"Over the past month, the FXI has been supporting the Shack Dwellers' Movement in Durban, called Abahlali Base Mjondolo, in their attempts to hold a march in the city. This was the second time that the organisation has wanted to hold a march. On the first occasion, in November 2005, the march was banned by the municipality and protestors were attacked and fired upon by police."

In South Africa last week, events on International Women’s Day dramatically challenged us as a country to clarify the nature of leadership and power as well as their underlying values and principles, writes Pregs Govender in the Mail and Guardian newspaper in reference to the Jacob Zuma rape trial. "In our country, where violence against women and girls is widespread, a rape survivor used her democratic right to charge her alleged perpetrator, a very powerful man. For her courage she has paid a very high price. Her home has been burgled and ransacked twice, she and her mother have faced death threats, and she has lost her freedom as she has been forced to seek police protection."

Lines of Attitude spans geographical latitudes in its exploration of media and human rights issues through the work of leading graffiti artists from South Africa, Kenya and the United Kingdom. The project partners the British Council with leading South African graffiti artists Faith 47 and Falko, bringing them collaboratively together with legendary UK graffiti artists Dreph and Mode2, as well as Kenya's Phiks. Through murals, workshops, publications and an exhibition, Lines of Attitude embraces the positive, professional side of this popular street art form, offering an alternative viewpoint to the singular perception of graffiti as vandalism. Embracing the particular resonance of graffiti in contemporary urban youth culture, the project engages young people in an exciting, active dialogue around freedom of expression, whilst also aiming to leave a permanent line of "can do" attitude on the public landscape. For details about the exhibition see below. Pambazuka News had the opportunity to interview Phiks, an artist from Kenya.

Pambazuka News: Can you tell us about what you are doing here in Cape Town? What is the project you are involved in?

Phiks: The project called "Lines of Attitude" involved coming to Cape Town as part of the project. We (artists I work with) painted a wall in Kenya last November and we just finished painting a wall here in Cape Town. The upcoming exhibit "Lines of Attitude" is also a part of the project, and all the artists have contributed pieces to it. This is a project which has got graffiti artist from different countries working together on the following theme: "How Western media affects culture." We came up with this theme in Kenya and started working on it last year. The aim of the project is to try and give graffiti a positive attitude towards the masses.

Pambazuka News: What is the connection for you between art and social change? How can the medium of graffiti be used to raise awareness or inspire action?

Phiks: My personal connection between art and social change is a love for art. Art is what I eat and most of my inspiration comes from things that happen around me, as well as the people around me. The media of graffiti can be used to raise awareness or inspire action, not only in big time events like the exhibit. You have to keep in mind what you do on a small scale level because people out there are watching everything I do. I try to keep it real for the young and old people – so I try to keep positive to promote art.

Pambazuka News: Can you describe the "matatu" culture in Kenya? What is its significance?

Phiks: Matatu culture is a big thing in Kenya. Matatu’s are not only a form of transportation, but since the 80's have been made into a form of art. There is a lot of competition because it is a source of income for Matatu owners. I do air brushing and other work on these. The significance of them is that this is the kind of grafitti I do in Kenya – this is where I come from.

Pambazuka News: What is the art scene in Kenya like? Is there a strong connection there between art and political criticism?

Phiks: The art scene in Kenya is really catching up to other places. At my level, it's great – there is also a really strong connection between the art and political criticism.

Pambazuka News: What is the government response to what you do? What about the general public?

Phiks: I would say that no, the government at the moment doesn't like what I do. They are trying to stop Matatu art because some Members of Parliament in Kenya are also in the Matatu business and they want to cut down the competition by putting up laws against us.

The general public, on the other hand, loves it! The population is made up of lots of young people under the age of 35. But it's hard – you can't mess with the government in Kenya unless you have power – which means money or good connections.

Exhibition Details:
Exhibiting artists:
(UK) mode2, dreph;
(Kenya) phiks;
(SA) falko, faith47

Opening on 16 March. Running until 06 April, District 6 Homecoming Centre 15 Buitenkant St. Cape Town.

* Please send comments to

The individual in this position is responsible for implementing operations research activities on HIV/AIDS, with a specific focus on the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS, including linking/integrating the provision of antiretroviral treatment into other HIV/AIDS programs.

Director Gavin Hood projects the inherent failure of unbridled capitalism in the "New" South Africa subtly in his award-winning adaptation of playwright Athol Fugard's "Tsotsi". Through a character study of hardened man-child Tsotsi, whose name simply means "thief" in local Jo'burg slang, Hood explores the meaning of the "new" South Africa. An adaptation of Athol Fugard's play written in the 1950's, the film echoes the inescapable conflict colonialism has stained the continent with since the 20th century. Social ills, economic inequality, destabilized family centers, political corruption, and the shame associated with HIV/Aids are wondrously presented in Hood's immensely sensitive interpretation.

