Durban - Situated not that far from the FIFA World Cup competition, the Durban informal settlement has seen more than its share of strife and hard times. A press release from the Abahlali baseMjondo, an organization made up of residents of informal settlements in South Africa, stated July 4th that 3 people had died in a fire Monday that swept through the Kennedy Road settlement; destroying some 800 homes. About 3,000 people are now homeless.

In Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa, a High Court judge decided on a court application which was served on members of the Venda royal family, chiefs, the Minister of Rural Development and various government departments to halt the defilement of a sacred waterfall. The complainants are members of Dzomo la Mupo (voice of the Earth) – elders and custodians of Venda sacred sites – plus members of the Ramunangi clan in whose area the Phiphidi Falls are situated.

As South Africa's World Cup begins to near its end, questions continue to be asked about the tournament's legacy for the country. Highly critical of the self-serving tendencies of South Africa's soccer elite, Dale T. McKinley laments the long-term neglect of the game's developmental and social potential. Once a genuine 'people's game' in the country, soccer has, as with so much, been entirely subsumed by rapacious commercial interests, McKinley writes.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has reiterated that country's long-held view and called for international financial institutions to be overhauled to give developing economies a greater say. Addressing a session of the Group of 20 (G-20) in Toronto at the weekend, Mr Zuma said it was time for the group’s leaders to take the initiative with regard to the reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A court in South Africa has found the country's former chief of police Jackie Selebi guilty of corruption. Selebi, also a former president of Interpol, was accused of having links to organised crime and accepting bribes worth 1.2m rand ($156,000, £103,000). But the court found him not guilty of perverting the course of justice. Selebi had denied both charges.

Across some of South Africa’s most impoverished neighbourhoods, a youth photography programme is helping students document their lives – while also raising wider awareness of their communities’ struggles. The Umuzi Photo Club is run entirely by a volunteer staff of dedicated teachers and organizers. The innovative organization integrates technical and creative skills with organic community development, helping young people see their communities – and find solutions to problems – in new ways.

The Together We Can End Human Trafficking radio spots and presenter's guide are designed to help radio stations join in the fight against human trafficking leading up to, during, and after the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. 3 radio spots were produced to address various aspects of human trafficking, and provide information on resources of where to go to report cases of trafficking.

Ubhejane is marketed by a charlatan named Zeblon Gwala as a cure for AIDS. On 22 June 2010 it was incorrectly reported in Business Report that Ubhejane was registered with the Medicines Control Council (MCC). Ubhejane has not been registered as a medicine in South Africa. There is no evidence that it is of any benefit to people with HIV.

Part of improving the levels of quality in education and health is providing infrastructure that responds to global needs in terms of skills, technology and sports, writes Victor Modiba. One of the critical success factors to the growth of the South African economy is infrastructure investment. Key areas of government expenditure, which account for more than half of the total public sector infrastructure investment and incorporate all spheres, are: provincial and local roads, bulk water infrastructure and water supply networks, energy distribution, housing, schools and clinics, business centres, sports facilities, and multi-purpose government service centres, including police stations, courts and correctional facilities.

Can sports—and if so how—serve as a vehicle for reconciliation and increased social cohesion in countries wrecked by civil conflict? This article analyses the case of South Africa and its experiences in the sports sector since the fall of apartheid, in an effort to explore the processes necessary to understand the potential sports may hold for peace building. By identifying initiatives in South Africa employed at the national, community and individual level of analysis, the article outlines the possible effects of sports on reconciliation in divided states.

As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup finals, public and scholarly discourses have largely overlooked the consequences of interactions between global sport, professional leagues, and grassroots football. Yet analysing this dynamic is important because it challenges bold claims made by the Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and South African boosters about the 2010 World Cup's capacity to deliver economic, political, and social benefits to the nation-state.

As civil society organisations we are profoundly disturbed by the nature, content and potential impact of the homophobic stance taken by Jerry Matjila, South Africa's representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on the 16th of June 2010. This stance is the latest in a string of problematic actions by South African representatives in international forums such as the UN.

The world's largest antiretroviral (ARV) programme may be operating in the dark most of the time, according to a long-awaited review of the HIV/AIDS national strategic plan (NSP) released by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). Some of the news is good. SANAC's preliminary draft shows that since the NSP's inception in 2007, reported condom use has almost doubled, treatment coverage among adults living with HIV has almost tripled, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services among HIV-positive pregnant women has reached 76 percent.

Leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, reports have come out alleging that South African authorities had made efforts to hide the homeless population to make areas seem more welcoming to tourists. Now, as the games go on, one organization is taking a stand to raise awareness about the negative impact of the World Cup on the poor and homeless.

KwaZulu-Natal’s health department is using a plastic device in its mass male circumcision drive that speeds up the procedure but has significant side-effects in adult men. Doctors who spoke anonymously to Health-e, expressed concern about the department’s use of the Tara Klamp (TK), a disposable device designed to stay on the penis for around seven days until it falls off with the foreskin.

South African unions representing thousands of workers at power utility Eskom said on Friday they were not planning an imminent strike over wages, allaying fears a labour action could hit the Soccer World Cup. State-owned Eskom and unions failed to resolve a wage dispute after late-night bargaining on Thursday, union officials said. The two sides were not far apart on the size of a wage increase but hit snags mainly on housing allowances, they said.

Perhaps Africa's World Cup began in earnest on Jun. 16, when a despondent green and gold-clad crowd began leaving the Loftus Versfeld stadium even before the end of South Africa's heavy defeat to Uruguay. Migrant African fans felt the first touch of cold post-tournament reality. In their final game on Jun. 22, Bafana Bafana, as the country's national team is known, went on to shine brightly for an hour against a pathetic France, but despite taking a two-goal lead, faded at the finish to make an unwelcome mark in the record books as the first host in the World Cup's 80-year history to fail to make through to the second round.

With World Cup security stewards complaining of poor working conditions and unpaid wages, a labor dispute threatens to overshadow the action on the pitch in South Africa. SPIEGEL spoke to union head Evan Abrahamse about the workers' complaints.

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Once seen as an essential part of South Africa’s liberation struggle, today striking workers and their trade unions are more likely to be perceived as unpatriotic for ‘chasing away foreign economic investment’, writes Mxolisi Makinana. Although the ANC (African National Congress) presents itself as the government of the people, Makinana argues that legislation to regulate strikes is designed to ‘institutionalise the class struggle that continues in the post-apartheid period’.