The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Richard Pithouse -
The distance between the stated aspirations of a protagonist on the political stage and the realities of its actual practices can sometimes mark a genuine attempt at internal contestation. It would, for instance, be a good thing if a group of people in the ANC insisted that the party was seriously committed to the principle that every child has a full, equal and immediate right to an education that could nurture their talents and then backed this affirmation up with real action, including...
"South Africa is a complete global outlier in terms of its inequality and how inequality has been persistent over time," says Sandeep Mahajan, World Bank lead economist for South Africa. The bank has developed a Human Opportunity Index, which it has started applying for the first time in the country. According to the Word Bank, the factor that matters most in a child's ability to advance in South Africa is his/her "location" with respect to access to opportunities and...
Glenn Ashton -
All over the world the youngest, historically most employable sector of society is struggling to find secure employment. In China an estimated one third of college graduates are unable to get work. In Spain and Greece unemployment amongst the youth has risen above 50%. In South Africa it is possibly higher than this, even amongst high school leavers.
The elitist World Economic Forum termed the trend “a social and economic time bomb.” The impacts are exemplified by the Arab...
Glenn Ashton -
South Africa looms large in the affairs of the Kingdoms of Swaziland and Lesotho, the local geo-political giant. Economically, each receives disproportionate amounts of their annual GDP directly from South Africa. Each is profoundly reliant on their powerful neighbour for the supply of food, fuel, goods and services and linking infrastructure to the world.
Given the vision of an African Union and increasing rapprochement between the members of the Southern African Development Community...
Richard Pithouse -
There's a new buoyancy in certain circles following Jacob Zuma's announcement of an impressive programme of infrastructural development. In a country that has seemed to be drifting rather aimlessly in the icy waters of the global economy, it's no surprise that a more decisive posture from the President, backed up with lots of concrete plans, is animating renewed optimism.
And in a moment in which the wheel of history is steadily bringing down the influence of the old imperial powers as it...
Mandisi Majavu -
Many sports journalists view Solly Tyibilika’s rugby career, the former Springbok player who was shot dead at a tavern in Gugulethu, as a waste of talent. It is said that Tyibilika could play like a champion if you could get him on the field. Loffie Eloff, a rugby coach, is quoted in the newspapers as saying that Tyibilika had “discipline problems”. “He’d just disappear for days, even weeks, on end.”
Tyibilika’s friends...
