Press Release: South Africa goes with the urbanisation flow - 22nd January 2013.
Two-thirds of people in South Africa now live in urban areas as a result of growing urbanisation over the last few decades. This is according to the latest South Africa Survey, published by the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg this week.
Press Release: Nearly 200 killed in strike action in 13 years - 21st January 2013.
Some 181 fatalities occurred in strike violence between January 1999 and October 2012. A further 313 people were injured and over 3 058 arrests made during the period. This is according to figures compiled by the South African Institute of Race Relations using print media reports. They are contained in the latest South Africa Survey, published in Johannesburg this week.
Press Release: 86% doctor vacancy rate in Limpopo - 17th January 2013.
Limpopo has the highest public sector doctor vacancy rate in South Africa, at 86%. This is according to the latest South Africa Survey, to be published in Johannesburg next week by the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Press Release: Use of bargaining councils decreasing - 16th January 2013.
The use of bargaining councils has decreased in South Africa, according to the new South Africa Survey, to be published by the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg next week.
Press Release: The debt capital of South Africa - 15th January 2013.
Gauteng has the highest consumer debt per capita of all nine provinces and accounts for almost half of total consumer debt held in South Africa. The average individual in Gauteng owes R4 260. This is according to the South Africa Survey, to be published by the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg next week.
Dependency on employed down but still high among Africans - 14 January 2013.
Every worker in South Africa supports themselves and on average three additional non-working people, according to the latest South Africa Survey, to be published by the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg next week.
Press Release: More start school but fewer finish their education - 26th November 2012.
Attendance at educational institutions by children aged between 5 and 7 has improved significantly since 1996, according to the 2011 census. However, attendance rates for people 19 years and older have shown a marked decline.
Press Release: 2012 Annual National Assessment - 12th December 2012.
The results of the 2012 Annual National Assessment (ANA) confirm that basic education in South Africa is in a dire state. However, without the disaggregated results broken down by school, district, and province to contextualise the assessments, the true extent of the problem cannot be adequately gauged.
The Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, cautions that the Media and the non-profit sector will have to up their vigilance if they are to secure their future in South Africa.
Press Release: South Africa's war against TB - 2nd November 2012.
In 2010 South Africa had a tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate of 981 per 100 000 people. The only country with a higher rate was Swaziland at 1 287 per 100 000. The United Arab Emirates had the lowest rate at 3 per 100 000. This is according to an analysis of international TB data conducted by the South African Institute of Race Relations.
In his fortnightly column in Business Day, the Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein.
Press Release: SAIRR: The Economist got it right - 19th October 2012.
The Institute is in broad agreement with a report and editorial in The Economist of 19 October 2012 that is critical of South Africa and questions the quality of leadership in the country.
In his fortnightly column in Business Day, the Institute's Chief Executive, John Kane-Berman, says that South Africa is still a net exporter of food. The question is how much longer that will last.
Press Release: Decline in under-five mortality too slow - 2nd October 2012.
South Africa’s under-five mortality rate has fallen relatively slowly in the past two decades compared to much of the rest of the world, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations. Globally, child mortality has been declining due to advances in healthcare and general living conditions.
Frans Cronje, the Deputy Chief Executive at the Institute, says that the DA seems to believe that it needs to play the race game to appeal to black voters but that this sells black voters short.
Press Release: Education, not race, will determine employment equity progress in South Africa - 19th September 2012.
Educational achievement is a more important indicator than race in determining whether someone is likely to be employed in a professional position, according to data from the South African Institute of Race Relations. This challenges the view that employers in South Africa are resisting racial transformation.
In his fortnightly column in Business Day, John Kane-Berman, CEO of the Institute, talks about the living conditions of miners.
Press Release: Zuma correct on service delivery successes - 11th September 2012.
The South African Institute of Race Relations says that President Zuma is quite correct to identify the success of the Government’s service delivery efforts. Speaking to the SA Local Government Association yesterday President Zuma is reported to have said that, “No country could have produced the delivery we produced in the last 18 years.”
In his fortnightly column in Business Day, John Kane-Berman, the Chief Executive of the Institute, argues that, "the violence that erupted after the Soweto shootings in 1976 showed there were issues far bigger than imposing Afrikaans as a language of instruction. So also, the Marikana shootings on 16th August have brought a host of issues to the fore."
Press Release: Number of public schools in decline - 30th August 2012.
The number of public schools in the country decreased by 9% between 2000 and 2011, from 26 789 to 24 365, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Press Release: Impressive shift in living standards trends - 28th August 2012.
The proportion of South African adults with the lowest living standards fell from 11% in 2001 to 1% in 2011. In the same period, the proportion of people with the highest living standards increased from 5% to 6%, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Press Release: SAIRR welcomes President's comments on families - 27th August 2012.
The South African Institute of Race Relations welcomes the President’s statement calling for a national debate on families in South Africa.
Despite great outrage over the Marikana massacre, South Africans are not uniting to demand the resignation of the national police commissioner and the minister of police.
Numerous types of chickens are coming home to roost in South Africa. During their long campaign to win power by making the country ungovernable via a no-holds-barred "people’s war", the ruling alliance made up of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), injected into the bloodstream of the body politic a virus of violence that they cannot now eradicate.
’n Vraag waarmee ek dikwels in my werk gekonfronteer word, is hoekom Suid-Afrika sulke ernstige maatskaplike probleme het, waaronder die gewelddadige aard van misdaad en ons hoë MIV-koers.
Press Release: Police action at Lonmin mine reminiscent of Sharpeville massacre - 17th August 2012.
The South African Institute of Race Relations calls for the immediate suspension of all police officers involved in the shooting at Lonmin yesterday pending charges of murder and/or culpable homicide.
Press Release: Social worker shortage undermines effectiveness of social welfare legislation - 14th August 2012.
There is a shortage of social workers working in the government and non-profit sectors, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
It is all too easy to criticise governments. However, there is an example where the government is due credit, mainly because it shows how things can be done. This is the successful implementation of a nationwide HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programme that has come to light most recently at the 19th International AIDS Conference held in Washington DC.
Press Release: Commercial farming drives food security - 8th August 2012.
Commercial farmers account for 95% of the country’s locally-produced food, planting their crops on only 5% of total agricultural land and owning 72% of all livestock, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
The seven or more SACP members of the Cabinet are only the tip of the iceberg of communist influence in the government and the public sector. If their interventions cause even more economic and social damage, they will not apologise but rejoice - and call for even more state power for themselves.
