New BEE regulations will promote corruption and harm service delivery
22 July 2015 – The IRR has warned that draft regulations published last week will increase the costs of goods and services procured by the Government and thereby harm service delivery.
Magsbalanse, en nie rekonsiliasie nie, is nou die beste manier om ’n stabiele en voorspoedige toekoms vir ons land te verseker. Dit is frustrerend om te sien hoe sleg die privaat sektor, kommersiële boere, die middelklas en groot korporasies vaar met die versekering van ’n toekoms vir hulself in Suid-Afrika.
Narrow road: Frans Cronjé on the possibility of the party turning to the economic right.
DESPITE the fact that South African labour law makes it easy for trade union officials to call workers out on strike, and that strikes enjoy legal protection, more than half of the strikes that occur in the country are "unprotected".
A comprehensive audit of black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership deals since 2001, recently compiled by Intellidex, a consultancy, shows that R317bn, free of debt, has been transferred to black South Africans by the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Cellular communications revolution holds economic and political benefits for South Africa
7 July 2015 – Data cited by the IRR showed that the number of cellular subscriptions in the country had increased from 8.3 million in 2000 to 76.8 million 2013, or by 822%. Over the same period the number of fixed-line telephone connections fell by 22%.
IN SEPTEMBER 2013, Cyril Ramaphosa said at Wits University that starting wages in SA were higher than the relative productivity of new workers, so companies incurred a "loss" when hiring inexperienced workers. New entrants to the labour market were effectively locked out.
Reinstate shop-floor democracy and stamp out strike violence, says IRR
25 June 2015 – South Africa's industrial relations system has shifted too far in accommodating the interests of trade union officials and balance needs to be restored so as to curtail violence and reintroduce democracy on to the shop floor.
The long-standing propaganda campaign around a document called the “Freedom Charter” is set to reach new heights this week, with 26th June 2015 marking the 60th anniversary of the charter’s adoption.
The IRR's 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.
THE government plans to do to farming what it has done to mining. In terms of legislation being processed through Parliament, all agricultural land is to be taken into the custodianship of the state "for the benefit of all South Africans".
The Government has long been trying to impose the use of national demographics in the setting of racial targets under the Employment Equity Act of 1998 (the EE Act). Now it seems quietly to have achieved this goal via the revised black economic empowerment (BEE) codes of good practice that took effect on 1st May 2015.
Racism of “the worst order” in the BEE generic codes?
10 June 2015 – In an article published today in BizNews, the IRR points out that the Government seems to have quietly amended the BEE codes to discourage the appointment of Indian and so-called ‘coloured’ people to senior posts.
Sustainability of South Africa's social services net in doubt
4 June 2015 – The proportion of the national budget spent on social services has increased from 45% in 1994/95 to 60% in 2014/15.
FEW things in the year ahead will be more fascinating than how e-tolling plays out.
Unbeknown to most people, the public has until 30th May 2015 (the end of this week) to comment on a bill that seeks to vest all agricultural land in the State as ‘custodian’ for the people of South Africa.
Social protests on the rise in South Africa
26 May 2015 – There has been a 96% increase in social protests in South Africa since 2010, according to the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
IRR warns on tourism industry/new travel regulations
21 May 2015 – The IRR has warned that onerous new travel regulations (specifically the requirement that children travel with an unabridged birth certificate) to be enforced by the Department of Home Affairs within the next month will harm South Africa's tourism industry.
All three of the leading supporters of the Expropriation Bill — Radebe, Nxesi and Cronin — are leading members of the South African Communist Party. Getting this bill through Parliament will be one of their greatest coups yet.
A handful of Bills, either recently enacted or soon-to-be are floating through undiscussed, stipulating the chopping and changing ownership of long-held land as suits the government, not to mention the dabbling with mining regulations that puts the entire economy under threat. Time to wake up and join the conversation.
"Nationalism in any shape or form is a cancer that should be eliminated..."
John Kane-Berman says the ANC's NDR needs to be replaced with something completely different.
Frans Cronje says Zuma leadership has wasted no time in seeking to change South Africa’s policy trajectory.
SA government doing more to hinder than to help
4 May 2015 – Contrary to what it claims, the Government is doing more to hinder than to help young people participate in the economy, says the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
THREE days from now, on Thursday May 7, is the 70th anniversary of the surrender of the forces of the Third Reich in Europe. South Africans, white and black, men and women, played their part on land, in the air, and at sea. They should not be forgotten as Europe celebrates Victory in Europe Day on Friday.
Frans Cronje's address to the Heritage Foundation, Washington DC, United States of America, April 29 2015.
The Expropriation Bill of 2015 does not bode well for some Johannesburg suburbs such as Orange Grove.
Jack and Jill went down the hill...
30 April 2015 – The IRR’s Fast Facts report published this week takes a glance at South Africa’s ‘born frees’, defined as people born in or after 1990. As the figures show, born frees have not been guaranteed free passage to prosperity by political freedom. The road to a better life is fraught with major hurdles, mainly poor education and high unemployment.
Born free but still in chains
29 April 2015 – 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.
Frans Cronjé's interview with Mmusi Maimane in Rapport. This is an English translation.
