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.
Media Releases
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.
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.
“President Jacob Zuma has a constitutional obligation to take effective action against corruption. This includes the corruption which appears to have accompanied the 1999 arms deal,” says the South African Institute of Race Relations (the Institute), which has been admitted as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a case before the Constitutional Court today.
Jobs summit must address ‘job-destroying’ EWC and minimum wage laws
4 October 2018 - As the government and other stakeholders sit down to address the employment crisis in South Africa, the job-destroying effects of the current expropriation debate need to feature. Job creation requires economic growth but growth requires investment
Pressure on consumers may drive SA into recession
8 September 2015 – A report released by the IRR has warned that South African consumers are under growing economic pressure and that this may further dampen the country’s economic outlook.
Protecting patents protects patients and promotes prosperity
12 November 2014 – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is busily pressing ahead with damaging changes to patent law, writes Jasson Urbach, a director of the Free Market Foundation.
Race relations in South Africa are good – new IRR report
29 February 2016 – A report released by the IRR this week has found that race relations in South Africa are in a good state.
Racial goodwill in South Africa an important reason for hope
20 March 2018 - The IRR celebrates Human Rights Day with the release of its latest research showing that relations between South Africans of different races are mainly positive, with an overwhelming majority believing that ‘the different races need each other for progress and there should be equal opportunities for all’.
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.
Ramaphosa’s SONA: A weak speech that follows more than leads - IRR
17 February 2018 – The IRR says that while the sentiment of President Ramaphosa’s SONA was praiseworthy, its lofty ideals and values will live or die by how hard the President is willing to fight for them.
Rape plague terrorises SA women, children – IRR report
13 June 2017 – More than 300 000 adult women reported being raped or sexually assaulted in South Africa over the past decade although the actual number is very much higher. This finding comes from the latest South Africa Survey published by the IRR last week.
Rating downgrade risks triggering a series of economic setbacks for South Africa
3 April 2017 – The IRR says the decision this evening by S&P Global Ratings to cut South Africa’s long term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to speculative grade or ‘junk status’ risks triggering a series of economic setbacks that will affect the living standards of all South Africans directly.
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.
Report finds deep racial and social inequalities in matric results
9 February 2016 – The 2016 South Africa Survey published by the IRR this month has found deep-seated racial and social inequalities in South Africa’s matric results.
Residents of Gauteng metros least reliant on grants
16 April 2018 - Households in Gauteng’s three metropolitan areas rely less on social grants than those in the five metropolitan areas located in other provinces, according to data in the 2018 South Africa Survey.
Rethinking urban mobility to provide real choices and resources for all
06 April 2018 - Effective planning in South Africa’s metros must incorporate the everyday and often-changing needs, desires and decisions of ordinary people, according to the latest research report from the IRR, Rethinking Mobility – Spatial Planning that enables transportation and technology in South African Metros.
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).
SA government marches towards fiscal cliff
30 January 2015 – A Fast Facts report released by the IRR found that despite taking a larger and larger chunk of the proceeds of the hard work of ordinary South Africans, the government is running out of money. Only higher levels of economic growth can save it from the approaching fiscal cliff.
SA has made significant progress against HIV/AIDS, but more must be done
12 March 2018 - South Africa has made considerable progress against the scourge of HIV/AIDS, with a marked decline in the number of new infections since 2009 – but an intensified campaign is needed to sustain the gains.