In its latest report on land restitution issues, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) describes the situation as worse than the one faced in 2005. It says the country faces two possible situations, one where nobody wins, and one where everyone loses. Either way, they are both unwanted results for the government, since they jeopardize agricultural production, investor confidence, race relations and the prospects for South African’s rural poor.

The report also expresses serious concern in relation to recent developments in the Land Affairs Department and predicts an agricultural production decline as a result of a struggling land reform strategy. The executive director, Ann Bernstein also expresses concern with the current situation. With the economic viability of many areas in jeopardy, Bernstein warns for more serious consequences that could affect the economy and society as a whole, since food and commodity prices have been raising lately.

The research focused mainly on the sugar, timber and fruit industries. It also states that the land redistribution reform has been taking place too slowly in order to meet the government’s expectations that by 2014, 30% of commercial land in the country would be owned by black South Africans. From 2004 to 2007, state redistribution increased from 4,3% to 4,7%. Bernstein stated that the goal for 2008 will not be met unless there is a bold intervention.

Furthermore, the program has been suffering some harsh critics, that the restitution prices are unfair and that white farmers are taking advantage of what was to be benefiting black farmers.

The Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) released a report on HIV rates in the country. According to it, an estimate of 5,6 million South Africans are in infected this year. The organization claims its mortality statistics are similar to the one released in February by Statistics South Africa.

The ASSA’s model estimates that 20% of the population between the ages of 20 and 64 are HIV-positive. It also says that 510 000 new infections should happen this year, while 370 000 deaths related to AIDS will occur in the same period.

Furthermore, the research stated that KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the highest rate of infected people (1,6 million), while Western Cape is the one with the lowest rate (300 000). Eventhough the ASSA’s numbers were lower than the ones reported by the Developmet Bank of South Africa, the situation is severe.

The South African health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced a project to assure the quality of medical treatment and other services in public hospitals. The hospitals will be evaluated not only on safety matters, but also on medicine storage and handling and on the methods of preventing infections. The way patients are treated the complaint handling will have to be improved by the hospital’s staff.

In order to improve these weak areas, hospital CEOs will receive reports on a regular basis. This year, the government has allocated 8 billions to revitalize 47 hospitals across the country.

Gilbert Marcus, the lawyer acting on behalf of those discriminated by this law, said in court that it is impossible to have na HIV-free army South African National Defense Force (SANDF). SANDF’s current policy prevents any HIV-positive person hired, deployed externally or being promoted in the armed forces.

The lawyer asked the court to declare such policy unconstitutional, and to appoint and promote those affected by this. Furthermore, he requested that the SANDF reformulates its policy within six months.

Moreover, it was brought up that being HIV-positive doesn’t mean the person is sick, and the army’s policy assumes that such people ar not ready for combat just by it’s HIV status. The SANDF admits their policy is discriminating, but it argues that it is based on the special nature of the military.

Base don the army’s policy of accepting gays only if their sexual preference is kept secret, a large amount of women have been dismissed from the military last year. The number of women in the institution is relatively small compared to men. However, they were responsible for almost 50% of the dismissals in 2007.

Aubrey Sarvis, executive-director of Service Members Legal Defense Network, na organization that defends the rights of army members, declared being shocked with the rates of women affected by this law, considering they represent such a small fraction of the military. The organization gathered gender related data in order to better explain why the number of women dismissed in 2007 was higher than 2006, but they weren’t able to reach a conclusion.

However, the rates in the last few years represent a decrease compared to the peak in 2001, just before the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With the reduction in the number of members in the troops due to the wars in the Middle East, the military is starting to recognize the need to accept gays in the institution.

The case of sergeants Laci Araújo and Fernando Alcântra Figueiredo brought to light the polemic situation of gays in the army. Their arrest happened after both of them declared their sexual preferences and that they had a stable relationship since 1997 on a TV interview. However, the army’s reason for the prisons accused them of desertion and infringing norms.

The lawyer Ariel de Alves Castro asked the Special Office of Human Rights minister to have the president intervene in the case. According to him, since the president is the also the chief of the army, his cooperation would be extremely important. The lawyer stated that the reasons given by the army for the arrest show how there’s still prejudice in the institution, since other members of the army had less severe punishments.

The death of nine babies by diarrhea in the region of Ndlambe, in South Africa, have been associated to poor hygiene. Although the water has been qualified as poor, the Water Affairs Department stated that it wasn’t enough to have caused diarrhea outbreaks.

The department released a statement saying the deaths should not be associated only to the water, but also to other poverty related factors. The health and water affairs ministers have been working on projects to remedy the situation. It includes awareness campaigns, closer attention to disinfection, among other things.

The murder trial of seven-year-old Sheldean Human was adjourned by judge Chris Eksteen until the final argument in the case is reached. The accused, Andrew Jordaan, is being charged for abducting, murdering and raping Sheldean Human.

Jordaan has pleaded to be not guilty in February last year. However, evidence shows he was the last person seen with Human. Moreover, the police claims he already confessed to the crime, eventhough he says he was tortured and forced by the police to confess.

Jordaan’s version is that he took the girl to play in the park and left her home afterwards. However, the police version is that he raped and murdered Sheldean Human, leaving her in a ditch after.

South African judge, John Hlophe, has been accused of trying to influence the Constituional Court’s decision over some controversial search-and-seizure raids on properties of Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress, and Thint, a French arms manufacturer.

The allegations have been reported on a constitutional court statement released on Friday, May 30^th. It states that the judge Hlophe has improperly attempted influencing the court’s judgment on one or more pending cases.

Zuma and Thint believe they should be granted the right to appeal against a court decision that upheld the raids. Such raids were carried out just after Zuma’s former financial adviser was charged with corruption and fraud.

John Maytham, a radio presenter, said on his show that judge Hlophe has denied the accusations. Other party members believe the judge should be dismissed from his position in case his involvement is proven.

Since we begun to write this blog, we’ve seen with highlights the injustice of our world. We don’t need to sniff around news. They come to us in the newspapers and silly searches. We hope, we are accomplishing our role to show the truth about the lack of access to justice. Lack of access to justice isn’t only the inabilityto reach the Judiciary because you don’t have a free lawyer. It’s more than that, it’s seeing hundreds of people see their property being dragged by the motions, which happen every year, without any action of the government to prevent the results. Access to justice in a lot od cases is about having sources to avoid injustice. It’s not the mother who sees the militaries being punished for sending their children to death, but it’s about those moms who can receive their children safely at home. It’s not the gay couple from the Brazilian army receiving a indemnification in a few years, but it’s them being able to live and work peacefully without military interference. Justice isn’t only repairing. It’s preventing. But justice only prevents and repairs when shown it’s force to ensure rights. Justice can be blind, but it can’t be omissive.