Quelling xenophobia in South Africa's townships

PHILIPPI, 14 May 2013 (IRIN) - This week marks five years since tensions between foreigners and South Africans living in impoverished communities across the country erupted in xenophobic violence, leaving more than 60 people dead and tens of thousands displaced, their homes and businesses robbed and abandoned. full report

South Africa's flawed asylum system

JOHANNESBURG, 30 April 2013 (IRIN) - South Africa attracts the largest number of asylum seekers in the world, but grants refugee status to very few of them, ranking only thirty-sixth in the world for the size of its refugee population, which the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) puts at about 58,000. full report

Shortages of new one-a-day ARV pills in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, 19 April 2013 (IRIN) - Just days into the rollout of fixed-dose combination (FDC) antiretrovirals (ARVs) by South Africa’s HIV treatment programme - the world's largest - activists are raising fears of drug shortages. full report

TB testing in South Africa rolling out slowly

CAPE TOWN, 26 March 2013 (IRIN) - South Africa will expand its rollout of GeneXpert tuberculosis (TB) testing machines, which can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB within 90 minutes, but concerns remain about the capacity to back up this commitment with supplies and treatment. full report

Southern Africa cracks down on TB in mines

JOHANNESBURG, 25 March 2013 (IRIN) - South Africa's gold mines are estimated to have the highest number of new tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world, making the disease a leading export to neighbouring countries. IRIN takes a look at the declaration meant to change this situation. full report

Aid for Trade - does it help the poor?

LONDON, 12 March 2013 (IRIN) - Since the World Trade Organization launched its Aid for Trade initiative in 2005, an estimated US$200 billion dollars of development funding has been mobilized for the programme. But some NGOs are asking whether Aid for Trade really helps reduce poverty. full report

African migrants pay high prices to send money home

JOHANNESBURG, 27 February 2013 (IRIN) - New data from the World Bank has revealed that African migrants pay more to send money home to their families than any other migrant group in the world. full report

Analysis: Refugees aim for self-reliance, not hand-outs

JOHANNESBURG, 6 February 2013 (IRIN) - On the streets of inner-city Johannesburg, refugees and asylum-seekers are participants in a thriving informal economy, plying their trade as tailors, barbers and street vendors. full report

Frederik Ngubane, stateless in South Africa: "It's like my future is on hold"

PRETORIA, 30 January 2013 (IRIN) - Frederik Ngubane, 22, returned to South Africa, the country of his birth, in 2009, after spending his entire childhood in Kenya and Uganda. An orphan, Ngubane had lost all contact with his South African relatives, and soon after arriving in the country he also lost his birth certificate, the only document proving his South African nationality. He has spent four years living as a stateless person, and is now losing hope that his situation will ever change. full report