Water affairs officials are unable to tell MPs whether the health of South Africa's rivers is improving or worsening, but a rash of red spots across maps they presented suggested the latter. Briefing members of Parliament's water and environmental affairs portfolio committee, the department's acting chief director for water resources information management, Moloko Matlala, listed the main problems affecting the quality of the country's river water. These included fecal pollution, eutrophication (the inflow of nitrates and phosphates), high salinity, high toxicity (from, among other sources, agricultural pesticides) and acid mine drainage.

Africa will speak with one strong voice at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change to kick-start in Durban, South Africa in November this year, the SADC Senior Programme Officer for Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Alex Banda said. Mr Banda was speaking on the sidelines during the 5th SADC Multi Stakeholder Water Dialogue in Manzini on 28 June. 'SADC in April this year developed a common position during a meeting in South Africa on key issues we are going to be pushing for but within Africa as a continent,' Banda said.

This helpful guide for activists - developed by SECTION27, TAC, SERI and Read Hope Philips Attorneys - sets out the legal responsibilities of local government in South Africa and rights under the Constitution and in law. It shows how to engage government from inside, by participating in formal processes, and from outside by going public through complaints, petitions, protest action, the media and the courts.

At least 145,000 South African municipal workers will walk off the job on Monday in a strike aimed at shutting down services including rubbish collection, in the latest dispute to disrupt Africa's biggest economy. 'Our demand of an 18% increase across the board, or R2 000, whichever is greater, is very necessary to meet the economic hardships that municipal workers suffer,' the South African Municipal Workers' Union said in its strike pamphlet.

Insights MENA is an interactive tool providing critical data about the online behavior of urban consumers in five key MENA markets: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. Visit the website to find out more.

This article form Fesmedia Africa assesses the role of new media in social change in Africa. 'New media platforms are changing how people communicate with each other around the world. However, there is great variation in both the kind of communication platforms people make use of as well as in how they access these platforms. Computer ownership and internet access are still the prerogative of the wealthy few in wide swathes of the African continent. All the same, mobile internet access is on the rise and if current growth rates continue, African mobile phone penetration will reach 100 per cent by 2014.'

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has called for a 'wealth tax' to be imposed on all white South Africans. The former archbishop of Cape Town and former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) also called on members of President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet to sell their 'expensive cars', 'to show you care' about the poor in South Africa. Tutu said apartheid had left South Africans riddled with 'self-hate', and it was directly to blame for the country’s vicious crime rate and road carnage.

Atrocities committed in June in Sudan's Southern Kordofan state by armies of the north and south 'could amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes', according to a report by the UN human rights agency. The 12-page report covers the period from 5-30 June and describes a wide range of alleged violations of international law in the town of Kadugli. The violations are also said to have occurred in the surrounding Nuba mountains, after fighting broke out in Kadugli on 5 June between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army North (SPLA-N).

Join New Tactics and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation's Women Peacemakers Program (IFOR/WPP) for an online dialogue on the topic of 'Faith-based peacebuilding: The need for a gender perspective', from 19-25 October 2011. The role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding, the rise of religious fundamentalism, and the threat this poses for women's human rights are issues receiving increasing attention.

We call upon all students, student bodies, human rights groups and all concerned organisations and individuals to lobby for the urgent and unconditional release of Maxwell Dlamini (President of the Swaziland National Union of Students) and all political prisoners.

The price of maize in the Horn of Africa has doubled over the last year, the World Bank has said. In Kenya, it has increased by 89 per cent, according to the bank’s Food Price Watch report. This is the fourth highest increase in the price of maize in the world behind Uganda (122 per cent), Somalia (107 per cent) and Rwanda (104 per cent). Overall, the Food Price Watch says global food prices in July 2011 remain 33 per cent higher than a year ago.

General Solomon Mujuru, a former Zimbabwean military chief and guerrilla leader in the country's independence war, has died in a fire at one of his homes, Zimbabwe's army commander said. The cause of the fire was unclear, but police said Mujuru's body was 'burned beyond recognition'. His widow, Joice Mujuru, is the country's vice president. Her supporters are vying for supremacy within their party should Mugabe die or retire.

Ethiopian authorities have turned down a strong demand by Kenyan lawmakers to stop the construction of the controversial Gibe III hydro-electric power dam, terming it 'unthinkable'. The massive dam, that is expected to cost $1.7 billion, has come under sustained criticism from mainly western rights groups over what they say are the negative environmental and social impacts and the threat it is said to pose to the livelihoods of an estimated 500,000 people living in Kenya. Kenyan Members of Parliament last week demanded the Ethiopian government stop all construction until an independent environmental impact assessment was done, saying that communities living around Lake Turkana would be affected.

Eritrea and Rwanda are among Africa’s smallest and poorest states, states this Africa Research Institute briefing. 'Substantial military resources, and expertise, have enabled both countries to exert disproportionate influence over regional security. Aggression and authoritarianism have not prompted matching responses from donor nations. While President Paul Kagame’s leadership of Rwanda has been championed as “visionary”, President Isaias Afwerki is accused of transforming Eritrea into a rogue, pariah state.' The document argues that popular perceptions of these comparable, though seldom compared, countries have been simplistic – and polarised.

A chase for votes has kicked off for the much-anticipated 20 September Zambia elections. At least 10 presidential hopefuls are in the race after seven of their colleagues pulled out. Over 500 candidates are vying for the 150 seats in the National Assembly. Aspirants and their campaigners are crisscrossing the breadth and length of the country, hoping to get their lion’s share of votes.

Police from the Law and Order section on 11 August 2011 visited Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) offices in search of Zimbabwe Independent editor Constantine Chimakure and senior political reporter Wongai Zhangazha over a story the paper published in its edition of 8 July 2011. Detectives said that they wanted the two to assist in investigations of who ‘leaked’ the details of the story as it was based on cabinet deliberations, which is an offence under the Official Secrets Act.

Extreme weather conditions predicted because of climate change in Namibia are likely to have a tremendous effect on the 70 per cent of the country's people who live in rural areas and depend heavily on agriculture. According to experts in climate change, Namibia has no option but to adapt to the changing climate as radical changes in weather, such as extreme dry spells and exceptionally heavy rainfall, are forecast for the Southern African country.

Over the past three years, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) carried out exploratory research in five countries from different continents on the internet’s role in accessing information about sex education, health, fighting sex discrimination and defining one’s own sexuality.Carried out in Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa & USA the research looks at how the internet plays host to critical information about sex education, health, fighting sex discrimination and defining one’s own sexuality. It debunks the commonly-held view that sexuality online is just about pornography.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said all the parties in Somalia's conflict have violated the rules of war and are guilty of causing civilian casualties in the fight for territorial control that is contributing to the humanitarian catastrophe there. The New York-based group said al-Shabab, the rebel Isamist group that controls large parts of the country, was guilty of unrelenting brutality, while government troops carry out arbitrary arrests and detentions.

In the next few months, Tunisian women may have a real opportunity as candidates and voters to participate in the country's new, post-revolution, electoral system. With hope, this will lead to more women in decision-making roles in government and a chance to demonstrate that democracies flourish when women, and the special experience and viewpoints they bring to the process, are included.