initiative in Southern Africa, if not on the African Continent. After years of debate under the government of President Zuma regarding how best to deal with the HIV/AIDS problem, it is encouraging that government is now taking a clear stand on dealing with this problem. The details of the HCT programme will be unveiled in April, but what we know so far is that the campaign will target South Africans aged 12 years and older. Finding a Cure
At the heart of any effort to alleviate the HIV/AIDS programme is the extent to which the HCT will deal with the issue of prevention against infection as well as the treatment of those who are already infected. It is my hope that the details of the HCT reveal a plan that deal with both prevention and treatment as opposed to one versus the other. Unfortunately as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned we can not really talk of a cure as none exists at this stage. Indeed now that a plan will soon be in place to deal with the immediate problem of HIV/AIDS in our society, the debate about what causes AIDS must still continue with vigor and perhaps in time the Department of Health will see it fit to invest money in the research required to discover and development of a cure for AIDS
and an antidote against the Human Immuno Virus.
and an antidote against the Human Immuno Virus.
(SAPS). South Africa is a country that is not at war, certainly not with any of its neighbours, it is therefore not surprising that the well-trained men and women of the SANDF find themselves with little to do. My guess is that, currently the SANDF is largely involved in patrolling our borders, in intelligence gathering as well as in counter intelligence initiatives. Such activities leave the SANDF with plenty of resource capacity, the kind of capacity which makes it possible for the Army engineers to embark on the building of much needed bridges for civilian use. Indeed, it is my hope that the SANDF extends its services to more civilians across our country.
. According to 
have generated around the even in South Africa. However, the real measure of the World Cup will be the number of tickets sold and the television audience figures attained both in South Africa and around the world. I have no doubt in my mind that despite the low levels of hype and media activity, FIFA will make a profit from this event and soccer fans will come to SA in large numbers to the benefit of our economy. The jury is still out as to the number of foreign visitors who will enter our shores, with the initial figure of 450,000 having been revised down to around 350,000 visitors. 
reached boiling point round about the same time that South Africa was in the home-straight in the country’s race towards its first democratic elections on 1994. Of the three conflicts, Rwanda was by far the worst, based purely on the sheer number of deaths, estimated to be over 800 thousand after the dust had settled, although some argue that the true statistics will never be known. The UN later declared the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda as genocide and crimes against humanity. What is striking about the three conflicts, is that the initial acts of violence were perpetrated by forces internal to those countries, forces which pit one ethnic group against the other. In each of these three cases, the conflict symbolized a country at war with itself. Many countries around the world invest al lot of resources in the establishment and maintenance of armed forces, primarily to protect against an external threat. South Africa is no exception, with more government expenditure allocated towards the Army, Nany and Air Force, combined, than to the SA Police Services (SAPS).
, the United Nations and the world in general failed to intervene until extensive damage had been inflicted and thousands of lives were lost. It is my fear that unless our government acts swiftly, as the crime rate continues to escalate in South Africa, government may soon find itself fighting an internal all-out war against the criminals. Many would argue that it is the task of the SA Police Services (SAPS) to deal with this internal threat called crime, this argument remains valid for as long as crime is contained to the minimum and law-and-order in maintained. I my view, it is only a matter of time until crime gets so far out of hand as to cause a real threat to our national security. Enter the armed forces. I think time has come for the armed forces to be beefed up and used side-by-side with the SAPS to help reduce the levels of crime in our society. Somehow I have a feeling that the presence of heavily armed men and women in brown uniform would serve as a better deterrence to criminals than the men and women in blue. Indeed, the last thing we want is a police state, with autocratic rule but time has come for drastic action against crime and criminals. Without sounding too alarmist, death statistics as a result of crime are piling up and we can not wait until we have a situation similar to Somalia, Bosnia or Rwanda before appropriate action is taken by our government, our democracy is far too valuable to take that risk.
. To be specific, the President’s pronouncement about the need to reflect on morality in our society came soon after news broke that he had recently fathered a child out of wedlock. This news made the pronouncement very ironic, to say the least. However, even more shocking, is that the President continued to add further irony to his drive for a moral society when he refused to declare his financial interests, as any person who holds an elected office in South Africa is required to do by law.
to see how extensively polls were used by major media houses such as CNN, Newsweek and Time Magazine to predict the outcome of those elections. Over time, the polls showed very clearly that Barack Obama would win the election over his rival John McCain, the only thing the polls differed was the margin by which Obama would trounce McCain. What is more interesting however, is that Obama’s success in the elections came as a direct result of his fanatical use of public opinion polls to assess the issues that the American electorate deemed important for their new President to address. The Obama campaign picked up much earlier than the McCain camp did that the polls were pointing towards the economy as the most pressing social issue and the Obama campaign strategy was then shaped largely around how he would address the economy if elected President. The rest, as we now know, is history.
, indeed more recently there has been a move by the larger research houses such as Ipsos Markinor and TNS Research Surveys (TNS) to carryout polls with a political, social or economic interest. TNS regularly publishes results of polls that it carries out ranging from people’s opinion on the upcoming FIFA World Cup to people’s opinions on Government performance. It would be interesting to establish how many of our politicians pay attention to such polls in an effort to keep their fingers on the pulls of what the electorate is thinking. In South Africa, polls remain largely the domain of research houses with the media owners playing little to no role in leveraging their extensive reach to continuously test public opinion on social, political and economic issues. In a society like ours which is still in transition, I believe polls would play a big role in helping to keep politicians in check. My point of departure is that the more pervasive public opinion polls are the more politicians and social leaders would have to pay attention to addressing the issues that society deems pertinent.
has been in the news for a number of reasons but specifically for his recent State of the Union Address as well as the national budget speech, presented by Minister Pravin Gordhan. Having access to the Internet meant that it was easy for me to simply visit the 
have been publishing the details of their budget (as paid-for-advertising -see pic above) in the print media. A recent example is Gauteng’s Department of Finance which published an easy to read illustration of the provincial budget. Indeed, it could be argued whether or not the details of the provincial budget has any impact on the day-to-day existence of an average citizen however, I believe the gesture is more significant in that it seems to pint towards an attitude of increased openness on the part of government. Whatever the reasons, I have no doubt that those far flung members of the electorate will find themselves better informed about how government intends to spend their taxes. It is my hope (and I challenge government on this) that come the end of this fiscal year, the provinces and government in general will be more willing to divulge the details of how the budget was spent relative to the promises made as this would be a true measure of government’s openness. 
. I my mind, South Africa will host a successful world cup, one that will make the citizens of the world and football lovers all over, proud to be part if the human race. The countdown has certainly started and I say, Woza 
, Woza!