2004

Movin' on up: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 29, 2004; Who are South Africa s leaders of the future? The Mail & Guardian chose 20 hot under-40s, already making waves in a range of fields, to look out for. Tshilidzi Marwala An associate professor in the school of electrical and information engineering at the University of Witwatersrand, Marwala was awarded the Bronze Or
Dr Rath ad earns the wrath of TAC: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 17, 2004; The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has laid a formal complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority against the Dr Rath Health Foundation for publishing advertisements undermining the effectiveness of Aids drugs. An advertisement published in the Mail & Guardian has sparked an advertising storm. Vuyani Jacobs,
Drop prices, Brazil warns drug giants: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 17, 2004; The Brazilian government is on a collision course with three multinational drug companies. It has threatened to declare HIV/Aids a national health emergency, enabling it to manufacture patent drugs. Brazilian Health Minister Humberto Costa told journalists last week the government would break patent laws if negotiation
HIV/Aids Barometer - December 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 15, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 391 703 at noon on Wednesday December 15, 2004 Orphan crisis: One Ethiopian child in 10 is an orphan, according to a report by the United Nations, the government and the Save the Children NGO. The HIV/Aids pandemic, appalling poverty and dire health conditions had left 4,6-million
HIV/Aids barometer - December 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 8, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 290 918 at noon on Wednesday December 8, 2004 ARV licence issued: GlaxoSmithKline has granted a fourth voluntary licence to a South African generics firm to market its anti-Aids medicines, the world s leading supplier of HIV/Aids drugs said on Monday. GlaxoSmithKline has gran
Let's talk about sex: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 7, 2004; David Harrison**; There is great shock value in surveys of HIV and sexual behaviour among teenagers. Half of all young people claim to have had sex by age 17, and one in 12 is HIV positive before her 20th birthday. I say her because most HIV infection among 15- to 24-year-olds (77%) occurs in women. At current rates, one in two teenager
Marry the medicine and the myth: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 7, 2004; Most Africans know what to say about Aids. It is caused by a virus. Abstinence, fidelity and condoms prevent it. Information campaigns have achieved this much and surveys confirm it. But having this information does not automatically translate into behaviour change. The same person who in the morning answers a survey w
Motshekga not off the hook yet: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 3, 2004; Gauteng education minister Angie Motshekga was forced last week to apologise to the legislature for inappropriate conduct first exposed by the Mail & Guardian, but was cleared in a provincial probe into suspicion that she may have benefited personally from a government contract. However, she may not be completely i
The ART of treatment: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 3, 2004; The hospital on the outskirts of Nairobi wasn t built because of its proximity to the Kenyan capital s massive townships, although the chaotic slums do provide it with an overflow of patients. It wasn t constructed using millions of dollars of donor funds, which is why it consists completely of cold, grey cement, overc
Keeping family in a memory box: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 2, 2004; Zibango Hlabe sits watching his family building their new home. He is too weak to help. He has come back to his family in Nqabeni village, near Port Shepstone, after contracting HIV on the mines and growing too ill to work. The impact of his death will psychologically, emotionally and financially affect the lives of hi
Truckers know the risks but spurn condom use: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 1, 2004; It s a question of money, said one of the many truck drivers milling about the main border crossing between Benin and Togo . Most of the girls are simply after money, and if I decide it ll be without a condom, then it ll be without a condom. As soon as school ends each day, teenage girls in this Togolese border town h
Aids takes a toll on profits: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 26, 2004; HIV/Aids is taking a bite out of profits throughout corporate South Africa , with the already embattled mining sector particularly hard hit. According to a report by the South African Business Coalition on HIV and Aids (Sabcoha) released this week, 62% of mines surveyed by the Bureau for Economic Research indicated tha
Take counsel from the titans: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 25, 2004; They just don t make em like they used to. This week, it took the grey-haired man in the purple cassock to crystallise the national psyche, with all its imperfections and its challenges, perfectly. With the benefit of wisdom and age, Archbishop Desmond Tutu made clear his love for his rainbow nation - and then he laid
