South Africa

Is South Africa the World’s Most Generous Donor?

South Africa transfers just over R50 billion a year to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland with no strings attached By ALEXANDER O’RIORDAN The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is most easily identifiable in Botswana’s, Lesotho’s, Namibia’s and Swaziland’s (BLNS) use of the South African Rand as the basis for their own currencies, albeit through printing…

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affirmative action

Ambiguous Application of Affirmative Action Leaves South Africa Untransformed

By ANNA MAJAVU After almost 21 years, affirmative action has not taken root in South Africa and most sectors of the economy, including academic institutions, remain “untransformed”. The most recent Commission for Employment Equity’s annual report noted that whites continued to retain the vast majority of the top positions in South Africa (over 62 percent…

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Newly Qualified Black Teachers Struggle to Find Jobs Despite Overcrowding in South Africa’s Classrooms

By ANNA MAJAVU South Africa has a growing number of unemployed teaching graduates, especially newly qualified Black teachers. When Dr Blade Nzimande took office as Higher Education minister, he increased the number of bursaries for teacher training, supposedly to remedy the extreme shortage of teachers. Last year, R2.4-billion was allocated by the Higher Education ministry…

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South Africa's Constitution

Land, Dignity & Democracy: South Africa’s Constitution Does Allow for Expropriation

By RICHARD PITHOUSE At a public discussion on the land question in Johannesburg on Friday, February 27, Dikgang Moseneke, the Deputy Chief Judge of the Constitutional Court, began his remarks with a well-known quote from Frantz Fanon: For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land:…

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Jacob Zuma

Laughing President: The Real Reason Jacob Zuma Can’t Stop Smiling

By ALEXANDER O’RIORDAN What happened in the South African Parliament last week was a carefully engineered spectacle of power Last week’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) and the subsequent fallout is being voraciously dissected in the press. Most of the analysis, however, is on what the media presumes are unintended consequences of President Jacob…

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Leila Khaled

SONA 2015: Leila Khaled’s Presence In Parliament Lost in Pandemonium of Local Politics

By ANNA MAJAVU The Tripartite Alliance’s support of the BDS Movement is weakened by the ruling party’s confusing stance on Israel/Palestine Amongst the audience in Parliament’s public gallery for President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) was a Palestinian freedom icon who carried with her the hopes of all Palestinians that the ANC…

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