Monumental disparities raise the risk of epic upheaval in South Africa and globally
poverty
Posted inEquality, General
South Sudan pushes hard to raise quality of education, improve adult literacy
Education offers a way out of poverty, but Covid-19’s disruption to the nation’s schooling system risks undoing much recent progress
Posted inNews/Politics
Swaziland’s people see King Mswati III for what he really is — a dictator
The monarch believes Swaziland belongs to him personally and all the country’s resources belong to him
Posted inEnvironment
Jobs or clean energy: is it better to go nuclear or to melt down?
SA’s black female unemployment crisis forces us to think differently about job creation and the effects of human behaviour on the planet
Posted inGender violence
Women’s rights are human rights
We are a far way from realising our lofty ideals of gender equality, but we must keep working towards them
Posted inNews/Politics
Clean-up after South Africa’s violence reveals a deeper rot
Is a system that leaves people with nothing left to lose in any way worth supporting?
Posted inNews/Politics
Our responses to social unrest and structural uncertainty are not enough
Social protection strategies that emphasise systemic responses only to ‘livelihood shocks and uncertainties’ hardly take into account the ways in which poverty and unemployment are produced and reproduced in South Africa
Posted inEquality, General
Surviving Covid-19 in a shack
The government’s response to lockdown trampled on the rights and dignity of residents in informal settlements
Posted inBusiness
E-payments for the unbanked are booming
The pandemic is providing mobile phone network operators with a unique chance to partner with fintech firms and banks to deliver clever e-commerce solutions to the informal sector in Africa
Posted inEquality, General, Health, News/Politics
The decline of the American Empire
It is no exaggeration to say that America ain’t what it used to be. Several articles I have read recently indicate this, whether they focus on Trump’s disastrous presidency, on social or educational matters. One in particular caught my attention yesterday (see here), and another this morning (see here), both of which draw one’s attention […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health
Blood Brothers and socio-economic inequality
At the dramatic culmination of Willy Russell’s gripping musical, Blood Brothers (1983), one of the twins who were parted soon after birth, Mickey, expresses his resentment at his mother, Mrs Johnstone, for not having been the one (Eddie) who was given away to a rich, childless woman, exclaiming something like: “I could have been him!” […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, General, News/Politics
Are South Africans really all capitalists at heart?
The South African news cycle often is awash with nationalist rhetoric from the emerging and vocal opposition, raging against the African National Congress. These quasi-socialists hold out an image of an economically liberated Southern Africa, a picture of Mzansi at peace on the land – their land. The capitalists too have a vision for South […]