Over 130 people gathered at the Solomon Mahlangu hall in Khayelitsha, Cape Town on 4 February to acknowledge victims of hate crimes. Several organizations joined Free Gender in this event, including HBS, the African Gender Institute, Social Justice Coalition, Triangle Project, TAC, and Gender Dynamix. There was a candle lighting ceremony during which survivors and families of those who have passed due to hate and intolerance were presented with framed portraits.

This toolkit from the Global Alliance on Traffic Against Women provides guidance to NGOs engaging in the CEDAW review process. It hopes to enable NGO reporting to provide more thorough information on the situation of trafficking in women and the exploitation of women migrant workers.

The secretive Shs103 million each MP has received to buy luxury vehicles just when other Ugandans are facing serious economic challenges has drawn widespread public condemnation, reports the Daily Monitor. 'This issue of the vehicles for MPs shows that the 9th Parliament is no different from the rest. It is a shame that they too have turned into vultures,' the Executive Director Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Ms Cissy Kagaba, said.

Testimony before an inquest into a Zimbabwean power broker's fiery death has ended, leaving the last hours of General Solomon Mujuru's life shrouded in suspicion that he was murdered by political rivals. After three weeks of hearings that have been closely followed in Zimbabwe, Magistrate Walter Chikwanha did not say when he would report his conclusions after hearing evidence from 37 witnesses. He can rule the death was accidental or criminal and in the latter case an investigation would be opened. Chikwanha could also declare an 'open verdict', effectively saying he was unable to reach any conclusion.

The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night's sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface. The environmental damage is hitting a region whose poor still rely on the delta's muddy waters for survival. A nearby clinic remains overrun with patients who are showing up with skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems.

Angolan anti-corruption campaigner Rafael Marques has started publishing a slew of investigations. Through a website he calls 'Maka Angola', after the Kimbundu word for trouble or problem Marques spares no blushes. He points the finger at some of the country’s most senior government officials and even President José Eduardo dos Santos’s own children. The reports make uncomfortable reading for overseas companies investing in Angola.

The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided at the weekend to delay Julius Malema’s suspension until its disciplinary committee had heard his submission in mitigation of sentence, party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on 6 February. This followed the decision of the national disciplinary committee of appeals (NDCA) to uphold the guilty verdict against the ANC Youth League president. The NDCA also ruled that the disciplinary case against Malema and five other members of the ANCYL’s NEC be referred back to the national disciplinary committee (NDC) for evidence in mitigation of sentence.

Minerals Resource Minister Susan Shabangu stood up at the Mining Indaba last year and declared: 'there will be no nationalisation in my lifetime'. On Tuesday 7 February she told a packed hall of global delegates with certainty that nationalisation is off the agenda for government and the ruling ANC. Instead, she highlighted the new approach of resource nationalism - a milder form of state intervention that will include a higher tax regime for the industry.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the ruling party will not be bullied into stopping discussion on the nationalisation of mines because it will scare off investors. Mantashe said this as Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel told a high-profile mining indaba in Cape Town yesterday that the nationalisation of South Africa's mines was not an option. 'The mining sector is so fundamentally important as a platform to construct the [upliftment] transition that we can't be able to take this idea of nationalisation forward,' Manuel said.

Men who have sex with men may now be at considerably higher risk of acquiring HIV than other at-risk groups such as female sex workers or young people of either sex, if findings by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) of HIV incidence at two centres in Kenya can be generalised to other populations. The study, which compared the Kenyan populations with a largely heterosexual group from South Africa, also found lower-than-expected HIV incidence amongst female sex workers and their clients. The researchers also found that recruiting MSM into the study was easier than expected, but note that there was a particularly high dropout rate in MSM.

Algeria withdrew military advisors from northern Mali last week in an effort to force a political solution to the Touareg revolt. The Algerian troops were partaking in joint counter-terror efforts, including training and equipment maintenance, and were flown home on an Algerian air force plane last weekend, El Khabar reported. Algeria's decision to freeze military support to Mali came after the country halted counter-terror operations in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu and redirected troops towards areas now in rebellion.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has upheld the membership suspension of one of its prominent youth leaders convicted of causing rifts within the bloc. A panel rejected an appeal on Saturday by Julius Malema, who was found guilty by the disciplinary committee in November and was seeking to overturn the five-year suspension, but it said he could seek a lighter sentence. The suspension effectively curtails the career of Malema, one of the country's most renowned politicians whose calls for a major transformation of Africa's largest economy unnerved investors and drew serious criticism from some ANC leaders.

A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease. Collecting data on malaria deaths is notoriously tricky; the countries where the disease is most prevalent have the weakest statistics. And even where causes of death were recorded, the researchers found many deaths were simply attributed to 'fever' – probably malaria, but possibly not. In addition, a malaria infection is often a contributory cause of death along with other health problems.

FIDA-Uganda is seeking to recruit a Chief Executive Officer with a passion for social transformation for women’s rights, legal excellence, along with strategic vision, drive and excellent people skills.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

It was French interference in the election of the African Union Commission chairperson which cost the incumbent, former Gabonese foreign minister Jean Ping, his job. Asked about foreign interference, Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi declined to mention France by name, but told reporters that it was indeed outside pressure that angered enough African leaders to deprive Ping of the necessary two thirds majority. Ping faced a challenge from South African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, backed by SADC (Southern African Development Community).

Twitter announced last week that it would begin restricting tweets in specific countries if they violated local laws, setting off claims of censorship by IFEX members Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR). Previously, Twitter had to remove a tweet from its entire network if it received a takedown request from a government. But the company said in a blog post published on 26 January that it now has the ability to selectively block a tweet from appearing to users in one country.

The Department of International Relations and Co-operation says it will investigate threats against South African companies with investments in Nigeria by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend). The movement has threatened to attack the holdings of companies including MTN, Africa’s biggest cellphone network operator, and SacOil, an oil and gas exploration company, saying that President Jacob Zuma is interfering 'in the legitimate fight for justice' in the Niger River delta region.

The UN refugee agency said Friday 3 February it was alarmed by recent reports that Congolese civilians have been tortured and killed by armed groups entering camps for the internally displaced in the volatile province of North Kivu. The agency called for more security in and around the camps.

Three African transgender and intersex rights advocacy organizations have formed an alliance to enhance the trans and intersex movement on the continent. The organizations include South African based Gender DynamiX (GDX), Uganda’s Support Initiative for People with atypical Sexual Development (SIPD) and Transgender and Intersex Africa (TIA).