It’s not cheap motels or the back seats of cars, but the marriage bed where the new high-risk sex takes place in Uganda, delegates attending a conference on scaling up Aids services, held in Kigali, Rwanda, heard this week. Dr David Apuuli, director general of the Uganda Aids Commission, warned that marital sex accounts for 42% of new infections.
Libya’s Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will issue its final verdict next month on six foreign medics on death row for allegedly infecting children with Aids, but an official involved in the case said an out-of-court settlement could be reached as early as this week.
Less than 5% of Zimbabwe’s industrialists believe the country will recover from its deepening economic crisis in the next three years, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Southern African country is in its eighth successive year of recession, marked by the world’s highest inflation rate at above 3 700% and which has left four in five people without jobs.
The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the controversial Public Service Amendment Bill, despite the objections of most opposition parties. Essentially, the Bill provides for a single public service at national and provincial levels and allows for secondment of employees.
When public-service trade unions decide whether to accept or reject the government’s final pay offer on Wednesday it will not be ”one union, one vote”. Voting rights are assigned by the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council to unions according to the size of their membership, and a majority (50% plus one) is needed for a deal.
South African businesses had little good to say about the country’s schooling system, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Private-sector employers had ”grave reservations” about its overall quality, indicated the research by the Centre for Development and Enterprise survey.
Thursday will be the shortest day of the year — the winter solstice — the South African Weather Service said. The solstice marks the astronomical beginning of the southern hemisphere’s winter, said spokesperson Garth Sampson on Wednesday. At exactly 8.08pm on Thursday the sun would be at its furthest point from the equator.
Biotech crops giant Monsanto has been ordered to withdraw an advertising claim that no negative reactions have ever been reported to genetically modified foods. The Advertising Standards Authority made the ruling this week in response to a consumer complaint lodged against a Monsanto South Africa print ad.
Bulls captain Victor Matfield, playing in his 58th Test, has been named to lead the Springboks in their Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. Significantly, the man widely tipped to take over from the injured John Smit, Bobby Skinstad, has not been included in Jake White’s 22-man squad.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been teed up to resume their rivalry in the Wimbledon final after being named as top seeds for this year’s men’s singles. Federer, who will begin his bid for a fifth straight title on centre court at the All England club on Monday, beat Nadal quite comfortably in last year’s final.