Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has lashed out at the government's handling of the suspension of crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, becoming the first minister to speak out about the atmosphere of 'fear' it has generated. Mdluli was suspended for a third time yesterday when Johannesburg Labour Court Judge Andre van Niekerk ruled that a court order setting aside Mdluli's suspension be rescinded. Sexwale said failure by the police and the National Prosecuting Authority to act effectively against those accused of serious offences resulted in the public losing confidence in the security services, the justice system and the constitution.

Ahead of the ANC policy conference, Cosatu's second-largest affiliate is flexing its muscles - calling for nationalisation and radical land reform. National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim wants the union’s national conference in Durban this week to discuss the review of the South African Constitution, including changes to the property clause, seen by some within the ANC-led alliance as an impediment to social and economic transformation in the country.

The department of basic education faces court action over its failure to fully fill the tens of thousands of teaching posts the Eastern Cape needs. The basic education department is being dragged before court again, this time over the embattled Eastern Cape education department’s failure to fully fill 64,752 posts for 2012 and wholly fill the 64,752 teaching posts it budgeted for in the province.

This article written by Ndifuna Ukwazi researcher Fritz Jooste recognises recent commitments made by Cape Town mayor, Patricia De Lille, and the City to address service delivery shortcomings in poorer areas, but it goes on to identify certain obstacles that stand in the way of meaningful engagement between local government and communities, calling on the City to address these.

In this Ceasefire Magazine article, Micah Roshan Reddy reports from Wits University, South Africa, about a hunger strike by students against a proposed abusive sacking of 17 catering staff that became an international campaign and secured a remarkable victory.

About one hundred Delft residents who are living in temporary structures whilst waiting for the government to provide them with RDP houses, blocked Symphony Way Road by burning tyres in a protest over their living conditions yesterday. This demonstration was the latest in a series of such protests in the area. Two weeks ago residents burnt tyres on the same road for the same reason.

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities have made unprecedented legal gains under the rubric of the bill of rights. The traditional courts bill threatens to undermine this security for millions of South Africans living in rural areas. The bill is the latest in a series of clumsy attempts to define, regularise and institutionalise the role of traditional leaders. In so doing, the bill undermines the protection afforded by constitutional civil rights.

Eskom might face difficulties in raising funds for its coal-fired projects in future if environmental organisations kept challenging decisions to fund coal plants, Econometrix’s chief economist, Azar Jammine, said. Jammine was reacting to the release of a report by the World Bank on Friday, which showed that water and environmental concerns regarding the coal-fired Medupi power plant were valid. The World Bank’s inspection report shows that significant environmental, social and climate impacts were not adequately addressed by the bank when it awarded a $3.75 billion (R31bn) loan to Eskom for the construction of Medupi.

The continued stock out of the antiretroviral tenofovir and the failure to advise health workers on how to deal with it is a looming disaster, HIV Clinicians and activists are warning. Reports of stock outs go as far back as October last year with the explanation given that the drug suppliers Aspen and Sonke were not able to meet the demand once they were awarded the tender. Dr Francesca Conradie, President of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society said they had submitted the clinical guidelines for health workers on how to swop out medications in February, but that it has not been ratified by the health department meaning it is not being used.

Environmental organisation Greenpeace has demanded that the government halts all discussions aimed at expanding nuclear power production in South Africa. 'Greenpeace Africa activists blockaded the premises of the IDC where the conference on 'Nuclear power's future for Africa' was taking place,' the organisation told News24. Police forcibly removed the activists from the premises of the Industrial Development Corporation in Sandton.

Government should revise the Traditional Courts Bill, which activists argue is promoting patriarchal practices in rural areas and also discrimination against women. This article gives the example of The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM), a KwaZulu-Natal NGO, which has in the course of its work with more than 50,000 rural women extensively documented the harsh realities of rural lives under the unaccountable authority of traditional leaders and their institutions of power. 'In a district that cannot be named for fear of reprisal the traditional leader unilaterally controls community resources and access to land. In most instances, where there are projects that rural women have initiated without him, for example a sewing machines project, he tries to undermine the projects and threatens to remove the resources needed for the project.'

Refugees who have found employment in the booming security industry say the Private Security Industry and Regulation Authority (Psira) is pushing them out of the sector. Psira’s regulations state that only South African identity document holders may be employed by registered security companies.

An award winning photographer who has devoted her working life to documenting the lives of black lesbians has had five years worth of her work stolen. Zanele Muholi, described by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa as 'one of the country’s foremost artists', had more than 20 external hard drives stolen from her flat in Vredehoek, Cape Town on April 20. The hard drives contain stills and video footage, including photos from the funerals of victims of homophobic hate crimes. It is thought that the burglars were targeting Muholi’s work, as little else was taken from her flat, and back up hard drives were also taken.

A South African court Tuesday 22 May convicted one of the two accused black farmworkers in the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terre'Blanche. 'After all the evidence given, I conclude that accused number one (Chris Mahlangu) is guilty as charged,' said Judge John Horn in the High Court sitting in Ventersdorp in northwest South Africa. Co-accused Patrick Ndlovu, who was a minor at the time of the crime, was found guilty only of house-breaking, and not guilty on charges of murder and robbery.

The government plans to spend R2,7bn buying more than 320,000 ha of agricultural land during the current financial year in a bid to advance its land reform programme, says Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti. The government aims to redistribute 24,5-million hectares, equivalent to 30 per cent of agricultural land, to black farmers by 2014 -a target it is far from meeting. The department last year acquired 848 farms totalling 882238 ha, reports Business Day.

Ikhaya (Home) is a part of the Photo XP community project supported by Greatmore studios, co-facilitated by Zanele Muholi and Lindeka Qampi. All featured participants are members of Freegender. It is a collection of 60 hours of photographic memories that were taken in different areas of Khayelitsha. The photographs were taken by seven women. Six of them were unemployed and one a part-time worker. All of them are black lesbians between 21 and 31 years of age, from various places within and outside of Khayelitsha.

Civil society grouping Section 27 has won a legal victory in the fight for basic education. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Limpopo Department of Education have so far failed to supply textbooks to learners and schools throughout Limpopo for the academic year of 2012. On 17 May 2012, following an application brought by Section 27 in the North Gauteng High Court, Judge Jody Kollapen held that this omission by the DBE and the Department constituted a violation of the constitutional right to basic education.

The African Centre for Biosafety and Trust for Community Outreach and Education have released a new study which provides an overview of the structure of the seed system in South Africa, the types of seed in use and their pros and cons, the legislative and policy environment, and the role of the public sector in seed production and distribution in South Africa. It aims to identify the trends in the seed sector and consider possible points of intervention to advance the agenda of strengthening small-scale resource-poor farmers in control over and access to appropriate seed for seed sovereignty, which sits at the heart of food sovereignty.

Wage talks between the South African Municipal Workers' Union and the South African Local Government Association have begun in Boksburg. Samwu and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union, have proposed an across the board increase of 15 per cent or R2 000 (whichever is greater) for employees under the scope of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. Salga had responded with a 4 per cent wage increase across the board, no minimum wage for the sector and no filling of vacancies, said Sema.

The ANC is squaring up to the Goodman gallery and newspaper in court on Tuesday (22 May) over the exhibition and publishing of Murray’s contentious artwork The Spear. The ruling party is seeking an urgent court interdict against the gallery and the newspaper, demanding the image to be removed from the exhibition and taken off the newspaper’s website, arguing that it violates President Jacob Zuma’s right to privacy and dignity. Both the gallery and the newspaper stand by their decision to exhibit the portrait, claiming they are protected by their constitutional right to freedom of expression.