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?
Speaking at a panel discussion on the question of nationalisation for South Africa, former Minister for Intelligence Services, Ronnie Kasrils, who was deeply involved in the negotiations during South Africa’s transition to democracy explains how progressive people oriented policies such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) were quickly shelved in favour of neoliberal policies such as GEAR (the Growth Employment and Redistribution strategy), which led to the...
On 13 March 2014, SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office co-hosted a panel discussion about what kind of nationalization would best suit South Africa. We are pleased to see that the SABC 3 News team produced a superb report of our discussion, which aired on national television.
SACSIS and FES hosted the event in an effort to contribute to an informed discussion on nationalisation and debunk myths surrounding it. We are delighted that the SABC reported that...
Alexander O'Riordan -
This weekend Crimea’s hastily organised referendum concluded as expected with an ethnically Russian majority population voting overwhelmingly to merge with Russia. The Western response of sanctions and punitive measures against Russia for its shamefacedly opportunistic occupation will prove in the long run to be largely bluster. There is no doubt the Kremlin is anxious to counter a growing Western-leaning politics in the region and to annex a strategically important part of Ukraine....
On Sunday the people of Crimea voted in a referendum with over 95% in favour of leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. President Obama has said that the U.S. will never accept the results of this referendum and European Union officials have more or less said the same thing.
On Monday morning, sanctions were announced by Europe and the U.S. various officials around Russian President Vladimir Putin and in the Ukraine. These will include travel bans and some attacks on their assets in the...
Glenn Ashton -
While rolling blackouts are never a joke, many South Africans cracked an ironic smile when Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba remarked that Eskom was better prepared to deal with their recent power supply crisis than in 2008. Thanks for that insight, Minister.
Problem is, we still have rolling blackouts six years on, with things looking pretty dire as we approach winter. As usual we all pay, in different ways, for these systematic failures at the highest levels. Surely it is time...
David Bollier -
Why should investors always have the upper hand in “development” plans when the resource at stake is a beloved building or public space? Why should the divine right of capital necessarily prevail?
How refreshing to learn that England has created a special legal process for preventing market enclosures of community pubs. There is even a Community Pubs Minister, whose duty it is to recognize the value of pubs to communities and to help safeguard their futures. So far, some...
