Mbuyisi Mgibisa

Crime has been hitting the front page news during the past few months. Yet it is not an area corporations are budgeting big bucks for in their corporate social investment (CSI) budgets. Safety and security only got 1% of CSI funding overall, though 26% of CSI programmes are involved in safety and security programmes, reports The CSI Handbook.

Residents fear an imminent and severe water shortage throughout Limpopo province in the wake of recent water cuts and shortages in the Polokwane municipality. Simon Mokoatedi, the municipality’s spokesperson, confirmed that it is experiencing a dilemma, but said the problem is limited to high-lying areas.

A combination of factors including complacency, the departure of leftist stalwart and former ANC provincial chair Makhenkesi Stofile and his deputy Enoch Godongwana, and alleged patronage lie behind the dramatic defeat of the leftist, pro-Zuma faction of the ANC in the Eastern Cape.

"Men think that seeking legal protection is a woman’s thing only," says Nombulelo Mkhuma, a paralegal at Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre. A new study points out that both men and women are affected by domestic abuse in their families, although they experience it differently.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/291293/aidsday06.gif" align=left>Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s expected return to office after three weeks of illness has raised fears that the progress recently made by the government and civil society in the HIV/Aids arena could be jeopardised. The trepidation arose after Tshabalala-Msimang launched an attack on her deputy.

Relatives of the 21-year-old woman who has accused ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe of sexual harassment are pressing her to drop the charges and return to Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape to face a traditional court. If the court finds Goniwe guilty, said a family spokesperson, he will be fined five cows.

Jaycee Nxamakele, the former mayor of Matlosana in Klerksdorp who recently committed suicide after killing his wife and children, may have been targeted for a political purge by an ANC faction in North West nicknamed "the Talibans". Perceptions that factional plotting was responsible for the tragedy sparked pandemonium at Nxamakele’s funeral.

There was a time when the tiny town of Alicedale in the Eastern Cape was a major railway junction between Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. Now private-public investment to rejuvenate Alicedale, which started becoming a ghost town, and drastically reduce unemployment by 75% has yielded no results for many locals.

Winner of the Steve Biko Memorial Award Mbuyisi Mgibisa argues that many South African community radio stations are neglecting their public role, with a number of journalists doubling as sales reps and marketers.

It doesn’t surprise David Bullard that he was passed over as an MC for the Mondi awards, ‘cos he’s always said what’s really needed is a writing award that encourages new talent rather than backslaps the same old names every year.

Thabo Mbeki visits a community crossing the digital divide, writes Mbuyisi Mgibisa Ten years ago, Tsilithwa locality was one of the least desirable addresses in the Transkei. It had been stricken by poverty, unemployment and disease. Adult illiteracy was widespread and the drop-out rate of learners from school high. Today, it is an attractive, stable […]

Mbuyisi Mgibisa finds that converted buses may be tomorrow’s classrooms for Eastern Cape rural schools Deep in the rural area of Transkei, 35 kilometres from Umtata, Vukani Senior Primary School still experiences a shortage of textbooks and furniture as well as the need to renovate classrooms. School principal, Mavis Nomvuyo Ngxambula says the school received […]

Eric Njokweni attended school with Mandela in 1938 and 1939 during Level 4 and 5 classes (Grades 11 and 12) at Healdtown. Njokweni says Mandela was a friendly and outgoing individual who formed close and lasting relationships with his classmates and the civic authorities in Fort Beaufort. ‘He was an outstanding classmate, a friend and […]