Posted inNews/Politics

Service delivery: Could improvements have been greater, more equitable?

By Aalia Cassim The popular narrative in the run-up to the elections sprawled across South African televisions, billboards and suburban walls is largely premised on service-delivery successes in post-apartheid South Africa. It is true that the asset and service deficit characteristic under the apartheid government has markedly improved. But almost daily reports of misused municipal […]

Posted inEqualityMediaNews/Politics

Let’s talk about the protests. Where is the empathy and outrage?

“The country is burning”. “Burning frustration”. “Hot-headed in South Africa”. These are the headlines that abound about the many protests that are currently erupting around South Africa. On television we witness mobs of black people apparently running amok, building barricades and burning tyres. We hear of the disenfranchised masses dancing, picking up rocks and supposedly […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Matching reforms to institutional realities

Social service delivery is weak across the developing world. While there is substantial heterogeneity across regions and countries, the picture of failing services is a familiar one. Challenges such as systematically high levels of absenteeism among teachers, doctors and nurses, persistent rates of drug stock outs — particularly in rural health clinics, rates of leakage […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Can we save the ANC?

The ANC is a party at war with itself. A party grappling with the machinations of converting from a liberation movement into a modern political party in government. This has proved to be a huge challenge as it also seeks to balance the fears and stubbornness of the old guard with the militancy and impatience […]

Posted inGeneral

Why we need electoral reform

By Ntombenhle Khathwane In the recent weeks, news headlines have been dominated by the textbook saga in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. This happens a few months before the ANC policy conference, during which it would be expected that the ruling party would discuss how to make its time in government more efficient. Although this was […]