Opinion
Time for an economic alternative
The old ideas about economics are not working and we are in an unstable period, where alternative ideas should be considered, tested and grown, writes Sofie Geerts.
Dr Sofie Geerts
Opinion | 18 December 2014
Minimum wage debate: the old cheap labour system will get us nowhere
The low wage argument is a red herring, argue Gilad Isaacs and Ben Fine in the latest contribution to the minimum wage debate.
Gilad Isaacs and Ben Fine
Opinion | 17 December 2014
Cape Town congress shows how Rana Plaza offers hope for workers’ rights
Rana Plaza was the deadliest factory disaster in history. On April 23 last year a shoddily built eight-storey building in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, collapsed.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 15 December 2014
Know Your Constitution: a challenge to students
This is a challenge to young people, and to law students in particular, to think about how we can use the law to effect change: we have a Constitution now, but what are we going to do with it?
Rachel Mazower and Isabeau Steytler
Opinion | 10 December 2014
UCT responds on minimum wage
UCT's Deputy Vice-Chancellor responds to the article by Budlender and Lorenzen that criticised UCT's policy for next year on minimum wages.
Francis Petersen
Opinion | 10 December 2014
Why domestic workers keep fighting
Nearly 17 years ago, sitting behind a slightly battered desk in Cape Town’s Salt River, Myrtle Witbooi told me that the dream of domestic workers being “treated like other workers” would not die. “We want a living wage and proper hours. It is a dream…but we will get there,” said the woman who, in Cape Town in 1965, convened the first organisational meeting of domestic workers.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 8 December 2014
Some lessons for South Africa’s sectarian middle-class lefties
Some NGOs with no membership that cast themselves as "radical" misuse grassroots organisations for their own purposes, writes Ayanda Kota.
Ayanda Kota
Opinion | 4 December 2014
Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance claim court victory
Steel Valley communities’ victory against ArcelorMittal is a victory for pollution-affected communities across the country, writes Melissa Fourie.
Melissa Fourie
Opinion | 3 December 2014
Militarisation and depoliticisation in South Africa today
One of the striking features of South African politics in recent years is its re-militarisation - a tendency for political issues to be addressed or resolved by force. This is part of a wider problem of violence suffusing South African society in general - that people, especially men, vent their anger with violence rather than discuss what has caused them to be annoyed in areas unrelated to politics, for example so-called “road rage”.
Raymond Suttner
Opinion | 2 December 2014