Newsletter

‘Angena amajoni, amajoni ase Afrika’ [Here come the soldiers of [...]

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) through the Gender Justice and Reconciliation (GJR) project has undertaken to reimagine the role of the digital world in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV). The GBV Online Information Centre Project is a website programme that seeks to be an online information resource that engages three thematic points; access to information on legal rights, community engagement and psychosocial support education. Mainly an information repository, it seeks to provide a more integrated information resource required to address issues of GBV in communities, workplaces, families, universities and schools.

Very often when speaking to people about the work that I do, I am met with blank stares and a rather bemused, confused look on the part of the person asking the question.  I have been asked if what I do is a full-time job (yes it is!), if I work for government (no I don’t), and what, if any impact the work makes. 

Many of us may be struggling with procrastination during the time in which we all find ourselves right now with the COVID-19 pandemic. What started off as an exciting chance to “go digital”, “go online”, “work from home”, etc. has begun to show signs of boredom, depression and procrastination brought on by the inability to move around freely outside of your residence. For some it’s been an opportunity to do the things we always wanted to do but now that that is all done we have become bored out of our minds. The result is that the things, we are supposed to be doing just don’t seem to get done. So, over the next few weeks I will be posting some of my ideas and suggestions on what I call Proactive Procrastination.

2021 marks the implementation start of the IJR’s new strategic framework that will run until 2024. Our new framework endeavours to deepen our commitment to the organisation’s original vision of building fair, inclusive and democratic societies for Africa, through the alignment of cutting edge research, dialogue methodologies, capacity building interventions, and advocacy campaigns.

They say every cloud has a silver lining. While Covid-19 appears as a particularly large and menacing one; it too brings opportunities to reflect and rework existing ways of doing things. 

On 8th March the Western Cape Provincial Government formally recognised Freedom Square in Bonteheuwel as a provincial heritage site.  Attending the event was Adv Mandla Mdludlu from the Heritage Western Cape Council, Ron Martin from the IGIC, Alderman Theresa Thompson from the City of Cape Town, Yusuf Cassiem representing the Bonteheuwel, Councillor Angus McKenzie from the City of Cape Town, MP Faiez Jacobs, MEC for Cultural and Sport Minister Anroux Marais and Felicity Harrison from the IJR.

COVID-19 has caused widespread disruptions in society and the economy, but how has it affected long-term national planning? A new publication from the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), in collaboration with the IJR, provides an assessment of South Africa’s progress towards the 2030 goals of the National Development Plan (NDP).

Inclusive Economies began 2021 with two new publications assessing the state of South Africa’s economy, society and body politic. Drawing on insights from the South African Reconciliation Barometer (SARB), a nationally representative public opinion survey of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), we find that South African’s are feeling a sense of growing economic insecurity underpinned by worrying employment prospects. In 2019, South Africa recorded its highest number of protests and riots in the 21st century. In the same year, nearly half (42%) of South Africans perceived a worsening of their employment opportunities since 1994 while nearly three in four (72%) of South Africans link present-day poverty to historical disadvantage under apartheid. This parallels the lived reality of South Africans who experience income deprivation, with as many as 18% of black South Africans, 9% of Coloured South Africans and only 2% of white South Africans reporting regularly going without an income.