Dr Puthanakit then talked about providing ARVs to children in Thailand. The Thai programme, which has a target of providing universal access to ARVs by 2006, has seen a rapid scale up. ARV programmes in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, have achieved survival rates of 94 percent after six months of treatment and children have established normal weight for their age within a year.

According to Dr Puthanakit the scale-up of paediatric ARV programmes is feasible in developing countries and the outcomes of therapy are similar to that in developed countries.

On the same theme of providing ARV treatment to children, Dr Kline described the work of the Baylor International Paediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI), which has established child treatment centres in 10 African countries. Working in collaboration with host governments, establishing comprehensive, family centred programmes, the BIPAI network now has 4349 children on treatment across its centres. As Dr Kline asserted the myth has finally been dispelled that African children cannot benefit from treatment.

In contrast to the previous speakers, focusing on testing and treatment, Dr Paula Vaz emphasised care for HIV infected children, sharing the model of the Paediatric Day Hospital in Mozambique, which has 693 children on ART. Identifying challenges to paediatric chronic care management Dr Vaz highlighted issues related to drug resistance, adherence and toxicity. She also talked of communities’ lack of preparedness to deal with chronic disease and the need to address stigma and cultural beliefs. Limitations of infrastructure and personnel in the health system were also identified as significant challenges. In closing Dr Vaz emphasised the need for home-based care, a patient-centred approach and support for families.

Contributed by:

Owen Elias
Health & Development Networks

UK/20060919/Reuters; The Boston Globe/News/AIDS biggest killer of S.Africa new mothers: study
It states that HIV/AIDS is the biggest single killer of new mothers in South Africa, the Health Department said on Tuesday in a grim new statistic of the pandemic’s toll on the country. Says the department released a study on maternal deaths from 2002-2004, illustrating a raft of problems with medical care for mothers in the country, which is both the richest in Africa and among the worst hit by the AIDS crisis. The study looked at 3,406 deaths of pregnant women and new mothers between 2002-2004 and found HIV/AIDS was responsible for 20.1 percent of fatalities — the largest single category. Other causes of death included pneumonia and tuberculosis, both frequently associated with HIV/AIDS infection but listed separately, along with hemorrhage, malaria and other illnesses. Notes that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, often criticized by AIDS activists for what they say is the government’s slow response to the crisis, said high maternal mortality was “of great concern” but that South Africa was confident it was on the right track. The survey noted that South Africa’s national plan to tackle HIV, which includes free anti-retroviral drugs, only began at the end of the research period — which could help reduce maternal AIDS deaths in future. It also detailed other problems with maternal care in South Africa, ranging from lack of transport and inadequate ante-natal education to poor screening for disease and negligence by health workers, which it said were keeping the country’s maternal death rate unacceptably high. Tshabalala-Msimang said that while South Africa was working hard to reduce maternal deaths, there was still much to do.

US\20060919\Los Angeles Times\News & Analysis\Robyn Dixon; “Her Ideas on AIDS Are Called Bad Medicine; South Africa’s health chief favours a treatment of beets, lemons and garlic over proven drugs. The president resists calls to fire her.”
The article reports that the United Nations special envoy for AIDS has likened her to the “lunatic fringe,” while a well-known comedian derides her as the “angel of death.” States that she is South Africa’s top health official and one of the most important front-line fighters against AIDS in a country beset by an epidemic. But Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been widely criticized for questioning the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs to combat AIDS, advocating instead a treatment using beets, lemons, garlic and sweet potatoes. Says activists had to take legal action to force the government to provide medication to pregnant women and prisoners. According to the article, the Minister has been criticized in international forums, and dozens of global health experts recently called for her to be fired. But South African President Thabo Mbeki has remained steadfast. Reveals that some analysts suggest he is being loyal to a long-time political ally, others say he is satisfied with her performance because her views are similar to his own.

