Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to be seen as the core pathway for southern Africa and the African region as a whole to meet economic growth aspirations. African natural resources are in demand globally and foreign investment projects are on the...
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South African Hip Hop: An outsider’s perspective
One evening while channel surfing at home, I stumbled upon what sounded like a rap cypher on the radio. Quickly, I got up to look for an empty cassette tape nearby. Once I found one (a see-through Sonotech C-60 if memory serves right), I hurriedly inserted it into the...
What, really, did the ANC deliver? Tokenistic social policy
What has the South African government delivered in 20 years? A massive welfare state with 16 million grant recipients (nearly a third of the population); 95% of the people served with clean water access; a rising rate of matriculation by 12th graders; a dramatic...
20 Years of democracy: The State of Gender
Free to do the heavy lifting: after 20 years of democracy South African women remain exploited, brutalized and devalued . Has 20 years of democracy given black rural and urban poor women land, housing, health, jobs, freedom of sexual exploitation, safety and...
Putting the rights of cleaners at the centre of the struggle for transformation of universities: The case of UJ cleaners
The debate on transformation of universities tends to focus on changes in colour and gender, as well as access to these institutions. These are vitally important questions, because they seek to cure the ills of colonialism and apartheid in university education. On the...
Policing gangs by building working-class power
by Jeremy Vearey The mission of 'people's policing' in Mitchells plain, and the notion of community policing in general, seeks to correspond to community needs and priorities mandated by grassroots community structures such as street committees, neighbourhood watches...
The Fall of Bophutaswana
In 1994 the Bantustan Dictator, Lucas Mangope refused to participate in the transformation of South Africa. On Friday, 3 March 1994 we met as teachers at Rooigrond hotel which was just outside the fictional borders of Bophutatswana, and about a kilometer from...
THE CASE OF SHANNON—OUTCASTE CAPE TOWN: a personal reflection by Andre Marais
THE CASE OF SHANNON---OUTCAST CAPE TOWN: a personal reflection by Andre Marais My nephew Shannon is about to be sentenced next week. He is currently languishing in Polsmoor as an awaiting trial prisoner. As I watch him being brought from the holding cells to court in...
The Antinomies of Democracy in Durban | by Richard Pithouse
Originally published at The South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS) In the last days of June, Nkululeko Gwala was assassinated in Cato Crest - a shack settlement in Durban that is in the process of being upgraded with formal housing. Just over three...


