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?
Visit the archives.
Anna Majavu -
The mines and the farms are two enduring symbols of old white colonial theft, of the minerals and land. Because of the monopoly of the National Union of Mineworkers, whose leaders and officials have long preferred compromise and co-determination over worker control, it has been difficult for mineworkers to strike – until the Marikana massacre.
It has possibly been even harder for farm workers to strike.
Human Rights Watch estimated recently that less than 3% of South African farm...
Gillian Schutte -
It was with sheer terror that we witnessed the grotesque spectacle of the bulldozing of fully built brick and mortar houses in Lenasia by government officials last week. Images of desperate women being pulled out of their houses and attempting to stop bulldozers from demolishing their lives haunt our recent memories. This was reminiscent of the forced removals of yesteryear when fully settled communities were forced out of their homes by a draconian apartheid government.
What could prompt...
Nonhlanhla Pholo explains how she bought her land in Lenasia, in what she thought was a legitimate deal through a housing department agent. Now her home is earmarked for demolition by the Johannesburg Department of Housing.
She feels victimized twice over, as she has already had to rebuild her house after a developer scammed her by building a house that was not passed by building inspectors. All her savings are invested in her new home and she is in danger of losing everything.
©...
Dale T. McKinley -
An unsolicited R6.5 billion ‘urban renewal’ Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the ANC-run Emakhazeni Municipality in Mpumalanga (which incorporates the small town of eMgwenya) and a private consortium called WB Noka (a ‘proud member of the ANC Progressive Business Forum’), might be signed any day now. This could happen despite the fact that the vast majority of eMgwenya residents have no idea about most of those involved in the consortium or the details of the...
Leonard Gentle -
Over the past weekend, the striking mineworkers of Amplats gathered at a mass rally in Rustenburg and howled their defiance of a series of ultimatums issued by the company. At De Doorns, farm workers are on a wildcat strike - the latest of a series that has become a feature of the South African landscape over the last three months, knocking Mangaung off the front pages. Something is stirring from below…and it is time we got beyond the fear and trepidation that have become the stock...
Who hasn’t sent a text message saying, “I’m on my way,” when it wasn’t true or fudged the truth a touch in their online dating profile?
But, Jeff Hancock, Associate Professor of Cognitive Science and Communications at Cornell University, doesn’t believe that the anonymity of the Internet encourages dishonesty. In fact, he says the searchability and permanence of information online may even keep us honest. His research focuses on how people use deception...
