At least 20 families, mostly women and children, have been evicted from their homes in Wes Bank, Delft. As has routinely been the case in other sections of Delft, the evictions were carried out under police intimidation and a heavy police presence.

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project has been following the case into murder of Eudy Simelane (31), a former Banyana-Banyana soccer player, and an out lesbian, whose body was found stabbed and mutilated in an open field in Tornado - one of the sections in the Kwa-Thema township - on the 28 April 2008. The LGEP is mobilizing at least 120 people from the East Rand to 'camp' for three days in Delmas (Mpumalanga) for the duration of the trial

A Tanzanian refugee, who escaped death by hiding in a bathroom, is reeling after losing a second brother to alleged xenophobic violence in less than a year. Zane Omari's younger brother, Said, died on Monday as a result of injuries he sustained when he was allegedly forced out of a sixth-floor window at Venture Africa, a shelter for refugees in Broad Street in Durban.

Exploring the growing support for the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) in much of South Africa, Mphutlane wa Bofelo cautions against people’s unquestioning backing of the party. The author argues that for all the hope it inspires in many South Africans, COPE is likely to be even more unfavourable to social spending than the African National Congress (ANC).

In response to : I am a teacher at a high school on the Cape Flats and have been teaching for the past 20+ years.

I find it particularly disgusting how many teachers of SADTU, who actively helped organise and vote in the ANC government, now PRIVATELY voice concern about the state of affairs in education.

The very least you should do is to withdraw your support and membership from the ANC/SADTU and their flawed educational policy!

Or shut your mouth and look the other way at school as many other SADTU-members are in fact doing!

I think the network of concern is a valuable outlet for those in education that's GATVOL of the political direction in SA.

Black economic empowerment (BEE) is not the reason SA has a skills crisis, but rather institutionalised racism and unwarranted, exorbitant price demands by ICT professionals. This is the message from government and industry commentators, in reaction to the outcry that followed the release of the Department of Labour's (DOL's) national master scarce skills list last week.

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) has recently concluded a merger with Amandla! Publishers and embarked on a new programme under the theme "Dialoguing Alternatives for Social Justice". The programme aims to strengthen movements for social justice through the production of alternative knowledge and by enhancing the institutional capacity of community media organizations and the communication capacity of progressive civil society organizations that facilitates a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. We are growing our committed and dynamic team and invite applications for the position of Administrator.

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) has recently concluded a merger with Amandla! Publishers and embarked on a new programme under the theme "Dialoguing Alternatives for Social Justice". The programme aims to strengthen movements for social justice through the production of alternative knowledge and by enhancing the institutional capacity of community media organizations and the communication capacity of progressive civil society organizations that facilitates a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. We are growing our committed and dynamic team and invite applications for the position of Operations Manager.

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) has recently concluded a merger with Amandla! Publishers and embarked on a new programme under the theme "Dialoguing Alternatives for Social Justice". The programme aims to strengthen movements for social justice through the production of alternative knowledge and by enhancing the institutional capacity of community media organizations and the communication capacity of progressive civil society organizations that facilitates a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. We are growing our committed and dynamic team and invite applications for the position of Capacity Building Facilitator.

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) has recently concluded a merger with Amandla! Publishers and embarked on a new programme under the theme "Dialoguing Alternatives for Social Justice". The programme aims to strengthen movements for social justice through the production of alternative knowledge and by enhancing the institutional capacity of community media organizations and the communication capacity of progressive civil society organizations that facilitates a dialogue giving voice to the poor and marginalized locally and internationally. We are growing our committed and dynamic team and invite applications for the position of Journalist & Coach

We have often said that as the poor our only strength is in our discipline. Our numbers mean nothing if we are not organized and we cannot be organized without being disciplined. Our discipline has never been about taking orders from above. Our movement grew out of a rejection of the top down politics of the councillors, the ward committees and the branch executive committees. We have always rejected top down politics in all its forms - including those NGOs that want to remote our movements.

The murder trial of Zoliswa Nkonyana was finally heard last Friday at the Khayelitsha Regional Court following an array of postponements. The trial began last week Friday, 5 December, three years after the brutal murder of this Khyelitsha lesbian, killed because of her sexual orientation. Phindiswa Magxala, a witness who was present on the day of Nkonyana’s murder, told the court how, on 4 February 2006, they were attacked by more than 14 people, four of whom were women, in front of Nkonyana’s step father Gcinumuzi Madondo just meters away from her home.

South Africans are still prejudiced about homosexuals despite having some of the most progressive legislation in the world, with 80% of the population believing that sex between lesbians or gay men is wrong, according to a study commissioned by the Human Sciences Research Council. This is in line with another comparative study, which examined the attitudes of 40 countries to homosexuality, according to researchers Benjamin Roberts and Prof Vasu Reddy.

Despite improvements in living conditions over the past decade, the health of South Africans has worsened, according to the SA Health Review 2008 which was launched last night (Dec 10) in Pretoria. “There have been clear improvements in access to water and sanitation, services that are essential for good health,” reports researcher Debbie Bradshaw.

This year is the first that school students – or learners as they are now known - are to matriculate under the new Outcomes Based Educational system. OBE was adopted as one of the first major policy innovations under the newly democratic government in South Africa, under the ideological guidance of the first minister of education, Sibusiso Bengu.

There are not many refugee camps where money litters the floor, but you do not have to look far at the showground in the border town of Musina. Fragments of worthless 50,000 and 100,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes are everywhere, constant reminders of the hyper-inflation which has accompanied the country's collapse.

Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids are being bought and smoked by teenagers in South Africa to get high. Reports suggest that the drugs are being sold by patients and even healthcare staff for money. Schoolchildren have been spotted smoking the drugs, which are ground into powder and sometimes mixed with painkillers or marijuana.

A breakaway group of South Africa's governing party has won the right to use the name Congress of the People. The High Court ruling comes ahead of the new party's official launch and a day after it took a third of seats in the Western Cape by-elections.

South Africa has declared the border with Zimbabwe a disaster area due to a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 800 people. Mogale Nchabeleng, a spokesman for the Limpopo provincial government in South Africa, said: "The whole of the Vhembe district has been declared a disaster. Extraordinary measures are needed to deal with the situation."

Officials from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized 60 tonnes of clothing from a warehouse in Sasolburg last week that were illegally imported from China and shipped through Botswana. According to SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay on Friday, the goods were to be sent to three large retailers. Although they are believed to be listed companies, SARS would not disclose the value of the seized goods nor the names of the retailers.