The incidence of cholera and malaria in South Africa is likely to increase dramatically during the next 50 years because of the effects of global warming. This is a warning from Professor Roland Schulze, of the University of KwaZulu-Natal's School of Bioresources, Engineering in Pietermaritzburg. People should begin preparing now to deal with global warming, Schulze warned, because there were already indications that climate change was affecting the country.

MISA-SA is seeking to employ an Information and Advocacy Officer. The incumbent has to manage the Freedom of Expression and Right to Information Programme.

Issued by the Palestine Solidarity Committee
19 October 2004

Palestine solidarity activists around the country and around the world, as well as millions of Palestinians, have been again disappointed this morning when the Palestine Solidarity Committee was informed that the visit to South Africa of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will go ahead. This after a meeting yesterday between solidarity activists and foreign ministry officials (including Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad) when representatives of a number of solidarity groups sought to convince the government that it was not in the best interests of South Africa to allow the trip to go ahead.

At the meeting, there was a general sense that, at the very least, this was not an appropriate time for Olmert to be in South Africa. The massacres in Gaza, the murders of children there and the conversion of refugee camps into wastelands through the destruction of homes and property make this, indeed, the time for South Africa to issue the strongest condemnation it ever has against the Israeli apartheid government. Instead, our government will be hosting a man who is well-known as a racist who supports the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Of course, the South African Palestine solidarity movement believes that no time can be appropriate for Olmert or any other Likudnik to come to this country. We impressed on government at yesterday's meeting the embarrassment that would be caused to South Africa internationally because of this visit and our view that, in fact, South Africa should be leading a sanctions campaign against Israel.

However, after a meeting that Pahad had with President Thabo Mbeki last night, the decision (which was conveyed to us this morning) was that the trip would go ahead. This will mean a tremendous amount of embarrassment (even shame) for South Africa internationally. Over 100 Palestinian and solidarity organisations around the world had endorsed a statement calling on our government to cancel the trip - especially in the light of the events in Gaza. For them it will be as if the Protection of Investment Treaty that Olmert is due to sign with South Africa will be a treaty written in the blood of the Gaza martyrs.

For our part, we cannot find strong enough words to express our condemnation of and disgust at our government's shameful decision. The Palestine solidarity movement nationally is currently in consultation about possible action to mark Olmert's arrival here.

For more information or interviews, call:
Na'eem - 084 574 2674 James - 072 514 9935 Mercia - 082 368 3429 Ismail - 084 582 3710

The HIV and Stigma: Challenges and Solutions An Open Space Technology (OST) Conference will be held in Johannesburg South Africa, on the 22nd till the 25th of February 2005. Using OST technology, delegates will explore the challenges of HIV-related stigma, with the primary focus being the sharing and exploration of how to overcome stigma in service delivery. The conference is restricted to 100 delegates only, including 20 conference scholarships (refer Conference Fees and Logistics).

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, and hopes to have comprehensive domestic legislation in place by 2006, according to the International Organisation on Migration (IOM). Commenting on the unverified need for additional legislation, Ted Leggett - a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) - noted that "the bottom line is that virtually everything that is part of trafficking is already illegal, and simply generating more legislation is unlikely to revolutionise the situation".

The Landless People's Movement (Gauteng) welcomes the decision of the South African Communist Party to add its voice to our longstanding 'Land! Food! Jobs!' campaign and to rejoin the struggle for land and agrarian transformation in South Africa on the basis of many of the LPM's demands, including our call for a Land Summit and an audit of unused and unproductive land.

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will be hosting open hearings on xenophobia in November and has called for written submissions from individuals, organisations and interested parties. SAHRC chairman Jody Kollapen said in a statement xenophobia was "pretty widespread" but "difficult to quantify" in South Africa, manifesting itself in the workplace, academic communities as well as on the street where it affected informal traders. The problem affected both South Africans and non-South Africans, he said.

The conference is to be held from 26 - 28 November 2004 at the University of Cape Town, in the spirit of the World Social Forum and its methodology of openness, plurality and respect for a diversity of views within popular movements of civil society, will create a space where activists, progressive social theorists and academics can discuss the successes, failures, strengths and weaknesses of the transition from apartheid. The conference will represent one of the voices of civil society that is celebrating and critically evaluating the new period our country has entered since the end of apartheid.

'The agency keeping the South African government on track is Britain's Department for International Development (DFID). This year it is giving £6.3 million to the Adam Smith Institute – the ultra-right wing privatisation lobby group – for "public sector reform" in South Africa. Staggeringly, the Institute has been given its own budget – £5m of British aid money – to disburse as it pleases. By this means, DFID can generate all the support it likes for privatisation and public-private partnerships, while avoiding direct responsibility for the decisions the institute makes.'

