South Africa | Terry Bell Writes

Browsing All posts tagged under »South Africa«

’tis the season to…..?

December 10, 2010

It is surely time for serious reflection when the lunatic logic of the present system encourages us to spend — all too often on credit — to provide a boost to ailing economies when all this will do is provide a boost to banks and to the profits of importers, producer companies, wholesalers and retailers while the jobs slaughter continues.

The history of an exceptional newspaper

December 8, 2010

The Guardian — The History of South Africa’s Extraordinary Anti-Apartheid Newspaper. By James Zug (Michigan State University Press/UNISA Press) (First published, May 2009) The Guardian, a polemical newspaper that survived three bannings and subsequent name changes and was once charged, alongside 156 individuals, with treason, is part of the anti-apartheid folk lore of South Africa. […]

South Africa in Africa: The post-apartheid era

December 8, 2010

edited by Adekeye Adebajo, Adebayo Adedeji and Chris Landsberg (University of KZN Press) (First published, June 2008) This excellent volume does not deal with the prospects of a post-Mbeki presidency or with any of the possible fallout from the internecine feuding within the ANC. And this should not matter, for no matter the outcome now […]

Why labour’s battle is far from over

December 5, 2010

South Africa has a justly lauded Constitution and Bill of Rights. It also has some of the best labour laws anywhere. These are victories largely attributable to the labour movement, but they remain paper victories that have constantly to be fought for to ensure that they are applied.

In pursuit of ‘Dr Shock’

November 24, 2010

Aubrey Levin, the Johannesburg-born psychiatrist who once claimed to "cure" homosexuals by "aversion therapy" and who was in charge of the notorious Ward 22 for "deviants" in the apartheid state's military hospital in Pretoria, was arrested in March 2010 in Calgary, Canada, charged with the sexual assault of a male patient. It was merely the latest in a history of allegarions dating back across decades.

SA’s New Growth Path: enter Son of Gear

November 24, 2010

South Africa seems enamoured of acronyms, and national economic policy has provided three over the past 16 years: RDP, GEAR and now, NGP. The one consistent element appears to be that, while the names may change, nothing fundamental seems to alter; "trickle down" economics still rules.

Blowing a union whistle on corruption

November 20, 2010

(Published November 19, 2010) Public protector Thuli Madonsela’s revelations about the victimisation of whistleblowers and the protection of corrupt officials caused a minor sensation this week. But the revelations came as no surprise to many trade unionists — and especially not to members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. […]

The real face of Wal-Mart

November 20, 2010

According to the labour movement, Wal-mart, the world's biggest private sector employer and retailer, is a parasitic entity contributing the the 'race to the bottom' in terms of wages and conditions while adding to the global army of the jobless.