SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA

Madikizela-Mandela denied Canada visa

OTTAWA — Canada has denied a visa to South African anti-apartheid leader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was to be the keynote speaker at a fundraising gala in Toronto on Tuesday, because of her criminal record.

Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, had packed her bags and was about to set out for the airport when the Canadian Embassy notified her that she would not be allowed to enter the country, organizers of the Toronto event said.

An official in Ottawa said people with past criminal convictions usually are not allowed into the country. Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was convicted in 1991 in the murder of a 14-year-old township activist. Her six-year jail term was reduced to a fine.

GHANA

Zoellick starts Africa tour

ACCRA — Robert B. Zoellick, the nominee to take over from Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank, met yesterday with West African finance ministers in the Ghanaian capital on the first leg of a whirlwind international tour.

“As a nominee to be World Bank president, I would like to consult broadly with potential colleagues, experts, bank partners and stakeholders on the issues of development, sustainable growth and overcoming poverty,” Mr. Zoellick said before leaving Washington Monday.

ZIMBABWE

Food shortages threaten population

HARARE — More than a third of Zimbabweans will need food aid by early next year after a poor harvest this year, leading international aid organizations said Tuesday.

A joint U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program report said crop failures in southern provinces and rising poverty would result in serious food shortages for about 2.1 million people by the third quarter of this year.

The number would grow to 4.1 million in the first three months of next year, affecting a third of Zimbabwe’s estimated 12 million people.

SOUTH AFRICA

U.N. praises AIDS response

DURBAN — South Africa’s new AIDS plan was lauded Tuesday by the chief of the U.N. AIDS/HIV agency, who said the country was on target to lead Africa into a new phase in responding to the disease.

“You have a better chance than any other country in the region to deliver on AIDS. If you can’t, who can?” UNAIDS chief Peter Piot said at the opening of South Africa’s third AIDS conference in Durban.

South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, often called Dr. Beetroot for flouting the use of vegetables to combat AIDS, withdrew from the conference after being sidelined as a panelist.

SOUTH AFRICA

Documents cleared in Zuma probe

JOHANNESBURG — A South African court on Tuesday granted the state permission to obtain documents from Mauritius that could implicate ex-Deputy President Jacob Zuma in a new corruption case.

The Durban High Court decision could be a blow to Mr. Zuma, who is expected to be a strong candidate in the race to lead the ruling African National Congress this year.

Given the ANC’s political dominance, its leader is all but guaranteed to become South Africa’s president in 2009.

From wire dispatches and staff reports