One year ago, on Friday May 8, something happened that would be unthinkable today. More than 17-million South Africans lined up around the country, without any concern for physical distancing, to cast their vote in the elections. Those elections seem like a lifetime ago. So much has changed since then and it seems increasingly difficult to imagine [...]
Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity today. Effects of climate change are being felt all over the planet albeit in an asymmetrical manner. For a long period of time Africa has been enduring climate crisis more than any other continent mainly because of its dependence on rainfall for agricultural purposes, and its history of high [...]
The stories follow a script: countries declare a nationwide lockdown and within days helplines are inundated with complaints of domestic violence. We saw this in China, Brazil, Italy and more recently South Africa where 87,000 grievances were reported to the South African Police Services (SAPS) during the first week of lockdown. Frequently referred to as the “shadow pandemic”, the [...]
The devastating and wide-ranging effects of Covid-19 have caused the disruption of human society on a global scale. The disease does not discriminate against its victims on the basis of nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, culture, religion or affluence and it has fuelled global pandemonium. As an initial reaction, governments called on their citizens to retreat within national [...]
Attention All Media Houses: For Immediate Release 17 April 2020 IJR Media Statement: Regarding the Strandfontein Temporary Homeless Shelter The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation would like to express its concern about recent reports describing the resettlement of homeless people at a temporary shelter Strandfontein, Cape Town. The homeless population are a vulnerable group in normal [...]
The dreaded Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe has already affected all aspects of our lives in ways that are not only still unfolding, but will be with us for a very long time. It is spreading across the world at such a ferocious speed that in only four months it has infected more than two million people and [...]
Locking down entire cities and limiting movements of millions of people across the globe appears as one of the efficient strategies in efforts to limit the spread of the COVID-19. However, in the African context of informal economies, uncontrolled settlements, weak or inexistent health infrastructures as well as food insecurity, there is a huge challenge in [...]
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” — John Philpot Curran (1750-1817), lawyer and statesman who championed Irish liberties. "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” — James Madison, the fourth president of the United States from 1809 [...]
Like the fall of the Berlin wall or the stock market crash of 2008, the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, is a pandemic that will likely have shattering and long-lasting consequences. This much is certain: the virus has devastated lives, disrupted markets and revealed to us the competence (or lack thereof) of governments around the world. Moreover, it [...]