Canada\20060916\The Globe and Mail\Feature\Marina Jiménez “HIV patients in search of a home; About 160 AIDS-conference delegates await chance to make refugee claims”
Reports that it was hardly a surprise when 160 HIV-positive foreigners in Toronto for the recent AIDS conference decided to make refugee claims. Says the non-governmental organizations that lobbied for their visas were so worried they would defect, many dispatched minders to ensure the delegates showed up for their return flights. States that Joaquin Ramirez, a 36-year-old clothing seller from El Salvador, was one conference delegate who gave his minder the slip. Mentions that Ramirez was also raped by three police officers who, he said, refused to use his proffered condom even when he disclosed his HIV status. When they later contracted HIV, one of the officers threatened to hunt him down and kill him. Highlights that Ramirez’s case, and those of the South Africans, Ugandans, Eritreans, Peruvians and others who made refugee claims after arriving here for last month’s AIDS conference, have put the issue of HIV-positive refugee claimants in the spotlight.

Kenya\20060919\UN IRIN\News\“Alarming Aids Figures Reported in New Study”
Highlights that HIV/AIDS is sweeping through parts of South Africa’s east-coast province of KwaZulu-Natal, where researchers are finding alarming HIV prevalence levels among women. Medical Research Council (MRC) researcher Prof Gita Ramjee told PlusNews: “The study might be considered somewhat biased, as only women were tested, but the figures do suggest a worrying upward trend which could be part of a bigger problem.” Says during recent clinical trials into the effectiveness of vaginal microbicides at eight test sites around KwaZulu-Natal, the MRC found prevalence rates of between 38 percent and 50 percent, and in the Embo area south of the port city of Durban, a prevalence of more than 66 percent was discovered. Reveals that rising HIV rates in traditionally conservative Indian communities, such as Chatsworth township, also grabbed the attention of caregivers working with HIV-positive people in the area. The MRC found HIV prevalence reaching 48 percent in some parts of Chatsworth. Says the financial situation of many of women also placed them at risk of infection, with some single mothers resorting to commercial sex to feed and educate their children. Allee said: “But more in-depth research still needs to be conducted into the numerous social factors that are fuelling this pandemic. In the meantime, we can only hope that our efforts to encourage open discussions around the subject of HIV prevention hits home.”

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

QUESTION 1022
FOR WRITTEN REPLY

Date of publication on internal question paper:  25 August 06
Internal question paper no: 25
Ms H Weber (DA) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
(1) Whether, after the exposure of officials fraudulently claiming child support grants, any audit has been done on fraudulent claimants of other grants; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether any officials authorising such grants have been prosecuted; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? N1303E
REPLY:

(1) Yes, SASSA and the Special Investigation Unit are currently busy with analyzing data bases for private companies, in order to determine beneficiaries who have been claiming the social grants illegally. Once identified they will be subjected to criminal, civil and debt recovery proceedings.

(2) Our investigations have not yet identified any wrongdoing on the part of any official/s who authorized these grants. In the cases dealt with thus far, it was found that beneficiaries misrepresented themselves, in order to qualify for the grants.

