South Africa

Call for applications for participants to attend APORDE 2018 3rd to 14th of September 2018, Johannesburg, South Africa.

African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics, c Supported by - The South African Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) - The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) We are pleased to announce that the twelfth edition of the African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) will be held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 3rd to the 14th of September 2018. APORDE is a high-level training programme in development economics which aims to build capacity in economics and economic policy-making. The course is run for two weeks and consists of lectures and seminars taught by leading international and African economists. This call is directed at talented African, Asian and Latin American economists, policy makers, academics and civil society activists who, if…

Call for Application: African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics Johannesburg, South Africa, 4-15 September 2017

Applications are invited for the eleventh edition of the African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) 2017 that will be held in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 4th to the 15th of September 2017. APORDE is a high-level training programme in development economics which aims to build capacity in economics and economic policy-making. The course is run for two weeks and consists of lectures and seminars taught by leading international and African economists. This call is directed at talented African, Asian and Latin American economists, policy makers, academics and civil society activists who, if selected, will be fully funded to participate…

Memories of Sam Moyo: One-year tribute Dede Amanor-Wilks

Tuesday 22 November marked one year since Professor Sam Moyo passed away tragically after a road accident while attending a conference in India. I first met Sam in early 1991, just a few months after I took up residence in Harare as director of the Inter Press Service (IPS) regional centre for Africa. Sam was then a research fellow at the University of Zimbabwe’s Institute of Development Studies and with Yemi Katerere had set up an NGO, the Zimbabwe Environment Research Organisation (ZERO). Sam had heard about my arrival in Harare through our mutual Ghanaian friend, Dorothy Gordon, who was…

The Promise of Land: Undoing a century of dispossession in South Africa Edited by: Fred Hendricks, Lungisile Ntsebeza and Kirk Helliker

Publisher: Jacana ISBN 978-1-4314-0816-0 About the Book A century after the 1913 Natives' Land Act, there remains a land crisis in South Africa. How are we to understand the many dimensions of this crisis so that we can realistically move beyond the current inertia? The starting point for this book is that the current land reform policies in the country fail to take this colonial context of division and exclusion into account. As a result, there is an abiding land crisis in South Africa. The book examines the many dimensions of this crisis in urban areas, commercial farming areas and…

The Promise Of Land: Undoing A Century Of Dispossession In South Africa Edited By: Fred Hendricks, Lungisile Ntsebeza And Kirk Helliker

Exclusive with The President elect of Brazil

"We cannot be treated as a banana republic Luis Inacio da Silva affirms that his government will reclaim the Brazilian economy's weight in the international context: "We have to occupy the space that belongs to us and be respected”. "Trade must be a two-way street where everyone comes out a winner without the subjection of some" BY DEISY FRANCIS MEXIDOR "My principal reason for becoming president of Brazil is to give our country a new direction," affirms Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the recently elected leader of that South American nation after standing on three previous occasions, in an exclusive…

South African Finance Minister Admits he was Wrong

Finance minister Trevor Manuel advocated spending cuts, the dismantling of trade barriers and fighting inflation during the past six years, all under the guidance of World Bank economists. He is still waiting for the payoff. South Africa's economic growth has topped 4 percent only once since the mid-1990s. A third of the workforce is jobless. The government has faced a wave of strikes driven by anger at the slow gains in living standards since apartheid ended in 1994. Now, Manuel and even some World Bank officials say Africa's largest economy has not gained as expected from the lender's advice. Their…

People’s Budget Comments on Draft 2002 Division of Revenue Bill and Explanatory Memorandum COSATU Submission

These are the comments of the People's Budget - comprising the South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and the South African Council of Churches (SACC) - on the Draft 2002 Division of Revenue Bill and Explanatory Memorandum. This response should be read in the context of our submission on the 2001 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), presented to the Joint Budget Committee on 8 November 2001, which deals in more detail with the functional allocation of expenditure. To read the full document click here (Source: www.cosatu.org.za)

Power to the Powerful in South Africa, but the People also have Power Patrick Bond

It's a criminal gang,' announced Jeff Radebe, the African National Congress (ANC) minister of public enterprises, at a December (2001) press conference. He was blasting activists of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) for their 'Operation Khanyisa!'--reconnect the power! -- campaign. Over six months, more than 3,000 families had their electricity supplies illegally switched back on, after being left in darkness when they couldn't afford to pay their enormous monthly bills. SECC volunteers risk electrification to do the work, and charge their neighbors nothing for the service. Radebe, ironically, is a leading member of the SA Communist Party. In May…

Momentum Returns to Movements against Corporate Globalisations Patrick Bond

I was glad to see Mokhiber/Weissman writing for ZNet last week on the durability of the anti-neoliberal movement. Here in Johannesburg, September 11 came and went, with linkages made between the Left peace movement's urgent agenda--anti-war demonstrations against US consulates in several South African cities--and the broader problem of imperialism's new form. I don't call it 'Empire,' as do some trendy intellectual friends, but I do recognise that the imperialist project is about more than a superpower bully acting on homegrown corporate interests. Imperialism today entails the penetration of neoliberal-capitalist ideology everywhere, as part and parcel of expanding the material…