South Africa is the 9th largest producer of GMOs globally and has cultivated, imported and exported GMOs since 1998. About 72 per cent of maize production is genetically modified and over 90 per cent of soya production is modified. The South African government granted approximately 1200 permits for GMO maize, just in the last three years. Up until 2010 South Africa was a major importer of GM maize, importing over two million tons from Argentina in 2007 alone. However, in that year South Africa produced an enormous four million ton surplus and has subsequently exported nearly 6 million tons of GM maize. Since the introduction of GM crops in South Africa, some fourteen years ago, labelling has been a contentious issue.

Section 27 has filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks. Rights organisation Section 27 filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court on Monday after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks and are facing an inadequate departmental catch-up plan.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, who attended the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rasool discusses the Obama presidency, the militarization of Africa, Islamophobia, the Marikana massacre and his 2006 meeting with then-Senator Obama in South Africa.

Inequalities in South Africa are threatening economic growth, with children born into poor families unlikely to ever to escape poverty or reap the rewards of living in Africa's largest economy. The World Bank's sobering assessment, released last week, found that a child's gender and ethnicity at birth, combined with a lack of education, largely determine that person's chances of success in life - even 18 years after the end of apartheid.

The election of South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the chairperson of the African Union has earned high points for the regional body on several indicators.

What difference will the appointment of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma really make to the African Union and the betterment of people across the continent?

Dear Mayor Patricia de Lille,

This letter has been written by the provincial executive of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement South Africa. As poor people living in informal settlements, we have many severe grievances regarding our living conditions.

Refugee rights organizations in Cape Town are breathing a sigh of relief following a high court judgement that will force the Department of Home Affairs to reverse a policy of not accepting new asylum-seeker applications at the region’s only Refugee Reception Office (RRO). Since the beginning of July, when the Maitland RRO in Cape Town moved to new premises, newly-arrived refugees trying to apply for asylum have been turned away and only those wanting to renew asylum seeker permits have been assisted. Maitland was the third RRO to be closed by Home Affairs in two years, leaving just three offices in Durban, Pretoria and Musina near the Zimbabwean border, where refugees can apply for asylum.

South Africa has mostly delegated the care of its poor and vulnerable to NGOs, but with funding drying up, these groups are struggling to keep their heads above water. This Mail&Guardian multimedia presentation provides a visual insight into the situation.

South Africa has abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria, claiming the resolution was worded in favour of one side of the conflict. Western nations were left perplexed and other onlookers were just as puzzled. Just where does South Africa stand on Syria? asks this article from The Daily Maverick.

South Africa’s disgraced former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who also served as the President of Interpol, has received a medical parole, clearing the way for his immediate release from prison. Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele told a media briefing in Pretoria that his department had limited capacity to provide for the palliative care needed by some offenders. He was referring to Selebi’s medical problems, including the need for dialysis because of kidney problems.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its allies have vowed to put an end to political killings which have been on the rise in South Africa. The National Freedom Party has seen 21 of its members killed since last year, while the ANC has also seen an unidentified number of local politicians killed, according to the South African Press Association.

At least a hundred protesters arrived at South Africa's parliament on 11 July to demonstrate their disapproval of the ongoing court case by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis against the Indian government over its patent laws. As the case draws to a close, health organizations say a win for the pharmaceutical company will be a loss to the developing world, which sources the bulk of its generic medicines from India. Novartis approached the Indian government six years ago, seeking to register a cancer drug already commonly marketed under the name Gleevec. The patent was denied and a long-running court battle ensued, but at each step Indian courts have ruled against Novartis and the company has appealed.

South Africa suffers from far too many activists who promote a localist ideology that begins and ends with the municipal councillor, city manager or mayor. There are too many turf-conscious leaders who look inward, failing to think globally while acting locally.

Child mortality rates have slowly come down, although they are still significantly high. Health experts say this is attributed to huge inequalities that exist in accessing health care. According to health experts at a Peoples’ Health Movement conference in Cape Town, last week, poverty and high unemployment rates are some of the barriers that prevent people from accessing quality health care. Director of the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape, Professor Dave Saunders, says child mortality in South Africa is still high and it has a direct link to the levels of unemployment and rising poverty.

Abdirahaman Abdiwali, a leader in the local Somali community, in an interview with the website says the Somali community has contributed to Cape Town’s local economy, but that Somalis are vulnerable to crime when conducting their business. 'Most of these crimes are happening in townships such as Khayelitsha, Delft, Philippe, and Nyanga. For the past three months, sixteen people were killed. Some are still in hospital critically wounded and some were left paralysed. Thirty-six armed robberies were also reported. The criminals operate as a team. They target Somalis who will be coming from the Cash and Carries or other big wholesalers after buying goods for their Spaza shops. Normally they rob them of their goods and bakkies before they reach their shops, or they attack them while they are busy off-loading.'

The website features a photo essay by Phumeza Mlungwana that shows the effects of winter flooding on RR and TR sections in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

The SACP's national conference ended in a political game of cat and mouse between general secretary Blade Nzimande and Kgalema Motlanthe. The conspicuous absence of top SACP leaders – including its general secretary Blade Nzimande – at the party's fundraising gala dinner in Durban, has been interpreted by some within the ANC-led alliance as a calculated political move to embarrass Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe ahead of the ANC's crucial elective conference in Mangaung in December. Nzimande is a vocal Jacob Zuma supporter and is being pushed by some of the president's backers to stand for ANC deputy president in Mangaung. Motlanthe, meanwhile has the backing by a significant faction within the ANC, particularly its youth and veterans wings, to contest Zuma for the top spot as party president.

The verification report into Limpopo’s textbook debacle, compiled by professor Mary Metcalfe and her team, has unearthed even more rot in the education department. The report estimates that 280 schools in the province are still without the required textbooks. The verification team sampled 411 schools – 10 per cent of the total number of schools in the province. They could only get proof of delivery receipts from 93 per cent of the schools sampled.

News that Eskom plans to seek a nearly 15 per cent electricity price hike this year has sparked a call for greater energy efficiency, while the DA says the state-owned company’s monopoly should be ended. DA deputy energy spokesman David Ross said he would write to the Competition Commission to ask it to examine the case for separating Eskom’s electricity generation and distribution components.