One of the many places in our society where the fracturing in who counts as a full member of our national public and who does not is immediately visible is Motala Heights near Durban. Motala Heights is nestled into a valley between the factories on the outskirts of Pinetown and a steep hill that leads up to the expensive suburb of Kloof. Some of the people in the valley are poor and live in tin houses that they have built on rented land and some are middle class or wealthy and live in large suburban homes. There is also a shack settlement at the foot of the hill that leads up to Kloof. On Friday last week a bulldozer shuddered up the hill adjacent to the shack settlement, went straight to the Shembe temple and obliterated it. There was no warning of what was about to happen, writes Richard Pithouse on The South African Civil Society Information Service.

The Zimbabwe GNU Watch provides an overview, month by month, of political developments under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The sections profiled in monthly outputs may vary depending on events and issues raised in that particular report. Where possible, the relevant article as stipulated in the GPA has been provided.

More mothers and pregnant women in Malawi are attending antenatal clinics since the increased training of health workers in paediatric HIV care improved services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, and paediatric HIV testing and treatment. 'I was reluctant [about] going for the voluntary HIV [test] when I got my first pregnancy in 2007,' said Fanny Yolamu, whose previous child had been delivered by traditional birth attendants.

Infrastructure finance in Africa is still struggling to claw back to the pre-2008 peak, just before the global financial crisis. A new survey by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows traditional finance models have faltered in the wake of the recession, compounded by political and systemic obstacles that could derail a nascent recovery.

Embattled former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle received a settlement of R3.4-million following his resignation on Wednesday, says the SABC. 'Mr Mokoetle was paid an equivalent of his 12 months' salary which amounts to R3.4-million inclusive of leave and other entitlements as a full and final settlement,' SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said in a statement on Friday.

The ecological and economic crisis of South Africa’s transnationalising capitalist economy is also reflected in increasing hunger, increasing food prices, unhealthy diets and polluting agro-processing food production. Advancing an Anti-Hunger and Food Sovereignty Campaign challenges this reality and politicises the food question in a more consistent way. Such a campaign has to be advanced bottom up, through a participatory democratic logic for democratic left politics. These campaign notes, presented at a Conference of the Democratic Left in South Africa, intend to promote such a process and emerge out of the Gauteng Democratic Left conference held in March 2010.

The roundtable discussion is aimed at bringing together participants from African, Asian and Latin American civil society organisations and movements to discuss the concept of South-South cooperation from a peoples’ perspective. The roundtable will interrogate the challenges and opportunities for people centered South-South cooperation in the context of Southern ‘emerging powers’ and increased intergovernmental relations.

Oxford University’s Master's programme in International Human Rights Law is offered jointly by the Department for Continuing Education and the Faculty of Law. It is conducted on a part-time basis over 22 months. It involves two periods of distance learning via the internet as well as two summer sessions held at New College, Oxford. The degree programme is designed in particular for lawyers and other human rights advocates who wish to pursue advanced studies in international human rights law but may need to do so alongside work or family responsibilities. The aim of the degree programme is to train and support future leaders in the field of international human rights law. A central objective of the course is to ensure that participants not only know but can also use human rights law. The curriculum places roughly equal emphasis on the substance of human rights law, its implementation, and the development of human rights advocacy 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....

South Africa’s recently-awarded tender for antiretroviral drugs halved drug costs for the world’s largest ARV programme. Driven by a better-prepared and more aggressive government, the deal may stand up to criticism better than initially thought. In a country with an estimated HIV prevalence rate of about 18 per cent, more than a million South Africans are currently on ARVs. South Africa will save an estimated 685 million dollars over the two-year life of the new tender.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s state visit to South Africa shows that he is already looking ahead to next month’s national election, which he is expected to win comfortably. With Uganda’s first oil exports expected to start flowing next year, as well as a growing service sector and significant agricultural potential, opportunities for economic cooperation between South Africa and Uganda is likely to dominate discussions during the two day state visit, says the South African Institute of International Affairs.

In early 2011 the World Bank will approve a new education sector strategy amid trends that mean that international goals on education will not be met. Zoe Godolphin of the University of Bristol argues that the Bank’s proposed approach fails conceptually because it does not accept that education is a human right. It also fails pragmatically because it continues to advocate a template approach instead of supporting genuinely country-driven priorities in education planning.

What is going to happen in Egypt on 25 January? People are calling for demonstrations and sit-ins everywhere. Who is going to participate, and where? What are their demands? Isn't it possible that some people are against the whole thing? Global Voices wraps up the Egyptian blogosphere to find out answers to these questions.

Kenya has secured the support of the African Union Commission and Ethiopia in its bid to have the International Criminal Court defer the case against six Kenyans at the International Criminal Court and have them tried locally. AU Commission chair Jean Ping endorsed Kenya’s request, saying it is within the realm of the rights of all ICC member states. Kenya’s Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has been on a tour of African states that the government wants to back the country’s request.

Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised president of the Cote d'Ivoire, has called for a month-long ban on cocoa exports, in an attempt to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who remains president despite being widely considered to have lost the disputed November poll. Anyone contravening the ban will be liable to sanctions, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the government nominated by Ouattara, who is holed up in a hotel guarded by UN troops.

Uganda has approved the setting up of an international university that will partner with institutions from around the world to deliver accredited courses and degree programmes to students in Uganda and other East African countries as well as Southern Sudan and Nigeria. The five member countries of the East African Community, EAC, are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Nigeria's foreign minister on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to authorise force in Côte d'Ivoire as West African nations seek to further pressure strongman Laurent Gbagbo to quit power. Odein Ajumogobia, in an editorial published in Nigerian newspapers, said the crisis 'single handedly precipitated by Mr Laurent Gbagbo ... will inevitably lead to anarchy and chaos, or worse, a full-blown civil war' if not resolved.

RADICAL-8 is an open political think tank blog aiming to trigger a global uprising against war, poverty, and misery in Africa. It advocates a 180º directional change on the continent while simultaneously pushing for peace, progress, and prosperity for all. Ultimately, Radical-8 ambitions to change Africa for the better one day at a time, one intellectual battle at a time, and one mind at a time.

The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) is a non-profit policy institute and grant-making organization that promotes the transparent, accountable and effective management of oil, gas, and mineral resources for the public good. RWI provides expertise, capacity building and funding to help countries maximize the long-term economic benefit of their natural riches.

INTERIGHTS is pleased to invite applications from lawyers for an internship as part of the development and implementation of its work. This is a part-time or full-time placement (three to five days per week) to begin ideally in the first week of February 2011 for six weeks. It will provide an opportunity for a researcher with knowledge of women’s human rights and relevant law to assist our programme in developing a publication with:
- Legal research on international and comparative human rights law and practice with respect to the protection of women’s human rights;
- Researching case law and comparative and human rights standards on women’s human rights
- Compiling indexes for the publication
- Case summaries.