Television producers want regulations to force the SABC to give them a fairer deal — and Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications appears to be listening. ”The [public] broadcaster is close to a monopoly when it comes to commissioning content,” Desiree Markgraaf, the chairperson of the Independent Producers’ Organisation (IPO), told the committee
Researchers have called for a debate on mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women and newborn children in South Africa to protect both the mothers and their infants from the ravages of the virus. Two bioethicists say that between 11 000 and 15 000 babies could be protected against HIV each year if there were a 25% increase in the number of pregnant women tested for the virus.
A newly collated Medical Research Council report cites healthcare workers as saying that 20% of the 23 000 newborn babies who die in South Africa each year could probably have been saved. The bombshell report comes against the background of the dismissal of deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
Turkey’s political identity is facing renewed crisis after the foreign minister and former Islamist, Abdullah Gul, announced he would run for president, the country’s highest secular post. Defying the secularist elite, he resubmitted his candidacy for the job after his first attempt to secure the post prompted a tidal wave of protests that followed a veiled threat of intervention by the army.
Mariam Khamis Adam is huddled on the floor, using giant marker pens to draw a picture of her childhood memories. ”These are flowers,” she says, ”and this is the Janjaweed killing my older brother. This is my other brother, he ran from the house and survived. Later he died of illness.”
Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, deputy manager of the East London Hospital Complex and medical superintendent of the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, was suspended this week for blowing the whistle in the media on baby deaths at Frere Hospital. Zukile Majova spoke to her.
One of the problems with discussing humanitarian intervention is that the term itself means different things to different people. For legal scholars it describes military intervention to come to the aid of people facing acute danger, for humanitarian aid workers it is the impartial distribution of emergency relief.
While the government finesses its plans for sector education and training authorities (Setas), the African National Congress’s (ANC) policy discussion paper has shed light on how 24 Setas could be cut to five. This is being flagged before the Labour Department’s skills-development conference in October.
The floor-crossing window, which opens next month, could diminish further the strength of most opposition parties. For the first time this year the floor-crossing window for national and provincial MPs will coincide with that for municipal councillors. The 11 opposition parties are expected to lose more members to the ruling African National Congress.
Despite turmoil in international markets, the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) raised interest rates another 50 basis points on Thursday, bringing the repo rate to 10% and the prime rate to 13,5%. ”The MPC noted that recent financial market developments in some of the developed economies have had spillover effects on emerging markets including South Africa,” it said in a statement.