News stories by Stephanie Nieuwoudt

Questions are being asked about whether the Group of Eight invitation to seven African states to attend its summit in Ontario, Canada, reflects its concern about the litany of unmet promises dating from its 2005 Gleneagles meeting -- or whether it merely amounts to another bout of window-dressing.

South Africa is experiencing a shortage of over 80 different drugs in its public health sector, including flu vaccinations and medication for tuberculosis and high blood pressure. The severity of shortages varies from province to province and hospital to hospital, depending on the leadership and skills levels of management.

In more than 34 years as a judge, he has not been as deeply concerned by anything as he was by the recent comment of a South African deputy minister of police that police officers should shoot and 'kill the bastards'.

Concerns abound about a nine billion dollar Chinese investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially around environmental consequences and transparency. And, on the Chinese side, investors complain not only about the lack of security in the DRC but about their own government not providing enough support.

With its recent history of tremendous economic growth, China has a few lessons to teach Africans. But African governments should be vigilant in ensuring that their countries also reap benefits from their relations with China.

There was an audible gasp when Kirsten McIntyre told the audience that e-waste is the third fastest growing waste stream in the world, with between 40 and 50 million tons of computers, TVs and washing machines being 'thrown away' each year.

With South Africa being the only African country with a seat on the Group of 20 (G20) while serving as co-chair of the working group on reforming the International Monetary Fund, it has 'a moral obligation towards the continent to call for more responsible management of the global financial system'.

It is the middle of the day but 25-year-old Lyle Arendse of Athlone on the Cape Flats, Cape Town’s sprawling hinterland, is at home. He left school nearly 10 years ago and has since been unemployed. 'It is because of drugs -- tik (methamphetamine) and heroin -- that I left school,' he acknowledges.

Commercial farmers sometimes fail at organic farming because they switch over too quickly, ditching all chemicals, which is as traumatic for the soil as 'a drug addict going cold turkey'.

Development in Africa should be boosted through labour-intensive production on small to medium sized farms. To advance food security in Africa, governments should assist small farmers with credit lines and infrastructure while buffering them against fluctuations in world food prices.