As Tsotsi claws his way through a life of crime and brutality he finds himself cornered between the state and his own self-destruction. Tsotsi has developed such a hard exterior that he pummels one of his closest friends in the opening scenes of the film after his friend challenges Tsotsi to tell the group his real name. Tsotsi goes on to carjack a woman that same night only to realize after crashing the car that there's a baby in the backseat. From there we watch Tsotsi unravel as he tries to cope with the newborn child.

Presley Chweneyagae is remarkable as Tsotsi. He offers a range of emotion and vulnerability often difficult for people to confront in real life. On screen his presence reflects vividly the unprotected lives of children whose families are pulled apart under the pressures of illness, poverty, and neglect. He clings to the baby with a fierce loneliness that captures our collective need for each other in a way that blends the sacred mother-father-child relationship.

Terry Pheto provides a steadfast will to her character as the young widowed mother, Miriam, who finds herself breastfeeding a child who's not hers at gunpoint along with her own newborn. It is through this uneasy relationship that Tsotsi gains enough clarity to restore a sense of order to the characters' lives in the film.

Fugard's play, written in the 1950's, is beautifully translated on screen as Hood lays kwaito tracks over sun struck township shots contrasted with dark, suburban Johannesburg. It is through the intricate commentary on South Africa's emerging middle class that we gain a sense of the incongruity that defines social life in South Africa. It is estimated there are as many as 5.3 million people living with HIV/Aids in South Africa as of 2003. The prevalence of the disease is a complex history of underdevelopment and apartheid legislation. Since the political liberation of South Africa, officials have had a myriad of frustrations to deal with and the continued relevancy of Fugards' play written in 1950 reinforces that.

Many scholars and critics cite the government's unmeasured acceptance of western policies as a prime factor in the continuing problems of unemployment, development, crime, and health care. The film sharply comments on how one affects the other as we watch Tsotsi remember a troubled past. The employment of unchecked free market business without adequate safety nets implemented through state and regional legislation makes these connections all the more pointed. Hood aptly picks up on Fugard's image of the lone wolf and revisits this image throughout the film. It is this lone wolf that forecasts the dangers of the Orphan Generation that South Africa has to deal with.

Though the movie's final scenes evoke a sense of surrender, the humanity that is reawakened in Presley's character echoes the hopes and dreams of downtrodden people everywhere. The economic gap between the masses of people in Johannesburg and the swelling middle class is the only way to address the problem of development and disease control. As young South African artists and filmmakers seem to remind us over and over again, it is up to the human family to prove that, "We can and we must do better than this".

* Teaira S. Buchanan is a volunteer contributor to Pambazuka News

* Fahamu was responsible for a pre-release screening of Tsotsi, which took place in Oxford on March 10. The film’s official United Kingdom release takes place on March 17.

If democracy is only about contestation between political parties then the elite consensus that the recent election constitutes further maturation into a free, fair and peaceful democracy is largely valid. But if democracy is understood to include the right to express dissent outside of electoral participation, and if the freedom and fairness of electoral processes is understood to require free political activity outside of party politics, then there are less grounds for optimism, begins this article from the website of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The Centre for Civil Society (CCS), University of KwaZulu-Natal, would like to invite applications for researchers wishing to locate themselves at CCS for periods of either six months or a year. Six month fellowships will receive a grant of R75000 and one year fellowships will receive a grant of R150000. These may be treated as taxable income.

SANGONeT's second annual "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference and Exhibition drew to a close on Thursday, with many delegates expressing their enthusiasm for this event and requesting that it become a regular feature in the annual SA NGO calendar.

The One in Nine Campaign was launched in February 2006. The purpose of the campaign is to ensure that the courage and action of the woman in the Jacob Zuma rape case is affirmed and supported through direct action, the mass media and through strengthening the level of debate and analysis in society of the gender dimensions of the case.

Anti-software patent supporters are meeting to discuss the formation of a non-profit organisation to tackle the issue of software patents in South Africa. Tectonic caught up with University of South Africa senior lecturer, Bob Jolliffe, who is currently driving the process.

The Freedom of Expression Institute is disgusted by the high- handed, illegal and brutal attitude of the eThekwini Municipality against shack dwellers today (February 27). Early this morning, police invaded both the Foreman Road and Kennedy Road shack settlements in Durban and prevented residents from leaving the settlements. A number of shack dwellers were arrested. We have just received reports that some of the detainees have been beaten up by police at the Sydenham police station. The military-style operation of police is an attempt to prevent a shack dwellers march from taking place today. The Shack Dwellers Movement, Abahlali Base Mjondolo, had planned to march today in protest against the lack of housing. They were due to hand over a memorandum to the MEC for Housing in the Kwazulu-Natal Province.

