The National Strategic Plan (NSP) on Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) provides a strategic roadmap that sets out specific plans for a multi-sectoral approach to end GBVF and highlights key accountability issues. The first Presidential Summit on GBVF was held in 2018, in response to the 24 demands submitted by the #TheTotalShutdown Intersectional Womxn’s Movement to President Cyril Ramaphosa, following 27 nationwide marches […]

Analysts predict that in a mere thirty years, the sale of electric vehicles (EVs) could rise to about 60% of new car sales. The race to replace vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) is going full steam ahead, with the European Union initially wanting to ban the registration of all ICE vehicles by 2035. It later softened its stance because of pushback […]

0n 28th June this year, a full bench of the Gauteng High Court handed down a much anticipated judgment with regard to the termination of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits.2 In its judgment the court acknowledged that the case had garnered much interest in the public domain, even beyond the Zimbabwean community and those engaged in the immigration sector. BP 571 – Unlawful, […]

Simply put, a trade agreement between two or more nations defines how they co-operate in conducting trade. The main purpose of the agreement is to ease the flow of goods and services from one country to another on mutually agreed-upon terms and conditions. This can be done via either a preferential or a free trade agreement. Such agreements give a competitive advantage to […]

Giving birth is participating in the miracle of creation. The wonder of the birthing of a new baby is also very painful for the mother, and a time of extreme vulnerability. It is a time when she should be treated with respect, care, dignity and reassurance by those assisting with the birth. Unfortunately,  for many women this is not the case and […]

A deeply disturbing trend has developed over the past few years with regard to mobile communities in South Africa, more especially with regard to undocumented people. This manifests itself in officials making decisions that effectively exclude undocumented people or asylum seekers, and oftentimes even refugees with the requisite documentation, from accessing social benefits or legal protection to which they are entitled under either the […]

Recent experience with coalition governance in some of South Africa’s largest cities has been anything but encouraging. Johannesburg, for example, is now on its fifth mayor since the municipal elections of November 2021. Tshwane (Pretoria), Ekhuruleni and Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth) have also had multiple mayors over the same period. BP 567 – Coalition Governance – Are We Ready by Mike […]

The title of this Briefing Paper comes from a brochure issued by the International Catholic Migration Commission, in which the importance of documentation for people on the move is emphasised. It raises the important issues of protection, access to support, and ultimately – theologically speaking – the opportunity to live a fully human life. BP 566 – Not Just a Piece of […]

The year began, rather sadly, with the old spectres of hardness of heart towards displaced persons and outright xenophobia continuing to dominate the South African landscape. This has increased the vulnerability, danger and status insecurity of many thousands of mobile people, including those who most desperately need safe lodging. BP 565 – Through the Lens of Vulnerability… by Peter-John Pearson

While South Africa has previously been perceived to have highest food security in Africa, the United Nations (UN) estimates that the “number of malnourished children is increasing so rapidly that, by 2025, 1.7 million children under the age of five will suffer from stunted growth”.3 The effects of an inadequate diet cannot be reversed and will have intergenerational consequences. BP 564 – […]