The International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) is seeking a dynamic and energetic full time Project Coordinator to work on this intensive, month-long, international, interdisciplinary course in human rights that is offered each June-July. The IHRE consists of a consortium of 14 partner universities and colleges in Southern Africa and the United States. The Project Coordinator is formally employed by the South African secretariat which is based at the University of Cape Town and is subject to its personnel and administrative policies.

Pre-paid water meters are becoming the latest way to deprive the poor from access to water. In more and more communities around the world - as 'cost recovery' or market based approaches to managing public utilities usurp human rights - people are finding they must pay up front, even at communal standpipes. But if you have no income you cannot pay and then you have no water. Please sign the protest letter that will be directed to South African parliamentarians to show your opposition to increasing corporate control and commodification of water, and show your support for clean and affordable water for all.

“You and the other companies are cited because you aided and abetted the Apartheid regime in its orgy of murder, torture, rape and kidnapping during the period indicated in our complaint, that is from the time of the Sharpeville shooting until the end of Apartheid rule. You are well aware that at that time you, jointly and severally with the others cited above, offered the Apartheid regime financial support, supplies of strategic goods, such as armaments, energy resources and motorised transport vehicles, and computer support.”

The Western Cape department of education is awaiting a report into allegations of racism at the Edgemead High School in Cape Town, the department said. A 16-year old black schoolgirl was allegedly physically abused and defacated on during the alleged incident under investigation.

A company connected to Mpumalanga minister for public works Steve Mabona got a multimillion-rand contract from his department - as did other companies associated with a Mabona relative. These contracts raise new and substantial conflict-of-interest questions about Mabona, whom the Mail & Guardian last week showed to have received R1-million from another contractor to his department.

The Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising - Education and Training (SAIF:E&T) now offers a train-the-trainer programme that will create a core of trainers dedicated to the delivery of quality education and accreditation in resource mobilisation and funding capacity development. The approach and methodology will be practical and relevant to the target audiences of small, medium and large non-profit organisations. The next course will take place on 24-28 November 2003.

Roger Southall, the executive director of the democracy and governance research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), says accessing donor funds by various government departments is not always without complications. Southhall was responding to allegations in a report tabled in parliament by the Auditor-General yesterday, that spending agencies were slow in processing requests for money. As a result, huge amounts of donated money went unspent.

Thusanang and the Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa (CAFSA) recently concluded research on online fundraising in South Africa. Some of the findings have been distilled into a short report entitled "The pulse of online fundraising in South Africa - lessons and challenges". Some non-profit organisations (NPOs) are raising significant funds via the Internet. But it is generally hard work, with marketing, security regarding online transactions and administration being some of the challenges. And it doesn't work for all types of organisations. The full report is available at: http://www.thusanang.org.za/pdf/The_Pulse_of_Online_Fundraising_in_SA.p…

The Presidential Commercial Agriculture Working Group is to set up a task team made up of stakeholders in the agricultural sector, to devise a plan for the implementation of the integrated agricultural strategy and land reform.

Technology is needed to generate revenue for existing industries and new businesses in order to achieve growth and development, says South African Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Buyelwa Sonjica.

Trials of an experimental HIV vaccine will begin on 24 human volunteers in South Africa, where 4.7 million people, or 11 percent of the population, are HIV-positive, Associated Press reported this week. The treatment, which is also being tested in the United States, is one of about two dozen potential vaccines being tested on about 12,000 human volunteers worldwide.

Preferably with a background in journalism, media studies or social marketing, CIVICUS requires a communications associate that will work as part of a team with the Communications Team, under the direct supervision of the Media and Publications Manager. The Communications Associate should be highly proficient in English, a team-player, familiar with MS Office applications and desktop publishing software, computer-assisted research and reporting skills, able to work in a multi-cultural environment, and will assist in producing regular CIVICUS information materials such as newsletters, reports, and media releases.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday that it noted the weekend joint rally of its governing partner the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) - and said it would discuss it on a bilateral basis.

The South African NGO Coalition Biannual NGO Week, held from 27- 29th October 2003, has successfully concluded its deliberations, according to Sangoco. Read more by clicking on the URL provided.

The Limpopo Department of Education and the Flemish Government are inviting tenders for the implementation of a project focusing on developing the capacity of Sekhukhune District structures to provide curriculum and management support to schools in their district.

A bombardment of litigation against community activists is scheduled for this week beginning 3 November. In what is being dubbed 'Hammer Week' by the legal team representing the accused, 16 residents of Soweto will be placed on trial in separate cases for fighting for the basic provision of water services. Each of the seven cases refers to the uprising in Phiri, Soweto, in early September this year against Johannesburg Water's installation of prepaid water meters.

A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness, has been dubbed by some as Interviews with a Vampire. In fact it is a nuanced and clinical scrutiny of how and why an apparently ordinary man became murderer-in-chief for the brutal apartheid regime. It dwells on his atrocities - the torture, the ambushes, the executions, the exultation in inflicting suffering - and yet concludes that Eugene de Kock, otherwise known as Prime Evil and sentenced to 212 years for crimes against humanity, deserves to be forgiven.

Last week African National Congress provincial structures wrapped up their selection of candidates for next year's general elections. The names of the candidates they chose will be sent to a meeting of the organisation's national list committee - scheduled for November 21 and 22 - where they will be vetted to make sure that they meet the ANC's criteria for holding public office. The committee will also have to make sure that every third candidate is a woman.

Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change: large climate impacts are predicted, but in Africa there is a lower capacity to adapt than in more developed regions, climatologists, biologists and policy-makers heard at a Global Change Symposium at Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town last Monday.

National Development Agency CEO Delani Mthembu has been suspended from his position pending an investigation into allegations of mismanagement and corruption, Social Development Minister Dr Zola Skweyiya announced on Monday.