A Healing Through Creative Arts Conference is being hosted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation in collaboration with the cultural desk of Evangelischer
Entwicklungsdienst Deutschland, at Museum Africa, Newtown, Johannesburg.

Sangonet will provide free passes to a two-day IT training course as part of citizen base awards. South African NGOs are invited to propose strategies, which are replicable, innovative and feasible and demonstrate the ability to generate resources and mobilise citizen support. This is an international award that has already been held in Brazil, Thailand, Bangladesh and India; and is currently running in Argentina.

Poor communities in South Africa have limited access to media, to enable them acquire information that is relevant to their lives, and also to express themselves in order to contribute to national debates. While the main source of income for media companies in the country is advertising, the findings of the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) research report that there is discrimination (on the bases of content and the racial group that listens to the station) and several other problems in the advertising industry is a cause of great concern.

Debates and space for critical engagement is essential for democracy. There can never be enough emphasis on this point. It is therefore unfortunate that African National Congress (ANC) has chose to stifle debates by resorting to use of derogatory terms to describe opposing voices in the Congress of South Africans trade Unions (Cosatu), South African communist Party (SACP) and ANC alliance.

COSATU welcomes the comprehensive report tabled to the people of South Africa today and welcomes the exoneration of government from any wrongdoing or corruption.

South Africa is moving on many fronts to combat corruption.

South African Anglican Bishop Peter Lee recently sent a letter to Cedric Mayson, the African National Congress' religious affairs director, saying that President Thabo Mbeki's questioning of the causal link between HIV and AIDS has led many men in the rural KwaZulu-Natal province to erroneously believe that sex and AIDS are "not linked," the Daily Mail & Guardian reports.

The major challenges facing the public service are combating corruption and maladministration, improving service delivery and developing human resources. This is according to the State of the Public Service Report, released by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Parliament.

Senior police officials are probing detailed claims of an attempt by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to cover up damaging evidence in the trial of a top policeman - and save face for former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi.

The inability of poor Sowetan residents to meet their electricity bills has resulted in many having their domestic power supply cut off by national service provider, Eskom. A coalition of unreconstructed communists, retirees and college students created the Soweto Electrical Crisis Committee (SECC) nearly a year ago. Chairman Trevor Ngwane - a former ANC municipal council member - recruited a friend, a laid-off Eskom repairman, to train volunteers how to reconnect a power supply. Since then, Operation Khanyisa - which means "to light" in the Zulu language - has unlawfully restored electricity to about 3,000 homes.

Gun Free South Africa is committed to making a material contribution to building a safe and secure nation, free from fear, by reducing the number of firearms in society. It is looking for a NATIONAL DIRECTOR, to be based in our national office in Johannesburg.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) is looking to appoint a Gender Trainer and Co-ordinator and an Intern for its International Affairs Department to be based at its Head Office in Johannesburg.

The seminar will examine different approaches taken by two cities:
* Johannesburg established its Metro Police Department in March 2001, built mainly on its former traffic departments. Chris Ncgobo, a senior council executive with no police background, was appointed as Chief.
* Cape Town is establishing its Metro Police Service next month, with new recruits currently in training.

The Top Black ICT Acheivers in South Africa will be announced at an award ceremony in Johannesburg this weekend. The seven awards include one for top black woman in ICT and the presidential award for bridging the digital divide.

Civil society groups gathered in Johannesburg on Thursday to call on the government to introduce a basic income grant to try and close the poverty gap between South Africans.

A two-day hearing on racism in the media held before the Parliamentary Communications Committee has concluded with an agreement on the need for transformation. Industry insiders however warned against using legislation to resolve widespread complaints by blacks of racial stereotyping and control of advertising revenue by white owned media.

More than 1000 community members from Valhalla Park, Cape Town, will protest
outside the High Court in Keerom Street, Cape Town, on Thursday. The protest takes place in support of 700 community members who have been charged with illegally occupying a piece of land in the centre of Valhalla
Park that the Unicity had already set aside for housing.

The effect of AIDS in South Africa is "shattering" and too much time is spent in academic discussions about its cause, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu has warned.

Six men have been charged with raping a nine-month-old South African baby, allegedly because they thought the act would cure them of HIV, the South African Press Association reports. The attack occurred less than one week before two other South African girls under the age of four were also raped, allegedly by family members.