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?
Israel plans to increase its assault on the besieged gaza strip after the high profile assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing. His 14-year-old son was also killed in the attack. The latest assault on Gaza has been likened to the 2008/09 Gaza war where over 1,500 Palestinians were killed -- 300 of them children. Gaza has been under non-stop aerial bombardment in the past two days, as Israel vows to expand its attacks. The assault has been dubbed "Operation Pillar...
Al Jazeera's Fault Lines looks at the potential environmental impact of resource extraction in the Arctic, and what that might mean for the people who live there. The UN has imposed a 2013 deadline for the submission of scientific claims to the Arctic seabed. It is the precursor to a resource boom which would see Canada, the US, Russia, Norway and Greenland all attempt to exploit the region's resources.
These Arctic countries are desperately mapping out their territories so they can tap...
Anna Majavu -
The mines and the farms are two enduring symbols of old white colonial theft, of the minerals and land. Because of the monopoly of the National Union of Mineworkers, whose leaders and officials have long preferred compromise and co-determination over worker control, it has been difficult for mineworkers to strike – until the Marikana massacre.
It has possibly been even harder for farm workers to strike.
Human Rights Watch estimated recently that less than 3% of South African farm...
Gillian Schutte -
It was with sheer terror that we witnessed the grotesque spectacle of the bulldozing of fully built brick and mortar houses in Lenasia by government officials last week. Images of desperate women being pulled out of their houses and attempting to stop bulldozers from demolishing their lives haunt our recent memories. This was reminiscent of the forced removals of yesteryear when fully settled communities were forced out of their homes by a draconian apartheid government.
What could prompt...
Nonhlanhla Pholo explains how she bought her land in Lenasia, in what she thought was a legitimate deal through a housing department agent. Now her home is earmarked for demolition by the Johannesburg Department of Housing.
She feels victimized twice over, as she has already had to rebuild her house after a developer scammed her by building a house that was not passed by building inspectors. All her savings are invested in her new home and she is in danger of losing everything.
©...
Dale T. McKinley -
An unsolicited R6.5 billion ‘urban renewal’ Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the ANC-run Emakhazeni Municipality in Mpumalanga (which incorporates the small town of eMgwenya) and a private consortium called WB Noka (a ‘proud member of the ANC Progressive Business Forum’), might be signed any day now. This could happen despite the fact that the vast majority of eMgwenya residents have no idea about most of those involved in the consortium or the details of the...
