Engender is a registered NGO focused on strategic interventions in the intersecting areas of Genders & Sexualities, Human Rights, Justice & Peace. We are currently seeking to fill the contract position of Coordinator of an exciting project focused on Intersexuality. Please send CV with detailed covering letter, highlighting competencies in the required areas above, by Wednesday 19 November.

The South African government should aim for free universal education, backed up by teacher training so as to make a significant impact on the quality of schooling, said the country's largest public service union. Jon Lewis, spokesman for the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) said the plan by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to extend free education to 60 percent of schools in 2009 should be applauded, but it was not without glitches.

Text messages will be sent to mobile phones in South Africa to encourage people to be tested and treated for HIV/AIDS. Project Masiluleke will send one million texts a day to South Africans after it is launched on 1 December. The messages are written in English and local languages such as Zulu, and will include prompts to call helplines. Many of the messages were composed with the assistance of local communities.

Join Gauteng landless communities (Freedom Park, Protea Glen Bond Houses, Protea South Informal Settlement, Precast-Lenasia Extension 11, Chiawelo, Tembalihle Crisis Committee, Eldorado Park, Harry Gwala Informal Settlement)in a peaceful March demanding free basic services, the removal of the useless ward councillors and a halt to mass evictions.

South African women’s rights activists, feminists and students are stepping up pressure on their government and parliamentarians to speak out about the increasing repression in Zimbabwe. Women’s groups in Johannesburg and Cape Town coordinated solidarity actions in support of detained WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu.

The SA Food Cost Review 2007 showed that between 1991 to 2007, food production growth only grew by 10%, while the population increased by 32%, and that increase excludes estimates of between one and 10 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the country. The report, which was compiled by The National Agricultural Marketing Council and the Department of Agriculture, said: “Population growth has outstripped agricultural production, in particular field crop production, by far.

Early in its new democracy, South Africa successfully rose to the challenge of ensuring political justice. It developed a progressive and ground-breaking constitution enshrining rights for all of its citizens. Much attention, debate and litigation has taken place around civil and political rights, and these have been further interpreted and secured.

Prominent South African academic and writer Es'kia Mphahlele has died at the age of 88. He was best known for his autobiography Down Second Avenue, telling of his life as a herdsman, teacher and journalist for the celebrated magazine Drum. It ended with his exile from apartheid South Africa in 1957. He returned 20 years later and became the University of Witwatersrand's first black professor and founded the school's African Literature Department.

The Visiting Fellows Programme has been established to further the ARSRC’s commitment to increase Africa-focused research and publications on sexuality, issues, as well as, build links between scholars and practitioners working in this area in Africa. ARSRC is offering one (1) residential fellowship to a suitable candidate from the southern Africa countries. The fellowships of 1 to 4 months long will be based at the ARSRC’s office in Lagos, Nigeria.

The course is aimed at those who want to learn how to use a project management tool such as Open Workbench (which is the same type of program such as MS Project) to create project plans on the computer. Delegates will be provided with the Open Workbench program on CD. Visit for more information about the program.

In response to: : On the eve of the emergence of South Africa as an independent country, Mr. Mandela was summoned to the US embassy where he met with a representaive of the US Chamber of Commerce who instructed him that the US was opposed to the nationalization policy of the ANC. Indeed, the ANC abandoned the principles for which so many paid with their lives.

The ANC government adopted the IMF and World Bank favoured neoliberal economic principles which advocate for privatization, austerity and deregulation of the so-called "free market". These policies have, indeed widened the gap between the rich and poor in the country.

The process of "manufacturing" millionaires was expedited in order to dangle phony possibilities and opportunities to a people emerging from a brutal system that had dehumanized them and systemically ensured that only white people were entitled to citizenship and all the rights that accrue thereof.

The "cadre deployment" system allowed the ANC to appoint only its members to plump positions in the public and private sectors of the economy. This has resulted in the creation of oligarchs who, a decade ago were "revolutionaries" purporting to fight for the "masses". Go figure!

The author neglects this critical and significant development which has resulted in the paralysis of initiative in favor of mediocrity and incompetence. The so-called masses have no jobs, no means of survival while the ANC leadrship swims in milk and honey. Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa have joined the ranks of the filthy rich in a country that can't afford to feed all its people or adequately take care of its guests and neighbours. I am referring to the xenophobic insanity that targeted fellow African brothers and sisters while the richest immigrants, who come from the west were sipping champagne in the rich white suburbs.