TUCKED away in the back streets of Oudtshoorn between the central residential area and the fringes of the Bongolethu township is a building where a group of dedicated workers and volunteers work their daily miracles to rehabilitate abused and neglected children back to normal life.
Established In 1992, Huis Tnomf has for the last few years teetered on the brink of extinction due to indifferent management and a lack of resources.
Inherited by a never say die group of new volunteers in May this year, they arrived to find the electricity, water, telephone and all other essential services cut off due to outstanding payments and a legacy of debt that will take well into 2007 to overcome.
With 16 bedrooms and a capacity to house up to 30 children in need, the facility is funded by grants from the local department of social development. But with a paid staff of only nine It relies on the contribution of its unpaid management committee and donations from the public to continue in operation. As volunteer
TUCKED away in the back streets of Oudtshoorn between the central residential area and the fringes of the Bongolethu township is a building where a group of dedicated workers and volunteers work their daily miracles to rehabilitate abused and neglected children back to normal life.
Established In 1992, Huis Tnomf has for the last few years teetered on the brink of extinction due to indifferent management and a lack of resources.
Inherited by a never say die group of new volunteers in May this year, they arrived to find the electricity, water, telephone and all other essential services cut off due to outstanding payments and a legacy of debt that will take well into 2007 to overcome.
With 16 bedrooms and a capacity to house up to 30 children in need, the facility is funded by grants from the local department of social development. But with a paid staff of only nine It relies on the contribution of its unpaid management committee and donations from the public to continue in operation. As volunteer lize Fisch explained, Huls Tnomf is the only hope for most local street children.
Catering solely for males, usually between the ages of eight and 16, the haven provides housing, food and a limited degree of basic education.
The majority of the current intake of 19 are also receiving education in local schools, although most are unable to read or write and that is hampering their learning abilities.
Fisch said the centre was slowly getting back on its feet financially, although there was still some way to go and donations from the public would be most welcome.
Another need is assistance of a cerebral nature.
With their background, when they leave here in their mid teens our children are unlikely to secure administrative jobs, said Fisch. We need caring members who can offer training in artisan skills. She urged carpenters, piumbers, electricians and the like to spare some time to train the children in their trades.
In this way, she said, we can at least offer them a hope of a fresh start In life after they leave Huts Triomf.

No more hunger pains! THE EXPANDED Public Works Progranune has brought about an age of hope! Howard Yawa, the North West MEC for Public Works, said the prograimne has opened up opportunities for women and the formerly marginalised to become farmers. He was speaking at the graduation ceremony for Modimolas 30 learner farmers in Mafikeng, who received their Level 2 National Certificates in Mixed Farming from Taletso College. They qualified after nine months of theoretical training in mixed farming, plant production and maintenance, pest control, applied business in agriculture, mathematics and communication. Speaking on behalf of the 22 women farmers and eight male graduates, Gladys Dijwe (45), who also received a certificate of conduct for the most dedicated and conunitted student, said: My involvement in this project has brought much relief to my family of eleven because I became the only employed person in my household. The project has given me skill in the past I could not afford a slice of bread for my nine children. Yawa said that before the launch of the R25 million Modimola integrated expanded public works campaign on 16 September2004, many of the unemployed in the impoverished village went to bed with hunger pangs. To them the next day had only one purpose, to find food, to survive and to have some energy. Yawa explained that the programme is one of the governments many plans to bridge the gap between the first and second economy by creating jobs, developing skifis and tinproving social services. The government helped the 30 farmers with R2 million to start a co-operafive farm. It produces about 1000 eggs a day, which are sold to the villagers at R6 per dozen. The first vegetables will be harvested this month.

