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?
The relationship between democracy and governance and the realisation of socio-economic rights is an important issue for debate. SACSIS seeks to understand this relationship and identify issues that act as barriers to pro-poor democracy.
Glenn Ashton -
When we vote in South Africa we enter the voting booth burdened by the weight of history and by our responsibility to the future. We weigh up some increasingly obscure choices and make our mark. But is this then the total sum of our democratic interaction? Are we fulfilling our social obligations by voting? Or is there more to it than this?
The world is not in particularly good shape. There is an economic hurricane building and we don't yet know how hard the winds will blow. The world...
Glenn Ashton -
A strong case can be made that the most important tier of government is that of local government. Local communities are the most acutely aware of their own unique needs and how these can best be met. If participatory democracy is to be truly participatory it can be argued that we need to shift away, at least at local level, from political delineations and instead shift toward co-operative local governance based on common local interests. Party politics is a demonstrably poor mechanism to...
Charlene Houston -
The ANC does not deserve my vote. I dedicated my life to the fight for freedom and a better life for South Africa's poor. During the anti-apartheid struggle, we mobilised people under the banner of the Freedom Charter. But today I’ve come to realise that the ANC does not deserve my vote because it doesn't live up to the vision of the Freedom Charter.
This has been coming for a long time – before the sensationalist hype around the private lives' and lies of...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The anti-colonial writer, Rabindranath Tagore reminds us, "The only real gift is the gift of strength, all other offerings are vain." To illustrate this he tells the story of the lamb and the Lord. The lamb constantly besieged by beasts, which are more powerful, turns to the Lord and asks, "Lord, how is it that all creatures seek to devour me?" The Lord replied "What can I do, my child? When I look at you, I myself am so tempted."
Tagore, a nationalist and a...
Richard Pithouse -
Poor people’s movements like the Landless People’s Movement in Johannesburg, the Anti-Eviction Campaign in Cape Town and Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban and Cape Town, along with a host of smaller community organisations around the country, have announced their refusal to vote in the coming election.
This is not a new phenomenon. In the 2004 national elections, activists in the Landless People’s Movement were beaten, arrested and tortured after they announced an...
Richard Pithouse -
History groans with the suffering caused by authoritarian individuals and regimes that were elected to power. For this reason the only useful measure of the commitment of any political project to democracy is to see how it responds to challenges to its own position and ideas.
Although certain state institutions, including universities, have become highly authoritarian, middle class South Africa generally enjoys the right to dissent that is the centre of the democratic ideal. One can...