The deposition of Mbeki and the formation of the new party by followers of Terror Lekota, former minister of Defence, will not give rise to any palatable and meaningful change. The squabble among the factions within the ANC is in keeping with the Stalinist tendencies of the organization which have been widely documented. The prospect of senseless violence is looming in the horizon as the fight for the wealth that belongs to all South Africans threatens to engulf the entire country.

One of the major stumbling blocks towards progressive governance is the existence of two constitutions and two constituencies. The ANC abides by, and is loyal to its constitution. Everyone else clings to the hope that the constitution of the country is the supreme document that everyone has pledged allegiance to. Not so! Policies that have national implications are passed during ANC conventions and end up as laws arising from such a charade.

Mr Zuma is not supposed to be under consideration for any national office given his history of breaking the laws of the land. Let's remember that he was fired for corruption by Mbeki. Contrary to what Mr Gumede has stated, Mr Zuma was not exonerated by judge Nicholson. The issue before the judge was whether Mr. Zuma's rights were violated by not allowing him to make representations to the National Prosecuting Authority as required by the constitution in instances where an accused has been previously informed that he would not be prosecuted. Why the judge veered into the internicine strife within the ANC by implicating Mbeki in some conspiracy to have Zuma prosecuted is ludicrous and ridiculous.

South Africa is on an irreversible path to anarchy and self-destruction. The ANC has made sure that it does, so to speak!

A combination of political flux, higher food prices and the failure of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) - after 14 years of power - to achieve any meaningful redress of apartheid's most emotive legacy is forcing the land issue to the top of the national agenda, a few months ahead of South Africa's fourth democratic elections.

South Africa's ruling ANC party has had its hopes dashed that a corruption case against Jacob Zuma, its presidential hopeful, would be closed. A judge who dismissed charges against the African National Congress leader last month granted prosecutors leave to appeal the ruling on Wednesday.

Joomla! is a Content Management System and is for a start not complicated; Joomla makes it easy for non-technical people to create professional and dynamic websites. Why? Because it has been developed with the masses in mind. You do not need any programming knowledge such as HTML or PHP to use Joomla for web creation. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable. Using Joomla! is like using a word-processing program.

We (the shack dwellers of Khayelitsha) would like to bring our concerns into your attention and we note with great concerns that people who are living at informal settlements within the City of Cape Town are ignored and undermined by the City and we therefore call on the City of Cape Town:

Now in its fourth year, World Challenge 08 is a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. Heiveld Co-operative is a collective of small-scale farmers who produce fine quality organic and fair trade certified rooibos tea. Heiveld has been selected as one of 12 finalists in the 2008 BBC World Challenge competition. Please take a few minutes and vote for the Heiveld. Each person may vote once (and only once), and everyone's vote will help the Heiveld to achieve a better future.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa is launching a landmark programme to breathe new life into efforts to empower the poor and marginalised. The Masters in Social Justice is the first of its kind to be launched by a South African university and combines law, social justice and development. Run by the Institute of Development and Labour Law at the UCT Faculty of Law, it involves prominent South African legal and development experts, including Judge Dennis Davis, and is designed for both law and non-law graduates.

Zwakala Books hosts D-Urban (w)Rites –a showcase of published Durban poets on the 31st October 2008 at 4pm at Urban Zulu 321 Berea and Bullwer road. The writers who will present their works are Adam Knight, Bheki Mthembu, Bongekile Mbanjwa, Mphutlane wa Bofelo, and Khulekani Magubane. Adam Knight is a responsive anarchist involved in alternative architecture travels mostly on bicycle or on foot and lives a sort of sustainable living.

Computers are increasingly ubiquitous in the developing world as software and internet companies create operating systems, computing programmes, and web-based portals in hundreds of indigenous languages. Following the rapid growth of local-language technology in mobile phones and open-source programmes, many software and internet companies are scrambling to gain a foothold in these markets.

About 200 Somali businessmen in South Africa's Western Cape Province are being threatened with violence if they continue doing business in the townships. They recently returned to the areas after fleeing a wave of xenophobic attacks in May 2008. A group of local township businessmen, acting under the banner of the Zanokhanyo Retailers Association (ZRA), sent the Somalis letters in September, warning them to close their shops or face "actions that will include physically fighting".