Nicola Mawson

A damning report from the provincial auditor general partly reinforces the allegations. The education department concedes that some of its employees have perpetrated ‘fraudulent practices”, but denies that these have any relation to the R700-million under the spotlight. This sum is at the centre of allegations levelled by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu). […]

According to provincial secretary for the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), Ndaba Gcwabaza, it was agreed with the provincial Department of Education and Culture on April 19 this year that 2 133 posts would be advertised on the open vacancy list. The open vacancy list is a list for newly qualified educators. However, Gcwabaza […]

Two years ago Natalie* (14) called a crisis line to say her teacher had been sexually and emotionally abusing her since she was 12. The crisis line, Childline in KwaZulu-Natal, reported the incident to the province’s department of education and culture, and followed up with a monthly reminder. Two years later, the department has taken […]

‘My father … passed away on 1 January 1999. I live with my grandmother. She pays for my school fees from her pension, which is not enough since she also has to look after my aunt’s children and my uncle’s son. We are suffering and there is hardly any food. We request that you give […]

More than half of all the children in the world who are not in school are girls. The highest number of these live in sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia and the Pacific. Worldwide, 121-million children are not in school – and 65-million of these are girls. This is according to a Unicef report released […]

Busisiwe Nhlapo’s house burnt down last year, just three days before Christmas, one of 200 razed as fire swept through Joe Slovo squatter camp in Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg has compiled a booklet called <i>A Better House</i>, to “offer practical advice to communities on how to improve existing rudimentary dwellings”, Masondo said. <i>Earthyear<i> takes a closer look.

How actively do political parties implement sustainable development? Are their promises nothing but hot air? One of the simplest ways to gauge this in the immediate wake of the elections was to check what they planned to do with the thousands of electioneering posters and boards glaring down at voters from lamp-posts around the country.

More eruptions will follow — both at the University of the Witwatersrand and on campuses across the country. This was the warning of student leaders and educationists on Thursday, as a tense truce descended on Wits after days of student protests, clashes with police and several arrests.

"My father … passed away on 1 January 1999. I live with my grandmother. She pays for my school fees from her pension, which is not enough since she also has to look after my aunt’s children and my uncle’s son. We are suffering and there is hardly any food. We request that you give us rations and education grants."

After three-and-a-half-years of negotiations over children’s access to child support grants, a children’s rights organisation is set to take the government to court. Since 2001 the Department of Social Development "has completely strung us along", Laura Markovitz, project coordinator at the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (Acess), told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>.

Children trapped by poverty in South Africa’s poorest provinces are still being denied state support — despite President Thabo Mbeki’s promise last year that millions more children would be included in the social security net. Ineffective provincial administration is preventing poor children from benefiting from the extended Child Support Grant.

Eight out of every 10 applications for a firearm licence made by a black South African is turned down, according to the Black Gun Owners Association. Abios Khoele, chairperson of the one-year-old association, told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> that the granting of licences is "like a competition" for applicants who feel that they are taking part in a random selection process.

Two years ago Natalie (14) called a crisis line to say her teacher had been sexually and emotionally abusing her since she was 12. The crisis line reported the incident to the province’s department of education and culture, and followed up with a monthly reminder. Two years later, the department has taken no action.

She wasn’t really political, she says, but she was involved in the shattering political events of 1976 — and the famous photograph of a youth shot dead by police flashed her face around the world. Nearly three decades after the Soweto Uprising, the <i>M&G</i> meets the girl in the photograph that defined an era in our history, the sister of Hector Pieterson.

Gender activists have welcomed the apparent U-turn by the government on the reintroduction of a clause in the Sexual Offences Bill, which will guarantee that rape survivors receive post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment at state health facilities.

Tree-lined avenues walled with six-foot stockades and electric fencing in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs hide lush green gardens. What many are not aware of is that a network of Malawian green fingers tends the city’s greenbelt. Samuel Jere is one such carer of the rolling lawns of the City of Gold.

The media have recently reported extensively on the furore surrounding global group Parmalat, leading to speculation about the certainty of the company’s prospects in South Africa. Parmalat South Africa has said it is not in any financial difficulty, but other parties, including a local union, disagree.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=29402">Parmalat chaos still spreads</a>

Police around Gauteng reported a quiet Christmas this week, with no major crimes having occurred around the province. A provincial spokesperson said the only serious incidents over the Christmas period were four family-related murders. But, People Opposing Women Abuse say that calls have doubled since December 15.

Like the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo’s budget speech of two years ago, Tiyiselani Manganyi seems a long forgotten memory. Masondo promised that by 2030 the lives of Jo’burg’s children would be dramatically different. Tiyiselani was to be a symbol of this brighter future.

South African shoppers are expected to spend R340-million online this year — an expected 40% increase from last year. Internet expert Arthur Goldstuck expects these figures to continue increasing dramatically each year. This is due to an influx of new players and aggressive marketing strategies.

A grassroots news agency, Simbani, will begin providing community radio stations next week with information produced by Africans about Africa. Launched late last week, Simbani African News Agency — meaning talk in ChiChewa, which is spoken in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique — is an Amarc Africa initiative, says Gilles Foadey, the agency’s editor-in-chief.

The attempted forced removals that led to violence erupting in the Themelihle squatter camp in Lenasia this week arose over claims that the settlement is built on dolomite that can be prone to sinkholes. A number of people were injured when police fired on squatters opposing the forced evictions.

A centuries-old Tswana settlement that provides unique insight into tribal custom has been unearthed near the farming town of Brits in North West Province. The settlement was discovered during the construction of a pipeline to provide water to the people of Mmakau.