At least ten thousand people are expected to march on KwaZulu-Natal Premier S'bu Ndebele tomorrow morning. A memorandum will be handed to the Premier warning him to immediately retract his plans to evict 10 000 families from eMacambini and to cease his collaboration with new forms of colonialism. The march has been organised by the eMacambini Anti-Removal Committee which has been formed by the eMacambini Development Committee which has been democratically elected by the community. The eMacambini Anti-Removal Committee is rejecting all forms of party politics.

NGOs have urged the government to “put its money where its mouth is” in the fight against gender violence at the start of the 2008 Sixteen Days of Activism campaign. In a stock taking exercise held at Constitution Hill ahead of 25 November - International Day of No Violence Against Women – government representatives listed several initiatives that are being taken to curb the scourge of violence against women and children that remain among the highest in the world.

The Johannesburg High Court ruling on 30th April 2008 declaring prepaid water meters to be illegal and unconstitutional was welcomed by many organisations including the Gauteng Province of the ANC, even though they are champions of the installation of those meters. It is thus entirely predictable that the Independent Democrats has been reported in the media several times over the last few weeks as calling on the Johannesburg City Council to listen to the voices of the people and stop the installation of prepaid water meters.

“The 16 days of activism campaign responds to issues troubling all South African women regardless of their sexual orientation.” So said Zanele Muholi, a lesbian women’s rights activist who believes that the 16 days should be a period of solidarity among women to uphold the rights of all citizens and restore the dignity of the most vulnerable members of society.

Testing infants at risk of HIV as soon as possible, and treating those infected with the virus immediately, dramatically enhances their chances of survival and reduces the likelihood of devastating disease progression in their early life.

A white South African teenager who killed four blacks, including a three-month-old baby, in a racially-motivated shooting spree was sentenced on Friday to 169 years in prison, the SABC reported. A court in North West province imposed the sentence on Johan Nell, 19, after he pled guilty to murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in connection with the January 14 shootings in a shantytown near Swartruggens, the broadcaster said.

SOUTH Africa's cabinet says it will withhold $28m of agricultural aid to neighbouring Zimbabwe until a representative government is in place. South Africa's cabinet said the impasse was creating a humanitarian crisis. The current outbreak of cholera was a clear indication that Zimbabweans were becoming "victims of their leaders' lack of political will", it said.

The battle continues. Gugulethu residents are continuing to oppose the R350-million Guguletu Square Mall. We are in solidarity with all other South African’s who are being sidelined to make way for elitist projects such as the proposed AmaZulu World in Durban.

IOM and USAID has released a new six-month study, entitled “No Experience Necessary: The Internal Trafficking of Persons in South Africa.” This qualitative study is the first survey research on the trafficking in children, women and men for labour and sexual exploitation within South Africa.

The latest rescue plan for Africa is another Green Revolution. GRAIN, alongside a host of others, has written and commented extensively on the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) and the impacts it will have on the continent. In the meantime, this model of a Green Revolution has already been implemented for the past five years in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It provides us with a case study and an indication of the likely outcome of such an approach in other parts of Africa.

In late 2006 South Africa imposed quotas on the importation of selected clothing lines from China. In the past 18 months tralac has been monitoring on a periodic basis, the changes in the selected quota imports and making preliminary assessments as to whether they may be indicating that they are meeting their specific goal of slowing the trade flows of clothing imports from China.

In an era where global food prices have rapidly risen the objective of this report is to examine the link between food inflation in South Africa and agricultural food imports into China. Our hypothesis is that these burgeoning Chinese imports are at least one of the factors behind rising global food prices, and this is having a direct impact upon South African import prices and, consequently, domestic food prices.

The current question on most peoples lips within South Africa's clothing industry is will the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) extend the quotas on Chinese apparel and textiles that are due to end this year? However, I feel extension or no extension will make very little difference to the economics of this industry sector. Admittedly, if the quotas do end we may see a sudden influx of imports from China as they offer price incentives to our clothing importers in order to recapture market share.

China’s $586 billion package will be spent on affordable housing, rural infrastructure, railways, water provision, environmental protection and its power grid, things that will boost domestic consumption. To do this it will have to import resources found in Africa, which could be of some comfort to our ailing resources sector.

South Africa's 2009 elections are engaging voters as the country's political landscape is changing and the ruling ANC for the first time may experience a serious challenge. Over 21.6 million South Africans have already registered to vote next year.During the weekend, 19,000 voter registration stations first opened their doors throughout the country to allow for new voters to enrol.

In a bid to tackle the problem of electronic-waste (e-waste) in South Africa, the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) hosted a one-day conference on 7 November 2008 in Johannesburg. The conference was aimed at providing a platform to discuss the successes and lessons learnt while implementing electronic waste (e-waste) management systems. It also served as an opportunity for the project team to report on progress made thus far.

A breakaway faction of South Africa's governing African National Congress has vowed to win next year's general election. Senior politicians in the faction are moving to launch a new party to challenge the ANC, which has dominated South Africa's political landscape since the first post-apartheid elections in 1994.

Despite overcrowding and teacher shortages, South African students at the Katlehong Technical High School are determined to do well in their end-of-year examinations. But last year, final year students at the school managed only a disappointing 16% pass rate, making Katlehong Technical High the worst-performing school in the country's financial heartland province of Gauteng.

With the failure of the South African National AIDS Committee (SANAC)’s 1.1-billion Rand (round 8) application to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) and the ongoing political uncertainty with a “caretaker” government until the 2009 elections, South African delegates attending the World Lung Health conference in Paris last week expressed fears that many long awaited activities to scale-up TB and TB/HIV services will be placed on hold for some time to come.

A South African government spokesman on Thursday said the country will take a hard line stance during a SADC summit set for Sunday in Johannesburg, to ensure that agreement is reached on Zimbabwe’s cabinet deadlock. Themba Maseko told reporters the impasse ‘is becoming a matter of extreme concern to us and we will be taking quite a hard stance.’ The tough talk is in stark contrast to mediator Thabo Mbeki’s softly soft approach.