Reports

@Liberty - Back to the drawing board on mining law

4 October 2016

When examining South Africa’s air quality, the media and activists focus too often on mining and industrial pollution and the liability of corporations and state-owned enterprises. While this scrutiny is not wrong, it loses sight of a problem that is not only more prevalent but much more difficult to solve: indoor air pollution. This report was released in Johannesburg in September 2016.

@Liberty - Privatisation or bust

20 September 2016 - Well-run companies are seldom in the news. They satisfy the needs of their customers, making profi ts as a result. Some of South Africa’s biggest state-owned companies are seldom out of the news, however.

The cash-strapped South African government needs to bring in more revenue but is reluctant overtly to raise the VAT rate, which would unleash a political storm. Instead, it is planning to raise some R10.5bn – half of what an increase in the VAT rate from 14% to 15% would yield – by introducing a 20% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). This report was released in Johannesburg in September 2016.

IRR analysts have shown that despite declining by approximately 50% since 1994 South Africa’s murder rate remains significantly higher than that of a series of most other societies.

@Liberty - ‘Re-imagining the mining industry’

16 August 2016 - The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) says it wants to ‘re-imagine the mining industry’ and turn it into ‘a sun- rise one for 100 years to come’. It hopes to achieve this, in part at least, via the draft reviewed mining charter it unexpectedly unveiled in April 2016.

@Liberty – From land to farming: bringing land reform down to earth

26 May 2016 – South Africa needs to redesign its land reform policy to pay far more attention to the essential ingredients of entrepreneurship and training, says the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in a paper published in Johannesburg this week.

The IRR has drafted a new economic recovery plan for South Africa called the National Growth Strategy (NGS).

@Liberty – BEE doesn't work, but EED would

6 April 2016 – Since 2013 the government has already ratcheted up its employment equity, black economic empowerment (BEE), and land reform policies in a host of ways. However, as an IRR field survey now shows, most South Africans (85%) gain nothing from these policies.

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).