Gender Links, in partnership with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, will release a new resource tool kit for Southern African media trainers on mainstreaming gender in the media, "Gender in Media Training: A Southern African Tool Kit".

In an attempt to accelerate service delivery,government has set aside R2,7-million in foreign donor funds for Amatole District municipality. The funding will be used to unlock municipalities economic development opportunities.

In a function attended by former president Nelson Mandela, Aventis Pharma announced that it was to contribute R150-million to a campaing agaist TB.

Telkom Foundation's "Adopt-a-Project" initiative has helped two schools in Umlazi to go on-line. Telkom has donated 20 stand alone computers worth over R50,000, which has been split in half between the schools. The donated computers will form the nucleus of a Telkom-sponsored computer centre that will harness communications technology in a learning environment for the school pupils.

A R4-million national survey to fathom the extent of corruption in business and the public service is to be conducted over the next two months, the government announced on Monday.

The department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has launched a countrywide corruption survey aimed at assessing the prevalence of corruption in public service delivery.

President Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet have at last backed off from their controversial stance on antiretroviral drugs, with a high-powered government delegation announcing before journalists that the health department is working on a universal roll-out plan of nevirapine. In a first admission of the efficacy of the drugs, Health Minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang read from the executive's statement: "Cabinet noted that they (antiretrovirals) could help improve the conditions of people living with AIDS if administered at certain stages in the progression of the condition, in accordance with international standards."

Gender Links is pleased to announce the launch of its website, genderlinks.org.za. Please visit us and let them know your comments!

The Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT)is currently expanding the focus and scope of its ICT activities in support of Southern African CSOs. An important part of SANGONeT's work is providing access to and implementing a range of web services. This includes website design, development and maintenance of existing websites. It is looking for a web designer.

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has embarked on a programme to incorporate the Non Governmental Organisations and Community Based Organisations sectors in the delivery of water and sanitation.

The African Institute of Corporate Citizenship is hosting the first ever African Corporate Citizenship Convention over 24 & 25 April 2002 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg.

This three-day course tackles the difficult problem of writing speeches. This course is not about your speciality or discipline, but about how to apply standard methods of speech writing to whatever you have at hand.

British charity has brought hope to AIDS infected children in Grotte Schuur by donating R750,000. The donation will be used for life prolonging drugs which the South African governmnet has expressed safety concerns about.

Breaking with some of its anti-globalization allies, the aid agency Oxfam International issued a report yesterday that praised international trade as a potentially enormous boon to the world's poor... `The extreme element of the anti-globalization movement is wrong,' said Kevin Watkins, a senior policy adviser for Oxfam who wrote most of the report. `Trade can deliver much more [for poor countries] than aid or debt relief.' Criticizing Oxfam's "Rigged Rules and Double Standards," Food First co-director Anuradha Mittal put it best: "Oxfam's report contradicts its own stated mission that ending poverty requires a global citizen's movement for economic and social justice. We are disappointed that Oxfam, one of the NGO leaders on food security, has chosen to undermine the demands of social movements and think tanks in the South such as Via Campesina, MST, Third World Network, Focus on the Global South, and Africa Trade Network which have demanded that governments must uphold the rights of all people to food sovereignty and the right to food rather than industry-led export-oriented production."

South Africa has said it is confident that the United States would not torpedo a global action plan for environmentally sustainable development to be adopted at a U.N. summit in Johannesburg.
Environmental groups have voiced concern that the United States and oil exporting nations will try to scale down the World Summit on Sustainable Development's action plan because of fears about the impact it could have on business and profits. But South African Environment and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa in an interview with Reuters late this week dismissed such concerns as premature and said he and his ministry were working closely with the Americans to ensure the summit is a success.

Wouter Basson’s acquittal on a host of most horrendous charges in the Pretoria High Court is a shameful day for truth and justice in post apartheid South Africa, Jubilee South Africa said in a statement.

The Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) says it will continue to demand free water and electricity, as promised by the ruling ANC during its previous election campaigns. This announcement was made by Trevor Ngwane, the SECC chairperson.

A group of doctors have warned their South African colleagues against becoming accomplice to a new wave of "atrocities" by refusing to administer anti-retroviral drugs. In a statement published in the latest edition of the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ), the group says doctors have a moral duty to prescribe the drugs.

The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) has applied to intervene as friends of the court in the Constitutional Court case between the government and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Thabani Masuku, Idasa's constitutional analyst, says the organisation wants to encourage a co-operative approach between the government and the judiciary.

A circular giving public hospitals and clinics the go-ahead to provide the anti-Aids drug Nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women is being distributed, health authorities said. The document outlines the circumstances in which Nevirapine can be prescribed, the required doses, and topics for patient counselling.