Yearly Archives: 2008

The British high commission has confirmed that it is reviewing the relaxed visa requirements it shares with South Africa. It says that the British government took the decision out of concern that it is too easy to acquire South African travel documentation illicitly. The British are considering compelling South African citizens to apply for visas in advance.

A British church leader’s suggestion that the Bible might endorse gay relationships has raised fresh questions about the scriptural basis for Christian homophobia. The Guardian reported this week that the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, had apologised for objecting, with eight other bishops, to the appointment of gay cleric Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading.

Bucket toilets will remain part of the South African landscape, despite promises by President Thabo Mbeki, premiers and provincial ministers that this dehumanising system will be eradicated shortly. Last year in his State of the Nation address Mbeki promised that by the end of 2007 all South Africans would have access to sanitation.

The marriage between tuberculosis and HIV must be recognised and treated as a union of social — and not medical — diseases if the goal of eliminating tuberculosis in humans is to be achieved, says the head of the World Health Organisation’s Stop TB Partnership.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is ­weighing her options as the country’s deputy president. This has emerged as momentum gathers for African National Congress deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to take her place in ­government. “Her view is that if people feel she is an obstacle, she is willing to get out,” said a source.

Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool’s days are numbered. Either the African National Congress’s (ANC) national leadership will give him a lifeline of another 13 months in office or, if the regional ANC leadership has its way, he could be out within the next few weeks.