HIV/Aids Barometer - November 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 24, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 094 374 at 8pm on Wednesday November 24, 2004 ARVs needed: A lack of antiretroviral drugs is the biggest problem facing HIV/Aids programmes in Africa, says Robert Colebunders, a Belgian researcher at Uganda s Mulago hospital. The United Nations says there are about 28-million HIV-
Don't read this -- it's a story about Aids: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 24, 2004; Ok, if you ignored that injunction and are still reading, you re clearly a contrarian character. You ve decided to pay no heed to the mental health warning on this column. That may make you an exception among most readers. The reason is because the don t read message is redundant for the majority of your peers. The mer
Not such a flawless gem: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 19, 2004; George W Bush s second term as United States President is good news for Africa, says Tony Leon, Democratic Alliance leader. He bases this judgement on the views of a notorious diamond merchant allegedly linked to supporting undemocratic and corrupt regimes in Africa. In his article Reflections on the American Election
HIV/Aids barometer - November 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 17, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 59 988 769 at noon on Wednesday November 17, 2004 Polite fight: Singapore will not sponsor a publicity blitz to promote condom use out of respect for residents who hold conservative views , a senior health minister, Balaji Sadasivan, said. Sadasivan announced last week that if ef
Swapo still the favourite: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 12, 2004; After 15 years of independence Namibians seem set to stick with the old adage - better the devil you know. They look certain to keep the ruling South West African People s Organisation (Swapo) in charge for another five years when they go to the polls on November 15 and 16. The only difference in these presidential and
HIV/AIDS Barometer - November 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 10, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections:59 887 711 at noon on Wednesday November 10, 2004 Rising risk: Women in India , home to the world s second-largest HIV population after South Africa , are becoming more vulnerable to Aids, leading to a growing feminisation of the epidemic, says a United Nations expert.
Going ungraciously: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 2, 2004; My fondest political aphorism asserts that there are only two ways out of politics: death or failure . There is something intrinsic, deep down in the psychological make-up of the politician that drives him or her on ... and on and on. When Margaret Thatcher used this exact phrase - I intend to go on and on - a year bef
Africa needs a Nobel Prize in science: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 2, 2004; When the announcement came that Kenyan assistant environment minister Wangari Maathai had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I was in far off lands. At a party the following day, quite a number of folk who had had their fair share of wine were staggering up to where I was seated, pointing at me, and shouting: Wangari Maathai .
HIV/Aids barometer - November 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 1, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 094 374 at 8pm on Wednesday November 24, 2004 ARVs needed: A lack of antiretroviral drugs is the biggest problem facing HIV/Aids programmes in Africa, says Robert Colebunders, a Belgian researcher at Uganda s Mulago hospital. The United Nations says there are about 28-million HIV-
A month with new meaning: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 29, 2004; It s supposed to be a period of serene, prayerful contemplation, a time to explore the depths of faith and to think of the poor. But for many of Kenya s 10-million Muslims, the month of Ramadan this year has become a reflection on crime, HIV/Aids and the effects of the United States-sponsored war on terror on the follo
'We don't see glory in debt': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 29, 2004; It is near Gospel in government circles that the tough macro-economic policy choices embodied in the growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) strategy have purchased space for a sustainable expansion in government spending. But the limits to that particular line of credit are now starting to show themselves. Massiv
Motshekga scandal widens: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 24, 2004; There is a growing body of evidence that Gauteng education minister Angie Motshekga and her family benefited financially from the trust that she helped to land a stake in the lucrative provincial pension payout contract. There is also now proof that the trust did not benefit only from the pension deal, but that it also
Mbeki's new race tirade: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 22, 2004; President Thabo Mbeki answered questions in the National Assembly on Thursday for the first time in almost a year, but he refused to allow robust exchanges on HIV/Aids, the economy and Zimbabwe to divert him from his script. Question time was still under way as the Mail & Guardian went to press, but its opening hal
Zimbawe food crisis escalates: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 21, 2004; There is growing evidence that tens of thousands of Zimbabweans face starvation, despite government insistence that the food crisis is over , says an Amnesty International report. In Bulawayo, the country s second- largest city, the health department has recorded 161 deaths from hunger this year alone. Its statistics h
