The Indian president, Pratibha Patil, made a speech at the Access to Justice for Women conference in New Delhi saying social awareness and education are the key to justice for women. She said that united, women could make the world a more peaceful place.

Pratibha Patil also recognized the role of NGOs in fighting for women’s rights, and suggested the creation of a movement with the spirit to develop society. Finally, she added that schools and colleges play a major role in the education of women.

New Delhi was the host for the “Access to Justice: Law Policy and Institutions”, a three-day international conference organized by the UNPD, the Yale Law School and Legal Education and Research Society (LEARS), a Delhi-based NGO. The conference, which had its opening speech made by the Union Minister of Law, H. R. Bhardwaj, discussed the strategies to strength the inter-linkage between legal research and practice in order to ensure access to justice to the poor. It also deliberated on topics such as the independence of the judiciary, judicial reforms and the effectiveness of formal and informal disputes.

The Nigerian foreign minister, Ojo Maduekwe, says he will press the South African government to compensate those Nigerian citizens who were victims of the xenophobic attacks that have been occurring. The Nigerian Mission has already assembled a list with the names of their citizens who lost their properties or had their shops looted. No Nigerians were killed in the attacks. Along with the South African Red Cross and other relief agencies, they have been providing aid to those affected.

South Africa’s deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, apologized for the events for the first time, and expressing the government’s concern with the situation, while in a visit to Nigeria. Furthermore, he stated that the government rejects the view that the social problems occurring in the country are a consequence of the immigration.

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, called on the G8 countries to join Japan in its decision to support the Nepad (New Partnership for Africa’s Development). The socio-economic rescue plan for the African continent was adopted in 2001, and has the goal of reducing poverty by promising good governance in return for support from developed countries.

Japan’s support was publicized at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, where it was agreed that the continent should aim to double its rice production within a decade and expand its irrigated land, with Japan’s aid, in the next five years.

Mbeki said that other organizations, such as the World Bank, have committed themselves to help, and that the G8 countries should follow their example. Japan will be hosting the next G8 summit, and plans on convincing other members of the group of participating as well.

The Free State farmers along the Lesotho border went to court to defend their rights to a “functional society”. The rising crime rates in the area have led the organization to threat going to court against the government for the past three years.

Louw Steytler, president of the organization, stated that the farmers haven’t been able to produce in the region due to the situation. He also said the government had enough time to take action to fix the situation; therefore, the legal action the group is taking is reasonable. The farmers want the government to patrol the area and keep the fences and roads on the country’s border.

The South African Parliament tabled a draft Expropriation Bill, in which property expropriation can be done in the public interest. The memorandum attached to the Bill says “expropriation in the public interest … provides government with a tool to achieve … land reform and to bring about equitable access to all of South Africa’s natural resources”.

Before, expropriation was narrowed to public purpose. With the new Bill this scope should be broadened. The Bill also talks about a just compensation for the expropriated land. It should take into consideration the property’s current use, the reason for the expropriation, how the land was acquired and the market value. Furthermore, if there is no agreement on the compensation cost, an expropriation authority can determine it. But this decision can be appealed in court.

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.