For the lucky ones, there are grown-ups who wont leave them, writes The plight of a baby dumped in a bin, veld or hospital may be tragic to start with, but neglect soon turns to joy for the lucky ones. Hundreds of city residents are lining up to take care of abandoned babies and thousands of adoptions are approved annually. Tshwane Place of Safety head Jeanette Birrel said it was amazing how many people in Pretoria were applying to take care of and adopt children placed in the centres care. Recently I received four applications from people who want to become adoptive parents, llirrel said. I will visit them and if I see that the families fulfil the criteria and are fit to care for our children, I will place three of our babies with them soon.,, Department of Social Development spokesperson Lakela Kaunda said her department had approved 2 256 domestic adoptions since April this year. While only 370 of the children adopted last year were abandoned babies, Kaunda and Birrel agreed that more people were willing to raise adopted children. Since it opened in October 2003. the Tshwane Place of Safety ha~ admitted 320 babies and children, most of whom are under six. Some were removed from parental care and others were found after being abandoned. Some 10% of the babies brought to us were found in a veld, public toilet or dustbin, Birrel said. The rest were left in hospitals. The most recent case was that of a one-month~old boy who was found in a shack on June 16. Birrel said the baby weighed Just 1.5kg when he was found. Neighbours heard him crying and rescued him. She said her organisation, which runs completely on private funding and sponsorships, had 120 active place of safety families. In one way, abandonment of babies has a negative impact on society, she said. But what is positive is that people are now making a difference and contributing to the lives of those children who are abandoned. ~And adoption in Pretoria is growing although its still a slow process for prospective parents, Birrel said. Two years ago a baby girl was found on the steps of the Reserve Bank and taken to Pretoria Academic Hospital. Neily Choba (40) adopted Dineo Lethabo Choba and has raised her as her own daughter. Choba said she had decided to adopt a baby after many years of trying to have children of her own. I love Dineo so much and so does my entire family, she said as she played with Dineo at the home she shares with her parents in Soshanguve. Choba said she planned to tell Dineo the truth about her past when she was old enough to understand, because she didnt want other people telling her first. 1 want to adopt more children but will only do so in a few years time, Choba said. For now, she will focus on Dineo, and make sure she gets a good education. Kaunda said anyone who found an abandoned baby should report it to the police. A social worker could also be contacted through the Social Development Department or a local non-governmental organisation dealing with child protection issues. Kaunda said women mostly abandoned their babies because of unemployment, lack of support from biological fathers or relatives, their HIV status or because it was an unwanted pregnancy. Birrel cited socio-economic rea-Sons for the phenomenon, saying: I have heard its mostly young mothers from rural areas who abandon their newborns. She comes to the city and meets a man who promises her the world, and she trusts him. But when she falls pregnant, the man usually wants nothing to do with her Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said the police could not provide statistics on the number of babies abandoned annually in the country. He said dealing with abandoned babies was an extremely emotional matter for police officers. He said police procedure was to ensure the health of the baby. Our primary concern is the life of the infant, so we rush any baby found to hospital so that a check-up and tests can be done. Then we contact the Social Development Department so that a social worker can take over care of the baby, Naidoo said. Hospitals in Pretoria also keep few records of abandoned babies. But Mamelodi Day Hospital spokesperson Selepe Moutloali said his hospital had cared for nine abandoned babies this year. Kalafong Hospital spokesperson Catherine Tihadi said: Babies are rarely abandoned at our hospital. Mostly, abandoned babies are brought here by the police for checkups.,, Pretoria Academic Hospital spokesperson Fredah Kobo said her hospital had not had any abandoned babies this year~ All babies taken to hospitals after being found by police are tested for HIV and any other illnesses before the child is put into the care of a social worker, who then organises foster care. Child Welfare Tshwanes director for social workers Lizette Nd-Buys said her organisation had dealt with 10 abandoned babies in Tshwane since the start of this year. The Mamolodi and Olievenhoutbosch community-based service centres each facilitated the placing of three babies, while the Atteridgeville and Centurion centres each facilitated the placing of two. I love Dineo so much and so does my entire family Pretoria central, Eersterus and Elandspoort reported that no abandoned babies were brought to their centres. Neilmapius Community Policing Forum chairperson Enos Letsoalo said he was concerned that the comrn munity did not come forward with enough information to prevent babies from being abandoned. 1 feel really bad about all these babies, Letsoalo said. ~I believe that the community should be more responsible. if someone is pregnant the community should give them advice. And if a neighbour was pregnant and now is not but there is no sign of the child, then they should report the matter to the police. He said four babies bodies were found in the area in the past few weeks. On September 6, a Nelimapius resident found a babys body in a plastic bag buried in his garden while he was planting a tree. A babys body was also found on September 7 at a dumping site next to Extension 3, another in a street dustbin and a third at a taxi rank. Inspector Katlego Mogale said Silverton police investigating the crimes had reached a dead-end and were desperate for the community to come forward with information to help them identify the mothers of the dead babies. Child Abuse Action Group chairperson and director Lucy Redivo said it was obvious that most women who abandoned babies only did this because they felt unsupported. We know that an action like that comes from a person who is in a predicament, especially if the child was conceived in a rape situation, Redivo said. Her organ isatiorl received many calls from people who found abandoned babies or communities who were concerned because they saw a pregnant woman had no child with her after the birth. But, Redivo said, many communities and families were so unaware of others that a womans pregnancy often went unnoticed. Nd-Buys agreed, saying: I feel people who abandon babies are absolutely traumatised themselves. She said people were eager to adopt babies in Pretoria. People want to adopt babies to the extent that there are not enough babies to he adopted, Nel-Buys said. As an adoptive mother herself, Nel-Buys said people should take the chance with adoption because it was worth it.

