Mail Guardian Reporter

It’s been a little more than a year since Stellenbosch University’s postgraduate programme in renewable and sustainable energy studies opened its doors and welcomed its first students. In the department of electrical and electronic engineering, novel electrical machines are studied to be used in wind and hydro-energy applications.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, not exactly a country synonymous with state-of-the-art scientific facilities, is about to get a new multimillion-rand laboratory, which, when completed, will be the envy of the mining world. When completed at the end of this year, the facility will have the capacity to produce 100 000 tonnes annually of copper cathode and 12 000 tonnes annually of cobalt cathode.

Some of South Africa’s leading scientists, science fundis and environmental experts are working on solutions to arrest global warming and help alleviate its effects. Electrical engineer Professor Pragasen Pillay is one of them. He specialises in using science and technology to reduce household waste and is adamant that environmental charity begins at home.

While the developed world has not yet lived up to its commitment to give 1% of its GDP to the developing South, aid flows have increased since 2000, when the pledge was renewed at the <i>United Nations Millennium Summit. A Southern Africa Trust policy brief, Aid Effectiveness: Trends and Impacts of Shifting Financial Flows to Civil Society Organisations in Southern Africa</i>.

Zimbabwe’s government this week said it had signed a "social contract" with business and labour unions, a deal it says will effectively bring an end to years of political and economic crisis within the next six months. But one of the key partners denies ever agreeing to any such deal, while a 50% increase in electricity charges by the state power utility just days after the announcement means industry will find it impossible to keep its pledge to freeze prices.

Zimbabwe’s attempt to strip newspaper owner Trevor Ncube — publisher of the <i>Standard</i> and the <i>Zimbabwe Independent</i> in that country and the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> in South Africa — of his citizenship threatens the ownership of his newspapers and media freedom, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) warned on Wednesday.

Government officials, workers and employers assembled in Geneva for the 19th annual International Labour Conference this month to find solutions to the problems facing workers who fall outside labour regulation.

Township consumers who buy live chickens on street corners run the risk of contracting diarrhoea, skin ulcerations, abscesses and even typhoid fever. The health risk emanates from factory farms that dispose of old livestock by selling it to township vendors.

A new partnership has been formed to ensure that the community of the Mutale Valley, Limpopo Province, benefits from the expected influx of tourists wanting to experience the December 4 total solar eclipse