South Africa

The telecoms regulator has begun issuing new licences that will permit operators to build their own networks, just a week after a court victory clarified the law and opened the sector up to hugely increased competition.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will hand out two types of licences to replace those that became defunct when the Electronic Communications Act was promulgated.

The most valuable version should ultimately be issued to about 300 internet service providers and other voice and data carriers, thanks to a court case instigated by Altech.

Men must learn to respect women's reproductive rights, said Social Development Chief Operations Officer Zane Dangor during the South to South workshop on Reproductive rights.

The Women's Parliament was established to ensure women from different levels of society were able to participate in the political development of the country, according to the Speaker of the South African National Assembly, Baleka Mbete.

Addressing the 2008 Women's Parliament on Monday, Ms Mbete said previously women tended to be marginalised from political development because they were so "busy being the backbone of families" and that they tended to leave the politics to men.

However, the Women's Parliament had enriched the processes in Parliament which affect the lives of many South Africans.

Development Plans (IDPs), produced as a statutory requirement by all municipalities, are local planning processes that are intended to give strategic direction to the work of municipalities. Increasingly, they are being seen as a forum for achieving links between spheres of government and facilitating co-ordinated planning, budgeting and implementation. But are national gender policy directives and guidelines adhered to within local government, in IDP processes and outcomes, and in implementation, and do they benefit women? These are some of the research questions the Human Sciences Research Council aims to address in a study by analysing national and provincial (KwaZulu-Natal) support to local government on gender and integrated development planning. National guidelines and targets are helping to ensure that women benefit from local projects even where local politics and governance processes marginalise women’s voices, ALISON TODES, PEARL SITHOLE and AMANDA WILLIAMSON found during this research project that formed part of an international initiative by the International Development and Research Centre, Canada (IDRC).

This, the South Africa Country Report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 2007 was prepared by Sonke Gender Justice Network on behalf of the Office on the Status of Women, Office of the Presidency, Government of the Republic of South Africa, for the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, New York, March 2007

This Gender policy  aims to combine the vision and principles that COSATU aspires towards, with practical relations in the working workplace and economy, in trade unions and in broader society. The Doucment is a policy framework to guide COSATU's efforts to transform gender relations.  This policy document was debated and adopted and the National Gender Conference (held on 5-7 July 2000).

This Gender Policy Framework outlines South Africa's vision for gender equality and for how it intends to realise this ideal. Like other generic policy documents which are transsectoral, such as the "White Paper on Transforming the Public Service," it is not meant to be prescriptive for the various sectors of government. Instead, it details the overarching principles, which will be integrated by all sectors into their own sectoral policies, practices and programmes. This Framework is presented by the Office on the Status of Women, located in the Presidency, and presented to and passed by, cabinet.

This paper was presented by Commissioner Themba Kgasi at the North West Province Gender Forum meeting in June 2003. The paper highlights the different aspects and responsibilities of South Africa's national gender machinery. It provides a useful background to the establishment of the machinery and it's parts.

The Joint Monitoring Committee on Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women is part of the South African gender Machinery, and must monitor and evaluate progress with regard to the improvement of the quality of life and status of women in South Africa. It does so with specific reference to the Government's commitments to the Beijing platform of action; with regard to the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; and to any other applicable international instruments. It may also make recommendations to both or either of the Houses, or any joint or House committee on any matter arising from the above. This document contains basic information and contact details of members.

Service provider company CloCell Wireless Service Provider has launched South Africa's first mobile social networking platform.

Ubvou is a mobile entertainment-driven social community mobile portal that will offer local content to South African users by combining social networking applications and mobile entertainment products in as user friendly interface.

What makes ubyou unique is that it caters specifically to South African interests, with something for everyone from Pirates to Sharks fans, HHP to Steve Hofmeyr enthusiasts, and everything in between," says Glocell.