A HI-TECH data capturing system is being designed to stop government employees from defrauding our social grant system.
South African Security Agency spokesman Steve Mabona confirmed yesterday that the system was in the process of being designed, but didnt comment further. The agency took over the responsibility of paying all social grantsnationwide in April. The grants range from disability, to pension and child support grants. Previously, it was up to the social services department of each province to make the payments.
Before it took over, Mpumalangas Health and Social Services Department was defrauded of R3,4 million that was spent on 6221 ghost employees in 2004/ 2005. Last week, 35 employees were arrested in Mpumalanga on charges of defrauding the system. Only 31 appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrates Court last Thursday. -Police are still trying to trace Delisiwe Maseko (27), Rebotile Fakude (30), Bonakele Rallah (43) and Hiupekile Tambo (50).
The four are charged with defrauding the social grant system of about R200 000. – AENS

Daam is a seventeen year old girl who contracted HIV from her mother at birth. Her mother died when she was very young and her father married another woman and moved out to live with his new family. Her grandmother, who is now over 80, has been taking care of her ever since.

Daam found out that she was HIV positive when she was nine years old. She became very sick and had to visit the hospital often. She began to lose weight and had skin problems. When her neighbours found out she was HIV positive they told their children not to play with her. In school, she was teased, called names and rejected by her friends. “What my friends did to me did not hurt me as much as what they said about my mother. I cried a lot at that time. I was angry and also blamed my mother for giving me this disease.”

Daam became aggressive and started to stand up to those who bullied her. “I gradually learned to fight back and never let anyone abuse me anymore.”

Now, Daam is studying at vocational training school and has received a scholarship. No one knows about her positive status except her teachers. However, she still feels that she is different from her friends. She is worried that she will never get a job if people find out she is HIV positive. Daam also has to look after her grandmother who is getting old now.

“I must live and cannot die before my grandmother because nobody will look after her.”

Daam has never enjoyed her childhood as much as her friends of the same age because of the virus. What lies ahead of her, she does not want to think about.

Kwaw is a fifteen year old girl who also contracted HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Kwaw is skinny and looks smaller than others her age. Her mother died when she was young and her father looked after her and her older sister who was not infected. Kwaw found out that she was HIV positive when she was ten years old.

She was far behind her classmates at school. She could not concentrate on her studies and often slept during classes. Finally, she dropped out of school when she became sick and started to develop AIDS-related signs (the dark spots on her body) because she and her father did not want anyone to know that she was HIV positive.

Kwaw has had no friends since she left school. Even at school she didn’t associate much with the other kids because she was often too sick to play. Now she stays at home and plays with her little niece and wonders if she will ever get the chance to study again.

Listening to these children, one of the things they share is the personal impact or fear of HIV-related stigma. None of them are willing to disclose their positive status for fear of rejection and exclusion.

