Sunday 17 October marked International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On Monday 18 October at 3pm Cry of the Xcluded will be launching a Manifesto for People’s Power. The Manifesto will be introduced by Cry of the Xcluded leaders Ayanda Kota, representing the Unemployed Peoples Movement, Denia Jansen representing Inyanda National Land Movement, Khokhoma Motsi representing the Botshabelo Unemployed Movement, Nonhle Mbuthuma representing the Amadiba Crisis Committee and Peter Lobese who will be representing the Active United Front. Cry for the Xcluded say that this is their call for dignified lives and gainful employment ahead of the 2021 Local Government election. You can register to join the launch here.

On Monday 18 October the Treatment Action Campaign will be marching to the union buildings to demand that the government introduce strict measures to prevent corruption and to prosecute all those responsible for the theft of public funds meant for the provision of healthcare. The programme will unfold as follows:
10am — 11am: March from Pretoria Art Museum Park (TBC) to Union Buildings
11am — 11.40am: Memorandum handover at Union Buildings to the President and Minister of Health.

On Tuesday 19 October at 12pm Wits University Press in partnership with the University of Pretoria will be hosting Professor Steven Friedman, of the Department of Politics in the Humanities Faculty at the University of Johannesburg will be in discussion with Dr Sithembile Mbete — Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria — on the subject of Friedman’s recently launched book, titled Prisoners of the Past: South African democracy and the legacy of minority rule. You can register to attend here.

From Wednesday 20 October — Saturday 23 October, the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society Virtual Update Conference will be taking place and will bring together some of the most eminent HIV clinicians and scientists, both African and from across the world, most notably a session with Monica Gandhi and Shabir Madhi on Covid-19 and HIV. You can register to attend the event here.

On Wednesday 20 October at 11am, the Human Sciences Research Council, #PayTheGrants and Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) will be hosting a discussion on whether the Basic Income Grant is affordable. Speakers will be co-director fo IEJ Gilad Isaacs, Economic and Social Policy advisor at the International Trade Union Confederation Evelyn Astor, Financial journalist and analyst Duma Gqubule and Research Fellow and PhD candidate Léo Czajka. You can join the discussion here. 

Wednesday 20 October at 18.00, the European Film Festival will be hosting a webinar discussion on A Film about Life, Death and Money which focuses on profiteering by big pharmaceutical companies. The discussants are Maverick Citizen editor  Mark Heywood and authors of the film screenplay Jan Verheyen and Lien Willaert. You can join in the discussion here.

On Wednesday 20 October at 5pm the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits webinar series on understanding vaccine hesitancy and our ethical obligations will be hosting a webinar titled The case for mandatory vaccines. The speaker will be Professor Keymanthri Moodley who is the Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law at Stellenbosch University. You can register to attend here.

On Thursday 21 October at 11am, the Local Government in Crisis webinar series will discuss What are the alternatives? The discussants will be Professor Steven Friedman from the Centre for Study for Democracy and Dr Mosa Phadi from the Public Affairs and Research Institute. You can register to attend here.

Also on Thursday at 12pm Maverick Citizen Editor Mark Heywood with journalists Bheki Makhubu and Carien du Plessis will be taking a close look at the brutality and repression in Eswatini and examine its implications for the region in a webinar discussion. You can join the discussion here.

On Friday 22 October at 5pm, the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits webinar series on Understanding vaccine hesitancy and our ethical obligations will be hosting another webinar, this one is titled Ubuntu and the “duty” to be vaccinated. The speakers will be Dr Cornelius Ewuosa from IFGeneRA at the University of Cape Town and Professor Thaddeus Metz from the Philosophy Department at the University of Pretoria. You can register to attend here.

Sunday 24 October at 6pm, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in partnership with Maverick Citizen is hosting a webinar titled The lives and Trials of Whistleblowers in South Africa. Discussants will be Maverick Citizen editor Mark Heywood, Phumla Williams — SABC whistleblower and SAA whistleblower Cynthia Stimpel. You can join the discussion here.

Maverick Citizen pavement garden competition!
Maverick Citizen supports local initiatives to improve access to affordable and nutritious food. We are holding a competition to try and find some of the best examples of community gardens, pavement gardens and ‘edible’ streets. Send us your photos and stories about your gardens and who benefits from them and enter our right to food competition! We are offering a first prize of R5,000 for the best local food garden and R1,000 each for three runners up. We will also feature and promote your efforts in our social justice journalism. Send entries to: [email protected]. DM/MC