Poverty is one of the biggest challenges Southern Africa faces. Here many people still live on less than $1 a day. Last August, the Southern African Development Community summit decided to hold an International Conference on Poverty and Development to develop new policies and mobilise stakeholders in the fight against poverty.

Critics estimate that businesses, and thus the country’s economy, are losing millions of rands each year to HIV/Aids. Research shows that between 10% and 40% of the country’s workforce is infected with the virus, although no exact figures are available. All businesses must consider HIV/Aids awareness programmes, writes Surika van Schalkwyk.

If the economy is giving you a headache, relief, at least in the form of Disprin, is not at hand. The country has been gripped by a Disprin shortage over the past five months. There has been speculation on the possible cause, including suggestions that the product had been contaminated.

On a wall outside a crumbling school in rural Gokwe, central Zimbabwe, a battle is being fought. A youth is pasting a Morgan Tsvangirai poster over graffiti, written in bright orange paint, proclaiming: "Good morning Makoni." A few years ago, this would have been a job done under cover of darkness, and hurriedly.

South Africa’s tap water is of the highest quality, yet we consumed 260-million litres of bottled water in 2006. It takes three litres of water to bottle one litre of water in South Africa, and a litre of mineral water generates 600 times more carbon dioxide than a litre of tap water, not to mention the fossil fuels used in production and shipping.

About 20 000 stolen — but recovered — cars worth an estimated R2-billion are needlessly crushed in South Africa every year. Many are in poor condition, but some are top of their range and in excellent nick. The cars destroyed are those recovered by authorities, but not reclaimed by their owners, usually because they have been paid out the full insurance value.