In an attempt to foster party pride, the African National Congress of South Africa commissioned a line of jackets, hoping they would take off as a unifying trend. But, judging from the blinding neon offerings and negative preliminary reactions, this collection is going nowhere fast. The line of coats for men and women may have incorporated national colors and the party logo, but the designers also seem to have mixed in every fashion trend in the book, using a military style for one, and a schoolboy blazer for another. Don’t feel bad if you think you’re being culturally close-minded for disliking the designs, because the locals don’t like them either. Says one designer, Thula Sindi, “I wouldn’t be caught dead in them. It all just looks like patchwork ... I don’t think anybody younger than 40 would wear that, out of fear of being ridiculed.”

As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the country is getting some attention for some not-so-positive news. Along with a high number of rapes, the country has long struggled to keep HIV/AIDS in check. With tourists pouring in for the huge soccer competition next June, the health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, expressed concerns that the influx could lead to an increase in cases:

“2010 is going to come with good things but it may also come with dangerous things….I mean, we will be having lots of visitors here… we know there will be lots of visitors who come here for sex, you can’t hide that. It happens and what will be the effects on this country?”

South Africa is home to the world’s largest AIDS epidemic, with about 5.7 million people infected with HIV. Hosting the World Cup is huge for South Africa and could be very beneficial. Hopefully, tourists visiting the country will practice safe sex if watching soccer isn’t enough activity for them; no one wants to take home a virus as their souvenir. [Reuters]

In South Africa, lesbians have it tough. There’s a whole category of heinous crimes there known as “corrective rape,” where power trippin’ men who rape lesbians to turn them straight or just to punish them for their preferences. Corrective rapes happen all the time, yet only 31 cases have been reported since 1998. Why? Because women don’t trust the system and don’t want to out themselves. Of those 31 reported cases, two have made it to trial and there has been just one measly conviction. But hopefully, that sad number is about to double. On Wednesday, three a-holes who raped openly gay football sportswoman, Eudy Simelane, will go to trial and the outcome of the case will send a very strong message—hopefully in the right direction.

How’s this for an evil/nonsensical “trend”—in South Africa, the number of lesbian women who’ve reported being raped to “cure” them of their gayness is on the rise. “What we’re seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them,” said Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive of Triangle, a gay rights organization. Additionally, local authorities are not classifying these attacks as hate crimes when the women report them, nor are they taking significant steps in trying to solve these cases or curb them. These crimes are hardly few and far between, especially in a country where incidents of rape against women in general are disturbingly high.

Helen Suzman, a South African anti-apartheid activist died yesterday at age 91. During her life, she fought against government repression of the country’s black majority, serving in parliament for 36 years. On her 90th birthday, Suzman said, “I had a wonderful opportunity to use the parliamentary stage to bring the world’s attention to what was going on.” [MSNBC]

If your supply of ground rhino horn has diminished, you might want to go without for a while. Two 19th century horns were stolen from a South African museum, and they could be headed to Asian, where rhino horn is a popular aphrodisiac. This is sad for the museum, but it’s even worse for the person who ingests the stolen rhino horns. The taxidermy mounts were prepared by being soaked in arsenic and applied with DDT. Whoever thought ground rhino horn would improve their sex life has another thing coming. [Reuters]

People holding traditional jobs with company-wide holidays aren’t the only ones who will be spending time at home with their families, sipping hot cocoa, and decorating trees with tinsel this coming week. News 24 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, reports that sex workers usually take a few days for themselves, and many spend holidays with their children. They deserve a break, too, because December is a busy month—one woman who works in the “adult entertainment industry” said she has five or six clients a day during the month. We just hope she uses one of her days off to get tested for STDs. [News 24]

South African teenagers will have to delay any kissing or canoodling until they turn 16, or else they’ll be criminally charged. A new law makes it illegal for those under 16 to kiss or engage in any sexual activity (including oral), even if it’s consensual. Will this affect plot lines on the CW show Life Is Wild, which is kind of like 7th Heaven meets The Brady Bunch in South Africa? [IOL]