Organisation says poor black households carry majority of SA's air-pollution burden.
Latest from the IRR
John Kane-Berman on the contradictions of big business' new fund to support SMEs.
IF THE former minister of finance, Nhlanhla Nene, is quoted correctly saying "we" must take responsibility for the student fees crisis and be prepared to pay more tax, and higher fees
This is the final article in a four-part series penned by the Institute of Race Relation’s Dr Frans Cronje. Two scenarios are sketched, one which Cronje believes will emerge within the next 12 to 24 months
SOME wit on Twitter said Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s announcement on university fees on Monday amounted to him throwing universities under a bus. It wasn’t so much a bus as an oncoming train.
Thousands of young people have had another day of lectures wiped from their academic schedule. Their plans keep having to change. Important tests are being cancelled at the last minute. They don’t know when their schedules will resume.
The discipline of development studies has a famous comparison in the economic histories of Malaysia and Ghana, which suggests that the only similarity between the economies of these two countries is the date of their political independence
This is the third article in a four-part series penned by the Institute of Race Relation’s Dr Frans Cronje. Two scenarios are sketched, one which Cronje believes will emerge within the next 12 to 24 months
The cadre deployment policy that enables corruption retains the support of many of Zuma’s critics. Racial preferencing laws that increase the costs of goods and services and allow inexperienced people to be promoted to jobs they cannot do will not be repealed when Zuma goes.
Give the job to real capitalists, not pseudo-capitalists
20 September 2016 - South Africa's major state-owned companies should be removed from the control of "pseudo-capitalists" and sold to real ones. This is one of the key arguments put forward by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in a paper entitled Privatisation or Bust released in Johannesburg today.
This is the second article in a four-part series penned by the Institute of Race Relation’s Dr Frans Cronje. Two scenarios are sketched, one which Cronje believes will emerge within the next 12 to 24 months.
John Kane-Berman says Parks Tau's initiative was misconceived from the get go.
This is the first article in a four-part series penned by the Institute of Race Relation’s Dr Frans Cronje. The series analyses South Africa’s political and economic long-term future. Two scenarios are sketched, one which Cronje believes will emerge within the next 12 to 24 months.
IRR supports the DA’s call for teacher training and development review
16 September 2016 - The IRR supports the call by Gavin Davis, for an in-depth review of teacher training and development.
No convincing health rationale for the sugar tax
15 September 2016 - The National Treasury has no convincing reason to believe that its proposed 20% excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) will be effective against obesity, says the IRR in a policy paper on the proposed tax, published yesterday.
Sugar tax is a revenue grab that will have zero health benefit to SA and may worsen socio-economic circumstances
14 September 2016 - A report released by the IRR this morning shows that the proposed sugar tax will do almost nothing to improve the health of South Africans. It is rather an attempt to raise more money by a desperate government that is running short of revenue. The tax will place more financial pressure on already stressed households and worsen their socio-economic position.
John Kane-Berman asks whether that is what President Zuma really wants.
Dr. Max Price, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town has recently (28 August) released his regular letter to students and staff, “From the VC’s Desk”, to explain the university’s current position on fee increases, ahead of an announcement by the Minister of Higher Education.
On Monday 5th September hundreds of “veterans” of the ANC’s people’s war gathered outside Luthuli House to intimidate and attack around 80 protesters demanding the recall of President Jacob Zuma, the resignation of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), and the holding of a consultative conference before the end of 2016. The protesters blame Mr Zuma and the NEC for the ruling party’s poor performance in the recent local government elections.
In the hue and cry surrounding South Africa’s recent local government elections, few noticed that Julius Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are developing a do-it-yourself civilian crime-fighting strategy
Winning the war on crime
6 September 2016 - The IRR has released a report titled “Winning the War on Crime in South Africa: A new Approach Community Policing”. The report sought to explore the crime-prevention options open to a society in which the police had proved unable to offer adequate safety and security.
To learn that we are in such a state of criminality is very scary. We are in a crisis that needs urgent attention; not only from government, but also from we the citizens. That 51 people are murdered each day is something that ought to get us off our seats and act bold.
Brazil’s phenomenal economic success at the time was “catnip for labour movements”. Lula’s Workers Party was credited with the “economic miracle” in which 15 million jobs were created and GDP growth topped 7.5% in 2010.
If government and a few paternalistic nannies get their way, from April, next year, we will all be paying 20 percent more for a can of our favourite cold-drink and any other sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). Apart from the fact that a tax targeted at SSBs is clearly discriminatory and arbitrary, what governments the world over fail to recognise is that what people do with their own bodies is none of the state’s business.
IRR welcomes Pretoria Girls High investigation
31 August 2016 - "The Institute of Race Relations is deeply concerned about the allegations of racism levelled at the management of the Pretoria High School for Girls in applying purported discriminatory practices regarding the application of the school’s hair policy."
A number of economists have argued that a short-term solution to SA’s growing budget deficit crisis is to increase VAT
John Kane-Berman notes that using such a strategy to undermine the DA backfired spectacularly in the WCape.
The National Treasury wants to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which it claims will provide the most ‘cost-effective’ way to counter obesity
Institute says there are more urgent problems that need to be dealt with, and better interventions that could be pursued on this matter.
John Kane-Berman on the ANC govt's plans to legislate against this supposed problem.