The Freedom Charter envisioned a South Africa without racism or sexism, where all would be “equal before the law”, with “peace and friendship” pursued abroad.
Struggle for the Freedom Charter goes on
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Housing
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...
Farmworker Housing | by Benjamin Fogel
The housing crisis is not merely confined to the cities and towns of South Africa; it is at the heart of political struggles in rural areas as well. Farmworkers not only face the same types of issues as those who dwell in urban areas, but also face some that are...
Houses for all! Now! | by Martin Legassick
Women and children have been forced to endure the Cape's lashing winter winds and rain sleeping in the open in the Marikana area of Philippi. This is the result of illegal actions by the Democratic-Alliance-sponsored Anti Land Invasion Unit (ALIU), demolishing their...
Marie Hutchzermeyer cities with slums
In the past decade South Africa has witnessed an upsurge in negative labelling of informal settlements in policies and programmes, the removal of informal settlements from strategic positions in the city, and even legislative amendments to facilitate such...
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...
‘Jumping the Queue’, Waiting Lists and other Myths | by Kate Tissington
Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) www.seri-sa.org Since 1994 the South African government, through its National Housing Subsidy Scheme (NHSS), has embarked on the large-scale provision of...
The housing crisis
As demonstrated in these pages the housing crisis is complex and multi-layered and cannot be separated from the wider social malaise facing South Africa. The causes of this crisis include policy confusion, market-based mechanisms for service provision, and the...