Higher education hangs in the balance
In this expose Suellen Shay, an associate professor with the University of Cape Town’s centre for higher education development, looks at the four possible ways things might pan out: Higher education in South Africa is at another crossroads. Students have put pressure on the state to offer “fee-free” education to all following their success last year in securing a zero increase in fees form 2015. But the battle over what fee structure is appropriate for the country is far from over. In the wake of protests, and government’s concession on increases for this year, a presidential fees commission of inquiry…
Minimum wage can cut poverty, boost growth
A national minimum wage set at an appropriate level, can achieve the central objectives of reducing working poverty and inequality in South Africa. It can also lead to increased economic growth without significant negative economic consequences. These are the findings of a study by the National Minimum Wage Reasearch Initiative at the University of the Witwatersrand. This study set out to investigate the viability of imposing a national minimum wage in a country suffering from high levels of inequality and working poverty. South Africa has the highest level of inequality in the world. Based on our own calculations using Statistics South Africa data,…
The birth of Naledi Village
… Creating new livelihoods and new ways to resolve the divisive land question It is happening. This is the meaning of our struggle for freedom. What we wanted when we celebrated our democracy in 1994 when our founding President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, promised a better life to our people. It’s finally happening in Naledi, a beautiful village nestled in the picturesque Maluti Mountains of the eastern Free State, near Ficksburg: There, a community of 180 people, a third of them young children, have built themselves, brick by brick, a unique crèche and multipurpose facility, with assistance from the Earthrise…
