It has become notorious in recent years that construction companies embarking on new projects have had to agree to take on a certain number of labourers nominated by local ‘businesspeople’ or, alterna- tively, to commit to purchasing building materials from the same source. Where companies resisted, they found their workers threatened and intimidated and even […]
The United Nations declared the 1st October as the International Day of Older Persons on 16th December 1991. South Africa commemorates Older Persons Day as part of a national Older Persons Week and Social Development Month. Family Digest 50 – International Day of Older Persons 2022 by Lois Law
Over the past week or two there have been significant events in the world of mobile communities in South Africa. The Minister of Home Affairs rather unexpectedly extended the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits, which met with very different responses. Secondly, Operation Dudula, which has hitherto used strategies around mobilisation and various forms of […]
Of great significance, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has announced that at the end of 2023 the Lesotho Special Permits will not be renewed. This follows a similar decision regarding the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits. The Minister has indicated that this is part of an overall redesign of migration policy. The Lesotho permits […]
As the world seems to be coming out of the woods with the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of familiar challenges are slowly beginning to re-gain traction on the global scene. The advent of 2022 was marked by the unfolding of some important conferences, including the UN Biodi- versity Conference; the Desertification Confer- ence; and the […]
Half of all plastic products are designed to be used just once and thrown away, and most of them have become an integral part of our everyday, convenient lives. Some of the most common single-use plastic items include plastic bottles, food packaging, plastic straws and cutlery, fast fashion clothing, and plastic grocery bags. These plastics […]
In 2001 an intergovernmental organisation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), conducted a Mutual Evaluation Assessment on South Africa and found that the country has poor legal, regulatory, and oper- ational measures for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. This means that South Africa is at risk of being put on the FATF’s ‘grey list’, […]
On 2nd September the Department of Home Affairs issued a communique advising that the Minister had extended the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs) to 30th June, 2023; they had been due to expire on 31st December, 2022. The spokesperson indicated that there would be no further extensions after the June deadline, and the […]
Across the world, politicians and elected officials of all stripes seem to be vying with each other to make the most outrageous, offensive, dismissive and exclusionary statements about migrants and refugees. The recent comments of the MEC for Health in Limpopo province must in this context be among the worst. Dr Phophi Ramathuba, herself a […]
This idea of a social compact between government, business and civil society as a basis for long-term economic development and growth is nothing new. These kinds of ‘working relationships’ underpin the economic models in many industrialised countries. President Cyril Ramaphosa promised in his state-of- the-nation address in February that a social compact would be achieved within 100 days to forge a path forward for economic growth. That deadline was missed as agreements between the main actors could not be reached, but in July the President said that a “framework for a social compact has been devel- oped”, which was then circulated to all the role-players.
