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News & Views by Terry Bell
An answer to inequality and waste of human potential
South Africa has a history of massively damaging and racist social engineering, the effects of which are clearly evident in our grossly unequal shambles of an education system. Evidence was again provided last week in the latest international Grade 4 reading for meaning rankings. But the fact that the effects remain so pronounced, nearly 30 […]
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May Day sadness in 2023
April 30, 2023
(First published in City Press, April 30, 2023) Tomorrow is May Day. And, for the first time in a long and quite active life as a social campaigner I shall approach that historic occasion not with jubilation, pride and determination, but with sadness. And I will not be alone: there appears to be a growing […]
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The event that signalled the end of apartheid
March 22, 2023
This month (March) 50 years ago, the trigger — and the underlying power — that brought an end to apartheid erupted in Durban when nearly 100,000 workers were out on strike. This view of the crucial role played by the labour movement after a decade and more of relative quietude, is now being increasingly recognised. […]
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A sad reflection, 50 years on
March 18, 2023
Several vital points have been missing in all the debates I have seen and heard about the strike by a section of public sector workers that ended this week. In the first place, this was a strike by one union out of 16 in the sector and the dispute was about last year’s arbitrarily imposed […]
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The poor — and children — again pay the price
March 5, 2023
(First published on Fin24 and in City Press 05/03/2023) The latest national Budget, generally lauded by business, did nothing to halt the ongoing shedding of jobs or the fact that more and more families are being thrown into abject poverty. The situation has also probably worsened over the latest period of level six load shedding, […]
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Unions and an out of touch elite
December 19, 2022
(Pre-ANC conference copy published in City Press 18/12/2022; update [below] on Fin24 19/12/2022) The national — and, to some degree, international — focus this past weekend has been on Nasrec and the now established survival but potential demise of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of the governing ANC and of South Africa. But despite the outcome, […]
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The nasty role of competitive sport
December 18, 2022
First published on Fin24 an d in City Press, South Africa There can be no normal sport in an abnormal society. This was a slogan that highlighted the gross abnormality of racial discrimination in apartheid sport. But it remains as valid today, in a global society where even more liberal nation states exhibit various levels […]
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Embattled SA state buys time
November 22, 2022
First published on Fin24 and in City Press, South Africa Today (Tuesday 22/11) provided a good indication of how angry and united public sector workers are at the government’s decision to unilaterally impose a 3% pay rise that all but the teacher unions have rejected. And workers in the education sector only “very reluctantly” agreed […]
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Terry Bell Writes 
May 29, 2023
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