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?
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen is the founder of Zapreneur and Proposal Desk. Each of these websites are aimed at answering this question – Can the Internet help South African small business?
Ebrahim-Khalil started his career at the Gauteng Provincial Government, where he was the manager of the Vusani Amadolobha Grant Fund, which was South Africa’s first public-private partnership fund for urban renewal. The theme of public service reform saw him join the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI), a research non-governmental organisation established by the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
From 2007 to 2009, he worked part-time at the Centre for Poverty, Employment and Growth at the Human Sciences Research Council building proposals for employment creation in the public service. In 2011, Zapreneur was launched. As an independent public policy analyst, his clients have included TIPS, NALEDI and the Department of Economic Development. He currently serves on the board of the South African Labour Bulletin, and is a member of the COSATU Economics Panel.
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
What is to be done? Minister Pravin Gordhan asked the question in his inaugural budget speech. There was a slight pause after he asked the question. He then broke from the written text to say, "Some of you will know where that comes from." The obvious reference was to the title of a political and theoretical article written by Lenin, and in so doing suggestive of a leftist orientation to the budget.
Minister Gordhan then went on to eloquently explain the exemplary objectives that...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The previous Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, always peppered his budget speech with humorous advice received as part of his “Tips for Trevor” campaign. As Minister Pravin Gordhan unveils his inaugural budget speech what would a set of “Pointers for Pravin” be?
Judging by his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement speech in 2009, the South African public should also remember that Minister Gordhan is likely to make a point or two of his own.
In many ways Minister...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
A central message from government since the 2009 elections is that the "economy needs coordination."
To this end, in addition to the already existing National Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry, government has created the Economic Development Department (EDD). The creation of the EDD recognises that departments such as communication, agriculture, arts and culture and science and technology all play important roles in the economy. In addition, the restructured...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
About a decade ago, there was a fashionable rebuttal for developmental alternatives within the broader configuration of power called the ANC. That rebuttal was simply that alternatives were "intellectual gymnastics."
The criticism was at once soft and devastating.
In a single stroke, a double critique unfolded. First, that alternatives existed in the realm of ideas and being "intellectual" had little practical value. Second, that because political office bearers...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
There is some confusion over whether the idiom should be a "600 pound gorilla" or the much larger "800-pound" creature. The usage also differs with some using it as a form of praise for companies that have dominant positions in markets, and others using the idiom to describe a difficult situation, which is not being addressed.
One would hope that public policy analysis would be as simple as identifying the gorilla, but the power underlying public policy choices is...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
"Give us massive price increases or the lights will once again go out," is the nub of the message from Eskom to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA). This simple and powerful posture by Eskom however hides the emergence of what might be called a "policy juggernaut." The term "policy juggernaut" has been coined by South African sociologist Karl von Holdt who defines it as a dense cluster of institutional, personal and economic interests, which...