[A report from the XVI International AIDS Conference held in Toronto, Canada, August 2006]

Contributed by:

HDN Key Correspondent, Thailand
Email: correspondents@hdnet.org
Website: www.healthdev.org/kc

Desperate pensioners struggling to make ends meet are abused by loan sharks who take their identity books and pension paycards as guarantee for repayments.
On the day of the pension payouts, a pensioner who owes a loan shark has to go to a particular microlender to get her ID book and pension pay-card, The microlender will accompany the pensioner to the paypoint, and after she is paid, will take what is owed to het The National Credit Regulator (NCR) has investigated microlenders targeting elderly citizens and said the problem was that pensioners wore not complaining.
The NCR made a ruling that microlenders should not wait for old citizens at paypoints. Now loan sharks, known as mashonisas, pretend to be the pensioners relatives.
What we see here is very sad. Old people are accompanied into the pay hail by someone, and you can tell that they are not related and that the person is not responsible for the pensioner. When they come out, this person is taking money from this poor person, said Siphiwe Kubheka, who works at the San-Kopano library, where the paypoints are situated.
A granny whose children refused to let her be identified is in a vicious cycle. Before her first visit to the mashonisa, there were months when she put aside R50 or RiQO after her monthly expenditure for emergencies. But in January she found herself in a dire situation. Her two grandchildren needed new uniforms, which cost her R400.
There was no one to turn to. The childrens father is dead and their mother disappeared. One of her sons is in jail and another is unemployed. They each have a son and they all rely on her salary To buy the uniforms, the granny went to the microlender and borrowed R360.
Its repayment was R465. She paid it in February from her monthly pension and was left with R355.
The pensioners monthly expenditure adds up to R730. She spends between R300 and R350 on groceries. She pays R60 to a burial society and buys electricity units for R80. In winter, she runs out of units before the end of the month.
She also pays Rl20 in daycare centre fees for each of her two grandchildren. Her expenditure excludes money she uses for food during the course of the month. Some months she needs money to visit and buy groceries for her son, in prison in Limpopo.
It was a big mistake [going to a loan shark] but what choice did I have? she asked.
The mashonisasoperation is illegal, but they get away with it.
Makheswa Jama, who is a microlender, said they resorted to heavy-handed measures because it was a challenge to get people to repay their debt.
~As it is, there is a woman who borrowed R300 and only paid back the interest.
Her debt does not decrease because the money she took accumulates interest with each passing month, but she is not paying.
I am going to take something from her house until she brings my moneW added Jama, who said none of her clients were pensioners.
While Gabriel Davel, CEO of the NCR, announced that credit providers such as banks, retailers and pawnshops had until July 28 this year to register with the industry watchdog, in order for them to continue operating their businesses, inashonisas see nothing illegal about their Operation.
I do not go to anyone. They conic to me, I help them and they agree to pay me, Jama explained.
Charlotte Fairhridge, of Age-in-Action, which represents pensioners in Cape Towii, said there was little you could do, as the pensioners bill didnt specifically cover pensioners financial abuse. She hopes that the new Credit Act will be useful.
Loan sharks are abusing the system and know that there is nothing that can be done. This is exploitation and economic abuse and I am sure that, should someone make a case, the system will be able to prosecute, she said.
The head of Gauteng Social Services, July Maphosa, said families of pensioners, especially youngsters, were also aiding loan sharks, as some were employed but failed to assist in running the household.
Older citizens are often the darlings of their families when they receive their pension money but are disowned by the same family members during the month.
In some houses, you find that there are youngsters who are working, but they would never bother to help with rates and taxes, and the poor old person is the one who Suffers. 1-Ic added that the community needed to work together to alleviate the abuse meted out to older citizens.
It is illegal for anyone to be in possession of someone elses ID book. We need to discourage this form of lending, said Maphosa.
Pensioners like these are becoming the targets for unscrupulous loan sharks.

