The National House of Traditional Leaders wants to remove a clause from the Constitution which protects people from being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. City Press reported on Sunday that the organisation was responding to an annual invitation by Parliament's constitutional review committee to submit suggestions for Constitutional amendments.

This hour-long video on the Ndifuna Ukwazi blog contains an interview with Doron Issacs from Equal Education. The video looks at the origins of the organisation. 'The Equal Education approach was to set up youth meetings to get young people to determine what issues were important and what hindered their performance at schools. These evolved into campaigns and activities geared to educating communities and parents on the education system, how to understand their rights and how to work with the education authorities to fix the problems that emerge.'

South Africa's economic management is as risky as unsafe sex.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will continue its fight against the e-tolling project until the tolls have 'finally been scrapped', the union federation said. Spokesperson Patrick Craven said in the federation's Workers' Day statement that the postponement of the R20-billion e-toll project was 'a direct product of the workers' power and sacrifices'.

The traditional farming methods of smallholder farmers – which, researchers say, also help to fight soil depletion, reduce irrigation needs and adapt to climate change – may soon disappear. They are being wiped out by governments focused on promoting commercial monocultures that they hope will bring fast, high yields in order to boost national agricultural sales on global markets.

Two of the world's biggest mining companies endured a barrage of protests as a broad coalition of unions, individuals, social and environmental groups from as far afield as South Africa and Mongolia travelled to London for Rio Tinto and Anglo American's annual meetings. At Anglo American's AGM, the miner came under fire amid allegations its South African subsidiary is responsible for cases of silicosis and tuberculosis in the country contracted between the 1960s and 1990s. About 1,200 former gold miners suffering the lung diseases are bringing a case against it in the High Court in London next month.

A group of civil society organisations has stated that it must be recognised that the Protection of State Information Bill would undermine whatever gains have been made by South Africa. 'The Bill’s extraordinarily harsh and broadly drafted penalties – which prohibit accessing, sharing, or publishing any information classified within its expansive provisions – would create a society of secrets in which vital democratic spaces are closed off, and those who expose injustices may be targeted. The absence of any kind of adequate protection for whistleblowers is as much a concern today as it was when the Bill was introduced to Parliament.'

Sonke Gender Justice has launched a new publication, 'Mapping the Legal Framework to Prevent Sexual Violence & HIV in South Africa’s Correctional Facilities.' Sexual violence and HIV and AIDS are key areas of concern for Sonke, as inmates experience both at heightened proportions. HIV and sexual violence are inherently linked, particularly in South Africa’s prisons where external estimates for HIV range between 40-60 per cent.

The white right-wing group Kommandokorps has emerged again in mainstream media after an in-depth article in the Mail & Guardian and a short documentary video in cyberspace. Wessel van den Berg and Mbuyiselo Botha argue that the video shows the way in which violence is equated with manhood, demonstrating that certain forms of masculinity are valued above others. 'These processes are often overlooked, but they are the root cause of the high levels of violence in South Africa.'

Thousands of residents in Diepsloot, a large township north of Johannesburg, South Africa, are queuing for hours to access clean, safe water a week after their supply was contaminated by sewage. The contamination occurred when a contractor working on a nearby sewer line broke the water pipe that supplies Diepsloot. Though the damage was repaired, it is believed that E. coli in sewage contaminated the water supply.

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has upheld the expulsion of Julius Malema as the party’s youth league leader, a statement has said. The ANC's statement said: 'In respect of the present disciplinary hearing, the [ANC National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal] NDCA confirms the sanction imposed by the NDC that the appellant be expelled from the ANC.' Malema, 31, was suspended in November after being found guilty of three of the charges against him - including bringing the party into disrepute by calling for regime change in Botswana.

The trial of seven Free State policemen accused of murdering and assaulting protester Andries Tatane continued last week. Tatane was killed in Ficksburg during a service delivery protest, allegedly by public order police, on 13 April last year.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has apologised for referring to Eastern Cape pupils who flocked to the Western Cape for better education as 'refugees', it was reported. 'I am] very sorry because it was never meant in that context at all and it was never said in that way at all,' she was quoted as saying in the Cape Times.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will encourage its two million members to take part in a national protest against the e-tolling system, it said. '[Cosatu] is mobilising its two million members for the mother of all protests against the act of highway robbery set to be committed from 30 April 2012 - the Gauteng e-tolls,' spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement. Cosatu is planning several rallies, marches, demonstrations and night vigils at the offices of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the transport department across the country from 23 April.

The Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and 100 representatives of the rural masses met for two days to discuss the impending Traditional Courts Bill. The conference unanimously expressed deep reservations about the bill in its current form. 'The bill will have serious consequences for rural women and the rural population in general in terms of equal access to justice and it erodes the traditional justice system as it were by imposing the senior traditional leaders as the sole adjudicator.'

Activists have sent another letter to Cepheid, the manufacturer of the revolutionary GeneXpert multi-drug resistant TB diagnostic machine, urging them to bring down the price of their products so that more people can access this lifesaving test.

On Monday, 23 April 2012, Eddie Webster will be presenting the next instalment of the monthly Ndifuna Ukwazi seminar series. This public talk examines the rise of the workers’ movement and the politics of the ANC (1973–1994). Prof Webster will discuss the historical origins of the links between the ruling party - then a liberation movement struggling through the worst years of Apartheid - and the workers’ movements, which were rapidly developing and newly energised during this period. This question has continued relevance for current politics, given the political affiliation between the ANC, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party (SACP). It is especially relevant in the year the ANC celebrates its 100 year anniversary, amidst ongoing debates about the state of our new democracy and the future of the party. For those who cannot attend, the event will be live-streamed:

Protection to victims of domestic violence has been extended significantly by the granting of a protection order to a learner at a school in Gauteng against her teacher. Last week, a magistrate granted a final protection order to the learner who alleged that her teacher harassed, intimidated and physically and sexually abused her. The learner reported an alleged rape to the police late last year. The Gauteng Department of Education has placed the teacher on precautionary suspension. Since then, the teacher has attempted through harassment and intimidation to force the learner and her family not to pursue the case against him.

An ecological disaster of massive proportions is imminent in the Vaal River system because of the decision years ago not to implement the mining industry's proposal for the treatment of acid mine drainage. Government's own emergency plan to treat the acid water has resulted in the equivalent of 140 tonnes of salts being discharged into these rivers each day because of the decision to dump neutralised but sulphate-rich water into the rivers of the Western Basin.

While many Capetownians were running through leafy suburbs from one ocean to another and while others drank and/or sang themselves to stupor in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a unique group of about fifty people staged their second annual Welcome to Hell 'Crucession' from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha. Drenched by the pouring rain despite wearing black garbage bags, we walked, sang and danced a full 16.3 kilometres without even a peep of attention from the local newspapers. I participated in the march, which was organised by the controversial Way of Life Church based in Mandela Park in Khayelitsha because of its message that reminds all of us that 18 years since the fall of the National Party, the ghettoised townships where the poor majority are forced to live, remain a living hell.