18 October 2021 - Earlier this week, Dr Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma, minister of cooperative government and traditional affairs and the designated minister under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) of 2002, extended the national state of disaster – first declared on 15th March 2020 – by yet another month: this time to 15th November 2021.
Media
Every week we reach hundreds of thousands of people through placing arguments in the media in support of the principles we stand for. No other advocacy group in the country does as much as we do to promote support for policies that defend your right, and that of your community, to make decisions about your own life free from counter-productive government interference.
17 October 2021 - Earlier this month envoys from several rich countries held talks in South Africa to discuss a deal they want struck in time for the UN climate change conference (COP26) that opens in Glasgow at the end of the month.
11 October 2021 - The most recent unsuccessful bid by jurist extraordinaire David Unterhalter to get onto the shortlist of nominees for a place on the Constitutional Court has led to much hand-wringing and confusion (“Unterhalter’s exclusion puts JSC’s credibility in question,” October 7).
11 October 2021 - The lekgotla of the ruling party’s national executive committee held early last month envisaged “a reduction in the red tape that constrains the growth of business”, particularly small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and informal businesses.
10 October 2021 - Children are forever being cautioned against unthinkingly sharing digital material that, though hilarious or cheeky in the moment, might come back to haunt them, because the internet is forever.
IRR launches petition to disband Command Council
8 October 2021 - The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), established at the declaration of the National State of Disaster on March 15, 2020, over 570 days ago, acts as a super-legislator, abrogating the role of parliamentary oversight.
7 October 2021 - In September 2021 a new opinion poll commissioned by the IRR showed that only 5% of South Africans think land reform should be one of the two top priorities for the government to address. It also showed that most people (79%) want policies that promote growth and jobs, rather than land expropriation without compensation (EWC).
6 October 2021 - Business Leadership SA CEO Busi Mavuso applauds the finance minister’s reform message and emphasises that success hinges on effective implementation ("Godongwana’s message should be sent to every public servant in the land," October 4).
6 October 2021 - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana spoke out strongly last week about the urgent need for big structural reforms to boost growth.
IRR to investigate racial tensions in North KZN
6 October 2021 - On 28 September Qiniso Dlamini (17) was fatally shot during a scuffle with farmer Garth Simpson (68) near Glencoe, in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. The IRR has sent two Daily Friend writers, Terence Corrigan and Caiden Lang, on a fact-finding mission to the area.
5 October 2021 - The role of the minister of finance has been a pivotal one in post-apartheid South Africa, on both symbolic and substantive grounds. The minister is the keeper of the keys to the country’s money, and in a sense the grand custodian of economic policy. The perceptions around his (or, in principle, her) stewardship of the economy matters greatly. We saw this when Trevor Manuel resigned in 2008 – removing for a moment a respected and trusted incumbent from the role – and even more starkly in 2015 when Des Van Rooyen (who?) replaced Nhlanhla Nene for a weekend.
4 October 2021 - Following publication last week of the Digital Vibes report, the acting director general of health, Nicholas Crisp, was asked whether that scandal had damaged the government’s plans for National Health Insurance (NHI).