President Obasanjo's fight against corruption came under a re-assessment this week from the country's House of Representatives who said that the government was not showing sufficient seriousness in the battle. The House has now resolved to amend the law establishing the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to make it more effective.

Opposition parties in Mozambique have called on Southern African leaders to deal with what they call the violation of democracy in that country. The comment follows the Mozambican electoral commission's decision to allow Mozambicans living abroad to register. There are over 200,000 Mozambicans in other African states and Europe and the opposition claim that it will open the election process to more election fraud. Mozambicans will be going to presidential and parliamentary elections in December.

South Africa's plan to boost the black majority's stake in agriculture is too ambitious and contains proposals not agreed by industry players, the country's largest farming union said this week. The plan says half the country's prime agricultural land should be in black hands within 10 years - 30% owned and another 20% leased out. Analysts say so far less than 4% of land has been transferred to blacks since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights in Gauteng and North West has approved 485 land restitution claims in respect of 1 254 properties in the towns of Mafikeng, Vryburg, Ventersdorp, Lichtenburg, Schweizer-Reneke and Klerksdorp. More than 94% of the Gauteng restitution claims have been finalised, with over 13 000 people in the North West benefiting from the process.