Missing the mark: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 19, 2004; A year after the Cabinet approved an Aids treatment plan progress is patchy, with seven of the nine provinces lagging behind in meeting patient targets. Provinces also underspent their conditional Aids budgets in the first quarter of this financial year. This month the Department of Health said about 12,000 patients ar
Another shade of green: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 18, 2004; Lauded as both legend and prophet in the Kenyan media, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize continued to command world attention last week. Even Professor Wangari Maathai s former enemies emerged to praise her lifelong promotion of sustainable development, democracy and human rights. Environmentalists a
HIV/AIDS Barometer - October 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 13, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 59 484 509 at noon on Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Aggravating factors: Famine in Africa could worsen unless action is taken to tackle the continent s HIV/Aids epidemic, according to a senior United Nations official. Unless urgent interventions are made, the epidemic could cause a ste
HIV/AIDS Barometer - October 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 6, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infection rate: 59 383 707 at noon on Wednesday October 6, 2004 Funding the fight: The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria awarded Uganda a new grant of $70-million last Friday to battle the disease and expand life-prolonging therapy with anti-retroviral drugs. Mary Muduuli,
Hiv/Aids barometer - October 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 1, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infection rate: 59 282 862 at noon on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 War toll: HIV/Aids rates in northern Uganda are nearly twice as high as the rest of the country because of an 18-year war with the brutal Lord s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, World Vision said on Monday. National preva
Action, not words: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 30, 2004; If there is one lesson to be drawn from events over the past month in the Free State, Gauteng and Eastern Cape, it is the central importance of mature political leadership. Confronted by the Mail & Guardian with serious allegations against provincial minister Angie Motshekga, Gauteng has acted quickly, ordering a s
'We must avoid being monkeys': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 16, 2004; Pan African Parliament (PAP) President Gertrude Mongella speaks with a mischievous, Swahili-accented voice reminiscent of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, in whose government she served as a young woman. Her feminist heart ever-present on her sleeve, the diminutive convent-educated mother of four clearly enjoys raising eyebrows
HIV/AIDS Barometer - September 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 15, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infection rate: 59 081 251 at noon on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Underestimated: The number of Aids cases in Japan is slowly increasing, and the number of HIV-positive people in the country is estimated to be far higher than the number reported. In 2003 the government recorded 336 new Aids ca
HIV top issue in poll: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 10, 2004; The smart money is on Botswana going to the polls on October 16. President Festus Mogae made this the stuff of wagers by dissolving his country s Parliament last week without actually naming an election date. In most African countries this would be seen as ominous. But Botswana is the continent s longest continuous mul
Outlaw culture: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 8, 2004; Lesbianism in South Africa is a bit like a crazy and eccentric old auntie we tolerate because of the equality clause, and whom we keep at a safe distance, in case people think queerness runs in the family. The broader political issues about what it means to be a woman who loves women - in theory and in sexual practice
Fictitious facts, real issues: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 6, 2004; The logo of the Pretoria University-based Centre for Human Rights shows a butterfly in full flight with a colourful map of Africa as its wings. The logo could not have been more apt for the centre, which for 13 years has been leading the campaign to train young lawyers in human rights jurisprudence. This year the centr
Parents sue health department: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 3, 2004; A Muslim couple is suing the department of health in the Western Cape for R5-million after their baby daughter became infected with HIV under mysterious circumstances at one of two leading paediatric hospitals. The unprecedented action has major ramifications for hospital health regimes, as well as for other parents in
Monty Pythonopoulos and his Flying Opening Ceremony: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - August 20, 2004; After months of breathless anticipation, the Athens Olympics got under way last Friday, presenting a worldwide television audience of billions with an opening ceremony that, in the tradition of Greek drama, had us howling in a mixture of belly-laughter and gut-wrenching pity. Opening ceremonies, as such, have evolved o
