South African HIV/AIDS activists have condemned an invitation by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to a leading AIDS dissident to address regional health ministers later this month. "For the health minister to invite someone who has been castigated by the medical profession for his belief that HIV does not cause AIDS only reinforces our suspicion that Tshabalala-Msimang has failed as minister of health," Sipho Mthathi of the Treatment Action Campaign told Plusnews.

A ground breaking South African Democratic Teachers' Union website (www.sadtu.org.za) has been nominated as a finalist for Labour Start's Site of the Year 2002. It is the official web portal of the South African Democratic Teachers Union. The web site, which incorporates the electronic Educators Voice newspaper, shot to fame when it broke the story of massive Aids fatalities among teachers in South Africa.

“When one listens to a Congolese guy’s experience with our ‘government’, it makes one think of the people who work for the Department of Home Affairs. He mentioned our government’s excellent policies on the rights and privileges of refugees. However, he did not get the service and support he needed. For an example, he was told on enquiry that he couldn’t get government financial support because it is only for South Africans.”

Residents of the small informal settlement of Driziek, situated in the Orange Farm area southwest of Johannesburg, face eviction from the homes they have lived in for the past nine years. The community has vowed to resist the “unwarranted and unilateral” move on the part of the local authorities and sees the proposed evictions as part of an ongoing assault by the state.

Fraud-related cases in the Eastern Cape could soon be dealt with speedily after the Scorpions announced the establishment of a special corruption court in King William's Town. Scorpions representative Sipho Ngwema announced the establishment of the special court on Wednesday, after four former government officials were arrested by the anti-corruption task team on charges of defrauding the Social Development Department of over R5,8-million.

A South African zoo is celebrating the birth of seven red pandas in a captive breeding program designed to save the species from extinction. Red pandas are smaller relatives of the better known giant pandas, which are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. Several zoos around the world are successfully breeding red pandas, but fewer than 2,500 adults are believed to be left in the wild.

In response to escalating HIV infections among women, South Africa's Medical Research Council will be launching the country's first microbicide research initiative.

The vacant Mdantsane Arts Centre has finally been given funding to operate after two years of standing deserted.The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has finally approved the use of R191000 to furnish the centre as well as improving its fencing and security.

South African HIV/AIDS lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Tuesday cautiously welcomed an announcement by the government that it will provide nutritious food to people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs).

Seven-thousand Kwa-Masiza Hostel residents in Sebokeng have prepared for the possibility of eviction as negotiation with property owners is expected to be met with armed police, clearing the way for the hated Red Ants.

President Thabo Mbeki will interrupt his leave to go to the African National Congress' headquarters in Johannesburg on Monday to discuss a looming legislative crisis in Kwazulu-Natal with the party's leadership.

AIDS advocates from the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS have ended a hunger strike that started on Christmas day outside the Midrand offices of GlaxoSmithKline in Gauteng province, after the South African Department of Social Development urged the protestors to call off the second stage of the strike, the South African Press Association reports. The strike -- the original phase of which ended on Tuesday -- is part of the group's "Black Christmas" campaign that demands that pharmaceutical companies and the South African government provide antiretroviral drugs free of charge; that banks and insurance companies cease discriminating against HIV-positive people; and that the government allocate social grants more uniformly.

In a dark storeroom in the Kruger National Park lies the booty of a massive environmental war: South Africa's ivory collection.  Many conservationists would view the room as a ghastly chamber of horrors. South Africa says it needs to unlock the value of its stockpile for badly needed conservation projects.

The Danie Craven stadium in Stellenbosch was reminiscent of a picnic on Tuesday night. African National Congress delegates converged under trees in the grandstands, to finetune their preference for the leaders they want included in the ANC's national executive committee. The national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC is the highest decision-making body between party conferences, and is very influential in implementing and shaping the policies of the ANC.

Rhythm and blues singer Shola Ama and Kora award winner Mory Kante have arrived in the country for the long-awaited HIV/AIDS jazz concert at the Fountains in Pretoria. The concert is expected to raise about R100 000, which will be donated towards South Africa's efforts against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The National Association of People Living with AIDS (Napwa) will be the key beneficiary.

South Africa's minister of health and a provincial health minister are being taken to court by AIDS lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), for failing to provide nevirapine to pregnant women in one of the country's nine provinces.

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday defended his "fleeting reference" to HIV/AIDS in a two-hour speech he delivered Monday at the opening of a five-day African National Congress conference, saying that the issue would be "adequately" covered in a party resolution, SAPA/BBC Monitoring reports.

The Community Chest street collection here raised R3831, which executive director Joss Hamilton says compares poorly with the more than R1 100 brought in by King William's Town and Queenstown. Hamilton said support for the Christmas raffle was better.

SPCA fundraiser Glynis Markus and local casino official Jose Maponyane tried to catch banknotes blown by a money machine in East London recently to raise funds for homeless cats and dogs. Following a call by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the casino hosted a fundraising bid to assist the organisation.

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday defended his deputy's right not to resign over corruption allegations. A day after launching a crackdown against graft by members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Mbeki said deputy President Jacob Zuma was not obliged to step down simply because the elite police Scorpions were investigating him.