Newspaper Print Quality SUNDAY WORLD 17 SEPTEMBER 2006 ADVETORIAL 11 FREEDOM SSfuoFe has nine crosses represehflh^frW^btes cast in the country’s first democratic elections THE Absa Soweto Festival is now firmly entrenched in Soweto’s annual calendar and offers a delightful way for South Africans to celebrate Heritage Day. This year the festival takes place in the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown of Dedication (also known as Freedom Square) from 1′. to 25 September this year. Kliptown was established in 1903 and is the oldest suburb in Soweto. It became famous in 1955 when thousands of people from various anti-apartheid organisations converged on the square to agree on a draft Freedom Charter. Today, the Walter Sisulu Square is a testament to freedom. It’s situated behind a busy row of shops on Union Road in Klip-town. It is straddled by various hawkers’ stalls – cages of live chickens, untidy bundles of clothing and brightly coloured vegetable stalls. Also, a thriving taxi rank lends the square a distinctive township buzz. The square represents the nine provinces and is also a symbol of equality and democracy. On the southwest side of the square is a museum, and on the west is the old Kliptown railway station. The north has multipurpose function rooms and on the east is the Soweto Tourist Information Centre. One half of the square made up of nine crosses representing the votes cast in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Two hundred and eight crafters from various Soweto arts co-op’s will display their magnificent artifacts on brick crosses. A Five Roses Tea garden will also be housed in this area. .You will also enjoy a traditional South African experience – the local shebeen. Shebeens were informal drinking halls in the 1950′s, and could be found on every corner, adding to the colourful atmosphere of South African township life. They are steeped in history and culture – from their humble beginnings they have nourished into hubs of activity and social life. While preserving this cultural existence, the shebeen will encapsulate the full spectrum of Southern African living through its eclectic cuisine, lively music and modern and ancient cultural expression of dance. Abigail Kubeka is your host, so come along and enjoy the vibe and some drinks. At the festival’s main entrance, off Klipspruit Road, is the upper marquee catering for the Gauteng Department of Economic Development and The City of Johannesburg divisions. Various tourism bodies, like the South African Tourism, Cradle of Human Kind, Nelson Mandela Tourism and the Apartheid Museum, will be there. At the lower end of the square the main exhibition mar- III i DID YOU KNOW? THE Walter Sisulu Square was financed by Blue IQ and the Johannesburg Development Agency. Now under the management of the Johannesburg Property Company, the square, is home to over 15 retail and several business tenants, including Johannesburg Tourism. quee is located. This houses over 100 exhibitors ranging from furniture, health and beauty, gardening, property, finance, business services, to FMCG products, hi-tech appliances and cellular services. This commercial aspect of the show is a major draw-card and is the biggest (of its kind) yet held in Soweto. Both exhibition areas are underlain with a “winding snake” walkway of indigenous thorn trees representing the snakes of people queuing to cast their first vote in 1994. At the centre of the square is the Freedom Charter Monument which will be open during the festival. Inside the monument is the Flame of Freedom and the Freedom Charter for all to read. Next to the monument is the main stage area where Five Roses has provided a platform for young and upcoming fashion designers to showcase their designs alongside established black designers. The Miss Five Roses beauty pageant will also take place here. The main stage will host a feast of musical entertainment, sponsored by the Johannesburg Development Agency and the Gauteng Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture. Interestingly, the entertainment line-up combines Afro-pop with kwaito, gospel with jazz, and maskandi with hip hop. Boxing tournaments under the auspices of the Soweto Box- ing Organisation (Sobo) will be held daily. Watch out for special guest and tournament celebrity, Baby Jake Matlala. Taking up a large proportion of the main marquee is the IBM Careers Village and it is an integral part of the Festival. It is aimed at school goers -especially grades 11 and 12 -and young adults hungry for information about employment, business, careers, education and training. The objective is to provide them with the tools to assist in making informed decisions about their futures. The Careers Village consists of both an exhibition and seminar area, featuring well-known South Africans with their own success stories to tell, and an interactive psychometric testing area that will address all these needs. The Absa Soweto Festival also provides an invaluable platform for SMMEs to showcase their products and services to the booming consumer market of Soweto, as well as the growing number of corporate businesses aiming to broaden their supplier base to include black-owned businesses. SMME displays are set up in the main exhibition area, sponsored by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, the Gauteng Department of Social Development and the Department of Trade and Industry.