ARV treatment 'too late': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - August 20, 2004; Anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment given to 61 patients, some HIV-positive, at Sterkfontein psychiatric hospital in Johannesburg after an assistant nurse allegedly used the same needle on all of them, is likely to be ineffective, because the treatment was provided too late. Nongezo Makgwe, the West Rand regional director
MCC shelves generic anti-retroviral: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - August 13, 2004; The Medicines Control Council (MCC) has pulled the generic anti-retroviral drug Duovir off the shelves because of concerns about the manufacturer s studies that deal with the drug s efficacy. The tablet, which combines zidovudine and lamivudine, is widely used by NGOs such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). This week t
HIV/Aids barometer - August 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - August 6, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 58 476 515 at noon on Wednesday August 4, 2004 Arrested: Two HIV-positive Chinese villagers are being detained for leading a group of HIV-positive people into a hospital in Henan province to protest against the country s treatment of HIV-positive people, a Chinese Aids advocate said
Youth come to the party: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 30, 2004; Young South African politicians are rebelling against the established leadership of their parties as they struggle to revive organisations that, in some cases, seem to be on their last legs after suffering serious setbacks in the last general election. The dislodging of Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Lionel
Swaziland in 'deep crisis': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 30, 2004; Amnesty International has sounded a warning of a profound humanitarian crisis in Swaziland , a state it slates for its poor human rights record where the king and his royal advisers pay scant regard to courts, the Parliament and international treaties. This comes in a week when Swazi King Mswati III is reported to have
M&G under fire: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 15, 2004; As the South African government is finally coming to understand, President Robert Mugabe and his ministers make pledges and assurances they have no intention of honouring. At the African Union summit last week Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge promised to react within seven days to a report critical of his country
China, India 'could boost SA jobs': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 9, 2004; South Africa s best prospects for growing employment lies in sectors that export primary products to rapidly industrialising countries such as China and India , suggests a new labour market analysis by the Reserve Bank. These include food and coal, according to Labour Market Frontiers, published last week.
HIV/Aids barometer - July 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 7, 2004; Estimated worldwide infections: 58 073 159 at noon on Wednesday July 7, 2004 The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has awarded Russia a two-year, $34,2- million grant for the treatment and care of people living with HIV/Aids and tuberculosis. The grant is the third Global Fund grant awarded to Russia.
HIV/Aids barometer: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 30, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 57 972 738 at 12.25pm on June 30, 2004 Activists up in arms: HIV/Aids advocates in Bangkok, Thailand , on Tuesday protested against the high cost of registration for the upcoming XV International Aids Conference, saying that thousands of key voices on HIV/Aids would not be heard b
HRC: Land restitution target 'a long shot': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 29, 2004; In one of its most contentious findings, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) questions whether the government will be able to meet President Thabo Mbeki s commitment to complete the land restitution process by the end of next year. The HRC, tasked by the Constitution to advance social and economic rights, released its Ec
When a gift horse is a Trojan horse: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 29, 2004; Reg Rumney**; I once bought a beautifully preserved second-hand 2,5-litre Rover from a family connection. Its age and my poverty soon disproved the bargain - classic cars and deep pockets go together, like leeks and potatoes. The previous owner had merely disposed of a problem. I think of that car when I contemplate some black econo
A domestic affair: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 24, 2004; Naledi Xhosa* won an out-of-court settlement this week when she sued her former employer for unfair dismissal after Xhosa tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis B. Xhosa was immediately dismissed on the grounds that she posed a health risk to the employer s infant and family. The case - brought in the Labour Court - und
HIV/Aids barometer - June 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 21, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 57 770 895 at noon on June 16, 2004 African ARV roll-out: On Monday Uganda became the latest African country to begin distributing free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to HIV-positive people, the country s Minister of Health, Jim Muhwezi, said. An estimated 100 000 of the 1,2-million H
