Since the adoption of a resolution by ANC’s elective conference in December 2017 to change the constitutional provision requiring equitable compensation for land expropriated by the state, the dialogue on the specific constitutional clause as well as on land distribution and ownership in this country appears trapped between the extremes of hyperbole and double talk.... Continue Reading →
Policy-making and policy implementation are complex and convoluted processes involving both technical-rational and competitive dimensions, and they entail questions around what governments do, how they do it and why they do it, as well as the consequences of state actions for society as a whole. This article examines policy-making and policy implementation, and the relationship... Continue Reading →
Decolonisation has been a recurring theme in narratives on Africa’s social, economic, political and cultural development. In South Africa, the debate on decolonisation reached fever pitch in 2016 with the Fees Must Fall Movement on university campuses. Of the many issues that surfaced in the course of the debate, however, few seemed to have spawned... Continue Reading →
There are some parts of the Mbeki, et al paper with which I agree, at the broadest level. Who can disagree with the argument that care needs to be exercised by government to head off a further deterioration in state finances in a context of low growth, declining revenue and constant or rising demands on... Continue Reading →
Introduction This paper looks at the danger of a looming fiscal cliff facing South Africa. Initial research on the fiscal cliff (Rossouw et al, 2014) assessed social assistance payments and compensation of civil servants to calculate the point where this expenditure will absorb all government revenue. As the interest burden on government debt developed into... Continue Reading →
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The reforms of state policy in the early period of the transition were developed in the context of a broader response to a deepening capitalist crisis globally and in South Africa. A radical black working class organized in COSATU had gained momentum throughout the 1980s and the trade unions were becoming stronger given their mass... Continue Reading →
Recent policies developed by the department of rural development and land reform (DRDLR) form part of a wide network of legislation and policies that seek to govern the lives of rural South Africans in relation to land and citizenship rights. At stake here are the rights of 18 million of the poorest South Africans, their... Continue Reading →
The public transport situation in South Africa is plunging the working poor into chaos. They have been placed far away from Industrial and commercial centres where they work. For this dysfunctional arrangement, one of Apartheid’s worst legacies, they are paying a prohibitive price. There is a systemic transport crisis in most areas of the country,... Continue Reading →
