The Program Officer will be responsible for the conceptualization and management of the Foundation's program activities in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. S/he will be expected to support efforts to address higher education's role in a rapidly changing environment. Programming will focus on helping higher education institutions broaden their missions, in particular in building the capacity of higher education institutions to be relevant and responsive to the social and economic needs in Southern Africa.

Since June 2003, 220 equality courts have been established to eliminate the racism that took root in South Africa during the colonial and apartheid eras - as well as other forms of discrimination that can flourish in a culturally diverse society. "Equal opportunity alone is not enough to address the apartheid-inflicted legacy," said Johnny de Lange, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

President Thabo Mbeki set the seal on a decisive broad policy shift to the left for his final term in office as he lashed out at what he called the "new conservatism" sweeping the world, which enshrined the individual and denigrated the state in a way which could never bring a better life for SA's millions. The president's comments, which might prove to be a watershed in South African politics, came as he introduced his budget vote in the National Assembly.

"The Anti-Privatisation Forum alongside its partners in the Coalition Against Water Privatisation condemn the 9% increase in Johannesburg’s water tariffs that will come into effect on 1st July as part of the Johannesburg Council’s 2004-2005 budget. Since 2001, when the management and operations of Johannesburg Water were privatised to the French water multi-national company – Suez – water tariffs have cumulatively risen by over 40%. This precipitous rise in the price of water is the direct result of the ‘cost- recovery’ approach that is part of the profit-seeking activities of Johannesburg Water. As a result, tens of thousands of poor people have had their water cut-off and are now being forced to accept the self-disconnection technology of pre-paid water meters."

South Africa is the regional centre of an intricate trafficking network that recruits women and children from Mozambique, Angola, Malawi, Thailand, China, Eastern Europe and even as far afield as the East Asian city of Macau, according to the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Trafficking in the region is conducted by four broad groups - organised crime, businesswomen, sex tourists and refugees, said IOM's Jonathan Martens in his presentation to a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Contact Trust is committed to increasing the level of civil society involvement in the activities of the South African government and parliament. Through the Internship programme Contact provides communities and Non Governmental Organisations from around the country with the information and support they need to become involved in policy and legislation development.

More than 500 residents of Phiri, Soweto took to the streets of Johannesburg City Centre on Saturday morning in protest against installation of pre-paid water meters in their community.

Rising racist abuse among players in club cricket has forced Western Province (WP) cricket chiefs to set out an organised "conciliation" strategy - including a flying squad of mediators for match days. The WP Cricket Association (WPCA) revealed that half the incidents dealt with by its disciplinary committee related to racial or religious harassment and abuse. It blamed much of this on clubs which were still mostly racially divided because of the legacy of apartheid's Group Areas Act.

The Shuttleworth Foundation supports Maths, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship initiatives and invites proposals from innovative educational pilot projects. The project focus areas are:
Maths, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship in General Education and Training (GET) phase; and
Numeracy in the Foundation Phase.
The project should demonstrate cost-effective management of resources and innovative teaching and learning methodologies on the specified subject matter.

For more information contact the Shuttleworth Foundation at tel: 021 970-1200 .

About 90 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province have teamed up to work with the government in rolling out antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, in the first structured civil society response of its kind in South Africa, and possibly even on the continent. When the government announced a national rollout plan for free ARVs in September 2003, Cati Vawda, director of the Durban-based Children's Rights Centre, and a number of her NGO colleagues, quickly realised that "government alone cannot do it".

A new study commissioned by the South African Cities Network (SACN) urges local municipalities to develop a multi-sectoral strategy to tackle the effects of HIV/AIDS on their communities. The report, titled 'South African Cities and HIV/AIDS: Challenges and Responses', noted that while there had been a number of initiatives to support local government in developing an HIV/AIDS response, there was little attempt to assess the challenges facing the cities.