Arab leaders steal the show at G8 summit: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 14, 2004; Kenyan civil society activist Edward Oyugi says Africa s relations with the developed world amount to the continent holding out a begging bowl. But, African leaders insist they have a partnership with wealthy nations -- one based on investment in return for good governance. The claim came under discussion again last we
G8: Not so great on Africa: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 11, 2004; The Group of Eight s (G8) meeting this week in the United States will spew forth promises for Africa that will amount to nothing, say its critics. The involvement of the New Partnership for Africa s Development (Nepad) with the G8 - which represents Britain, Canada , France
HIV/Aids barometer - June 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 4, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 57 569 638 at 12.30pm on June 2, 2004 Fees bar African Aids orphans from schools: School fees are preventing vast numbers of Aids orphans from getting an education and improving their future prospects, a United Nations official said on Tuesday. While some African countries have outla
Advanced symptoms of malaise: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 4, 2004; Unprecedented public distrust of the Department of Health is threatening its efforts to eradicate inequalities in the public health sector. In the month since Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was reappointed to a second term as health minister, the department has had to juggle two court cases, resignations of crucial staff and
Zim gays: 'Dogs and pigs' no more?: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 24, 2004; Worse than dogs and pigs is how Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described homosexuals almost a decade ago, when the gay community attempted to highlight widespread homophobia in the Southern African country. That statement, reported around the world, still reverberates in the country, casting a long shadow over the
HIV/Aids barometer - May 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 14, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 57 279 683 at 9.11am on Thursday May 13, 2004 Awareness: Botswana s President Festus Mogae said last week that foreign criticism of the country s policy of routine HIV testing for people using public health services is hindering the country s efforts to treat HIV-positive people with
Mbeki's Mystery Panel: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 13, 2004; Nawaal Deane, Johannesburg; It s official: President Thabo Mbeki s Aids panel is still very much in existence. But who its current members are, how much money the whole exercise has cost to date, what research it is still conducting, and when its cryptic work will be finalised remain a mystery. Media reports during the past week have expressed co
Waging war with the virgin soldiers: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 11, 2004; The flame of sexual liberation may soon have to be kept alive by us geriatric delinquents. A US evangelical group has announced that next month it will be recruiting British teenagers to its campaign against sex before marriage. In the States, more than a million have taken the pledge. Great Britain, the organiser insi
How drug price chaos hits you: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 10, 2004; Walking into a pharmacy in the next three months will be like throwing dice. From last week pharmacists, distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers will have to change the way they do business, with discounting, rebating and bonusing prohibited by the Medicines and Related Substances Act. However, old stock - whose pr
A bluebottle in the Cabinet vaseline: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 7, 2004; President Thabo Mbeki s restructuring of his Cabinet has shown that he has a logic quite beyond the comprehension of ordinary minds. It takes very special political nous to reappoint as Health Minister someone as subversively brilliant as Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Cynics are saying her surprise reappointment was a payb
An End to Silence: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 7, 2004; The Mail & Guardian has had many run-ins with Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi. But we would be the first to applaud his exemplary leadership on HIV/Aids, which stands in sharp contrast with the muddled, secretive and ideologically driven approach of his counterparts in the ruling African Nation
A Test of Patience: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 5, 2004; Mmanaledi Mataboge; Mmanaledi Mataboge: Batho Pele: People First I call the national Department of Health s Aids toll-free line and ask the counsellor where I should go for a test. The first counsellor I speak to says I should go to my local clinic. I tell him there isn t one in my neighbourhood and he asks me to hold while he looks it up
INTERVIEW: 'Don't Expect a Cure-All': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 3, 2004; Thebe Mabanga; Sean Phillips: Just because the programme doesn t affect 80% of the unemployed doesn t mean it shouldn t be undertaken. How much money does the programme entail, and how does the funding break down? A total of R19,6-billion over five years. Of this, R15-billion will go to construction, R4-billion to the environment and
