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.

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.

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.

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.

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.]]>

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.

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".

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]]>

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.

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.]]>