"In South Africa land is presently not only one of the most defining political and development issues, but also perhaps the most intractable. The continuing racial maldistribution of land will either be resolved through a fundamental restructuring of the government’s land reform programme, or it will be resolved by a fundamental restructuring of property relations by the people themselves. Which direction the country follows depends to a large degree on the urgent and immediate responsiveness of the government to the needs and demands of the country’s 19-million mostly poor, black and landless rural people." This is according to the introduction of a paper published on the website of the National Land Committee.

"During the past decades, many people believed in the idea that the rural areas did not have an important role in economic development.....In fact rural areas are very rich and concentrate the majority of natural resources, such as water, farm land, minerals, and biodiversity. It's not a coincidence that international financial institutions, like the World Bank, focus their projects on these regions." Visit the webpage of the Land Research Action Group for more information on this booklet.
Edited by Evanize Sydow & Maria Luisa Mendonca

In March 2004 the Resource Alliance held the 5th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event was the most successful in the series, with 271 participants attending from 48 countries. The Resource Alliance wishes to thank those who supported the event including: the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Plan International, the Commonwealth Foundation, the South African Institute for Fundraising (SAIF) and Downes Murray International, South Africa.

The Global Fund to FightAids, TB and Malaria has expressed its dissatisfaction over the South African government’s delay in disbursing funds allocated to various HIV/Aids prevention projects. The R1 bn funds allocated to South Africa last year could be withdrawn. The Global Fund is also exploring the possibility of dealing with the HIV/Aids NPOs directly. Love Life, one of the NPOs benefitting from the Global Fund, also expressed their frustration over the delay in the disbursement of funds by the government.