South Africa is overhauling its AIDS strategy in a bid to counter the rise of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis which is proving a serious threat to those suffering HIV/AIDS, a senior official has said.

With one eye on the chaotic and violent land transfers in Zimbabwe which has left the country unable to feed itself, South Africa has sought an orderly redistribution. But even supporters say the reform is failing, with just 4% of white-owned land transferred so far, Chris McGreal reports for The Guardian.

A number of South African media organizations have agreed that the findings of a research project, saying there is limited coverage, as well as a lack of in-depth reporting about LGBTI issues by media are true. The research was conducted by the
Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa (GALA), in conjunction with Community Media for Development (CMFD).

The Education and Training Unit runs a free website with over 80 guides for development activists in South Africa. ETU is a non-profit training organisation committed to development and democracy. The guides are simple and practical and written by experienced community organisers. The site is used by more than 100 000 people per month from all over the world.

China's foray into Africa in search of much needed raw materials, natural resources and new markets for its booming economy has elicited controversy and disquiet amongst African political leaders and policy analysts. Granted that much of the expansion in trade between Africa and China has been in the latter's favour, China's domination of African markets is now being viewed in some circles as some form of " latter day economic imperalism" under which Africa serves as a source of raw materials and provides a market for Chinese end products. But now, South African firms are taking on the dragon in its own turf as this article published recently in the Washington Post shows.

Short term researcher for the African Gender Institute with an interest in feminism, gender and sexuality.

Amidst debates on whether or not to allow the use of cell phones in schools, the Meraka Institute has put its expertise in information and communications technology (ICT) to work in an effort to use these devices positively in a teaching and learning environment.

The Community Education Computer Society (CECS), an ICT training NGO, seeks to fill the position of Project Officer and Content Editor on a fixed-term contract basis.

Job title : Editor in Chief for public broadcasting survey. The Open Society Institute, an international grant making foundation, seeks an Editor-in-Chief for a survey of public service broadcasting in sub-Saharan Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki has firmly discarded any suggestion that a basic income grant was on the cards for impoverished South Africans. With a basic income grant, the government would effectively be "abandoning" its citizens, he said. However, a "more targeted, more precise" comprehensive social security system would definitely be implemented.

The lush hills in the Tzaneen Municipality of South Africa's Limpopo Province may seem a better place to spend a childhood than the dusty, overcrowded townships of Johannesburg, but living in the countryside can add to the hardships of children who are HIV positive or have lost parents to AIDS.

South African men are becoming more willing to take action against the growing problem of domestic and sexual violence against women, a recent study has found. A survey of 945 men in the greater Johannesburg area at the end of 2006 by Sonke Gender Justice (SGJ), an HIV/AIDS, gender and human rights nongovernmental organisation, found that 50.1 percent of respondents felt they should be doing more to end gender-based violence.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has given South Africa the assurance that its court challenge of India's Patent Act will not affect access to cheaper generic drugs. However, South African Aids and health care activists believe a successful challenge will limit competition and increase prices.

Chinese President Hu Jintao signed economic and agricultural deals in South Africa on Tuesday as part of his tour of Africa, where there are concerns such agreements will only hurt the continent's poor countries. According to a report by Reuters, after the agreements were signed Hu and South African President Thabo Mbeki said they would boost economic ties between the Asian giant and Africa's biggest economy.

The aim of the conference is to engage academics, activists, labour, civil society and government on research related to municipal service delivery undertaken by the Municipal Services Project. We also hope to open up new debates and thinking about future research priorities.

The AIDC is seeking a coordinator for its Education and Campaigns Unit. The AIDC is a dynamic NGO pursuing alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation through activist orientated research, publications, education, campaigns and coalition building. The Education and Campaign unit formulates its education programme and supports its campaigns and in particular its Right to Work Campaign. Deadline for applications is 17 February 2007.

Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Adelaide Tambo's struggle for equality in South Africa has paid off in areas of political participation, but the economy still remains in the hands of the country's white minority, say researchers and campaigners.

One-sided decision making and a lack of communication from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) contributed to the breakdown in the relationship between the organisations, says Shuttleworth Foundation programme manager Jason Hudson. The comments follow Tectonic's article last week in which the Meraka Centre said they expected to become the South African LPI affiliate after the foundation removed itself from the role.

Employees of Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) in Phelindaba, Pretoria are suffering from asthma, cancer and myetoma. Although the cause of their illnesses is not clear, it is believed that they are suffering from occupational diseases.

South Africa’s Medical Research Council (MRC) is investigating whether more than 20 women who have become HIV positive during a scientific trial, had been infected as a result of use of the microbicide that was being tested to prevent infection in the first place. MRC president Professor Anthony Mbewu confirmed that on January 31 the US-based agency CONRAD had informed the MRC that its international clinical trial of a vaginal microbicide cellulose sulphate (Ushercell) would have to be terminated early due to concerns by the Independent Safety Monitoring Committee that the microbicide might actually be increasing HIV transmission rather than preventing it.