South Africa

Zuma’s ANC rejected calls by the opposition to remove the president in November’s no confidence vote [Image: GCIS]
An embattled President Jacob Zuma, who has faced challenges to his leadership both within and outside his party, on Sunday called for the African National Congress to unite as it moves forward to lead South Africa.
“Our people have told us that we come across as too busy fighting one another and do not pay sufficient attention to their needs,” Zuma told thousands of supporters attending a conference to celebrate the ANC’s 105th birthday.

With water sources drying up in Zimbabwe, access to clean water has become more important as communicable diseases like typhoid threaten many communities in Africa [Xinhua]
South Africa has on Friday issued a health warning against typhoid fever, following an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Zimbabwe.
The country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said it hoped to raise awareness of the highly contagious disease among travelers and medical professionals.
The NICD, however, said a typhoid outbreak in South Africa is not anticipated.

A weakened rand coupled with global oil production output has meant that South Africans will see higher prices at the pump this year [Xinhua]
South Africa is set to raise petrol prices by four per cent starting Wednesday the country’s energy department said in a statement.
Starting January 4, the price of petrol in the country will be approximately 50 cents higher per liter.
Diesel prices will also increase by 3.5 per cent, adding 39 cents to the price per liter.

They had to kill him to prolong the life of apartheid.
— Nelson Mandela

Did Canada lead the international charge against apartheid and white rule in South Africa or criticize a country that, in fact, did?
Recent commentary about Canada’s policy towards southern Africa’s liberation struggles distorts history that should inform debate over Canada’s planned military deployment to the continent today.

Something about pizza, toxic armories and the future of farming + this day in history w/"A date which will live in infamy" and our song of the day by Robyn Hitchcock on your Morning Monarchy for December 7, 2016.

South African President Jacob Zuma has been at odds with some members of parliament recently in regards to his ties with a powerful business family [Xinhua]
The South African Parliament’s Finance Committee said on Tuesday that the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill, a key piece of legislation that President Jacob Zuma had sent back to the parliament last week, was constitutionally viable.

By Ron Jacobs | CounterPunch | December 2, 2016 The movement against South African apartheid was perhaps the most universal and popular movement in the western world in the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands protested in a multitude of ways—from letter-writing campaigns to shantytown occupations of city squares and college campus greens. Institutions of all types, […]

South Africa’s clinical tests are the most serious effort to find a vaccine in a decade [Xinhua]
South Africa, which has the highest population of people living with HIV in the world, announced on Wednesday that it was embarking on a new set of trials to find vaccines for the potentially deadly virus.
The announcement came on the eve of World AIDS Day – an international commemoration to mark the millions of deaths of people who succumbed to AIDS, and the ongoing efforts to find a cure.