In South Africa there are 950 AIDS-related deaths every day

The South African Burden of Disease study has shown that HIV/AIDS is the cause of almost 40% of premature mortality, measured as years of life lost, in the year 2000 and, with no intervention strategies, will account for 75% of premature mortality by 2010.

SHOOT: Worse than all these statistics is that you have to hunt for them on the internet. And even worse, you have flags flying at half mast for the alcoholic health minister who advocated - essentially, denial and doing nothing.

clipped from www.mrc.ac.za Figure 1. Estimated prevalence of HIV by sex and age in 2006, ASSA2003 Figure 2. Projected number of newly infected people by sex and age group, ASSA2003 Deaths from AIDS have been increasing from the late 1990s. It is estimated that in 2006 around 740 000 deaths occurred, of which 350 000 were due to AIDS (approximately 950 AIDS-related deaths per day). This mortality has resulted in an increasing number of children who are orphaned. The number of maternal orphans who are under 18 years of age is estimated to be over 1.5 million 2006 and two thirds are as a result of AIDS. The demographic impact of HIV/AIDS on the South African population is apparent in statistics such as life expectancy, which has dropped from 63 in 1990 to 51 in 2006, and in the under-5 mortality rate, which has increased from 65 deaths per 1000 births in 1990 to 75 deaths per 1000 births in 2006. mortality rates in 2006 suggest that 15-year olds have a 56% chance of dying before they reach 60.

Zuma, father of 18, already engaged to wife #6

SHOOT: We live in a country with the world's highest HIV deaths. Let's state it even more simply: South Africa is the country with the world's largest number of people dying from a sexually transmitted disease. Thereare approximately 950 AIDS-realted deaths each day in South Africa [as opposed to 50 murders a day]. In TV advertising people are asked to stick to one partner. One of the ways AIDS is transmitted is by having multiple partners. Polygamy is institutionalised multiple partnering. Nice going Mr. President.

clipped from www.news24.com Durban - The leader of the Christian Democratic Party has described President Jacob Zuma's traditional wedding on Monday as a "giant step back into the dark ages". Zuma's wedding "to a woman he is reported to have already fathered three children with, and the alarming return to ancestral worship is a giant step back into the dark ages," said CDP leader Reverend Theunis Botha. It was the same ancestral traditions that had plagued Africa in the past and that had kept it [Africa] in superstition and poverty, and not colonialism as some people believed, he claimed. Zuma is the father of 18 children. He is also engaged to Gloria Bongi Ngema from Durban. Her family presented umbondo (gifts) to the Zuma family at the end of December. Umbondo is the last Zulu traditional ceremony before the wedding. It was done after ilobolo had been paid. It was not known when Zuma would tie the knot with Ngema.

Mariska Buitendag, 27, a waitress, eaten by Olifants River croc

SHOOT: Being eaten to death by a predator must be one of the worst ways to die.

clipped from www.news24.com Johannesburg - A group of friends' New Year celebration ended in tragedy when a crocodile grabbed and apparently devoured a young woman from Phalaborwa in Limpopo. Friends said Mariska Buitendag, 27, a waitress, didn’t have time to scream or call for help. She didn’t even struggle. All they saw was a ripple on the water where seconds before she had been swimming in the Olifants River. Henning, who was standing on the bank, immediately jumped into the river to look for Buitendag. In the course of the morning, Buitendag swam in the river twice, but the third time, as she swam on her back, the crocodile struck. Police spokesperson Sergeant Malesela Makgapo said the group had evidently had a lot to drink. “Swimming is strictly prohibited where they were swimming,” Makgapo said. A long-time resident of Phalaborwa said locals know “you don’t even put a toe in the river, it’s teeming with crocodiles and hippos”.