This backyard library has been one of a a few places our young brothers and sisters get a chance to complete their school assignments and also equip themselves with knowledge by reading. The library is used mostly by children from Hillview, Capricon, and Overcome Heights who otherwise would be loittering the streets with no one to help them with their studies and homework [1]. Recently, the community where this library is based, has seen ongoing violence. Community leader in this area told a local newspaper how shootings in Lavender Hill, Seawinds, St Montague Village, Hill View, Capricorn, Steenberg and Retreat have traumatic impacts on children and vulnerable adults and hpw it affects the education of the children there as it puts a lot of stress on parents going to work, and being worried about their children and their own safety [2] We must stop the dark days from falling on the children of Cape Town. Let's be their light and ask the Mayor to not shut this place of hope down. [1] https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/city-of-cape-town-shuts-down-heros-backyard-library-14258873 [2] https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/lavender-hill-residents-demand-action-over-ongoing-violence-13906152

Most people living with HIV do not disclose their statuses to their sexual partners due to fear of rejection or gender-based violence. This means that the one with HIV may struggle to adhere to treatment leading to poor compliance or virological failure and the one with unknown status is at risk of HIV in case she or he is HIV negative. On the other hand, reproduction is a human right irrespective of HIV status and serodiscordant partners have no access to a program designed to assist them in safely achieving their reproductive needs. Those who want to conceive, considerations in choosing the optimal method to achieve pregnancy include transmission risk, treatment efficacy, and affordability should be prioritized. Research has proven that HIV-negative partners in serodiscordant couples are at risk of HIV infection if the index partner did not receive any intervention. Due to non-availability of assisted partner notification support for HIV positive people who want to disclose safely to their partners and safer conception services for discordant partners, people tend to keep their HIV statuses to themselves and engage in unprotected sex in order to meet their reproductive need. In 2016, World Health Organization (WHO) released self-testing and Partner notification guidelines which state that Voluntary assisted partner notification services should be offered as part of a comprehensive package of testing and care offered to people with HIV. The same year, South African National Department of Health released Health Sector HIV Prevention Strategy that focused on rendering HIV prevention service to serodiscordant couples among other services but until now, there is no guide on service delivery to HIV positive people and their partners even though the 2017-2022 NSP mentioned the need for Assisted Partner Notification and discordant partner support (including Prep). Serodiscordant couples are listed among vulnerable population on the strategy released in 2016 but other groups like truck drivers, inmates, OVC's, survivors of sexual abuse, Young women, and Girls and migrant population have programs specific for their health needs but no services to support people with HIV people and their partners. The Dukashe Family (in the picture - discordant marriage) is fortunate enough because the couple is in the health field and could afford safer conception service even though the wife struggled to disclose the status for a very long time (as most people with HIV do).

Women face huge barriers in pursuing justice for gender-based violence and sexual assault. For too long powerful men have used patriarchy and vast resources at their disposal to maintain a system where it is extremely difficult for women to come forward, and those who do often don’t see justice. Yet, day by day, this system which silences women is being exposed and dismantled. Jennifer Ferguson has already faced challenges coming forward with her experiences of allegedly being raped by Danny Jordaan, including being told by a Police Constable “You can’t report this! Why has it taken so long?” 3. Jennifer Ferguson alleges that when she tried to find justice through mediation outside of court in 2017, Danny Jordaan’s Advocate contacted her child’s father and “...asked if he would be prepared to come forward, off the record, to disclose anything compromising [about] my past” 4. If Danny Jordaan is so innocent, why is SAFA, the organisation he is President of, defending him? Sources [1] http://ewn.co.za/2018/03/29/safa-to-support-danny-jordaan-in-jennifer-ferguson-rape-claim [2] https://www.safa.net/2018/03/29/let-justice-take-course/ [3] https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-03-26-jennifer-ferguson-why-ive-laid-a-rape-charge-against-danny-jordaan/#.Wr0Lp5NuY_U [4] https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-11-01-op-ed-why-danny-jordaans-response-to-rape-allegations-insults-us-all/#.Wr0LpJNuY_U

