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News & Views by Terry Bell
Statistics, labour & a no-confidence vote in Zuma
There is nothing sinister in the delay in the release of the South African Labour Forces Survey for the second quarter of this year. But it's crucial look at unemployment and income decline is likely to be swamped by media concentration on the no-confidence vote in parliament.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Pulp(ing) facts about that Mandela book
July 26, 2017
The withdrawal and probably pulping, at considerable cost, of thousands of copies of the book, Mandela’s Last Years, is unprecedented in South African publishing. However the same publisher, 36 years ago, pulped another book concerning South Africa.
Posted in: General reporting
The bigger picture of patronage and corruption
July 22, 2017
South Africa's finance minister Malusi Gigaba has announced his 14-point plan aimed at “taking the country out of recession”. Instead it will almost certainly guarantee ongoing discontent, especially with the labour movement.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Ideas to counter a poisonous legacy
July 16, 2017
THERE are many thousands of gainfully employed men and women, together with their children, living in the most appallingly squalid conditions in shacks in urban ghettoes around South Africa. Many are members of trade unions that together have trillions of rand in pension funds that could be used to help them and break the group areas legacy of apartrheid.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
‘Zuma must go’ — ANC Integrity Commission
July 9, 2017
The high profile, but practically powerless Integrity Commission (IC) of South Africa's governing ANC still wants President Jacob Zuma to step down. The reasons are spelled out in an IC report suppressed by ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantshe.
Posted in: General reporting
Media workers, citizens & freedom
July 8, 2017
Intolerance, bigotry and political cretinism have already contributed to the death of a journalist in South Africa as the country teeters on the edge of that slippery slope to authoritarianism.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
The painful reality of junk status
July 1, 2017
More pain is on the way for South Africa as a result of the junk status credit rating given to the country. But such pain will be passed on — by government and business — to the consumers. Expect resistance.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
July 28, 2017
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