Reports

The Race Relations in South Africa – Reasons for Hope report has found that race relations in South Africa are in a good state. The report was based on a field survey commissioned by the IRR.

@Liberty – Climate change science and the climate change scare

24 November 2015 – “Our planet faces many environmental threats, such as over-fishing in our oceans and the devastation of wild animals in Africa. But man-made climate change is no threat at all,” writes engineer and energy expert Andrew Kenny in the latest issue of @Liberty, the policy bulletin of the IRR.

@Liberty – Sitting on the Horns of a Dilemma – Water as a Strategic Resource in South Africa

10 November 2015 – South Africa’s water shortage is not simply the result of the current drought, says water expert Dr Anthony Turton in an analysis published in @Liberty, the policy bulletin of the IRR (Institute of Race Relations).

@Liberty – Circular economies – Turning waste into worth

21 October 2015 – Significant economic and environmental benefits could accrue to South Africa and to poor communities, in particular, if waste policy was more effective in helping to extract the ‘dead capital’ to be found in waste products.

@Liberty – South Africa's Housing Conundrum

6 October 2015 – The Government’s current housing policy is both costly and ineffective. Mary R Tomlinson seeks to explain the housing conundrum and offers some thoughts on how it might be resolved.

@Liberty – Give the poor back their right to work: a 10-point plan for jobs

24 June 2015 – Job security for some has been achieved at the price of unemployment for others who might have benefited from a more adaptable and flexible regulatory environment.

Born frees, people born after 1990, will increasingly become more involved in violent protests, and abandon democratic institutions, due to ongoing political and economic alienation.

The Expropriation Bill of 2015, which was released by the minister of public works, Thulas Nxesi, in January this year, is unconstitutional and economically damaging. This Bill should be withdrawn and replaced by a new ‘expropriation amendment bill’ which is fully compliant with the Constitution and contains adequate safeguards against any abuse of the power to expropriate. The IRR has drawn up the framework for an alternative bill.

The IRR’s alternative Expropriation Amendment Bill (a framework document which is also available on the IRR website), deals with direct and indirect expropriation by all expropriating authorities – whether the minister of works or any other organ of state. It covers both movable and immovable property as well as mining and water rights; mortgages, servitudes, and other registered rights; shares in companies; and intellectual property rights, including patent rights.

@Liberty – The rise and fall of Eskom – and how to fix it now

18 March 2015 – South Africa’s precarious electricity supply presents a national crisis. The desperate shortage of electricity is crippling our economy. Because of inadequate generation capacity, our existing power stations, now creaking with age and wear, are being run into the ground and failing more and more often.

@Liberty – The Expropriation Bill is back and it's still unconstitutional

4 March 2015 – The Expropriation Bill of 2015 again gives the State the power to take ownership and possession of property of virtually any kind by notice to the owner – and without a prior court order confirming the validity of the expropriation.

Broken Blue Line 2

This is the second report of the Broken Blue Line project – the first having been published by the IRR in 2011. As in 2011 this 2015 report examines the extent to which the police are involved in perpetrating criminal violence.