Despite South Africa’s progressive Constitution women’s occupation of public and private spaces remains limited and constantly under siege, writes Carrie Shelver from People Opposing Women Abuse. "As we stood outside the court on the first day of the rape trial it was clear how even those of us gathered to support the complainant in the case were under siege, our space limited to a small cordoned off area. By contrast, the supporters of Zuma roamed and merged with bystanders all of whom were only occasionally pushed back by police."

Challenging Hegemony: Social Movements, and the Quest for a New Humanism in Post-Apartheid South Africa is a collection of essays by leading social movement activists and scholars that analyzes the emergence of new political struggles in post apartheid South Africa. The volume reflects on the mushrooming of new movements that represent what Frantz Fanon called 'the untidy affirmation of an original idea propounded as an absolute' - a quest for a new humanism which is manifested in the movements' most simple and basic of demands for land, housing, and medicine.

In Khayelitsha, diarrhoea and gastro-enteritis have overtaken HIV/Aids as the biggest killer of children under five years with the deaths doubling over the last four years. By mid- 2004, 60 Khayelitsha toddlers had died of diarrhoeal disease, a preventable and treatable illness. “Lack of access to basic services does impact on the health of a community, especially children,” said Dr Ivan Toms, head of Cape Town’s health services.

The vicious murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana, a lesbian killed by a mob in a Cape Flats township, points to the brutal reality that despite constitutional protections, lesbians in South Africa continue to experience egregious assaults on their human rights, Human Rights Watch said today (March 3). Human Rights Watch called on the South African government to ensure that their ongoing investigation of the murder is thorough, effective, and capable of leading to the successful identification, prosecution, and punishment of all those responsible. According to local media reports, six young men have been arrested and charged with murder. Human Rights Watch also called on the authorities to provide police protection to Nkonyana's friends and to other lesbians who are at risk of violence in the wake of the attack.

The following is an extract of the petition to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal to demand the unbanning of internationally acclaimed academic and activist, Ashwin Desai.
"We the undersigned write to express our concern over your decision to bar Ashwin Desai from seeking a position at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This decision constitutes a violation of a basic form of academic freedom: the right for anyone to be fairly considered for a position in the academic community for which they are qualified. We urge you to reconsider this decision and allow Ashwin Desai to apply and be fairly considered for paid (as well as honorary) positions at UKZN."

Follow the link for the full letter and to sign the petition.

Over the past year South Africa has seen pockets of municipal protests around the country as residents have vented their anger about poor service delivery. The government for its part appears to be well aware of the simmering dissatisfaction amongst citizens. The government’s ‘Project Consolidate’ implicitly acknowledges long-standing problems in the sphere of local government. ‘Project Consolidate’ is in effect a rescue plan for municipalities. 136 of the 284 municipalities country-wide fall within its remit, indicating the extent of the problem. In his state of the nation address, President Mbeki acknowledged that local government was, in part, failing to fulfil its mandate to citizens, according to IDASA.
* Related Link
ANC takes Khutsong with 232 votes
http://iafrica.com/news/sa/801759.htm

When they met in Gaborone last August, heads of state of the Southern African Development Community pledged to make sure that women are equally represented in all areas of decision-making in line with an African Union position. The local government elections taking place in South Africa in March are one of the first test cases for the often glaring gap between the grandstanding of leaders at regional events and what actually happens on the ground. As leader of the African National Congress (ANC) President Thabo Mbeki will not have to hang its head in shame. But other parties have some serious soul searching to do, and as head of state Mbeki will need to ask what can be done to bridge the gap between his party and all the rest.

You stagger into the kitchen in the early morning, dying for that first cup of coffee, but the kettle remains stubbornly cold. You may manage to get your car out of the electronically operated security gates, but you might as well have stayed at home because the traffic lights aren't working and there's chaos on the roads. And when you get to work, your computers/cash registers/power tools/espresso machines crash. Elements of this unhappy scenario will have been all-too-familiar to most Capetonians at various times over the past few months as Eskom's ability to produce a regular supply of electricity has imploded. But what's to be done? asks IOL.

The Mail & Guardian Online has invited South Africa's biggest political players to write blogs, or online diaries, in the run-up to the local elections, thus providing them with a new means of communicating with voters and promoting debate. All major political parties were approached with this offer. The political parties that were not represented, decided not to take up the offer to blog.