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?
Colette Francis -
In my first year of business school I sat on a fold-down seat in a crowded lecture theatre, listening to a professor with a Texan drawl hammer home the central principle of modern economics. I looked around to see hundreds of eighteen-year-olds swallow his words like bait on a hook. Self-interest is good. Self-interest is better. Self-interest is best. Tentatively I raised my hand.
"Excuse me, sir,’ I asked. ‘Shouldn’t we care about poor people?"
He started up...
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...
Saliem Fakir -
The issue of immigrants and expatriates came up as a topic in a recent election speech given by ANC president Jacob Zuma at a meeting hosted by the labour union, Solidarity. Zuma spoke to concerns about South Africa's brain drain and the need for South Africa either to attract skills back into the country or encourage immigration.
The topic is unlikely to disappear for elections to come. If ever there was a need for a good immigration policy, it is now. But controlled immigration needs to be...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The 1980's saw the mushrooming of the taxi industry. Informally it provided a better alternative to riding the train or using largely unreliable bus operators. Commuters voted with their feet, providing our burgeoning taxi industry with a solid customer base, as well as largely captive routes.
The foundation of the taxi industry is rooted in apartheid local government's failure to provide a municipal bus service, notwithstanding the fact that bus boycotts were an important form...
Glenn Ashton -
Agricultural practice in modern South Africa has failed to evolve sufficiently to adapt to our emerging needs. Farm workers remain marginalised, their work conditions and job security are poor. The proposed redistribution of land is slow and fraught with problems. Existing farmers feel threatened. Globalisation poses enormous challenges to the sector. However, the travails and success of our wine industry may point us toward some solutions.
South Africa's wine industry has matured since...