No ID book, no money: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 16, 2004; After three-and-a-half-years of negotiations over children s access to child support grants, a children s rights organisation is set to take the government to court. Since 2001 the Department of Social Development has completely strung us along , Laura Markovitz, project coordinator at the Alliance for Children s Entit
Tipped for the top: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 16, 2004; The appointment of the Cabinet and provincial premiers is the prerogative of President Thabo Mbeki -- and one which he has so far determinedly exercised on his own. In part, Mbeki most probably does it to avoid the manoeuvring and the creation of cabals that would almost be sure to follow if African National Congress o
Getting down to business: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 16, 2004; Armed with an overwhelming popular endorsement of its policies, the new African National Congress government is likely to stick with the social and economic development programmes it has put in place since it first came to power. The only differences in its programmes and policies are likely to be ones of emphasis and
And these little piggies had none ...: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 16, 2004; United States senator Eugene McCarthy once remarked that politicians react to the cold in much the same way as pigs -- they stand in a circle with their snouts between the hind legs of the pig in front. This is the likely outcome of election 2004 for the main opposition parties, none of which can be overjoyed with th
Aids: Black women in US at higher risk: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 8, 2004; African-American women are 23 times as likely to be infected with the Aids virus as white women and account for 71,8% of new HIV cases among women in 29 American states, research shows. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit health organisation, has found that in 2001 about 67% of black women with Aids had contract
Africans suffer today in hope of a better tomorrow: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 7, 2004; The people of Africa face a painful conundrum: They clearly see that political democratisation has delivered a tangible basket of political goods which they appreciate; yet they are keenly aware that economic liberalisation has left them worse off, resulting in a decline (in their human security) rather than progress,
'We Are Not Power-Mongers': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 7, 2004; Drew Forrest; The African National Congress has recently changed tack on Aids drugs and dropped its assault on the trade union ultra-left . Was this because an election was imminent? It s incorrect to say we ve recently changed direction on the provision of anti-retroviral drugs [ARVs]. That decision was in the pipeline in ANC struc
Burden of whiteness: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 5, 2004; It is not very nice being white in South Africa if you re young, even though I m not a racist and had nothing to do with apartheid ever, reads an anonymous comment posted on the www.southafrica.com website. It is by no means a lone assertion. There is a certain awkwardness that comes with being a white South African t
Ugandan tabloid breaks Aids taboo: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 5, 2004; Uganda s first tabloid has broken Africa s biggest taboo by revealing that the country s foreign affairs minister, James Wapakhabulo, died of Aids. The storm was stirred by an obituary in the newspaper Red Pepper of the foreign minister, who died last month. While the article does not refer explicitly to Aids, the head
HIV/Aids barometer - April 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) -April 2, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 56 661 891 at 11.35am on March 31, 2004 Rapid testing: The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of oral fluid samples with a rapid HIV diagnostic test kit that provides screening results with more than 99% accuracy in as little as 20 minutes. Until now, all
Auditor General Drawn Into Aids Fund Chaos: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - April 2, 2004; Nawaal Deane; The auditor general s office confirmed this week that it has received a detailed letter alleging misappropriation of funds by the National Association of People Living with Aids (Napwa), which receives millions each year from the Department of Health. The Aids Law Project, acting on behalf of the Treatment Action Campa
Firms' Pull-Out a Threat to ARV Roll-Out: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 26, 2004; Nawaal Deane; She dodged the threat of legal action by Aids activists, and then had to deal with apparent threats from drug firms to pull out of the country. All in all, it was a torrid week for Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. This week a furore involving multinational pharmaceutical companies erupted after two stakehol
When voting is as risky as unprotected sex: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 19, 2004; Hoosen Coovadia**; The right to vote and the opportunity it provides for an individual to contribute to social change is a very simple, powerful tool in the democratic process, and we in South Africa have waited long and suffered much to secure this right. For this reason alone we should all discharge our responsibility as voting citizen
Minister Swept Along By Arv Wave: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 19, 2004; Rapule Tabane; Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang this week bowed to the inevitable and encouraged other provinces to follow the three that have started comprehensive treatment of HIV/Aids. On Tuesday, after Gauteng announced its roll-out of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, the health minister held a telephone conference wit
