IDEALS

CAPE TOWN, (May 27, 2010) IPS/GIN – A fierce debate has broken out
over claims that the 2010 Soccer World Cup will fuel the
trafficking of women from African and other countries to South
Africa for sexual exploitation during the cup, which starts on Jun
11.

The “Stop 2010 Human Trafficking” campaign being run in South
Africa predicts that 100,000 women will fall victim to human
traffickers during the World Cup and be dragged into the sex
industry. The campaign is an initiative of STOP, a non-profit
Christian alliance. Read the rest of this entry →

KHAYELITSHA, South Africa, (May 19, 2010) IPS/GIN – Neatly paved
walkways, regularly spaced streetlamps, well-designed public
squares and multi-functional, modern public buildings: this kind
of thoughtful town planning is rarely found in South African
townships and informal settlements.

But an innovative urban renewal programme in the country’s third
largest township, Khayelitsha, has transformed parts of the area
- and even helped to reduce crime. Read the rest of this entry →

JOHANNESBURG, (May 19, 2010) IPS/GIN – The department of social
development hopes government will increase the child support grant
based on the outcome of a rigorous nationwide study on the positive
effects the grant has on South African society.

With the field study set to start in September, Thilde Stevens,
acting chief director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the
department of social development, hopes that the results of the new
child support grant evaluation will help convince government to
increase the grant. Read the rest of this entry →

CAPE TOWN, (May 5, 2010) IPS/GIN – “I sometimes drink alcohol
because it makes things funny,” the 15-year-old teenager giggles
shyly. “I go to unlicensed taverns. They sell alcohol without
asking questions.”

The young girl from Mfuleni township 35 kilometers outside of Cape
Town is far from being an exception. Thirty-five percent of South
African adolescents say they drink alcohol, and 29 percent binge
drink. Read the rest of this entry →

CAPE TOWN, (May 11, 2010) IPS/GIN – The abuse of domestic workers,
the majority of whom are women, is still widespread in South Africa
despite calls for the government to intensify the implementation
of the domestic workers law.

The Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector law, which
was promulgated in 2002, set minimum wages and conditions such as
working hours, leave days and compulsory registration with the
Department of Labor.

Despite the law’s eight-year existence, various speakers at a
recent conference on domestic workers noted that this skills sector
is still regarded as casual work by most employers. The May 7-8
conference, titled “Exploited, Undervalued and Essential” and
hosted by the University of Western Cape’s Social Law Project,
revealed sad cases of domestic worker’s rights violations.

A private business

While appreciative of the legislation, the South African Domestic
Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) is concerned with its
poor enforcement. According to SADSAWU Secretary General Myrtle
Witbooi, the private nature of the sector makes it difficult for
them to mobilize workers. The union has 4,500 members out of an
estimated one million domestic workers in the country.

“We believe most workers would like to join the unions but they do
not know about us because they are isolated. They stay at the
backyard of employers’ homes,” Witbooi told IPS.

As a result, most cases where worker’s rights are violated go
unnoticed and unreported. They record little success with the few
cases that come to their attention, due to the slow and onerous
arbitration procedures. In some instances, Witbooi revealed,
employers win due to their influence in the employer-employee
relationship.

The situation is more dire for migrant workers whose lack of legal
status exposes them to exploitation by employers.
Read the rest of this entry →

MASERU, Lesotho, (May 4, 2009) IPS/GIN – The Lesotho government
has embarked on an ambitious program aimed at supporting vulnerable
children whose parents have died in the AIDS pandemic.

In partnership with the European Union and UNICEF, Lesotho is
taking on the challenges presented by an ever-growing population
of orphans.

For the next year, 1200 households in three districts of Mafeteng,
Maseru and Qacha’s Nek will receive a quarterly cash grant of $38
in the pilot phase of this program. The grants are expected to be
extended to similar households in other districts of the country
by the end of 2011, with the main objective being to keep these
children in school by paying for school fees, uniforms, health care
and other basic needs. Read the rest of this entry →

CAPE TOWN, (May 14, 2009) IPS/GIN – Migrant farm workers in South
Africa are entitled to the same workplace rights as any other
employee. But the reality across the country suggests the opposite.

Underpayment, long working hours, poor living conditions and
xenophobia are some of the daily challenges migrants endure. Many
suffer in silence for fear of losing employment or being deported.
Most workers who spoke to IPS are illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe,
a fact that farmers use to exploit them.

“The majority know their rights but the main thing is fear of
expulsion from work,” said Chamu Mpofu, a twenty-five year old
Zimbabwean working at the farm. Read the rest of this entry →

CAPE TOWN, (May 9, 2009) IPS/GIN – With South Africa’s new
president, Jacob Zuma, being inaugurated in a 9 million dollar
extravaganza today, most of the country’s leaders are likely to
still be recovering from the party by the time the sun rises on
May 11, 2009.

All eyes will then be on parliament where the country’s new deputy
president and as yet unnamed cabinet ministers will be sworn in.

There’s unlikely to be any official commemoration to remember the
day that xenophobic violence broke out in Alexandra township one
year ago, spreading throughout the country, leaving scores killed
or raped, and 150,000 destitute and displaced. Read the rest of this entry →

CAPE TOWN, (May 20, 2009) IPS/GIN – Bathed in sunlight on a crisp
autumn morning, the Welgemeen farm in the Ceres district in the
Western Cape province is a shining example in the otherwise patchy
track record of land reform in South Africa.

The export farm is partly owned by cousins Robert and Peter Graaff
(20 percent each) with the majority share (60 percent) owned by 210
people disadvantaged by South Africa’s colonial and apartheid
history. The cousins are scions of a well-known farming family who
has been tilling the land for three generations. Read the rest of this entry →

MIDRAND, (May 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – It will remain
difficult for Africa to address the effects of the global financial
crisis or tackle other problems the continent faces as long as
African countries try to go it alone.

“The progress on the African unification project has been
frustratingly slow,” Ghana’s vice president, John Mahama told
members of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) at the opening of its
11th Ordinary Session in Midrand, South Africa. Read the rest of this entry →