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?
Mohamed Motala is the executive director of CASE, the Community Agency for Social Enquiry. He is a policy and research professional dedicated to social and economic justice. He has extensive experience in public policy formulation, management, monitoring and evaluation, supported by strong research and writing skills. Mohamed has worked at a senior level in both the public and development sectors.
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Mohamed Motala -
In recent years, strikes in South Africa have become turbulent. Today the Farlam Commission is hearing evidence of the 2012 strike on the platinum belt that was characterised by extreme use of violence on all sides. Mining companies, Lonmin, AngloPlat and Implats, assisted by the South African police, displayed aggressive behaviour towards striking mineworkers, which resulted in an elaborate show of force culminating in the biggest post-apartheid massacre in the history of South Africa....
Mohamed Motala -
For middle class South Africans it is a perplexing contradiction that the ANC continues to stay in power despite all the evidence of corruption displayed at the highest level of leadership and the party’s collusion with big corporations that are directly involved in the killing of poor workers. Against the backdrop of Nkandla and Marikana, the seemingly automatic laws of democratic practice enshrined in our Constitution through mechanisms that allow for mandate, accountability and...
Mohamed Motala -
In the last few weeks, a terrible tragedy has been unfolding right beneath the feet of Johannesburgers. It is estimated that 100 miners have been trapped underground. Their bodies are being recovered very slowly, one by one. To date 24 bodies have been recovered from a mine near Roodepoort and an unknown number from a mine near Benoni.
Nobody knows the actual number of men and women still trapped or dead underground because the work they do is considered illegal. So the authorities simply...
Mohamed Motala -
What happens to Zwelinzima Vavi and COSATU is less important than what is happening to worker organisations themselves.
At its launch in 1985, COSATU put forward “worker control” as one of its founding principles. ANC General Secretary, Gwede Mantashe, recently accused some unions of drifting away from worker control and being “politically and ideologically immature”. But Mantashe, who is formerly from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), has an ill-conceived...
Mohamed Motala -
The National Planning Commission’s “Diagnostic Overview” report is a welcome policy discussion-document that has been needed for a long time in South Africa. It deserves praise for putting forward some important policy considerations that warrant closer examination. The diagnostic report is an important milestone in that it opens up the “big questions” about our post-apartheid democracy in a coherent and complete manner.
For too long now there has been...
Mohamed Motala -
"The boss can also tell you what to do around the house. For example, she’ll say wash the dogs even though it’s not your job to do that. Then she’ll tell me to put sunscreen on the dogs because they get burnt. Now the dogs run away from me when they see me because they hate sunscreen. Have you ever seen a dog that uses sunscreen?" (Domestic Worker from Pimville working in a Johannesburg suburb.)
There are approximately one million, mainly black women, who are...
