About R15m in social grant money has been pocketed by government officials this year throughout the country, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has disclosed.

The Minister of Social Development, Dr. Zola Skweyiya has undertaken an emergency visit to the Intandane area in the Eastern Cape to check the reasons for the delays of grant payment to thousands of pensioners.

South Africa’s Social Development Minister Dr. Zola Skweyiya says he is embarrassed that children should die of malnutrition in his country.

A dismissed Anglo Platinum manager has claimed that his former colleagues made racist remarks and that he lost his job for raising complaints about this and for calling union members "comrades".

South Africa's AIDS epidemic is exacting a deadly toll on South Africa's children, with greater numbers infected with HIV than was previously thought, according to a survey released Thursday.

Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Trevor Abrahams was placed on an indefinite compulsory leave of absence last Thursday following allegations of misconduct and impropriety against him.

The leaders of three southern African countries are due to sign a treaty on Monday that will bring into existence the world's largest game park. Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe are due to give their assent to the 95 000-square-kilometre, cross-border park.

There have been significant changes in sexual behaviour in South Africa over the past four years, a new study has found. According to the study, condom use among sexually active youth was high, with 57 percent of males and 46 percent of females having used a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse.

It was mid-April when it first became evident that the South African government had had a change of heart regarding the use of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for the treatment of HIV/Aids in the public health sector. The world's most powerful weapon against HIV/AIDS - anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs - dominated public debate about the disease in South Africa this year. Follow the link provided for a review of the AIDS debate in South Africa over the last year, provided by Health-E News Service.

Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has named a multi-sectoral Interim Management Team (IMT) to assist the Eastern Cape government in stamping out corruption and ease its administrative backlogs.

Thousands of South Africans have pledged their support for the 16 days of activism against the abuse of women and children.

Former president Nelson Mandela officially launched a R80m initiative to provide free anti-retroviral treatment to 9 000 patients in the public sector at Johannesburg Botanical Gardens this week. The initiative, called Tshepang (which means to have hope), is a joint initiative between the South African Medical Association (Sama) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Animal welfare organisations say that many of the animals raised in South Africa's growing predator industry end up being part of "canned" hunts - hunting expeditions where wealthy tourists shoot domesticated game in small, fenced-in areas.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has accused the private sector in South Africa of “manifestly failing” to contribute effectively to combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The SACP charged that financial institutions had evicted HIV/AIDS orphans from houses bonded to their late parents. “In many cases, these evictions are compounded by policies of insurance companies which exclude HIV/AIDS cover. These policies are cruel, inhumane and reflect the poverty of private commercial banks and the insurance industry in our country,” said the SACP.

Gender concerns have been markedly lacking in the development of a new national policy on international migration to South Africa. This paper, from the Southern African Migration Project, assesses the situation in the policy-making process and the content of the policy, and asks why this is so.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has condemned the actions of the Kenyan police on the weekend of 30 November to 1 December, during which they arrested, manhandled and detained two South African journalists in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.

More than a thousand people, including leading celebrities, took to the streets of Johannesburg on Sunday to protest the vicious cycle of women and child abuse.

A review has been produced as a contribution to the UN General Assembly follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The summit took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. The review is based on research and dialogues in order to help inspire discussion about how to make the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) more effective in promoting implementation of sustainable development.

The ANC leadership will meet with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to get clarity on why two ANC MECs were sacked from the KwaZulu-Natal cabinet. Smuts Ngonyama, the ANC spokesperson, said the meeting would take place tomorrow but the venue had not been confirmed.

This week representatives from the NGO groundworks and the Northdale community met with government officials to discuss industrial air pollution problems.