This project takes a different form from the preceding eight projects. It does not involve the triad of activities: publications, submissions and roundtable discussions. Rather, it consists of two distinct legs: Firstly, building on a successful experience since 2008, we offer an annual week-long exposure and training course for people from other African countries, or […]

It is an alarming fact that there are about 10 million people in formal employment in South Africa, but 17 million people who depend on social grants paid by the government. Even worse, of the 10 million, only about half earn enough to be liable to pay income tax. These figures reveal a lot about […]

Questions pertaining to displaced persons constitute one of the most pressing social issues of our time. This is so both because of the numbers of people affected – 65.5 million directly, and many more indirectly; and in terms of the geographic spread of the problem – few parts of the world are unaffected. An equally […]

The interplay between safeguarding the environment and ensuring that the country has enough affordable energy for its development needs, continues to pose many policy and legislative challenges. South Africa is a signatory to all the relevant international instruments regarding climate change, and has committed itself to work towards clean energy. However, we are a country […]

An important aspect of faith-based advocacy is to try to be a ‘voice of the voiceless’. Over the years of its existence CPLO has always tried to do this in its submissions to Parliament and by bringing the needs of marginalised communities to the attention of policy-makers; and wherever possible to create opportunities, through our […]

The primary reason for the creation of the CPLO in 1997 was to provide a vehicle for the Catholic Church to make its contribution to the new democracy that had recently taken root in South Africa. The Bishops spoke then of a ‘critically constructive’ relationship with the organs of the new democratic state. This remains […]