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...
settlement
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...
COSATU at the crossroads
This feature of Amandla! lays bare the conflict unfolding in COSATU. Tensions in SA's biggest labour movement play themselves out over the failure of the Polokwane project. The ANC's 2007 Polokwane Conference, which adopted a host of progressive policies, was supposed...
Protest Politics:Sweet Home
a version of this article was published in the Mail & Guardian on 21 September 2012 By Jared Sacks For much of this winter, communities in shack settlements across Cape Town have taken to the streets in some of the most active civil disobedience protests since...
Solidarity for beginners: Palestine/Israel conflict PART 2
Why is Jerusalem a problem? For millennia, Jerusalem has seen three major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – settle in this area, the centre of the 'Holy Land'. Issues abound but all revolve around the historical settlement patterns for these religious and...
Solidarity for beginners: Palestine/Israel conflict PART 2
Why is Jerusalem a problem? For millennia, Jerusalem has seen three major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – settle in this area, the centre of the 'Holy Land'. Issues abound but all revolve around the historical settlement patterns for these religious and...
On the Politics of Protest in Cape Town
By Jared Sacks A few weeks ago the City of Cape Town was rocked by a spate of road blockades and other significant protests. Certain liberal NGOs have joined the DA in condemning the protests claiming that they are violent and motivated by political party agendas. To...




