cc Comments made by South Africa’s Department of Housing after a Durban High Court Judge dismissed an application by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA to declare the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007 unconstitutional have met with opposition from the church, academia and civil society organisations. In an article criticising Abahlali’s legal representatives for portraying the legislation as ‘inhumane and unconstitutional’ and ‘designed to allow the government to embark on irresponsible evictions of homeless people’, the department said that its policy was informed by consultation with slum dwellers and stakeholders including Slum Dwellers International (SDI). SDI countered that it does not support the Slums Act, which would make it legal to evict people living in informal settlements should the government choose to do so. Bishop Rubin added that independent experts have confirmed that there are serious reasons to be concerned by the legislation and that it was wrong and counterproductive to treat shackdwellers and the poor as stupid and criminal. ‘No one should fear that their fragile home will be bulldozed and that they will be banished to a transit camp far outside of the city where they work and their children attend school’, he said. A number of organisations have signed a statement in support of Abahlali baseMjondolo.

On the 2nd day of March 2009, we, the Delft-Symphony Pavement Dwellers, received a notice from the Sheriff of the Court to appear in the Cape High Court on the 20th of March 2009 at 10h00. After over a year living on the road, the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government are finally applying for our eviction. The Sheriff delivered the letter and various legal documents with the support of over 20 Metro Police, SAPS and Law Enforcement vehicles and there was a total of over 100 police present with bulletproof vests, guns and various other dangerous items.

Covering sex, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, drugs and the law, health, violent crime, self defence, abuse, sexual assault, keeping safe, education admission, rules and regulations, exclusion, reports and records, examinations, safety, student finance, studying and training, applying for work and finding a job, work and training contracts, rights at work, losing your job, banking, income tax, spending, among other things. The Youth Survival Guide is a must-have reference for matriculants and young adults.

Dance music pumps from large speakers while a half dozen shirtless young men serve drinks at a bar bathed in pink light. It is the last weekend of Gay Pride in Cape Town, South Africa, and men of all ages have come to a "fetish party" to launch a safe-sex campaign, "Play Nice", targeting men who have sex with men (MSM).

South Africa says it will take over any land allocated to black farmers which is not being used effectively under a land redistribution programme. The measure, which takes immediate effect, was announced by Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana, who warned farmers should "use it or lose it".

"Trade between South Africa and India is projected to reach $12 billion by 2012 and South Africa is seeking cooperation with the Indian private sector to achieve this target", said South African Deputy Minister, Trade and Industry. While highlighting that the bilateral trade between both countries had risen exponentially from a negligible $ 45 million in 1993 to $ 6 billion mark in 2007-08, Elizabeth Thabethe, at an exclusive interaction and conference on South Africa: Trade and Investment Opportunities, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa, Friday in Mumbai, remarked that various initiatives including establishment of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission had already been implemented.

The 105th Canton Fair, to be held between April and May 2009, has been formally introduced to South Africans in Johannesburg on Thursday by Zhang Zhigang, deputy director of the Committee for Economic Affairs of National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Zhang, also vice president of China Import and Export Fair and chairman of the Council of China Foreign Trade Center, told the meeting that China Import and Export Fair, also renowned as the Canton Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn.

The 3rd International IDIA Conference will be held in Africa in order to make it easier for interested parties of this continent to participate. The conference is aimed at researchers, policy-makers and reflective practitioners. It will be managed by the School of Information Technology, Monash South Africa (Johannesburg). Monash University is seeking to accelerate its engagement internationally, and this conference reflects this commitment.

For three days (Monday 23rd – Wednesday 25th February) the appeal against the historic High Court judgement on the rights of poor communities to equitable, adequate and affordable access to, and enjoyment of, water was heard in front of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein. On the first day of the hearing, the small court over-flowed with residents of affected communities in Gauteng and the Free State, under the banner of CAWP. Also present throughout the hearing were two of the original complainants in the case – Jennifer Makotsoane and Grace Munyai.

