Highlighting the improvements South Africa has made in the provision of physical infrastructure in schools misses the bigger picture: that the majority of South African children will not emerge from the education system with the skills, expertise, or competence necessary to thrive in South Africa’s increasingly tertiary economy.
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.
The proportion of schools that do not charge school fees increased from 55% in 2008 to 60% two years later, an overall rise of 9%, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
The Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, argues that one cannot buy into Marxist economic policies without accepting its political ones as well.
What SA needs are proper schools, vastly increased investment and effective incentives to business to expand the jobs they offer. Instead, however, the ruling party is once again seeking to truss the private sector up in yet more reams of unworkable red tape.
The ANC of 2007 under Thabo Mbeki was one of denialism. Denial of problems from HIV/Aids, to crime, corruption and xenophobia. Without many people acknowledging the change, the ANC has started to accept the problems it faces as a governing party.
The Institute's Head of Special Research, Dr Anthea Jeffery, argues that Zapiro's main offence is not disrespecting the office of the president but rather that the insight he has offered with his controversial cartoon "cuts far too close to the bone".
It is ironic that the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) is fighting against the implementation of the same minimum wages that it helped to impose on the industry (“Union fights court bid to close clothing factories”, Business Report, July 5).
The number of orphans in South Africa increased by 29%, from just over 4 million to approximately 5.2 million, between 2005 and 2009. In the same period adoptions decreased by 52% and foster care grants increased by 72%. This is according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
One of the most imaginative pioneers of multi racial education in Southern Africa, Deane Yates, died in Johannesburg last month aged 90.
The Deputy CEO, Frans Cronje says that there are people in South Africa who believe land reform is one key to addressing poverty and unemployment challenges.
The Institute's Research Manager, Lucy Holborn, says that radical policies and increased state involvement in the economy are not the answers to narrowing the wealth disparities between white and black people in South Africa.
The Research Manager, Lucy Holborn, says that if we are to meaningfully assess the control of the economy in the hands of ordinary black and white South Africans, assigning the state a colour may be muddying the water.