recognised the issue and ordered a massive overhaul of the register and action against corrupt officials behind the illegal leases and sales.

“Corrupt officials, who access the unsecured register, work with criminals to identify neglected, forgotten or vacant properties. They transfer these to third parties and then sell or lease them, earning themselves millions of rands,” a senior official said.

This involves hundreds of properties, including houses, flats, office blocks and land, they said.

Auditor-general Kimi Makwetu is set to table a report in parliament in November which will outline just how poorly managed the register is, and current state of the department’s property management trading entity.

Land expropriation without compensation

Land remains a highly-charged topic in South Africa, with the government currently working towards a scheme of expropriation of compensation.

One of the key proposals of this plan is the distribution of land that is already owned by the state.

However, this may prove difficult if the government is unable to identify how much land it currently owns and how much of it is currently sitting in the hands of criminals.

In July 2019 the National Assembly has agreed to establish a multiparty committee to introduce legislation amending section 25 of the constitution.

This committee will draw on the findings of this report as well as previous studies, and past legislation to come up with a new bill which covers the above issues.

The new committee will report back to the National Assembly by 31 March 2020, and will and be composed of 11 voting members and 14 non-voting members.

Once the bill has been finalised it will be gazetted and undergo a full public consultation process.

This means that the earliest that land expropriation can be introduced is mid-2020. However, it will likely take much longer as the bill will face intense scrutiny from the opposition parties and members of the public.

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Nigerian 'torture house': Kaduna school was 'like hellfire'

Media captionIsa Ibrahim says he tried to escape the day before the police raid

A survivor of the Nigerian "torture house" raided by police has described being there as "living in hellfire".

"If you are praying they will beat you. If you are studying they will beat you," Isa Ibrahim, 29, told the BBC.

Nearly 500 men and boys were rescued from the building in Kaduna, which was being used as an Islamic school and correctional facility.

The police said it was a place of human slavery, with many detainees found in chains.

Some of the victims had been tortured and sexually abused, the authorities say.

The BBC's Ishaq Khalid, who visited the building in northern Nigeria, says there are concerns that similar abuse may be occurring in other such institutions.

Many families in this mainly Muslim part of the country can't afford to send their children to school and those that can often enrol them in poorly regulated institutions like this one, he says.

Image copyrightREUTERS TVImage captionSome detainees were as young as five years old, police said

A sign on the front of the building describes it as the Ahmad bin Hambal Centre for Islamic teachings but it was also used by some as a place to reform young men with behavioural problems.

Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said the "dehumanised treatment" they discovered made it impossible to consider it an Islamic school, Reuters news agency reports. It was not registered as either a school, or a correctional facility, although it did charge fees to parents.

Seven people, including some staff, have been arrested. The government says it will investigate other institutions which purport to provide Koranic studies.

There have been numerous reports of abuse at Koranic schools across northern Nigeria, with students sometimes forced to spend their days begging on the streets.

The boy abducted to guide blind beggars

Isa Ibrahim's ordeal

Mr Ibrahim said he was sent to the centre two weeks ago by his family, apparently to "correct his behaviour".

He said he had tried to escape the day before the police arrived.

He described being chained up to an old generator and also being subjected to a particularly cruel punishment, known as "Tarkila", where his hands were tied up and he was left hanging from the ceiling.

Image captionIsa Ibrahim says he was hung from the ceiling

"I have many injuries. Almost all parts of my body have injuries," he said. "Even if you are sleeping - they'll use [a] cane to wake you up."

He said he had been starved and was only given plain rice to eat. People kept at the centre "lose all of our energy", he added.

Children as young as five were among those rescued from the institution, which is believed to have been operating for several years. Most of the inmates were from northern Nigeria but two were reportedly from Burkina Faso.

Abandoned chains at a 'house of torture'

Ishaq Khalid, BBC News, Kaduna

Image copyrightREUTERS

The pink two-storey building is a prison-like structure surrounded by high walls and barbed wire. It has an imposing gate, with more than a dozen rooms, with small windows for ventilation.

When I visited, the compound was littered with abandoned household items like mattresses, buckets, clothes and books - apparently left in the wake of the police raid.

Kaduna state police spokesperson Yakubu Sabo told me most of the captives had been rescued with their shackles still on but I could still see some abandoned chains, as well as car wheels and petrol-powered generators to which the victims had allegedly been attached.

People living nearby have been left bewildered - some told me they couldn't believe the shocking discovery.

The "students" did not go to out to beg on the streets as is the usual practice with traditional Koranic schools in this region. Nor had they been forced to do hard labour - some said they had not seen the outside world for years.

Torture was used as a form of discipline - to correct perceived bad behaviour.

Relatives are being reunited with their children at a camp in Kaduna where the victims were taken after being rescued.

Some said they had been prevented from seeing their children at the school.

"If we had known that this thing was happening in the school, we wouldn't have sent our children. We sent them to be people but they ended up being maltreated," said a parent named Ibrahim, who had identified his son.

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThis 15-year-old boy shows the scars from the beatings he received

The Kaduna state government says it will now carry out checks on all Koranic schools across the state.

"This is an eye-opener for us," said Hafsat Baba, Kaduna State Commissioner of Human Services and Social Development. She added that if this scale of abuse was happening in the main city, she didn't know what might be going on in rural areas.

"We have to map all the schools. And we have to make sure that if they violate the government orders then they have to be closed down completely," she told the BBC.

"If we find any facility that is torturing children or is harbouring these kind of horrific situations that we have just seen, they are going to be prosecuted."

President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned reports of shocking abuse at the institution.

He also urged religious and traditional leaders to work with the authorities to "expose and stop all types of abuse that are widely known but ignored for many years by our communities".

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Libyan refugees thankful for Rwanda's reception

RWANDA

The first batch of African refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya have been settled into accommodation at transit centers in Rwanda.

Zainab Yousef is among the 66 Africans and recounts her journey to the East African nation.

“I was afraid. I am young and I have a small baby. Sometimes people would come and ask me whether she really is my baby and I thought they would take her away. I thought of escaping, but because of the baby I could not take the risk”, she told the United Nations’ refugee agency.

We don't have to have a lot to give. We can share the little resources we have with a big heart.

Her hope is that her baby will receive an education.

“I need for my child to get the necessary vaccinations and medical support. I want to offer her education, shelter and other basic rights. I also never had a chance to go to school. I would like to have an education”, Yousef added.

Locals are beyond ready to lend a helping hand.Richard Mutabazi is mayor of Bugesera district.

“We don’t have to have a lot to give. We can share the little resources we have with a big heart”, he said.

Rwanda’s agreement to take in 500 people who have been trapped in Libya, at risk of rocket attacks and rape, has raised concerns. It is unclear how long they might be held here and how free they are to leave.

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