"Max", a South African Anti-Eviction activist, was kidnapped by four men and a woman who had earlier been seen at an Anti-Eviction Campaign meeting. They are suspected of being NIA agents, writes Anna Weekes.

A United Nations special HIV/Aids envoy, who was the subject of a bizarre attack by three South African ministers this week, says he is "bewildered" at being branded a "fascist" and "arrogant" but does not want a "brawl" with the government. Steven Lewis, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy to Southern Africa, told the Sunday Times that he would not report the attack to the UN even though he feels he was "inappropriately criticised". Lewis said last month that governments were liable for "mass murder by complacency" for neglecting the Aids crisis in Southern Africa".

Hundreds of villagers in the Eastern Cape have been struck by waterborne disease for the first time, with 14 people having died from Cholera and more than 800 people having been treated in hospital.

In recent international debate around Iraq and the dismantling of weapons of mass destruction, South Africa has been cited frequently as an exemplary case in nuclear disarmament. Local media have been quick to pick up on the issue, and we have been treated to interviews with FW de Klerk, Pik Botha and others about the Apartheid state’s secretly built nuclear arsenal and it’s dismantling in the early 1990s.

This posting from Africa Action contains a media statement and additional background from the Apartheid Debt and Reparations Campaign of Jubilee 2000 South Africa, on a new suit filed in New York Eastern District Court against international corporations and banks for reparations for their complicity in aiding and abetting apartheid. This builds on the original suit filed last November, with the same defendants but adding additional plaintiffs.

The biggest wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa, producing clean power from the force of the wind, is up and running at Klipheuwel in the Cape. The farm, funded by Eskom at the cost of R42 million, consists of three huge wind turbine towers.

Valentine's Day fever hit Hudson Park High School when grade nine "cupids" delivered hearts and roses to classes throughout the school - raising more than R4000 for charity.

Soweto pupils were further empowered on Saturday when a leading bank donated 52 mobile libraries to 26 schools in the area. The libraries, complete with the first 100 books selected in conjunction with the Gauteng Department of Education, came at a cost of R466 000 and were donated by Standard Bank.

One of the first draft laws the South African Parliament will debate this year is the Anti-Terrorism Bill. This article from the Freedom of Expression Institute says the bill poses a threat to domestic activism and betrays the political history of the ruling ANC by preventing other international liberation movements from charting a similar course to its own.

A 20-year-old man was arrested in Pretoria on Monday in connection with an alleged racially-motivated attack on a group of black children. A group of seven black boys between the ages of 14 and 16 were allegedly assaulted by a group of whites, police reported.

About 60 percent of corruption in South Africa is uncovered by official processes, 18 percent by civil society and eight percent by the media, public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Wednesday. According to the executive summary of a report on corruption in South Africa, released to the media by Fraser-Moleketi, whistle-blowing is crucial to the detection of fraud and corruption.

It is hard to be a boy in South Africa these days. A recent survey of 30 schools in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province found that, across all races, male students and teachers experience uncertainty about their role and status and a sense of displacement due to the loss of their privileged space in society. The study examined how masculinity is constructed and maintained in schools to better understand how deeply-held notions of masculinity lead to high-risk behaviour for HIV infection among men and women.

The National Assembly is likely to take action against former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni for lying to Parliament when he made a special statement proclaiming his innocence to the House on March 28 last year. It is also understood that Parliament will soon move against ANC MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela soon, despite her lawsuit. Madikizela-Mandela was guilty of contravening Parliament's code of conduct, in that she failed to disclose donations of R50000 a month to supplement her monthly income.

Joining a growing trend, a South African government council recommended an official policy that promotes the use of open-source software - but stops short of jettisoning proprietary applications. The recommended policy for Africa's wealthiest nation expresses a preference for open-source applications when proprietary alternatives don't offer a compelling advantage. Other nations have taken more extreme positions, mandating the use of open-source software unless no other practical alternatives exist.

Thousands marched in Cape Town last Friday in a massive show of support for the demand that the South African government sign and implement a national HIV treatment programme. Estimates on the amount of marchers attending the march organised by AIDS-lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and taking place on the occasion of the opening of South Africa's Parliament for 2003 ranged from between 10 000 and 30 000. The material available through the link below includes a report on the march, a letter from TAC activist Zackie Achmat about the march, the memorandum presented to government and a memorandum to President Bush and Members of US Congress dealing with the Doha agreement.

In the state of the nation address, which was wide-ranging, positive, ambitious and delivery-orientated, President Mbeki sought to provide fresh hope for the poor, says the Institute for democracy in South Africa (Idasa).
Related Link:
* The State of the Nation Address - an Epoliticssa briefing
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=963

In an unprecedented show of unity, groups and individuals from across the political and social spectrum, men and women, young and old, from all sectors of society and from all shades of political opinion, all colours, religious beliefs and convictions came together at Johannesburg’s Library Gardens to oppose the threatened war against Iraq. Similar marches took place in Durban and Cape Town.
Related Link:
* Memorandum of demands to US and UK governments
http://www.africapulse.org/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=969

Bridges.org, the international NGO that helps people in developing countries to use ICT to help themselves, is expanding its offices in Cape Town. To this end, we are currently inviting applications for the positions of business manager, technology associate and webmaster.

Tony Yengeni, former chief whip for South Africa's ruling African National Congress, has pleaded guilty of fraud and was convicted by a Pretoria magistrate. As part of a plea agreement with the state, he was acquitted of the more serious charge of corruption.

This is a call for the South African government to start taking the issues of youth unemployment seriously. It’s about time the National Youth Service is implemented. This issue has been discussed for more than eight years since the Government of National Unity took over. Since then, more 40% of the youth from age 15-35 years have remained economically inactive, unemployed, and living under extreme condition of poverty.