South Africa : News

News : South Africa : News

South African refugee rights group, PASSOP, has slammed local government officials for their handling of this week's outbreak of xenophobic violence near Cape Town, which saw more than 3000 foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, flee their homes. (AllAfrica)

South Africa's main agriculture and farming union has expressed concern about the bilateral investment treaty agreed with Zimbabwe, which is set to exclude South African owned farms that were expropriated by the Robert Mugabe regime during the chaotic land 'reform' programme. (AllAfrica)

The Pretoria government is probing reports that South African mercenaries are training Guinean militia, recruited by the country's military junta on an ethnic basis. (AllAfrica)

Gauteng residents can expect a reprieve from the wet and rain during the weekend. (iafrica.com)

Paramedics had to deal with stabilising deaf patients after a bus rolled several times. (iafrica.com)

Plans to move children from Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church are to be fast-tracked. (iafrica.com)

After watching locals pull out their phones, cops say their next swoop may be more discreet. (iafrica.com)

The South African justice system don't want the 2010 crowds to get in the way of swift justice. (iafrica.com)

It's official. If given a choice, 7 million children would say Madiba and Graca are the best. (iafrica.com)

The South African police force will be exporting their skills to Africa, and charging Norway. (iafrica.com)

JOHANNESBURG Saturday, November 21, 2009 (IRIN) - South Africans are dying younger and in greater numbers, and HIV/AIDS is to blame, according to a report released this week by the South African Institute of Race Relations. (irinnews.org)

JOHANNESBURG Thursday, November 19, 2009 (IRIN) - In less than seven months South Africa will host the world's biggest single sporting event - the FIFA World Cup. The chance to reach millions of local and visiting football fans presents a golden opportunity, not only for the country's business and tourism sectors, but also for its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. (irinnews.org)

JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (IRIN) - Fearing a resurgence of xenophobic attacks, around 2,500 Zimbabwean migrants have taken refuge in government buildings in De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, after some of their shacks in an informal settlement were attacked and demolished, said a police official. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Wednesday, November 04, 2009 (IRIN) - Encouraging the use of traditional African herbal medicines could prevent some of the one million malarial deaths on the continent, according to specialists attending a conference www.mimalaria.org/pamc in Nairobi. Many poor communities, especially in rural settings, cannot afford modern malarial drugs and many people die due to inaccessibility of treatment. (irinnews.org)

KAMPALA Tuesday, October 27, 2009 (IRIN) - The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa is a comprehensive document that will, if ratified, fill a void in international humanitarian law, say experts. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Tuesday, October 27, 2009 (IRIN) - Replacing manual data with electronic health records would significantly improve the quality of care and enable African HIV treatment programmes to be scaled up more efficiently, say the authors of a new article on the subject. (irinnews.org)

MIDRAND Tuesday, October 27, 2009 (IRIN) - Disaster risk reduction as a tool for climate change adaptation is a "technical mouthful" said Rachel Shebesh, chair of the African Parliamentarian Initiative for Climate Risk Reduction. (irinnews.org)

KAMPALA Monday, October 26, 2009 (IRIN) - Seventeen countries signed the African Union convention on internally displaced persons (IDPs) after years of preparation culminated in a week of meetings in the Ugandan capital but a lot more hard work remains before it becomes effective, according to observers. (irinnews.org)

KAMPALA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - With increasing natural disasters, including floods, storms and droughts, hitting the continent, more people in Africa are likely to be displaced, creating a challenge for governments, the UN warns. (irinnews.org)

JOHANNESBURG Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - The availability of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and legislation prohibiting discrimination have helped turn HIV/AIDS into just another chronic disease, but an HIV-positive status can still be an obstacle to getting a loan or buying insurance. (irinnews.org)

KAMPALA Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Civil society and government officials are gathered in the Ugandan capital of Kampala to discuss the Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa and a declaration on refugees, returnees and IDPs. (irinnews.org)

DURBAN Tuesday, October 20, 2009 (IRIN) - Just over three years ago, a group of HIV-infected inmates at Westville Correctional Centre, near the South African port city of Durban, won a High Court battle that forced the government to provide them with life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Forty years after the rights of Africa’s refugees were enshrined in a landmark convention, the continent’s leaders are due to make legal history again by adopting a new instrument to assist people displaced within the borders of their own country. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Africa hosts at least 11 million of the world's 25 million conflict-affected IDPs. Millions more are displaced annually by natural disasters. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most IDPs in Africa have been forced out of their homes by conflict, either between government forces and armed opponents or between communities. (irinnews.org)

NAIROBI Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - The objectives of the Convention (irinnews.org)

DAKAR Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Designed to be safe havens in times of disaster, health facilities are vulnerable to upheaval when catastrophe strikes, according to the UN, which is focusing on hospital safety for International Day for Disaster Reduction. (irinnews.org)

UMSINGA Friday, October 09, 2009 (IRIN) - Three years ago, the Church of Scotland Hospital at Tugela Ferry, in the rural Umsinga area of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province, was the focus of international media attention as the epicentre of a deadly outbreak of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). (irinnews.org)

South Africa's Cabinet has set up a new anti-corruption inter-ministerial committee to assess how the government can deal effectively with corruption in the country's public service. (SouthAfrica.info)

Over 850 arrests have been made since the launch of Crime Line, a groundbreaking anti-crime initiative that allows members of the public to make anonymous SMS tip-offs on suspected crimes at any time of the day. (SouthAfrica.info)

South Africa has welcomed the outcomes of the World Food Summit in Rome, including the adoption of a declaration that will serve as a basis for addressing the challenge of hunger faced by a billion people worldwide. (SouthAfrica.info)