CAIRO: Egypt has been drawn with 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa in the qualifying round of the 2012 African Cup of Nations. The three-time defending champs will be pressed hard to qualify for the tournament to be held in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon after drawing the South Africans. The draw was announced after completion [...]

Eskom price increases 2009-2010 putting the burden of falling profits of international banks on the working class locally. That Nersa (the national energy regulator) is once again excluding the millions of the urban and rural poor from hearings shows that they have already taken a decision to increase electricity rates. South Africa, Africa and much [...]

The SACP has been championing this cause. The first question is why should it be an insurance when the promise was made in 1994 for free health care; Despite relating all the disparities of the current health system, the NHI will not take over any private health facilities or Medical Aids- in fact it promises [...]

For imperialism to suppress the coming working class revolts in SA, they know that they cannot only rely on the Cosatu and SACP leaders, they know there is a growing crisis of legitimacy of the regime, only temporarily set aside by the ‘polokwane’ regime; they need absolute control of the military; that is why they [...]

CAIRO: Another report, same result. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies on Tuesday published a 230-page report detailing torture across the Arab world for 2009. The Arab watchdog signaled out Egypt as one of the worst perpetrators of the “systematic” torture that persists inside its jails and prisons. The institute surveyed 12 nations and [...]

South Africa: On Friday, September 4, the strikers from the post office – members of Communication Workers Union – were peacefully marching past the Cosatu (Congress of South Africa Trade Unions) head office when two policemen, in a police-owned BMW, opened fire with rubber bullets, seriously wounding one of the strikers, Zodwa Maduna. The strike [...]

55,000 clothing workers in South Africa went on strike for 10 days in September this year. At a time other workers were demanding 15 percent wage increases and winning 13 percent, the leadership of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) were only demanding a 7.9 percent increase. At the time, official inflation was [...]