Frans Cronje explains why we hear so little in public from business organisations such as Business Leadership SA (BLSA).
Latest from the IRR
Press Release: Deterring lawyers from litigation against the State - 3rd August 2012.
'If the Legal Practice Bill becomes law, the dependants of Andries Tatane and other victims of unjustified police shootings may find it more difficult to secure lawyers willing to take on their cases. So too may motorists offended by irrational and allegedly corrupt e-tolling, or accused people needing due process in the criminal courts.'
Press Release: A fifth of the country's households headed by over 60s - 2nd August 2012.
Almost 21% of all households in South Africa are headed by older persons (those over 60 years of age). The Eastern Cape has the highest proportion of such households, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Almost 21% of all households in South Africa are headed by older persons (those over 60 years of age). The Eastern Cape has the highest proportion of such households, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Press Release: A fifth of the country's households headed by over 60s - 2nd August 2012.
Almost 21% of all households in South Africa are headed by older persons (those over 60 years of age). The Eastern Cape has the highest proportion of such households, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
Helen Suzman was right in saying in 1998 that the Employment Equity Act was premature at best — and that the government must first fix the skills shortage among black South Africans. Tragically, that has still to be done. This leaves employers seeking to fulfil their quotas little choice but to take on people who lack experience and competence but have (as the Employment Equity Act states) the "capacity to acquire, within a reasonable time, the ability to do the job".
Press Release: Open letter to the Minister of Basic Education - 25th July 2012.
Highlighting the improvements South Africa has made in the provision of physical infrastructure in schools misses the bigger picture: that the majority of South African children will not emerge from the education system with the skills, expertise, or competence necessary to thrive in South Africa’s increasingly tertiary economy.
Press Release: Rise in no-fee schools - 23rd July 2012.
The proportion of schools that do not charge school fees increased from 55% in 2008 to 60% two years later, an overall rise of 9%, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
The Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, argues that one cannot buy into Marxist economic policies without accepting its political ones as well.
What SA needs are proper schools, vastly increased investment and effective incentives to business to expand the jobs they offer. Instead, however, the ruling party is once again seeking to truss the private sector up in yet more reams of unworkable red tape.
The ANC of 2007 under Thabo Mbeki was one of denialism. Denial of problems from HIV/Aids, to crime, corruption and xenophobia. Without many people acknowledging the change, the ANC has started to accept the problems it faces as a governing party.
The Institute's Head of Special Research, Dr Anthea Jeffery, argues that Zapiro's main offence is not disrespecting the office of the president but rather that the insight he has offered with his controversial cartoon "cuts far too close to the bone".
It is ironic that the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) is fighting against the implementation of the same minimum wages that it helped to impose on the industry (“Union fights court bid to close clothing factories”, Business Report, July 5).
Press Release: Adoptions decrease by 52% while foster care grants increase by 72% - 9th July 2012.
The number of orphans in South Africa increased by 29%, from just over 4 million to approximately 5.2 million, between 2005 and 2009. In the same period adoptions decreased by 52% and foster care grants increased by 72%. This is according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.
One of the most imaginative pioneers of multi racial education in Southern Africa, Deane Yates, died in Johannesburg last month aged 90.
The Deputy CEO, Frans Cronje says that there are people in South Africa who believe land reform is one key to addressing poverty and unemployment challenges.
The Institute's Research Manager, Lucy Holborn, says that radical policies and increased state involvement in the economy are not the answers to narrowing the wealth disparities between white and black people in South Africa.
The Research Manager, Lucy Holborn, says that if we are to meaningfully assess the control of the economy in the hands of ordinary black and white South Africans, assigning the state a colour may be muddying the water.
Georgina Alexander, a researcher at the Institute, argues that the high unemployment rate in South Africa is a symptom of a much larger problem.
The CEO of the Institute, John Kane-Berman, argues that some in the government and the ANC are slowly but surely strangling the economy.
My ervaring van skryf vir die Afrikaanse pers is dat, sodra genoem word wit Suid-Afrikaners is deesdae ekonomies nog meer vooruitstrewend, is daar ’n woedende reaksie.
The Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, writes that the ANC is stripping away its respectability and revealing the unpleasantness underneath. This is due to recent ANC reaction to Brett Murray's 'The Spear' painting, attacks on Nedbank CEO Reuel Khoza after his complaints of government ineptitude, and the Protection of State Information Bill to stop the Media reporting on corruption under the guise of protecting national security.
John Kane-Berman, CEO of the Institute, says that it is now clear that one of the key objectives of the ANC and the SACP is to put all aspects of the criminal justice system and security under political control.
John Kane-Berman argues that the flood of Media reports on corruption is actually a positive sign. It shows that corrupt behaviour by the Government is no longer being tolerated by its employees.
More and more people now recognise the disastrous consequences of the cadre deployment policy of the African National Congress.
The venom spat at Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza by the ANC and the government it controls is significantly more poisonous than any previously directed publicly at businessmen who criticised them.
How seriously must we take the recent discussion document on "the second transition" in which the African National Congress (ANC) reiterates its commitment to the "national democratic revolution"? Some of the comment has been dismissed as "alarmist" or "hysterical".
Press Release: Canny amendments to the Protection of State Information Bill - 28th March 2012.
Canny amendments to the Protection of State Information Bill of 2011 (the Bill) might suffice to persuade a majority of Constitutional Court judges that the measure now passes constitutional muster, says the South African Institute of Race Relations. The amendments genuflect towards the Constitution’s guaranteed right ‘to receive or impart information’. However, they are likely to mean little in practice.
Under HF Verwoerd, black education was deliberately starved of funds. Now education is funded more generously than any other item in the budget — and still children start the year without books.
Press Release: Business urged to do more to develop skills - 15th March 2012.
The South African Institute of Race Relations has said that companies invested in South Africa could overcome some of the skills constraints they face by doing more to identify and fund tertiary study opportunities for potential graduate professionals.