HIV/Aids barometer - March 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 12, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 56,373,952 at 11.40am on Thursday March 11, 2004. Rising infections: HIV has led to an increase in new tuberculosis (TB) infections not only in individuals with HIV, but also in HIV-negative individuals, according to a cohort study involving South African gold miners published in the
Funding Chaos in Key Aids Group: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 12, 2004; Nawaal Deane; The battle against HIV/Aids suffered a severe blow this week with revelations of managerial chaos and bitter infighting in the country s largest Aids body, the Aids Consortium. As a result, large amounts of money from international donor agencies are at risk. And in an extraordinary public display of the conflict, a br
Sisters, you let us down: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 10, 2004; Everjoice J Win**; Dear sisters, Happy International Women s Day. The 8th of March is meant to be a day to celebrate how far we have come as women worldwide. But for us, North of your border, we have no cause to celebrate. I am writing to you, woman to woman. I believe in other women. I don t buy into the oft-heard refrain that women don
Spending is up, but still not enough: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 5, 2004; The Western Cape Provincial government tabled its 2004 budget this week anticipating that the African National Congress-New National Party cooperative governance pact will continue after the April elections. Despite this being an election year, this budget continues the task we set about two years ago of overcoming our
INTERVIEW: 'Stop Focusing On Stats': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 5, 2004; Nawaal Deane, Johannesburg; UNAids s executive director, Dr Peter Piot, is confident that South Africa will soon have the largest HIV treatment programme in the world. The recent controversy about the allegation that HIV/Aids statistics are inflated has created the perception that the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) estimates should
Gremlins are the real disease: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 3, 2004; Rian Malan**; Ironically - given their attack on my person in response to my argument in noseweek that African HIV and Aids statistics are grossly over-exaggerated - on the major issues, the Treatment Action Campaign s (TAC) Nathan Geffen agrees with me. In his response, recently published in the Mail & Guardian (Letters, Januar
Health care for sex workers -- without humiliation: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 27, 2004; Healthy brothels - that s the result of a service that takes health care to sex workers in Johannesburg. The Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU), a privately-funded organisation attached to Wits University, has set up mobile clinics in hotels used by sex workers. A RHRU report on the initiative finds that it has
Roll-out or cop-out on Aids drugs?: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 27, 2004; Pity the person with Aids who is trying to find out where to go for anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment or how long it will take for the drugs to be available. The Mail & Guardian s attempts for the past month to obtain concrete information from each province suggest that public access to the life-prolonging drugs will
Miracles in Malawi: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 25, 2004; Grace Matnanga is a happy woman. She is about as poor as you can be, earning the equivalent of R75 a month selling shoes from a tiny market stall. But her shy smile erupts into real laughter now. In the past year something fundamental has changed. She has been spared the prospect of a premature and painful death. Matna
'The situation is not dire, but it is bleak': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 20, 2004; While the figures for drought and famine in Southern Africa are less apocalyptic than they were a year ago, the scale of human misery is unacceptably high and an appeal to the international community for special help looks inevitable. This year food will have to be bought from South America. The drought in
In place of ideology: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 19, 2004; Our cover image this week should, of course, be taken with a pinch of salt. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is very far from being the fiery revolutionary of yesteryear. He is a minister in a largely responsible government who has swapped beard, jeans and struggle T-shirt for a suit and tie. But there can be no escap
'Aids is not urgent': Mail & Guardian - February 16, 2004; For four years Eastern Cape schools have had no HIV/Aids-awareness material in their classrooms. The cause is bureaucratic delays, bungling and a startling lack of urgency. Aids is not urgent. It will always be there among us, NZ Mtshabe, chairperson of the province s tender board, is recorded as saying in board minute
Once were freedom's fighters: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 13, 2004; It really is time we were rid of the exercise in the vainglorious called the opening of Parliament. Apart from obvious reasons, like the steadily mounting costs of the affair, there are many other grounds for abandoning what has become a toe-curling embarrassment. There seems to be only one overriding justification for