Last week, regulars at the HIV treatment clinic at Pelonomi hospital, in Bloemfontein, capital of South Africa's Free State Province, would have told you that the clinic has never been this quiet. Ever since the provincial government stopped initiating new patients on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the buzzing treatment literacy classes for people about to start taking ARVs had shrunk in size, while some existing patients stopped coming to check whether their drugs were in stock.

February 11 to 13 saw the first days into the trial of murdered lesbian soccer player, Eudy Simelane, at the Delmas Circuit Court. Four men, aged between 18 and 24 were to appear before Judge Moses Mavundla on the charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and rape. On February 10, a bus load of activists left Kwa-Thema (Gauteng) to 'camp' in Delmas (Mpumalanga) for the duration of the trial.

We are pleasedto announce the next intake for our Advanced Conflict Transformation course which will be taking place in South Africa starting from the 4th of May to the 29th. The training now has independent modules, each running for a period of one week. Participants can apply for whichever modules they are keen to attend.

South Africa is hoping that its participation in the forthcoming International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) in Bangalore, as well as recent investments in India by South African firm Sasol, will lead to doubling of bilateral trade to $12 billion by 2010. The 18th IETF, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, will be held Feb 23-26, and will see 500 exhibitors from 25 countries.

Xenophobic attacks in South Africa displaced 150,000 people and killed more than 60 in 2008. This year, as the country heads to the polls, researchers say local politicians may be capitalizing on the hate and fear that fuelled the attacks - this time to win votes. Immigrant lobby groups have put out a call for increased monitoring of political campaigns ahead of general elections in April.

Stepping Stones, a 50 hour programme, aims to improve sexual health by using participatory learning approaches to build knowledge, risk awareness, and communication skills and to stimulate critical reflection. This article in the British Medical Journal details the results of a randomized trial to measure the impact of the Stepping Stones programme on HIV and herpes simplex type 2 (HSV2) rates in rural South Africa. The trial also measured unwanted pregnancy, reported sexual practices, depression, and substance misuse.

President Kgalema Motlanthe on Thursday officially proclaimed 22 April as the date for the country's general election. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Presidency said President Motlanthe had signed the proclamation confirming 22 April as the date on which the national and provincial elections will take place.

On Sunday 8th February, Gugulethu SAPS burst into an Anti-Eviction Campaign mass meeting, tear-gassed and beat residents, and then arrested two AEC leaders, Mncedisi Twalo and Mbulelo Zuba. The background to the incident is that AEC members from Gugulethu, Nyanga, Langa and Mannenberg were holding their weekly meeting at the Gugulethu Sports Complex. The complex is a community centre and is the one place that is always open and accessible to community members.

China welcomes and appreciates South Africa's decision of termination on its countervailing investigations into China-made stainless steel sinks, said Yao Jian, spokesman of China's Ministry of Commerce. The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) announced that decision on Jan. 30, 2009.

cc. Underlining South African labour’s support for the people of Gaza in an 8 February address to a Cape Town rally, Zwelinzima Vavi of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) highlights the need for growing global solidarity in standing up to Israeli oppression. The COSATU general secretary salutes the efforts of groups both within South Africa and beyond in refusing to facilitate the movement of Israeli goods, and stresses the role of international isolation in bringing down another directly comparable example of brute political force in the shape of South Africa’s erstwhile apartheid regime.

For a number of years now, particularly in the period of globalisation, trade unions have been faced with major challenges which call for strategic responses. These challenges include building trade union internationalism in the period of mobile capital, assessing relations with left political parties as these have been dragged towards the political centre, tensions between collective bargaining and defensive struggles and strategic, revolutionary unionism and so on. This, the first of a new series of Annual Conferences, hosted by ILRIG and other partners, is an opportunities for activists and analysts - trade unionists as well as those involved in social movement campaigns - in South Africa to debate experiences of organising in South Africa, and elsewhere, whilst hearing of other forms of trade unionism in South Africa and elsewhere.