Opinion and Analysis
Lessons from the platinum strike: the poison of inequality
The timing, duration and intensity of the long strike on the platinum belt were fuelled by a familiar South African problem: persistent and very high inequality.
Gilad Isaacs
Opinion | 1 July 2014
Help! People are breathing here
Breathing air that does not damage health is one of the most important constitutional rights. But some municipalities on the polluted Mpumalanga Highveld are battling to enforce the Air Quality Act, writes Robyn Hugo.
Robyn Hugo
Opinion | 1 July 2014
AMCU victory is more than just about the figures: A response to Gilad Isaacs
Gilad Isaacs underestimates the scale of AMCU's victory. His analysis offers an indicator of winner/loser based on contrasting the final settlement with the initial demand and initial offer. But this is arbitrary.
Peter Alexander
Opinion | 30 June 2014
The social catastrophe that threatens South Africa
The South African economy is facing a rocky period. But don’t blame the platinum strike or the union or workers involved. That labour dispute was a symptom, not the cause, of problems that had developed outside of the control of the workers.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 June 2014
Who won the platinum strike? The figures speak
After the historic five-month long platinum strike, mineworkers and corporate executives are retreating to their tin shacks and BMWs respectively. The country is left wondering: who won?
What the increases mean for the lives of the workers and the fortunes of the platinum producers is difficult to quantify. However, it is possible to compare the implications – for workers and company costs – of the various offers, demands and the final settlement.
Gilad Isaacs
Analysis | 26 June 2014
Malema should learn black consciousness is a philosophy of love not hatred
Che Guevara famously said that: "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." Black Consciousness itself is guided by the feelings of love; it is a philosophy of love. This was central to some of the philosophy on which the movement was founded such as the work of people like James Cone and Paulo Freire.
Ayanda Kota
Opinion | 23 June 2014
An urgent need for economic solutions
The platinum strike has correctly been categorised as a national crisis, but it is only one aspect of a much more severe crisis that confronts the country. This was highlighted on Tuesday by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation (SoNA) address in which he stressed the economy.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 23 June 2014
How we’re fixing the health worker shortage in rural hospitals
Umthombo Youth Development Foundation (UYDF) is a non-profit organisation with a simple mission: address the shortage of qualified healthcare staff in rural hospitals. Why? To improve healthcare delivery to these underserved communities.
Jen Strydom
Opinion | 18 June 2014
Minister Ramathlodi: more of the same, or the same, just more?
In the mining villages of Ga-Pila where Anglo Platinum continues to profit from land grabbed from the traditional communities just west of Mokopane, the appointment of the new Minister of Mineral Resources, Advocate Ngoako Ramathlodi, has been met with a sense of betrayal.
Christopher Rutledge
Opinion | 16 June 2014