Creator
Ivor Chipkin
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Conference challenged: The struggle for South Africa’s democratic public domain
The forced closure of the African Global Dialogue on the situation in the Middle East is indicative of an authoritarian political culture and subverts democracy
The civil society resistance to state capture
‘The shift to tyranny in SA has been accompanied by political arguments about the nature of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy’
The state wags the dog, at the ANC’s cost
The complicated nature of government and the negative impact of political appointments make running the country a nightmare.
Decentralised procurement fails the state
The problem facing government departments is not simply an issue of poor leadership or unskilled officials; it is structural.
Bantustans are dead – long live the Bantustans
The dynamics of power established under apartheid, especially in the ‘homelands’, still play a major role in rural government.
Let a thousand state bureaucrats bloom
SA needs well-designed administrations staffed by well-trained, professional mandarins, writes Ivor Chipkin.
Public sector ‘manages’ to fail
A serious misunderstanding about the uneveness of the apartheid state has resulted in major policy errors.
The curse of African nationalism
The government’s knee-jerk reaction to the pogroms that swept across the country speaks volumes to the politics of African nationalism. We were told they were ”criminal” acts in…
In SA, friendship has become dangerously unfriendly
There is a tendency in South Africa to think that the future is dependent on what happens in the political domain. We debate the prospects of long-term political stability and…
Is SA burning in Paris?
Is there growing scepticism in the world about the very possibility of contemporary South Africa — a unitary state composed of peoples who have nothing in common except that they…
Overcoming prejudices
Recently, Jewish Voices South Africa and the Palestinian Solidarity Committee organised a joint placard demonstration. The protest was a festive and peaceful affair that…
A compelling vision of Palestine
The South African government recently hosted a United Nations conference on the Inalienable Rights of Palestinians. It was unfortunate that the government of Israel chose not to…
A just peace in Israel-Palestine
The first time I went to Israel, in January 2004, I had been invited to participate in a conference hosted by the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. What would I find? I did…