“When we think about using the toilet, we feel dirty. We feel like we don’t have human dignity, but we have nowhere else to live, so we just have to make the best of it. This is why we are building our own toilets.” Margret Mabene, Mzondi resident. Just recently, reports surfaced that people living in Mzondi informal settlement, Ivory Park, had started a crowdfund so that they could build toilets [1]. This desperation exists across many informal settlements that are scattered across South Africa's cities. Despite this, many people living in informal settlements are overlooked in service provision. There is a growing demand for living space around cities, and South Africa has housing backlogs. People living in informal settlements have rights. The need to grant them access to water and sanitation is a human rights issue. South Africa has the laws that force municipalities to provide basic services. Abahlali BaseMjondolo, in their Harry Gwala court case against the City of Ekurhuleni, are a good example of how people living in informal settlements have used the law to defend their rights. In this case, the people successfully argued that Ekurhuleni had a statutory obligation in terms of the Water Services Act, which requires a safe albeit temporary toilet for each stand, including in informal settlements [2]. It is important for ordinary South Africans to stand in solidarity with those who are marginalised. This is important for the advancement of justice and equity, ideals that are enshried in our Constitution. People living in informal settlements deserve dignity, like all human beings, irrespective of their material condition. [1] Community tries crowd funding to get toilets, Zoe Postman for GroundUp News. March 13, 2018. [2] The right to basic services in informal settlements: Notes on Harry Gwala High Court hearing 12 December 2008, Abahlali BaseMjondolo. Dec 15, 2008.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga proposed to lower the school pass mark for Grades 7,8 and 9 in public schools to help review the entire General Educations and Training Band (GET) phase [1]. Currently, learners who get below 50% in their home language are not allowed to progress to the next grade. A minimum pass rate of 40% means that learners will be promoted while not knowing 60% of their work content. This proposal promotes mediocrity lowers expectations for learners to progress and sets them up for failure in the future when they have to enter tertiary education and standards are higher. Government should look at improving the environment of teaching and address failing infrastructure. This is a quick-fix solution that will merely increase the number of learners who progress through school. It is common knowledge across Mzansi that classes are overcrowded. On top of that, there is an increasing expectation on parents to help their children with homework. [1] https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local/Hillcrest-Fever/are-we-setting-the-bar-too-low-20180313

DUT staff moral is at its lowest because of the failure by management and the council to resolve this matter in a timely and respectful manner. Staff also deserve a decent salary for their living, it is a violation of their rights when they are ignored by the Vice Chancellor, management and the Council as well. This frustrates staff, and as a result they are withholding their labour and the whole university is badly affected. We want our kids to study and we want staff that will attend to our student needs in a manner that truly affirms that DUT is a student centred university of which right now is not the case. The strike is affecting students in so many ways. One of the students, Sphamandla Gumede, when interviewed by Independent News said, "it makes me very angry. At home they don’t understand why we haven’t started studying. They are thinking I am coming to university to just waste money." https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/dut-strike-leaves-students-despondent-13300671

We demand that LGBTQ+ stories be heard. This is an important film, the story of which needs to be heard. Banning this important film reeks of homophobia. We will no longer stand for this abuse of the LGBTQ+ community. Do we also have to burn things and threaten people with murder in order to get our way? South Africa's LGBTQ+ community is still being bullied, this time by traditional leaders and FPB, silencing LGBTQ+ stories and keeping LGBTQ+ people in the closet. We will not accept this. SA's Constitution protects LGBTQ+ rights, but it seems we still need to fight to have a simple story like this told. While this story is set against a traditional Xhosa backdrop, it is a universal story that speaks to all of us, and based on the many awards this film has won, to the world.

Sex work is work, and right now sex workers are calling for solidarity to keep them safe by supporting the call for the full decriminalisation of adult sex work. Some in Parliament support this call and if enough of us make public submissions before the 26th February 2018, we could change the lives of sex workers. Like many other people, Nosipho uses her profession to support herself and her family, to further her studies, to save up for her future and to gain financial freedom and security [1]. But because sex work is criminalised in Mzansi, she and many others, face unsafe working conditions where they face corrupt police who want bribes or rape sex workers in exchange for not being arrested. https://www.youtube.com/embed/dg4l3X9rJHw?ecver=1 This video explains the 4 possible legal models for sex work and why South African sex workers want the full decriminalisation of sex work. Despite the overwhelming evidence showing the ongoing harm caused by criminalisation, the much anticipated sex work report by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) recommends that sex work remains a criminal offence [2]. Now, for the first time in decades, there's a real chance for change. Sex workers and women’s rights groups, like SWEAT and Sisonke, have loudly condemned the report. Parliament's Multi-Party Women's Caucus noted the flaws of the report [3] and the chairperson of the Caucus stressing that the full decriminalisation of sex work is the only model that respects the rights of sex workers [4]. In just a few days, the Women’s Caucus could help determine what the future looks like for people like Nosipho. If we don’t speak out against this horrendous report sex workers may be sent back into danger. There’s only a few days left to make submissions responding to the report. Make sure to send yours through by the 26th February 2018. [1], I am a sex worker: criminalising my work puts me in danger, Nosipho Vidima for GroundUp News, June 14, 2017. [2] Parliament's women's caucus to host sex work summit, Jeanette Chabalala for News24. Feb 9, 2018. [3] Sex work report on prostitution rejected, Nicola Daniels for Independent News. May 30, 2017. [4] Multi-Party Women's Caucus disappointed about law reform commission report on adult prostitution, Ms Masefele Story Morutoa. June 1, 2017.

