Dr. Marjorie Jobson and Megan Bantjes

The South African No Torture Consortium (SANTOC) was launched on 26 June 2008, International Day in Support of Survivors of Torture. The Consortium aims improve the impact and effectiveness of the torture rehabilitation sector. SANTOC is working to build a strong advocacy movement to pressure the South African government to criminalise torture and to adopt and ratify OPCAT, the Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture.

By Suné Kitshoff

20 June 2008 was World Refugee Day. The theme for this year was ‘Refugee Protection’. For Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), it was a little ironic. In fact, MSF marked the day by placing public messages in major national and regional newspapers, calling for the South African government and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide the necessary assistance and legal protection to Zimbabweans guaranteed under international law.

By Archbishop Njongo Ndungane

The question: ‘What is poverty?’ would get varied responses according to the gender, race, age, and geographic location of respondents. Woven into the responses a central feature would be that poverty is not only about the lack of financial resources, but more centrally about an absence of opportunities and choices which allow people to build decent lives for themselves and their families. This emerged clearly 10 years ago when I was one of the commissioners at the Speak out on Poverty public hearings.

The Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) recently hosted a discussion forum to examine what has been referred to as the crisis at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Focusing on the theme “Can civil society influence the future of the public broadcaster”, the meeting brought together academics and representatives from civil society to find mechanisms to strengthen the public broadcaster.