Action Aid International is a non profit organisation working on behalf of poor and marginalised people, in fighting poverty around the world, as well as speaking out against the injustice and inequity which cause poverty. With the establishment of the international secretariat in South Africa, we, together with our affiliate organisations around the world, will be able to work more effectively together at all levels - local, national, regional, global - but we need your help to do it. Action Aid International is looking for a dynamic, energetic, analytical and highly-organised newly qualified graduate to assist the Chief Executive Officer in providing rigorous and creative policy research that will inform the varied and demanding international work of the CEO.

The Mataffin Farm in Nelspruit, South Africa is testament to the country's thriving - and transforming - agricultural sector. Tidy rows of robust avocado trees splay across soft, rolling hills. Two schools and a spacious soccer pitch are enjoyed by the farm workers' children. Mataffin's white managers and its new black owners are working hand in hand to ensure that this coveted land continues to produce abundant harvests as it has for more than 100 years. The South African Land Claims Commissioner, Tozi Gwanya, holds Mataffin up as proof that land reform can be triumphant in the country.

Applications are invited from South Africans who in the past were educationally disadvantaged by law and resource allocation. The Fellowship offers an opportunity for study of one academic year at Harvard University and includes payment of all tuition, a subsistence allowance, and a return air ticket.

The Distributing Agency for Charities, established in terms of the Lotteries Act (No. 57 of 1997), is once again in the position to consider applications for funding from the proceeds of the National Lottery. In adjudicating applications received by the advertised deadline, the Distributing Agency will focus on the following areas:
* Capacity-building and development of under-developed organisations, communities and groups.
* Literacy and numeracy programmes (ABET).
* Organisations supporting or assisting school-going children from underprivileged communities.
* Community and residential programmes for children; the youth; women; families; the disabled; the chronically/ terminally ill; drug and crime prevention and rehabilitation programmes; and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes.
* Rural and informal settlement projects aimed at meeting the basic needs of the community.

Preference will be given to applications for areas that are under-resourced and under-served. Applications will be considered from registered non-profit organisations that have 2 consecutive years’ signed audited financial statements. However, those who are not registered or do not have 2 years’ audited financial statements should seek assistance from, and enter into partnership with, a registered organisation.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has sent a written submission to the Department of Justice in response to its draft discussion document for a proposed hate speech bill. The objectives of this proposed law are to, among others, criminalise hate speech and also to give effect to the Constitution as well as South Africa's commitments to international law, including its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

"In South Africa land is presently not only one of the most defining political and development issues, but also perhaps the most intractable. The continuing racial maldistribution of land will either be resolved through a fundamental restructuring of the government’s land reform programme, or it will be resolved by a fundamental restructuring of property relations by the people themselves. Which direction the country follows depends to a large degree on the urgent and immediate responsiveness of the government to the needs and demands of the country’s 19-million mostly poor, black and landless rural people." This is according to the introduction of a paper published on the website of the National Land Committee.

The Global Fund to FightAids, TB and Malaria has expressed its dissatisfaction over the South African government’s delay in disbursing funds allocated to various HIV/Aids prevention projects. The R1 bn funds allocated to South Africa last year could be withdrawn. The Global Fund is also exploring the possibility of dealing with the HIV/Aids NPOs directly. Love Life, one of the NPOs benefitting from the Global Fund, also expressed their frustration over the delay in the disbursement of funds by the government.

The Star reports that the national Health Department denies any delay on the part of the South African government in disbursing Aids funds to recipients. This is a response to the statement made by the Global Fund to FightAids, Malaria and TB, on channeling Aids funds directly to the beneficiaries in South Africa and complaints by recipients of delays in receiving their funds.

The Shuttleworth Foundation supports Maths, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship initiatives and invites proposals from innovative educational pilot projects.

The project focus areas are:
Maths, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship in General Education and Training (GET) phase; and
Numeracy in the Foundation Phase.

The project should demonstrate cost-effective management of resources and innovative teaching and learning methodologies on the specified subject matter.

For more information contact the Shuttleworth Foundation at tel: 021 970-1200