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Namibian Elections: Why the Results are Disputed
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3 February, 2010

The controversy surrounding the outcome of the disputed November 2009 elections in Namibia is not good news for the Southern African Development Community region, the Africa Union and for the African continent in general. 20 years into democracy, Namibia is faced with a mammoth task of putting systems in place to ensure free and fair elections. The country’s voters’ roll is not computerised or centralised and this makes it difficult for the Electoral Commission of Namibia to rectify and/or verify the accuracy of the voters’ roll.

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NPO forecast for 2010

Things are looking up but we can expect some bumps ahead writes Ann Bown in her annual NPO forecast.  The first signs of economic green shoots are showing - a growth of 2.4 percent for this year is predicted by AfriFocus. Although this is encouraging it will take some time before companies are able to replenish corporate social investment (CSI) budgets, so don’t get too excited

Uganda’s HIV & AIDS Bill: A Human Rights Faux Pas

The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill for 2009, formulated by the Ugandan Law Reform Commission, marks an uncertain era in the history of HIV and AIDS in Uganda. The Bill is sad news in a country which was once considered as the model for controlling and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa.

Land Restitution: An Unacceptable Glacial Drift

The restitution process in South Africa was extremely slow between 1994 and 1998. During this period, only 27 claims settled out of the 40 000 submitted. The delay in settling claims might have been caused by lack of financial and human resources within government. Meanwhile, it is a ‘horrible injustice’ to make poor people to wait for decades to get back their land while they were dispossessed overnight and in primitively brutal manner’
African Feminism Driven by African Women

African feminism should not stereotype African women as ‘problems to be solved’, but should portray them as people who are capable of setting their own priorities and agenda. A distinctively African feminism will portray women as strong, innovative agents and decision-makers in their specific contexts. It should empower African women and work for them in ways that they want it to.
SA Ought to Look at Power When it Comes to Prejudice About Gender and Sexuality

Powerful constructs of how to be ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘gay/lesbian’ or ‘straight’ come with socially prescribed roles and expectations which provide us with ‘socially appropriate’ ways of feeling, thinking and doing. But these ‘conditions of gender’ are not fixed; they are shaped by history, culture and language. Civil society organisations have a role to contest the ideological normalisation of oppressive sexualities and genders
South Africa’s Social Investment Context in 2010

Tshikululu Social Investments has prepared a short context document that looks at South Africa's political, socio-economic and company legislative environment (with an emphasis on matters affecting social investors). The report entitled ‘South Africa’s social investment context in 2010’ serves as a short introduction to the year ahead
Climatic Change: Torrid Times Ahead for Less Developed Countries

Less Developed Countries (LDCs) are facing disproportionately greater threats to their economies. This is partly due to their relatively weaker mechanisms of adapting to a changing climate.  During the Copenhagen meeting last December, African countries were keen on pushing for a binding political agreement requiring the industrialised countries to meet their carbon reduction targets within a specified timeframe
SANGONeT - Reflecting on 2009: Challenges and Opportunities

David Barnard reflects on the past year and writes that the global financial crisis impacted directly and indirectly on SANGONeT and other NGOs’ work. During this period, funders reduced or revised their financial commitments and priorities, NGOs were confronted with the challenges of reviewing their sustainability, diversifying their funding base and assessing the overall relevance of their work
Indigenous Cultural Entrepreneurship in South Africa

The cultural landscape of South Africa tells a story of underdevelopment, disregard of certain cultures and also a story of preferential treatment of particular cultural communities and cultural practices. Many cultural communities in the country do not have the vision, confidence, self belief, persistence and expertise to establish cultural agencies which are capable of preserving, promoting and developing their indigenous cultures and position it as a central pillar of sustainable development. Cultural commissions or other state agencies have not done enough to empower communities to tap into the cultural industries sector and to create wealth for themselves.
HIV and AIDS: The Responsibility is Ours

Commemorated every year on 1 December, many will be wearing red ribbons and all kinds of AIDS awareness and campaign will be taking place – many will also be showing what their organisations are doing in the fight against HIV. The theme for international World AIDS Day 2009 is 'Human Rights and Access to Treatment’. In this article, Nomsa Mabaso asks, while we have access to treatment as a basic right, are we being responsible by actually making use of it? She believes that this theme challenges every person living in South Africa to take up the fight against HIV and AIDS as their own
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