The Cape Winemakers Guild vehemently opposes all prospecting and mining in the Cape winelands.  Not only will the proposed mining activities destroy the UNESCO registered Bottelary Renosterbos Conservancy and the vineyards that attract large numbers of tourists to South Africa every year; it will also result in the loss of employment and income for a great many families working on the wine farms in these areas.

Food & Trees For Africa is looking for a Permaculture Programme Manager to start as soon as possible.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the ethics and principles of Permaculture, be effective communicators with polished editing skills and must have traceable references. Two years of managerial experience and computer literacy are vital. 

In addition, the applicant must have community development experience and an ability to work with corporates, NGOs, government and communities to facilitate constructive and successful interventions.

Please send resume to Ann by email to:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Sun City - The Local Organising Committee (LOC) says plans to deploy medical response personnel on frequently used routes during the 2010 FIFA World Cup are underway.

LOC Chief Medical Officer Dr Victor Ramathesele told journalists on Tuesday that they were working with the government to ensure that incidents needing medical intervention are effectively attended to during the month-long tourney which starts in June.

At a public borehole in Zviyambe, a village in the backyard of Zimbabwe, approximately 250 kilometres away from Harare, the capital city, butterflies, goats, cattle and human beings mix and mingle in edenic fashion all in search of the precious liquid: water. Under a blazing sun, Sekai Mabika (not her real name) and her sister take turns to fill up buckets with water all the while shooing the goats away while the butterflies flutter hither and thither sipping at the water spilled to the ground and the cattle standby for their turn to drink water.

Pretoria - South Africa and Australia have signed an agreement that will frame future bilateral cooperation on climate change issues.

The letter of intent was signed on Friday by Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean and Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica.

The two nations have been cooperating on climate change matters under a Climate Change Partnership since 2006.

Pretoria - The deadline for Wasteman, the second-largest waste management company in South Africa, to stop operations at its Klerksdorp facility, has been extended.

Last November, the Department of Environmental Affairs' Green Scorpions found the Klerksdorp incinerator to be in contravention of many of its permit conditions.

Cape Town - Government aims to reduce water loss by 2014 bearing in mind that South Africa is not a water rich country, says President Jacob Zuma.

"We are not a water rich country. Yet we still lose a lot of water through leaking pipes and inadequate infrastructure.

"We will be putting in place measures to reduce our water loss by half by 2014," President Zuma said in his State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

Pretoria - A landmark project that converts gas from household waste into electricity has been officially launched in Durban.

A first for Africa, the project will produce enough electricity for thousands of medium-income homes.

It will also inject tens of millions of Rands into the city coffers through the sale of electricity and certified emission reduction credits, also known as carbon credits.

But the real winner will be the environment. Millions of cubic metres of greenhouse gases that would otherwise have escaped into the atmosphere each year, contributing to global warming, will now be converted into clean electricity.

Pretoria - South Africa and the Governments of Germany and Southern Sudan have entered into a tri-lateral partnership to train correctional services officers, judges and legal affairs personnel in Southern Sudan.

The South African Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) is also in the process of assisting Sudan to establish a Management Development Institute for the training of its civil servants.

Higher education students from Southern Sudan are also to receive assistance from the Department of Higher Education in enrolling in South African higher education institutions.

Press Release

National Empowerment Fund announces progress on feasibility studies to commercialise the R40m Nkomazi Chemicals Technology

Leading empowerment agency, the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), has announced positive progress on the feasibility studies aimed at commercialising a locally-developed plastics chemical additive that will make rigid plastics less environmentally invasive. The NEF together with the Innovation Fund has already financed a two-phased study into the feasibility of scaling up an existing lab-scale plant at Nkomazi Chemicals in Midrand to a commercial scale plant to be built in Malelane, in the Mpumalanga Province. The plant will have an annual capacity to produce 400 tons of this new chemical additive, a heat stabiliser called hydrotalcite.

Press Release

Nedbank announced today that its partnership with Wildlife Works Inc. to make available to the international market African carbon credits has proved extremely successful.    The demand for carbon credits from the international business community is extremely strong.

In November 2009, Wildlife Works Inc. and Nedbank entered into a business arrangement whereby Nedbank acquired carbon credits from Wildlife Works Inc. for on-sale to the international and South African business community.  More than 2,5 million tonnes of carbon was made available through the avoided deforestation of the Kasigau Corridor guaranteed until 2026.   

The City of Cape Town is defending the fact that two of its beaches have had their Blue Flag status withdrawn in the same month for the first time since becoming a member of the programme on 2001. They have stated that its "not a negative reflection or penalisation" of the areas.

Gerhard Rass, the Mayoral committee member for community services said Blue Flag status was not a prerequisite for a good beach.

"It is a maintenance measure of a particular set of requirements. If a beach does not meet these requirements, it does not mean it is not adequate."