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?
Saliem Fakir -
As we embark on transforming South Africa’s health care system through a National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, the question will arise as to how we fund the scheme and support facilities to accommodate the growing demands on the system.
South Africa will have to build new hospitals and other support infrastructure.
How we do that really depends on whether the government digs into its own coffers - for which the national debt level will increase - or funds new infrastructure...
Dale T. McKinley -
Editor's Note: Find "Part One" here.
The ascension to and capturing of, political power always has a way of (eventually) exposing the practical underbelly of the victor’s ideological dressage. And so it was with the ANC’s transformation from liberation movement to political party in the early-mid 1990s.
Flush with their ‘overwhelming mandate from the people’ in the 1994 election, the ANC leadership quickly abandoned any possibility of a radically...
An activist from Egypt who spent days on Tahrir square has traveled to Dakar to attend the World Social Forum (WSF). Here she talks about how the revolution was started in Egypt, who the main organizers and supporters of the protest are, as well as emphasizing the secular nature and diversity of people involved in the call for President Mubarak to step. Find part two of her interview here.
The WSF, the counterpoint to the World Economic Forum, is currently underway in Dakar, Senegal....
Jane Duncan -
South Africa is gearing up for its third local government election. In an attempt to break with the authoritarianism of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma has promised a new approach to these elections, where more responsive candidates are selected that genuinely represent the will of the people.
To this end, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has committed itself to greater community involvement in the selection of candidates. Branch members select candidates who are...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
Has the campaign for a Basic Income Grant (BIG) been successful?
This question requires reflection, as in any democracy, assessing advocacy objectives can never be as simple as ticking boxes. The answer to the question is mostly answered in the negative, simply because South Africa does not have a universal income grant. The despondency of activists still supporting the campaign leads to a reaffirmation that South Africa will remain unequal and that feasible redistributive mechanisms are...
The deepwater horizon spill has been recast as a good news story about a disaster averted. But oceanographers studying the spill say that below these healthy looking waves, the Gulf's problems are far from over.
The oil from BP's spill in the Gulf didn't just magically disappear. Naomi Klein and Big Noise Films' Jacquie Soohen headed to the Gulf aboard the research vessel Weatherbird II, they found plenty of evidence of the damage still being done.