This new book is now available from the Co-operative for Research and Education and it explores the extent to which citizens, civil society organizations and government have fully exercised both their rights and obligations so as to entrench democratic governance in the ten years since 1994. This innovative and probing study includes a review of both theoretical and empirical literature from South Africa and elsewhere, a series of five in-depth case studies of interactions or encounters between civil society and government in the period since the early 1990s, and extensive analysis of other processes, institutions and events which have had a direct impact on governance. Many relevant practical recommendations aimed at entrenching sound governance are put forward. Ultimately, sound democratic governance must reduce and eventually eliminate poverty and inequality, and safeguard the right of all citizens to a healthy, productive life based on equal rights and opportunities. The book concludes that much has been accomplished since 1994, but the challenges that remain are significant and must be tackled. The burden of making democracy work as it should belongs equally to government, civil society and individual citizens.

Durban businessman Schabir Shaik wanted to discuss "damage control" with his company's French partner after one of South Africa's foremost corruption busters threatened to start investigating the arms deal. This was one of the things a former personal assistant of Shaik's, Bianca Singh, remembered as she gave evidence in Shaik's trial in the Durban High Court on Monday. Shaik has pleaded not guilty to two charges of corruption - related to his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma - and another of fraud.

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Izingwe Foundation initiated an Innovative Forum on Socio-Economic Issues in April 2004 to promote dialogue on socio-economic issues with innovative ideas and strategies to inform developmental policies. To this end, the Forum invites "women entrepreneurial pioneers" and their supporters from all sectors (government, unions, business, academica and media) of the South African society to an interactive dialogue on the 1 November 2004 in Johannesburg.

The Higher Education HIV/Aids Programme (HEAIDS) invites proposals from South African organisations to conduct a Cost-Risk Analysis of the Impact of HIV/Aids on Human Resources at selected Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Deadline: 29 October 2004

Schools in Mpumalanga are set to benefit from a R30 million donation from BHP Billiton mining company yesterday, set to improve the quality of education in the province over a five-year period. The Mvelandzandivho, meaning knowledge creation, is a school development support project of the provincial department of education funded by the BHP Billiton Trust Fund to improve quality of teaching and learning.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the food arm of the UN, spent over $11.4 million (R74.1 million) to buy over 47 000 tons of maize and other food materials in South Africa last year. This emerged yesterday at the fourth annual African aid, disaster management and relief procurement conference in Johannesburg. "We buy food to satisfy the needs of the people," Joop Menkeld, the WFP's procurement officer said. Over 14.4 million people are set to be affected by disaster every year.

Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) Amandla AIDS Fund (AAF) was established in 2003 by a $2.5 million donation from Carlos and Deborah Santana. They directed the entire net proceeds of the 2003 U.S. Summer Santana Shaman tour to the fund, which provides grants to South African organisations working to combat Aids.

So abhorrent and damaging is the racism label that I'm amazed we haven't seen a rash of civil cases brought by people who have been accused of racial discrimination without good cause, or at least without solid proof. After all, labelling somebody racist, even when there is not a shred of evidence to support the accusation, can be devastating in a country with a racially divided past and an incumbent government that is determined to stamp out every vestige of apartheid.

The Television Training Centre (TTC) of Deutsche Welle, Germany, and the Community Video Education Trust (CVET), South Africa, announce the presentation of 2 Full-Time courses to be held in Cape Town, facilitated by experts in each field: Digital Post Production: 1 November to 8 November 2004 and; The TV Production Chain: 1 November to 27 November 2004. Applications should be submitted to the Community Video Education Trust(CVET), PO Box 2870 Cape Town, 8000, Fax: 0866 455 402. Deadline: 17 October 2004.

The race to succeed South African President Thabo Mbeki began unofficially yesterday with the opening in Durban of a high-profile corruption case. Mr Mbeki, re-elected to a second term in April, is not due to step down until 2009. But the integrity of Jacob Zuma, his deputy and most likely successor, will be in the spotlight as Schabir Shaik, Mr Zuma's former financial adviser, is tried for corruption, fraud and theft linked to a big arms deal.

Application deadline: 15 October 2004
In addition to working through partnerships with others, and advocating for open society ideals, the HIV/AIDS Programme Officer (PO) will develop strategies, guidelines and policies for OSISA’s HIV /AIDS programme to enable OSISA to make a meaningful contribution to HIV /AIDS response in Southern Africa. The vision of the programme is a "Southern African region that is totally engaged in overcoming the HIV/AIDS pandemic through the deployment of appropriate policies, resources and leadership".