This article, from J. Dickson of the New Zealand Journal of Adult Learning, aims to outline the political and social context of adult education in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The author focuses on two different providers of adult education, namely C4L - Lowveld Centre for Lifelong Learning, and Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust. Both of these providers operate "under the radar" of most analyses of South African education, however, they typify something of the flexible and innovative response community based provision can make within a transitional context.

The commotion about last year's dismal matric results has subsided, but experts warn that merely focusing on final year pass rates hides the deeper problems facing South Africa's education system. After a three percent drop in each of the last three years, the 2005 pass rate hit 68.3 percent. Although cause for concern, staggering dropout rates and the declining quality and quantity of educators point to a larger crisis.

More than a decade after the advent of democracy, South Africa has still one of the most unequal societies in the world, but a recent study reveals that public support for pro-poor policies is highly conditional. However, "South Africans, like most people in many other parts of the world, see some people as more deserving than others, with perceived desert reflecting recognised needs (e.g. the elderly), responsibilities (e.g. breadwinners) and behaviour (with respondents being hostile to support for chronic drinkers, for example)," the report commented.

South African prosecutors won a court order on Tuesday to seize 34 million rand in assets of a former aide to ex-Deputy President Jacob Zuma following a corruption scandal that has rocked the government. Durban High Court Judge Hilary Squires also ordered Schabir Shaik to pay some of the prosecution's legal costs in the case, which saw him convicted of a "generally corrupt" relationship with Zuma last year, lawyers said, reports Reuters.

South African National Civic Organisation's (Sanco's) bombshell proposal to amend SA's constitution confirms an ongoing discussion in political and business circles about whether President Thabo Mbeki should seek a third term in office. Sanco argues the two terms a president can serve denies SA the opportunity to sustain development programmes. It also says the constitutional term limit is a "foreign" concept imposed on SA and the rest of Africa. It argues for the retention of the country's "best minds" and says the constitutional term limit would "force a young president to retire".
Related Link:
* Municipal elections won't appease furious South Africans
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-02/02bond.cfm

On the 24th of January 2006, oral arguments in the matter of Khulumani et. al. v. Barclays et. al. began in the USA. In Khulumani v. Barclays, 87 South Africans (victims of gross human rights abuses during Apartheid) charge 23 foreign corporations with aiding and abetting the Apartheid Regime. This is a very serious charge, as aiding and abetting is equivalent to actual perpetration under international law. The case will be heard in the Court of Appeals, second District of New York.

A massive reduction in the price of antiretroviral drugs now makes it possible for South Africa to turn HIV/AIDS from a killer into a chronic, manageable disease. Over the past five years, the cost of a year’s supply of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in South Africa has plummeted from over R95 000 to around R1 200 for the standard “first-line” package of three drugs a day – largely because generic ARV drugs are now available.

The Agenda Feminist Media Project seeks a full-time Project Director and a full-time Journal Editor, to become integral members of its team, which is dedicated to raising women’s voices and discussing women’s issues in Africa. The Project Director is responsible for overseeing Agenda’s operations, which includes Agenda’s quarterly journal publication, website, radio and writing programmes. Past managerial, budgetary and fundraising experience required. The Journal Editor is responsible for conceptualising, commissioning, and editing Agenda’s quarterly journal publication.

It is time for change because the African National Congress government has failed to deliver, African Christian Democratic Party president Kenneth Meshoe said on Monday. Speaking at a public meeting in Mitchells Plain, Meshoe said the ACDP is committed to a clean government because dirty streets reflect the morals of those in charge. On the running of cities, Meshoe said: "We often hear that we do not have the capacity, which means that there are people in charge who do not know what they are doing." He added that a lack of resources means that money is being wasted and/or pocketed.

Two opposition parties have given a cautious thumbs-up to the public broadcaster's coverage of their March 1 municipal election campaigns so far, but the official opposition has cried foul. The Independent Democrats believe the party has been treated "very fairly" by the SABC so far. The Freedom Front Plus said the jury was still out on the SABC's commitment to equitable coverage. However, the Democratic Alliance protested on Tuesday that no mention was made on SABC 3's 7pm bulletin on Monday of a press conference held by its leader Tony Leon in Cape Town earlier in the day.

The Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program (FRONTIERS) of the Population Council is seeking an experienced Program Officer to coordinate a research project in Northwest Province on the integration of Family Planning and Voluntary Counseling/Testing (FP/VCT) services.

"What exactly is going on at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)? Is academic freedom really under threat, as has been argued recently?" asks Jane Duncan from the Freedom of Expression Institute. She writes: "At the heart of the problems brewing at the university is a looming contradiction between the university as an organ of state and its stated objectives of being 'critically engaged with society' and '[supporting] social transformation and redress'. This contradiction has found concrete expression in conflict between an increasingly embattled eThekwini municipality and a number of radical-activist scholars located in the university's sociology department and the Centre for Civil Society (CCS)."

The South African government has gone to court to seize assets worth over $3m from businessman Schabir Shaik. The case began in the Durban High Court on Wednesday. Mr Shaik was not present. He is currently on bail after being convicted in July last year of having a generally corrupt relationship with ex-deputy president Jacob Zuma.

A wave of bitter revolts over land and housing is sweeping many parts of
South Africa. Ten years after the end of apartheid, the ANC government's
commitment to neo-liberalism means millions are still waiting for proper
houses, clean water and toilets. What began as spontaneous rage is growing into a movement. Every week sees large groups of landless and homeless people settling land, building shacks and demanding the authorities provide services.

The Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is seeking applicants for the post of outreach officer, based in Durban. The outreach officer will do the following work:
* help coordinate Centre efforts in popular education.
* help steer the Centre's outreach work in local communities.
* contract and manage the writing or translation of one article for the CCS website per month.
* personally translate one article on the CCS website into a South African language other than English each month.
* liase with the editors of appropriate websites with a view to sharing information.
* assist community organisations, NGOs, labour and social movements with the development of websites.
* assist with the Centre's workshop and film projects and their proposed extension off campus and into communities.
* assist with management of the Centre's resource centre.
* participate in the intellectual life of the Centre.

Research by Nkuzi Development Association and Social Surveys indicates that farm evictions continue unabated in the post-apartheid era. The number of people displaced from farms between 1994 and the end of 2004 was 1.8 million and another 942 000 people were evicted in the same period. Only 1% of evictions went through a court process.

A national and international brouhaha has rapidly developed following the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) decision to bar renowned academic and activist Dr Ashwin Desai from seeking a position at the university. The decision has elicited letters of strong protest to UKZN vice- chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba from Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein - among other well known figures from abroad - and several South African academics.

"The heart of the local government elections, then, is a contest over the politics of space," writes Raj Patel from the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Civil Society in a recent commentary about South Africa's upcoming local elections. "On the one hand are shack-dwellers who believed, and still believe, in the ideals of desegregation, of the possibility of rich and poor and black and white living side by side. On the other hand lie local councillors seeking to fence the rich from the poor - councillors who, faced by questions of redistribution from within their own party, can only remain mute."

President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka should repay the cost of her controversial holiday to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Grahamstown-based corruption watchdog the Public Services Accountability Monitor (PSAM). Mlambo-Ngcuka is in breach of the Executive Members' Ethics Act and should be held responsible for the amount - ranging from R400000 to R700000 - used for her private holiday, said PSAM director Colm Allen. "You have to ask: if she was not in her position of deputy president, would she have been able to make use of such transport facilities for a holiday for herself and her family and friends?" said Allen.

SANGONeT is a national NGO providing various information communication technology (ICT) services to civil society organisations. This position presents a vital opportunity for an individual passionate about shaping the role and application of ICTs for development through policy advocacy and sensitization. The incumbent will be responsible for informing the strategic ICT policy focus and activities of the organisation; networking and liaising with key government, private sector and civil society stakeholders; and developing, planning and hosting ICT forums in various Southern African countries.