No image available
/ 9 December 2005
Zimbabwe’s health authorities, who have been on high alert for bird flu since October, had their worst fears confirmed when two farms reported outbreaks in the south of the country this week. Initial tests show that the strain of the virus on the farms in Nyamandlovu and Bubi is of the H5N2 type.
No image available
/ 21 November 2005
With just more than a week to the controversial Senate elections in Zimbabwe, there is little sign of campaigning or of the traditional acrimonious exchange that normally occurs between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
No image available
/ 7 November 2005
The long-standing relationship between Movement for Democratic Change president Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy, Gibson Sibanda, is one of the casualties of the party feud over participation in the Senate elections. Their close and more than professional rapport for almost two decades of activism in the labour movement and the MDC has been irrevocably put on ice.
No image available
/ 4 November 2005
South Africa, which tends to view itself as an oasis of democracy in a chaotic continent, may be surprised to find that it has been ranked fourth in terms of media freedom in Africa, trailing Benin, Namibia and Cape Verde. The annual Reporters sans Frontières World Press Freedom index still ranks South Africa a respectable 31st out of 167 countries worldwide.
No image available
/ 28 October 2005
Fashion shows are not often a life-affirming spectacle, with their expressionless, tissue-thin models flouncing up and down the ramp. But, this week, students from the fashion studies department of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) held a fashion exhibition with a difference. They designed and modelled garments made from traditional khanga fabric — with a twist.
In the wake of the Constitutional Court judgement on the legitimacy of pricing controls in the pharmaceutical industry, the Mail &Guradian spoke to pharmacists in the greater Johannesburg area to get their responses to the the decision and what it means for them.
A new organisation called X-heid has been launched at the University of the Witwatersrand to initiate dialogue about transformation. But it has already stirred controversy on campus, with "offensive" X-heid posters having being pulled. One poster depicted a man urinating and was captioned "release it, speak out".
The living conditions of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa have shocked a group of Zimbabwean pastors on a week-long fact-finding mission in the country. They have likened the Lindela Repatriation Centre, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, to a "concentration camp".
South Africa is often considered to be in the unfortunate position of having some of the world’s best laws and poli-cies to protect women and children but an inability to implement them. Take the roll-out of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rape survivors to prevent HIV infection, a lot of dissatisfaction with the programme has been widespread.
No image available
/ 14 November 2003
Iran this week glossed over embarrassing revelations that it had lied to United Nations inspectors about its nuclear programme. The state media and government officials quoted the UN nuclear watchdog as saying that Tehran had recently displayed a more cooperative attitude.