The phrasing of the Refugee Amendment Bill calls into question the commitment of the Department of Home Affairs to uphold its obligations under the UN Refugee Convention, write Aleck Kuhudzai and Deborah Won of the Agency for Refugee Education, Skills Training and Advocacy (ARESTA).
Aleck Kuhudzai and Deborah Won
Opinion | 2 September 2015
As it started, by targeting the legacy of one dead white male, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign claimed morality. As it progresses, by targeting the activity of two living white males, the rump of campaigners cannot claim credibility. Members of a university as distinguished as UCT might have been expected to prefer substance over sloganeering.
Allan Greenblo
Opinion | 1 September 2015
The struggle for a national minimum wage in South Africa has a long history, having been waged, largely by organised worker formations, since the 1930s. These efforts have taken various forms, from open class conflict to more subdued trade union representations to the various governments of the day.
Eddie Cottle
Opinion | 31 August 2015
Oh, when will they ever learn? It’s the last line in every stanza of a famous Pete Seeger anti-war song. And it is wholly appropriate this week as we digest the latest GDP figures against a background of ongoing crises especially in the steel, mining and manufacturing sectors. Along with, of course, the continuing collapse of the rand.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 31 August 2015
The 2016 local government elections will be surely be heavily contested. Already in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay, the ANC, DA and EFF are gearing up for tough electoral battles. No doubt too, all the political parties will pour large sums of money into these areas. But quite how much political parties will spend on campaigning, no one knows, because of a complete lack of transparency in the funding of political parties.
Judith February
Opinion | 27 August 2015
Every day millions across South Africa do arduous work in jobs that cannot keep them and their dependants out of poverty. These are the “working poor” and according to a new study, there are about five and half million of them.
Gilad Isaacs
Opinion | 25 August 2015
The whole question of colonialism has come to the fore again, courtesy of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and its vehement objection to the introduction of the Chinese Mandarin dialect to local schools.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 24 August 2015
This month, international human rights body Amnesty International voted to “pursue a policy to protect the human rights of sex workers.” Its decision has generated much media attention and debate and has been opposed by many well-intentioned people and institutions.
Marlise Richter and Ruvimbo Tenga
Opinion | 21 August 2015
Large scale redundancies in the South African mining sector, running to tens of thousands of jobs, are probably inevitable. But only because of the system in which we have to operate.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 17 August 2015
There is a deepening crisis of overcrowding, joblessness, insecurity and general destitution at Wolwerivier relocation camp. The community have explained their experiences, along with a call for engagement and support, in writing to the City of Cape Town. Their letter was ignored.
Daneel Knoetze
Opinion | 14 August 2015
Evictions are a daily part of living on the margins in South Africa. This week, residents were evicted from a block of flats in Berea, Johannesburg. Authorities descended early on Wednesday morning on the flats where hundreds are people are living. Their personal belongings – including fridges, clothes and computers – were left outside in the street. Where do such people go? In Cape Town, they have been sent to a place called Blikkiesdorp.
Alison Tilley
Opinion | 13 August 2015
Every year as August dawns there is a media ritual about women’s rights and, on August 9, a positive rash of declarations of intent and remembrances about the 1956 anti-pass march of the women on Union Buildings. But while institutionalised apartheid has gone, the position of women in South Africa and around the world remains demonstrably unequal and, in some cases is worse now than it was 20 or more years ago.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 11 August 2015
Scientists, economists, policy makers and child-rights advocates agree: there is growing scientific evidence that investment in early childhood development is the most cost-effective route to the sustainable development of children and their communities.
Patricia Martin
Opinion | 7 August 2015
After the 2008 xenophobic attacks which left 62 people dead and thousands displaced and homeless, the attention of South Africans shifted back to the many other social issues that plague South Africa’s conscience. Urgency was lost and prevention of xenophobia and violence became mundane.
Marike Keller
Opinion | 5 August 2015
In response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision recognising gay marriage, UCT Student Representative Council (SRC) vice-president Zizipho Pae wrote on her Facebook page on 28 June, “We are institutionalizing and normalizing sin! Sin. May God have mercy on us...”. Pae has subsequently continued to defend her statement.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 30 July 2015
Unity and cohesion remain the slogans for the ANC-led alliance as the three partners echo the claim of last week’s Cosatu special national congress that such togetherness has been assured. It hasn’t. But, with the infighting having gone overwhelmingly in favour of the executive, there are hurried attempts to create a facade of unity as the lobbying continues.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 27 July 2015