Katie Hopkins is a white supremacist, a bigot and a racist. Not only does she want to come into South Africa to cover a story that has no factual basis, ie that the farm murders are white genocide and ethnic cleansing of white people, she has also sent offensive tweets about our decorated world champion and athlete Caster Semenya. In the same way that Home Affairs denied homophobic Steven Anderson entry last year, we expect the Department to follow suit in denying Katie Hopkins entry. We already have enough racists to deal with from within our borders.

**UPDATE: The Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled today that the families may not be moved to unstable structures. The Hadebe home in Newcastle, Kwa Zulu Natal will be demolished by Ikhwezi Mining on Friday 15 December 2017. The mine is after the coal in the ground. The Hadebe's and 11 other families were represented by the Department of Land and Rural Affairs who have recently pulled out of the case. The Habede family and its community will be headed to the Pietermaritzburg High Court today, 13 Decemeber 2017, without legal representation. The case will be heard and if the mine wins, these families will spend Christmas in unstable iron structures. https://www.facebook.com/groundWorkSA/posts/2236639909695404

#RhodesWar has been trending since Monday, 11 December, as the public became aware of two female students banned for life from UCKAR because they participated in anti-rape protests in April 2016. The outrageous treatment of student activists at UCKAR who are being systematically excluded and victimized for bringing attention to the failures of management to address the flagrant rape culture on that campus can not be tolerated. We must make sure that womxn activists are not punished for speaking out, taking action and challenging patriarchy in institutions of higher learning and elsewhere. Further this latest attack on student activists represents a wider trend where student leaders are being pushed out of universities for daring to challenge patriarchy, capitalism and calling for decolonised education. These limits placed on hard-won democratic freedoms like the right to protest must be challenged. We must fight for the students who risk everything to fight for us!

We all hate it when data bundles we have bought, are taken away from us after 30 days, or when our data bundle runs out and the networks don't tell us, so it chows our airtime because we are being charged out of bundle rates. Or the fact that those of us who have the least money can only afford small bundles which expire even faster. For too long companies have made up their own rules and ripped us off. But thanks to our Data Must Fall campaign and other voices, ICASA our regulator has published draft regulations that, if implemented in final form, will prevent networks from expiring users’ data for up to 36 months [1]. The likes of MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom mobile are furious with Icasa, and are crying poor, but we know the truth, and we can ensure people power supports Icasa's bold moves. Icasa is asking for public comment on their draft regulations, the deadline is the 3rd January. We need to cease the moment, and demonstrate enough public support for these regulations, so that these greedy companies don’t find a way to undermine our campaign demands. We need to build on the momentum gained by the Competition Commission launching an Inquiry into the high price of data. For three years our community has fought for justice in many ways. Today, let’s once again come together to ensure that the Competition Commission acts to ensure that network providers don’t profiteer on the backs of those who can only afford the smallest data bundles. Consumers get discounts for purchasing many other basic goods in bulk and pay premiums for buying in small sachets. One of the underlying reasons for these price differences is that it costs more to package and distribute these goods in small quantities. Data is not a product at all. The costs of supplying data reside largely in the billions of rands of investment in the mobile infrastructure and the cable backbone that supports it. How this cost is distributed amongst consumers is in the hands of the operators. In principle there is no reason why data should not cost the same whether bought in small or large quantities. The only additional cost of providing small bundles for operators rests on the billing and associated communication costs. ICASA should demand that operators justify the costs associated with small bundles. At the moment the ratio between the best value package and the worst on Vodacom for 30 day bundles is 1:20 on MTN is 1:29 on Cell C is 1:40 and on Telkom Mobile is 1:10. While we support Icasa’s move to ensure data bundles only expire after 3 years, we only support this being implemented if ICASA ensures companies don’t then remove smaller data bundles that low-income earners can afford, or remove these bundles altogether. Basically, Icasa while ensuring data bundles don’t expire for 3 years, must ensure this does not come at the cost of low-income consumers.