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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20 years of democracy: not yet Uhuru
As we mark 20 years since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy, there is a deep rupturing of the post-apartheid social consensus in the face of intensifying class struggle. The signals for its end are the Marikana massacre, the great mineworkers' strike...
Mining strike: Whose reality is ‘the real world’?
Everyone, other thaN lunatics, troublemakers and the economically illiterate, is supposed to know that the demand by the striking platinum workers for a starting basic wage of R12 500 is plainly unaffordable. Indeed, anything even near R12 500 is supposedly so...
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...
The end of NUM’s hegemony: AMCU and new mlitancy
The Association of Mining and Construction Workers (AMCU) was born in 1998 out of a strike at Douglas Colliery, one of the oldest mines belonging to Ingwe Coal, when 3,000 workers occupied the underground works of the mine in protest against the dismissal of Joseph...
Crises are part of Capitalism’s metabolism
A crisis in the capitalist system is a kind of wake up call: speculative bubbles burst, the price of assets [8] moves back towards their real value; the least profitable corporations go bankrupt, and capital is destroyed [9]. Crises are in a way part of Capitalism's...
Political Economy of Gender and Climate Change
Abstracts Gender Concerns in Climate Change need serious attention of all interested in sustainable development. Women in many developing countries are responsible for climatically sensitive tasks such as securing food, water and energy which ensure the life and...
Pampering of rich too costly | by Dick Forslund
Speculation is rife in anticipation of next week's budget speech. Will Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announce tax increases? Might the tax rate for personal income above R617 000 increase to 42 percent? Might it even return to 45 percent for the portion of income...
Farm strikes: Radical changes needed.
Farm workers began the centennial year of the 1913 Land Act with a continuation of the most militant industrial action in the sector in decades. On January 9th, various Western Cape farming towns were turned into warzones as protestors demanding an increase to a...




