While the South African open source software (OSS) market is still in its development stage, the recent decision by the South African Government to adopt a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) policy is a significant boost for the industry. A new analysis from Frost & Sullivan South African Open Source Software Market, finds that both the public and private sectors will benefit from the expansion of OSS, as the cost reductions realised will not only encourage the start up of new businesses, but will also allow the government to channel resources to much needed areas such as healthcare and education.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) is concerned about the reasons given by the United States (US) Department of State to University of Johannesburg Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib, for his being denied entry into the US. Habib is a political scientist and prominent political commentator. The reasons were sent to him by the US Consulate General in Johannesburg on October 26, 2007, following an application from Habib for a waiver of his ineligibility to enter the US.

Margaret Legum, best known for her call to sanction apartheid South Africa, died in Cape Town at the age of 74 on November 1. She died of complications arising from a cancer-related operation. She leaves behind two sisters, three daughters, five granddaughters and one grandson. She was widowed in 2003.Legum, who studied economics at Rhodes University and Cambridge, was a major advocate of social justice in South Africa. She lectured and worked as a journalist, often writing for the Mail & Guardian while residing in Kalk Bay in Cape Town.

Togo's Constitutional Court has confirmed that the ruling party won a majority in the 14 October election, after the main opposition party had contested the results, charging fraud. On 30 October the Court said the ruling Rally of the Togolese People party took 50 of 81 seats in the poll, seen as pivotal to the country's regaining favour with the international community after years of isolation.

The Swazi media faces a new threat following a call by Parliament for government to pilot the contentious Media Council Bill within eight weeks. A Parliament Select Committee recently constituted to probe Times Sunday editor, Mbongeni Mbingo, on charges of contempt of Parliament, whilst clearing Mbingo on the charges, called on government to pilot the Media Council Bill within eight weeks of the adoption of its report by Parliament.

Convened by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) on the 28th of October 2007, civil society groups have called for new forms of corporate governance to develop the ICT infrastructure in Africa. These new forms should “ensure the interests of all stakeholders, but above all, the interest of African consumers and citizens,” the statement insists. The Kigali statement by African civil society delegates, academicians, researchers, consumer interest groups, and internet service providers is made in light of the Connect Africa Summit taking place in that same city on the 29th and 30th of October 2007.

Without new interventions, cases of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in rural South Africa will increase dramatically over the next five years, according to a study. The research was published last week (27 October) in The Lancet. The study, which modelled the effect of various infection control measures on the spread of XDR-TB in the rural community of Tugela Ferry in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, suggests that infection rates will increase from 194 cases in 2007 to an estimated average of 234 cases a year by 2012.

The European Union has set aside a total sum of 9.1 billion Euros for funding of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based research on the continent through the EuroAfrica-ICT Strategic Partnership. The partnership, which is part of the Seventh EU Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) is a project that would last till 2010 and is driven by activities of the European Commission, Directorate General of Information Society and Media and is aimed at exploring the potential for a deeper and broader Science and Technology (S&T) cooperation on ICT between EU and the sub-Saharan Africa region.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have agreed to collaborate on interconnecting all African capitals and major cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012. The announcement comes after Dr. Hamadoun Touré the Secretary-General of the ITU announced that one of the summit goals was to interconnect all African capitals with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012 as well as interconnect major African cities by 2015.

Daouda Yacouba of the privately-owned fortnightly Aïr Info has been released after being held for six days at police headquarters in the northern city of Agadez. He has not been charged. Yacouba was arrested on 25 October in Ingall, a town to the west of Agadez where he works as the Agadez-based Aïr Info’s correspondent. The police did not explain why he was arrested but they questioned him about his articles and his alleged links with the Tuareg rebels of the Niger People’s Movement for Justice (MNJ).

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the way governor Ali Modu Sheriff of the northern state of Borno has hounded journalists for the past 10 days. After criticising his lavish spending, James Garuba of the Tribune, Michael Olabode of This day, another privately-owned daily, and several other reporters were arrested twice last week by the State Security Service, the main domestic intelligence agency, and then placed under its daily control.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned information, press and communication minister Toussaint Tshilombo Send’s announcement of a ban on around 40 TV and radio stations five days ago. It has had the effect of silencing four community radio stations based in Kinshasa, while around 200 other community radio stations throughout the country are also threatened.

President Paul Kagame has indicated to the One-Laptop-Per-Child project that government will buy laptops from the new sales promotion scheme 'Give 1 and Get 1' (GIGI), RNA has learnt from a senior official behind the plan. Starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child - the brain-child of American Prof. Nicholas Negroponte will be offering a 'Give 1 and Get 1' (G1G1) promotion. For US$399, a person in a developed country will be purchasing two XO laptops. One that will be sent to a child in a developing nation and one that will be sent to their child at home.

Mediation talks between the ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition MDC have been postponed temporarily, dealing a new setback to efforts to find a lasting solution to the country’s crippling economic and political crisis. The Thabo Mbeki led talks were called off on Wednesday night due to the death of Patrick Chinamasa’ son, who was reportedly studying at a college in Michigan, United States. A source told Newsreel from Johannesburg that Chinamasa’s son, who was 23 years old, died in his sleep on Wednesday, the day the talks resumed in Pretoria after a month long break.

Gone are the days when Africans used to see Information and Communication Technology as a luxury, President Paul Kagame has said. “In just ten years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone has become a basic necessity in urban and rural Africa,” Kagame said yesterday. He was addressing hundreds of top government and telecoms industry leaders who are attending a two-day high-level Connect Africa summit at Serena Hotel in Kigali. The meeting is attended by six African Heads of State, including Kagame.

You are invited to join and commemorate the e-publishing of SexPolitics: Reports from the Front Lines, edited by Richard Parker, Rosalind Petchesky and Robert Sember. SexPolitics is a collection of analytic case studies from eight countries—Brazil, Egypt, India, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam—and two global institutions—the World Bank and the United Nations—which aim to document and interrogate the global shaping and shifting of sexuality policy and politics.

With support from UNESCO, a publication on media legislation in Africa has just been released, result of a research undertaken by a team of African scholars, coordinated by Professor Guy Berger, Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) welcomes prominent Ugandan activist Victor Juliet Mukasa as our new Research and Policy Associate for the Horn, East, and Central Africa.

The government of Sudan’s recent forced relocation of civilians in South Darfur is a serious violation of international law and could be the prelude to new attempts to dismantle certain civilian camps, Human Rights Watch has warned. Sudan’s government should cease the relocation operation, immediately confirm the whereabouts and well-being of those who have been moved, and allow the African Union Mission in Sudan, the United Nations Mission in Sudan, and humanitarian agencies access to all displaced persons, whether they reside in camps or other locations in Darfur.

On 22 October 2007, Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis threatened to imprison journalists for committing such "infractions" as "misspelling his name", "giving him wrong and inappropriate titles" and "attaching his photos to stories that have nothing to do with him in their papers." Lewis made the threats in open court, with the heads of several newspapers in attendance by invitation. The session was also attended by other members of the Supreme Court.