Inter Press Service | 19 Feb 2010

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN , Feb 19, 2010 (IPS) - South Africa’s children, the country’s most vulnerable population group, will benefit through the increase in social grants recently outlined in the national budget.

South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan’s national budget speech on Feb. 17 has largely been met with approval by development experts for the social grant increases.

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Mail & Guardian Online | 19 Feb 2010

By Kristin Palitza

Opposition parties heavily criticised the African National Congress’ economic policies, but offered few constructive alternatives at a Critical Thinking Forum on Thursday in Cape Town, organised by the Mail & Guardian and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).

Under fire came the country’s high unemployment, income inequality and crime rates as well as the dysfunctional health and education systems, which were in part blamed on a “leadership crisis” within the ruling party.

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Inter Press Service | 6 January 2010

By Kristin Palitza

LOUWVILLE, South Africa, Jan 6, 2010 (IPS) - HIV-related stigma and discrimination remain a key concern in South Africa, despite the multitude of HIV awareness campaigns that have been launched by government and civil society organisations throughout the years, health experts say.

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Inter Press Service | 31 December 2009

by Kristin Palitza

PATERNOSTER, South Africa, Dec 31 (IPS) - Long after the official opening of the crayfish season in South Africa on November 15, the boats lay idle on the beach in West Coast fishing villages like Paternoster. Fishing permits from the Marine and Coastal Management unit (MCM) of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism had not been issued.

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Inter Press Service | 21 Dec 2009

by Kristin Palitza

SALDANHA, South Africa, Dec 21, 2009 (IPS) - The sound of sewing machines fills the room with a low, continuous hum. A handful of women sit behind the machines, their heads bent in concentration on their work.

The seamstresses belong to a business development project run by the West Coast Business Development Centre (WCBDC) in Saldanha, which aims to provide previously unemployed people with stable incomes and business support.

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Mail & Guardian | 6-12 Nov 2009

By Kristin Palitza

Medical experts and AIDS activists have welcomed the South African health department’s long-awaited move to offer male circumcision free of charge as part of its HIV prevention policy. But to be successful, they caution, the service needs to come with a massive education campaign.

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Inter Press Service | 12 Nov 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Nov 12 (IPS) - Critics of carbon trading, a strategy meant to combat global warming, say the buying and selling of carbon credits is being exploited.

"CDM (the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism) was never meant to be a cash cow, but meant for developed countries to reduce their emissions".

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Inter Press Service | 27 Oct 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Oct 27 (IPS) - The South African government is in the process of drafting regulations to police genetically modified organisms (GMO) as part of the national Consumer Protection Act, but environmental experts are worried the GMO section of the new Act, which was signed into law last April, will not be put into

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Inter Press Service | 8 Oct 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Oct 8 (IPS) - One hundred African women and girls die unnecessarily from unsafe abortions every day because they have to rely on unqualified medical practitioners or self-induce abortion by ingesting poisonous substances or inserting tools into their uterus.

Africa has the highest percentage of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortion. 60 percent of abortion-related deaths occur in women and girls under the age of 25.

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Mail & Guardian | 25 Sep 2009

By Kristin Palitza

The game has started, but goals have not been scored. Since the department of trade and industry started to accredit verification agencies to formalise broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) in February 2007, employment equity has quickly gained importance.

But it remains to be seen whether the rating scheme will truly manage to redress economic disadvantages. “If BEE were a sport, we would be five minutes into a 90-minute football match,” says independent BEE consultant Michael Bullock.

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Inter Press Service | 30 Sep 2009

Kristin Palitza interviews HENRY MALUMA, Oxfam Zambia essential services coordinator

CAPE TOWN, Sep 30 (IPS) - A United Nations mid-point review of Zambia's efforts towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), released in September, has revealed that HIV/AIDS might prevent the southern African country from meeting the targets.

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The Weekender | 5 Sep 2009

By Kristin Palitza

In the morning, when the first rays of the sun warm up the earth, millions of colourful flowers open up and turn their heads towards the light. It’s springtime in Namaqualand – the height of the wildflower season, when the blossoming plants turn the rolling hills of the Bokkeveld escarpment into a lush and luminous display.

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Mail & Guardian | 21 Aug 09

By Kristin Palitza

With the back of her hand, she wipes beads of sweat from her forehead and adjusts her colourful headscarf that protects her from the sun. It is mid-morning, but Maggie Mbovu has already put in a good few hours of hard work, tilling the soil of her community garden.

Together with four other women, she has planted cabbages, carrots, onions and potatoes, which will soon be harvested and sold through an organic vegetable marketing scheme initiated and managed by non-governmental agricultural organisation Abalimi Bezekhaya (Farmers of Home).

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Inter Press Service | 7 Aug 2009

Kristin Palitza interviews AIMEE ANSARI, acting policy and advocacy coordinator DRC for Oxfam GB

KINSHASA, Aug 7 (IPS) - A government offensive against rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that began in January has dramatically increased sexual violence in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

A survey of 569 civilians living in 20 conflict-ridden communities conducted by Oxfam found people live in constant fear of both government troops and rebels. Civilians have endured rape, torture and forced labour since Congo's army launched a joint operation with Rwanda's armed forces in late January against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who have operated out of the region since the aftermath of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

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The Weekender | 18-19 Jul 2009

Malema’s desperate sideswipe betrays his own ignorance, writes KRISTIN PALITZA

WHERE the heck did African National Congress (ANC) Youth League president Julius Malema’s cheap comments come from last week, when he declared that charges of hate speech and discrimination brought against him by Sonke Gender Justice were motivated by a racist and imperialist desire to embarrass black leadership?

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Inter Press Service | 19 Jun 2009

Kristin Palitza interviews MAHMOOD MAMDANI, professor of anthropology and political science

CAPE TOWN, Jun 19 (IPS) - Analysing the colonial and historical roots of the violence in Darfur, Mahmood Mamdani concludes that the crisis in Darfur is not genocide, but a fight for land, triggered by drought, which has been racialised by outside powers.

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Inter Press Service | 11 June 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Jun 11 (IPS) - African economic experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa have called for a regional approach to the global financial crisis, but South Africa - the continent’s strongest economy - does not want to play ball.

South African minister of trade and industry, Rob Davies, believes strict trade policies, regulation and export to developed countries are the most suitable mechanisms to protect the South African economy.

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Inter Press Service | 10 Jun 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Jun 10 (IPS) - The global financial crisis has taught African governments a lesson. More than ever, they recognise the need to diversify their countries’ mining operations as a key defence against economic instability and cyclical swings.

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Inter Press Service | 18 May 2009

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, May 18 (IPS) - International donors and African governments are likely to cut health budgets due to the global financial crisis. Health experts fear that increasing unemployment and poverty will lead to less food security and quality of nutrition, which will in turn put more stress on already weak health systems.

The implications, warns a newly-released World Bank report, could be grave.

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Inter Press Service | 24 Apr 2009

by Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, Apr 24 (IPS) - Gender activists are calling on the new South African government to improve the country’s gender legislation. Current gender policies focus on women, ignoring the rights, roles and responsibility of men and boys, they say.

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