Government

Making sex safer

It has been a little over a month since Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, announced in his annual National Health budget and policy speech that the South African government will start administering free vaccinations against human papilloma virus (HPV) in schools beginning in February of 2014, but there is still much to discuss about the vaccination roll-out program.

Edirin Okoloko

Feature | 10 July 2013

Sex workers versus organisations against human trafficking

Sex workers have been fighting to enjoy their right to dignity. For this to happen, they say, sex work has to be decriminalised. On the other hand, organisations opposed to human trafficking are also opposed to sex work. We spoke to representatives of both sides.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

Brief | 10 July 2013

Group demands to know party funders

On 27 June 2013 protesters, under the campaign My Vote Counts which is run by activist organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi, gathered outside Parliament to demand that political parties disclose the names of their funders.

Pharie Sefali

News | 3 July 2013

Microchip road to real democracy

The advice of the Italian revolutionary, Antonio Gramsci constantly comes to mind these days: exercise pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will. I must admit that it has become a great deal easier over recent months to exercise pessimism of the intellect — and increasingly difficult to exercise optimism of the will to do something about changing things, domestically or globally.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 2 July 2013

Heading for the 2014 (E)lection

E-tolling, excrement and expanded public works. Apart from starting with the letter “E” they appear at first sight to have nothing in common. But with the country heading toward what promises to be a bitterly contested election in April or May next year, they are not only linked, they are likely to be major campaigning features.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 24 June 2013

Transformation by quota is barking mad

Jack Lewis argues that government's transformation plan is based on identity politics and is misguided. He asks people on the political left to speak out against it.

Jack Lewis

Opinion | 19 June 2013

Equal Education vs Motshekga gets nasty

The struggle between Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, and activist organisation Equal Education, is getting nasty. The Department has accused EE of using whites to mislead black people and EE has accused the Department of racism. EE held Youth Day marches on Monday 17 June in Cape Town and Pretoria. The marches were part of EE’s campaign to get Minister Motshekga to publish a policy on minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure.

Thandile Majivolo

News | 19 June 2013

The ANC-Alliance soap opera trundles on

“Confusion hath made his masterpiece.” That quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth seems perfectly to sum up the statements, comments, reports and machinations surrounding the Cosatu executive committee meeting last week.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 5 June 2013

Debunking Jeremy Cronin on civil society

“Join our hands to fight the drug companies, join our hands to raise money from the private sector, join our hands in raising money from each of us who will contribute to save lives of everyone who needs to be saved.” With these words Zackie Achmat launched the Treatment Action Campaign in 1998.

Doron Isaacs

Opinion | 29 May 2013

Why we should support social movements

This week I finally signed up as a donor to Equal Education. I'd been meaning to do it for a long time. Small as my contribution is I'd like to urge all who can afford even R20 per month to start supporting the social movements. Here's what motivated me to finally sign that debit order form.

Jack Lewis

Opinion | 22 May 2013

Why South Africa must end trade with illegal Israeli settlements

South Africa ruffled political feathers in April this year, after it made it unlawful for Israeli settlement products sold locally to be labelled as "made in Israel". All products made by Israeli businesses operating illegally in the settlements must now be labelled according to where they were produced in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This is in accordance with international law and South African foreign policy.

Jonathan Dockney

Opinion | 15 May 2013

“Aging Out” of Foster Care- David’s Story

Every year, hundreds of young adults "age out" of the foster care system in South Africa when they officially become adults at or around their 18th birthday. It is a big transition that often comes with very little support.

Verity Fitzgerald

News | 7 May 2013

Responding to criticism

The Democratic Alliance markets itself as an efficient and un-corrupt alternative to the ANC. It never hesitates to point out serious service delivery failures by the ANC. So it is interesting to see its responses to the Social Justice Coalition's criticisms of the City of Cape Town's handling of a major toilet supply contract in Khayelitsha.

Nathan Geffen

News | 30 April 2013

Venezuela: Lessons for South Africa

Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor Nicolas Maduro, has scraped through with a lead of 240,000 votes against the opposition of Henrique Capriles. Maduro is to lead the Venezuelan state in continuing the program of social reforms known as the Bolivarian Missions, where the state after nationalising the oil company, used that revenue for the betterment of the poorest sectors of society. Health care, housing and education are made available through the Missions.

Selby Nomnganga

Opinion | 24 April 2013

South Africa under construction: Give public works a chance

The Expanded Public Works Programme aims to create millions of short-term jobs every year while also providing the county with much needed infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and schools in areas that need it.

Amelia Midgley

Opinion | 13 March 2013

DA electoral reforms ignore the main problem: party funding

Of all the adjectives used to describe South African politics, boring cannot be one of them. Completely out of the blue the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday submitted an Electoral Reform Bill (Bill) to Parliament, which aims “to provide for the demarcation of … constituencies” in order to deal with the “alienation by voters from the political system”.

Gregory Solik

Opinion | 6 March 2013