The South African State IT Agency (Sita), which provides IT services to government, will itself migrate to open source software over the coming year. This is according to the organisation’s 2007/2008 annual report (PDF) which has been tabled in Parliament.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has sharply criticised the forced closure of South African migrant camps over the last two days. "There is no solution for these people, they have nowhere to go," an MSF spokesman told the BBC. The camps, holding 1,200 foreigners driven from their homes by May's xenophobic violence, are being shut around the city of Johannesburg.

The South African government has withdrawn from parliament a bill that would have empowered it to expropriate land and other property and to unilaterally determine the compensation to be paid to owners.

In a potent critique of the post-apartheid state and its role in the wave of xenophobic discrimination to have gripped the South African nation, Dale T. McKinley explores the roots of the country’s ‘macro-nationalist paradigm’ and its consequences in the shape of the contemporary pogroms of African foreigners. Highlighting the ‘changing of the nationalist guard’ aspect to the ANC’s 1994 election victory, the author argues that the state’s dominant discourse of ‘nation-building’ has its natural corollary in the idea and practice of xenophobia directed at non-South African nationals.

After years of calling on the owners of South Africa's oil refineries in Durban to upgrade their facilities to reduce pollution, local residents of the eastern port city have decided to take their case to the courts to secure a legal remedy.

The World Health Organisation on Monday warned customers not to buy drugs made by Swiss pharma giant Novartis's Sandoz generics unit in South Africa after an inspection revealed more than 40 faults. AFP reported that the WHO said it had sent an official "Notice of Concern" letter to Sandoz on September 12 after an inspection of the unit's Kempton Park factory in South Africa.

South Africa's powerful COSATU trade union, which wants the government to tilt away from pro-business policies, called on new President Kgalema Motlanthe on Friday to eradicate poverty and create jobs. Motlanthe pledged after being sworn in on Thursday to keep to the policies of predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who presided over South Africa's longest period of economic growth before the ruling African National Congress forced him to resign.

Zulu artists working at the Ardmore Ceramic Studio in South Africa’s coastal province of KwaZulu Natal have gone from poverty to international acclaim. Some of them have exhibited internationally and the work created by Ardmore artists can be seen in galleries, shops and embassies across the globe. Thousands of pieces are exported either through people who visit the studio and place orders or order through the internet.

President-elect Kgalema Motlanthe took the Oath of Presidency on Thursday afternoon, swearing faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution. Mr Motlanthe, who was elected by a majority vote of MPs in the National Assembly earlier in the day, was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Pius Langa at Tuynhuys, adjacent to Parliament.

South African Aids campaigners have serenaded the new health minister and rejoiced at the departure of her controversial predecessor. A group of activists sang outside the Cape Town flat of Barbara Hogan and drank champagne.

Gugulethu — About 50 residents from Thambo Square informal settlement have been displaced from their homes to a local community hall as a result of flooding in their shacks (Cape Town’s heavy rain this winter has left a lot of people homeless in the City.

An interim order by South Africa's Constitutional Court could keep temporary shelters open for the foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence earlier this year - or it could leave more than 4,000 camp residents out on the street. Civil society has called for the camps to remain open until government publishes a detailed reintegration plan, and is hoping an interim court order will delay closure, set for the beginning of October by Gauteng provincial government.

The South African Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival ended last Sunday in Johannesburg with the Cape Town festival running until 21 September. The festival attracted at least about 300 members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community of different ages, races and class on the opening night.

Taking antiretroviral drugs at the same time as TB treatment halved the death rate when compared with delaying HIV treatment until after TB treatment was completed, a major South African study has found. Trial investigators announced on September 17th that they have terminated an arm of the study in which patients waited until they had completed TB treatment before starting antiretroviral therapy, because patients in this arm had a significantly higher risk of death.

Siyanda shack-dwellers, facing eviction from the MR577 Freeway site, are staging ongoing marches to halt building and allocations at the Kulula Housing Project. The contractors have just been stopped from proceeding with the patently unfair allocation of housing that has been undertaken without any form of meaningful consultation. There is a heavy police presence again today and the situation is tense

More than 63 residents were arrested Monday morning for public violence and were to appear on Tuesday at the Vereeniging Magistrate court (they have since all been released without charge). A strong crowd of more than 2000 residents organised by the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee took to the streets in the early hours of Monday morning, 15 September 2008, to blockade traffic on the Golden Highway. Police opened fire with rubber bullets injuring demonstrators and arresting residents randomly.

Cape Town residents are using micro-blogging and instant messaging technology to fight drug addiction among township youth. Speaking during a Digital Citizen’s workshop, Marlon Parker, a lecturer at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, said parents can now smile knowing that their children are now protected from drugs.

The agony for Eudy Simelane’s family and friends continues due to the failure of the South African justice system. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists, social movements and Kwa-Thema residents held a public protest on September 10 aimed at raising their concerns over the delays in the Eudy Simelane court case.

In June this year, the United Nations (UN) extended, Special Representative on Human Rights and Business, John Ruggie’s mandate to continue finding solutions to bridge the gap between business and human rights. Ruggie’s work is largely aimed at addressing the perils of globalisation given the increasing mobility of big companies marching across the planet in search of the best labour deals in the most pliable working environments

A South African court has ruled that a corruption case against ruling party leader Jacob Zuma cannot go ahead. He was facing charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering relating to a multi-billion dollar 1999 arms deal. A judge in Pietermaritzburg said there was reason to believe the decision to charge him was politically motivated.