Posted inBusinessEqualityNews/Politics

Marikana: Moment of reckoning with whole extractive system

Marikana widows want BASF to admit its complicity as part of the platinum supply chain. The extractive sector in post-apartheid South Africa remains a hotbed of labour and environmental exploitation, with people still working underground in unsafe, unhealthy conditions.  Mining communities continue to be excluded from having a fair share of the wealth accumulated from […]

Posted inBusinessEqualityNews/Politics

BASF, Lonmin and how the Marikana battle for justice is taken to Germany

BASF is a huge corporate that gives Lonmin a lot of business. Today, April 29, in Germany they are gathered for their annual shareholder meeting. Along with the usual shareholders who attend these meetings there’ll be some less familiar faces, two of the women made widows by the Marikana massacre. Thirty-four miners brutally gunned down […]

Posted inEqualityGeneral

Debunking the ‘five million taxpayers’ myth

To evidence the “unsustainability” of social grants, it is often pointed out that in South Africa “there are only five million tax-paying citizens and 15-million social grants recipients”. The insinuation made is that the five million single-handedly subsidise the poor, thus bearing the brunt of the social assistance burden. This argument, however, ignores that income […]

Posted inEquality

Government must get Metrorail back on track

Many of the comments left on my previous post about the disaster that is Metrorail suggested that privatising the service would be a better option. But this ignores the exploitation of customers by the private sector as indicated by the bread price-fixing scandal and the recent exposure of the construction cartels. Privatising is no solution, […]

Posted inNews/Politics

The disaster that is Metrorail

A few years ago I relocated to Pretoria. I only had one friend who happened to use the Metrorail train strictly and being new to the place I followed suit. I found it to be a very novel experience, especially since I’m from Mahikeng where the only form of public transport is taxis. Apart from […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Is Ramphele SA’s new saviour?

Following various media reports there was much speculation about Mamphela Ramphele entering politics. This was further fuelled by her not completely denying this. Instead she said: “I have always been clear in articulating my views on matters of public importance and will speak on my own behalf about any decisions I might take about my […]