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?
SACSIS promotes the fundamental right of the poor to services such as clean water, sanitation, waste management, affordable energy, public transport, health, education and social security.
Glenn Ashton -
There are two kinds of South Africans. Some, who will read this article - the consumers of printed and online media - and the rest, who most likely will not. The first kind are more likely to be able to access health care on demand. The second probably cannot. How can we get these two worlds to meet?
The National Health Insurance (NHI) programme is a state initiative to improve the constitutional prerogative of egalitarian, universal health care. Although a degree of healthcare is broadly...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
Wage negotiations in the public sector have reached an impasse. Unions have rejected a 6.5% wage increase offer from government, holding out for 8% and as well as a housing subsidy of R1500.
Commentary on the state of negotiations is focused on themes of fiscal sustainability and performance in the public service. The propaganda of both government and unions focuses on winning the proverbial hearts and minds of communities, should a dispute be declared.
Strikes seem a likely possibility...
Glenn Ashton -
Unemployment and poverty are certainly South Africa’s terrible twins. The social risks of a restive, unemployed workforce are legion. That the majority of school leavers cannot secure employment emphasises our dilemma.
The government has two primary interventions to address this problem. First, it has implemented one of the world’s most extensive social grant systems to directly support the neediest. Secondly, it is well down the road in rolling out a massive job creation...
Glenn Ashton -
UNISA, the University of South Africa, has established an excellent reputation over its 138-year history. Even during apartheid it served everyone in the country through its open distance education model. Many past and present leaders earned their degrees whilst incarcerated for anti-apartheid activities, this fact recently receiving praise from President Zuma. There are still prisoners within the corrections system receiving UNISA tuition. UNISA extends the possibility to realise our...
Jane Duncan -
Many South Africans are worried about the mounting evidence of abuse of security cluster resources, and rightly so, as it is a highly sensitive area of government that could easily be used against political opponents of the ruling elite. Without investigative journalists drawing on sources of information inside the cluster, these abuses may not have come to light.
Security cluster employees are often the first people to become aware of abuses, as they are close to the action and...
Dale T. McKinley -
It wasn’t that long ago, just after the 1994 elections to be precise, when it seemed almost every other South African wanted to became a public servant. For the vast majority, this was not simply because there was a job on offer but because there was a very real sense that becoming part of the newly democratic public service, in whatever capacity was the right thing to do. It was not about the self-interested or political party-centred occupation of positions of power or about using...