Pat on their own backs: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 13, 2004; They came to Parliament this week to show that in the past 10 years the good had far outweighed the bad in South Africa . In the week of the opening of Parliament, Cabinet ministers spent much time trying to convince diplomats and the media of the government s achievements and sought to show that controversies - such a
Treasury must cough up: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 13, 2004; Public health care has been chronically underfunded for the past five years and gross provincial disparities in spending persist, a government report now confirms. As a result, the Treasury s claims that health budgets have increased significantly in the same period are under renewed fire. The Department of Health comm
Shabba remembers Khabzela, tests negative for HIV: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 13, 2004; Yfm DJ Shonisani Shabba Muleya remembered Khabzela on Friday when he underwent an HIV-Aids test in front of a television crew and journalists. The event was not as rosy as it may sound. Before the test Shabba looked very unsettled. He moved around with a cellphone glued to his ear, and avoided questions. He continuousl
'Ga lo bolo go ja': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 6, 2004; Opposition parties in Africa are always complaining that governments, secure in overwhelming majorities in their legislatures, ride roughshod over them. But many Southern African politicians point out that it is also crucial that opposition parties present themselves as credible - and better - alternatives to the exist
HIV/Aids barometer - February 2004: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 5, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 55 869 996 at 11.43am on Thursday February 5, 2004 Doing it for themselves: British actress Emma Thompson, former Irish president Mary Robinson and UNAids executive director Peter Piot on Monday launched the Global Coalition on Women and Aids to raise awareness and increase HIV/Aids
Adding up the Aids toll on 'my traitor's calculator': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 3, 2004; Nathan Geffen**; The recent publication of a Kenyan government study that shows a lower infection rate than previously thought in that country (6,7% versus 9,4%) and misleading articles by Rian Malan in noseweek and The Spectator have caused some concern over the accuracy of South African HIV statistics. But the evidence is overwhelmin
'Now I will live longer': Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 23, 2004; Xolile Maliti, a former driver, bulldozed his way past attempts by onlookers to extract pompous comments last week when he became the first HIV-positive patient to receive medicine in the long-awaited national roll-out of anti-retrovirals. He steered straight to the core of the matter: It will let me live longer, said
How war on rape was damaged: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 23, 2004; It must have seemed all innocent - the kind of fun people get up to when they are at distant locations far from spouse and family, and free of collegial restraint. There were the Saturday afternoon snacks, the nightclub, the post-midnight drinks. Then came the now infamous 3am SMS - whose intended purpose we will never
A race too close to call: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 16, 2004; The Inkatha Freedom Party and its leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, enter the coming election fighting to keep control of KwaZulu-Natal, and their future as a national political force. The African National Congres has made it clear it intends to win control of KwaZulu-Natal - where the legislature is finely balanced betwee
HIV/Aids barometer: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 15, 2004; Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 55 567 767 at noon on Thursday January 15, 2004 Testing the faith: The Grand Seminaire de Montreal, a Catholic seminary, will this year begin requiring all men who apply to study to become priests to take an HIV test, the Montreal Gazette reports. The Reverend Marcel Demers said that
Yfm DJ, HIV activist dies: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 14, 2004; Mmanaledi Mataboge; Yfm DJ Fana Khabzela Khaba died of an Aids-related disease on Wednesday. Khabzela, as he was affectionately known, died at the Johannesburg General hospital where he had been receiving treatment since December 26, a day after a Christmas party in his honour at Who Zoo nightclub in Midrand raised R48 000 for his medical
South Africa: the tower of babble: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 12, 2004; There we were last week, engrossed in a political storm over celebrations taking place on an inconsequential Caribbean island. Much heat was generated as a chorus led by Tony Leon and his Democratic Alliance colleagues slammed President Thabo Mbeki s visit to Haiti and presidential advisers all but stopped short of lab
Shifting into high gear: Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - January 2, 2004; The African National Congress is determined to win an overwhelming majority in the 2004 elections - including outright control of all the provinces - to clear the way for it to kick its plans for the social and economic transformation of the country into high gear. The ANC s election campaign will be launched in KwaZul

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