Greetings to you, I really like to thank you for the interesting newsletter that you are sending to me. I find it very informative and and more so out of this world. Please keep up the good work of enlightening the civil society of Africa and the rest of the world on issues of concern. I real appreciate your vision and insight to make the world a tiny web (globalisation).

Parliamentary report points to the urgency of handling backlog of cases, most dating to 1998. The controversial special investigating unit, of which the new boss will be known next week, has its work cut out.

New legislation provides for the exemption of public benefit organizations carrying out approved public benefit activities. In addition to the tax exemption benefits enjoyed by NPOs, local donors will also benefit. ’An extended category of qualifying public benefit organizations provides the donor with a wider selection of organizations to which tax deductible donations may be made.‘

People accessing Soul City are significantly more likely to discuss HIV/AIDS with someone close to them. The more elements [TV, radio, print] of Soul City that people access the more likely they are to have a dialogue and debate on HIV/AIDS issues. 39% of people accessing 3 elements of Soul City discussed HIV/AIDS with friend or family and 36% of those that accessed 2 elements. This compares with 21% of those with no exposure to Soul City.

The launch of the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project - the inappropriately acronymed Grip - was heartily welcomed by the police, courts and doctors in South Africa's eastern province of Mpumalanga last year. But Grip fell foul of the authorities with another of its services. The organisation ensured that women were swiftly given access to anti-retroviral drugs, paid for by donations. The Mpumalanga provincial health minister, Sibongile Manana, was outraged. She said President Thabo Mbeki had banned the supply of anti-retrovirals and that their prescription was an attempt to poison black people and was "undermining the present government".

EISA has recently published this innovative CD Rom as a comprehensive resource on the local government election process in South Africa. In order to allow as many people as possible to access this important resource EISA has set up a website housing much of this information in an online format. Users wishing to buy the full version of the e-book, complete with video clips, full text reference of legislation and detailed analysis of election issues may do so by accessing the website and placing their order with EISA. The CD Rom is currently selling at the introductory price of only R85 per CD Rom.

This is the first opportunity to really check out your newsletter and have to say it is absolutely fantastic. What a resource!

The National Land Committee is a network of land reform NGO's providing assistance and support to rural communities across South Africa who are seeking access to land. The national office of the NLC, which is based in Johannesburg, is seeking a person to coordinate its National Gender Programme.

The Non Profit Partnership (NPP) is an NPO committed to supporting democratic transformation by strengthening the financial sustainability of the non-profit sector in South Africa. The NPP provides a range of creative services to NPO’s. These include providing information and advice, establishing income-generating services and lobbying for relevant legislative and financial policy changes.

According to a 'Sunday Independent' report, clinical trials conducted in Johannesburg and Cape Town have shown that despite poverty and scarce clinical resources, antiretrovirals can be used successfully by poor people. These findings come after the government's repeated refusal to offer antiretroviral therapy to all saying the majority of South Africans were poor and would misuse the drugs.

A South African land protest which raised fears of Zimbabwe-style chaos has been halted peacefully by bailiffs who tore down newly built shacks with crowbars. But with hundreds of families claiming to have been homeless in sub-zero temperatures, the African National Congress government faced new accusations that it was neglecting the poor.

The Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising SAIF) presents the following Workshops:

23,24,25 July
Training the Trainer in Resource Mobilisation

6 August
Donor Marketing - Cause Related Marketing
Negotiation
6,7,8 August
Resource Mobilisation Workshop in Cape Town

7 August
Dealing with the Media Workshop

15,16,17 August
Resource Mobilisation Workshop

Veterans of the African National Congress' (ANC) former military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), intend reactivating dormant gold and coal mines in Mpumalanga province to create jobs and wealth for unemployed liberation struggle soldiers, African Eye News Service reported on Wednesday.

The South African chapter of Transparency International (TI) has "distanced itself" from the organisation's annual Corruption Perception Index - that this year gave the country 4.8 points, on a scale where ten is the most open and honest.

OSISA is a non-profit foundation established in 1997 by investor and philanthropist George Soros. OSISA oversees US$5 million in grants annually in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. OSISA is to be a leading regional foundation dedicated to the creation of the ideal of an open society. Our programmes broadly focus on Education, Human rights and democracy building as well as Media.

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa
PO Box 678 Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

Telephone: +27 (11) 403-3414/5/6
Fax: +27 (11) 403-2708
E-mail: [email protected]

Burundi President Pierre Buyoya is in South Africa for talks with the mediator of the peace process, Nelson Mandela. Government sources confirmed to IRIN that Buyoya left Burundi on Thursday for talks which would include the transition issue.

Corné van Walbeek, principal investigator of the Economics of Tobacco Control project in South Africa, highlights some of the policy debates concerning tobacco control in South Africa, and indicates their relevance to other developing countries.

A highly confidential and extremely sensitive report that could lead to various senior magistrates soon being arrested for fraud and corruption, has been handed to the national director of public prosecutions, Advocate Bulelani Ngcuka.

Black on black racism and xenophobia in South Africa.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has described as "positive" the South African government's apparent shift towards a policy of engagement with his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC in the past had been kept at arm's length by a South African government pursuing a policy of "quiet diplomacy" with President Robert Mugabe.