The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
On 13 March 2014, The South African Civil Society Information Service and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) South Africa Office co-hosted a panel discussion, 'Beyond Nationalisation', which interrogated how South Africa's mineral resources could be exploited to bring greater benefit to more South Africans.
The discussion was opened by Renate Tenbusch, the Resident Director of the FES South Africa Office and facilitated by Fazila Farouk, Executive Director of SACSIS.
Panelists Ronnie...
Speaking at a panel discussion on the question of nationalisation for South Africa, former Minister for Intelligence Services, Ronnie Kasrils, who was deeply involved in the negotiations during South Africa’s transition to democracy explains how progressive people oriented policies such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) were quickly shelved in favour of neoliberal policies such as GEAR (the Growth Employment and Redistribution strategy), which led to the...
On 13 March 2014, SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office co-hosted a panel discussion about what kind of nationalization would best suit South Africa. We are pleased to see that the SABC 3 News team produced a superb report of our discussion, which aired on national television.
SACSIS and FES hosted the event in an effort to contribute to an informed discussion on nationalisation and debunk myths surrounding it. We are delighted that the SABC reported that...
Talking about the nationalisation debate in relation to the mining industry in South Africa, black economic empowerment (BEE) expert Duma Gqubule explains that the value of untapped mineral resources in South Africa’s is US$4.7 trillion. Put differently, the value of these mineral resources is worth one million Rand per South African citizen. Gqubule argues that the mistake our country made in relation to BEE was to set a target of 25% for black people. By definition, a black...
Dale T. McKinley -
If ever there was an example of a discursively circular and politically manipulated ‘debate’ in post-1994 South Africa, it is nationalisation. Like a differentially located scene from a Hollywood western, poker-faces and raised guns are instantly drawn at the mere mention of the word. And, just like the absurdity of the ensuing cinematic shootouts the nationalisation battleground always ends up covered in copious amounts of ‘blood and guts’ without anything having...
Saliem Fakir -
One of the strangest twists to the “nationalisation debate” is that everybody outside of the ANC opposed to the nationalisation of mineral wealth has somehow managed to see the now widely publicised ANC report emanating from a commissioned study on mining and nationalisation, except key members of the party and its alliance partners.
NUMSA was furious that they could not get access to the document and were told to wait. Meanwhile, some in the media have been pouring over its...
