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?
Urban land is of symbolic significance in South Africa because it is land that people of colour were historically denied access to. But the historically privileged still own, occupy and enjoy the best urban land.
The question is, why hasn’t our government been able to unlock well-located land in urban areas to provide housing for the people who need it most?
The historically disadvantaged continue to live on marginal land on the peripheries of South Africa’s cities and the...
In mid-April, member of the executive committee of shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, Thembani Jerome Ngongoma, spoke at a SACSIS event about poor peoples’ struggles to access land for housing in urban South Africa. In recent days, Abahlali have controversially endorsed the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the 2014 General Election. Many individuals and organisations of the left are shocked and dismayed by the decision, as the DA is traditionally associated with maintaining...
In reflecting on 20 years of South Africa's democracy, a group of artists in Johannesburg have tapped into the major themes in our ambient culture to emerge with a fascinating exhibition of artworks that distil some of the key issues dominating our national discourse at this important juncture in South African history.
SACSIS' Fazila Farouk caught up with curator of the exhibition Farieda Nazier at the Ithuba Art Gallery and discovered that violence, censorship, racism, patriarchy and...
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...
A new global study that examined protests in 87 countries, including South Africa (SA), found that the highest number of protests takes place in the developed world and the main grievance of protesters is economic injustice. In recent years, SA too has experienced a wave of protests. Is SA part of this global surge in protests or is there something else driving the phenomenon in our country? Trevor Ngwane, a doctoral student and Soweto activist who has done important research on the issue,...
