HSF Briefs

In the first brief the history of the SADC was charted in its development from anti-colonial liberation alliance to regional economic integration organisation. In this brief, the second of four, I look in detail at the current institutional framework of the SADC following the 2001 restructuring.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-state organisation based in Gaborone, Botswana that pursues a comprehensive regional integration agenda through both socio-economic and political cooperation. This year represents a turning point in the socio-economic programme of the Southern African Development Community. The launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area and a pivotal overhaul in socio-economic integration strategy make 2015 a seminal year in the evolution of the SADC and present a choice opportunity for an extended series of briefs. This is the first of four briefs. In it, I chart the history and development of the SADC from its inception in the regional liberation struggles of the 1960’s and 70’s. In the second, I explicate the institutional framework and decision-making structure of the organisation. In the third, I outline the many problems that the SADC has encountered in pursuing its economic integration agenda in the last decade. And in the fourth and last, I discuss what measures the SADC has taken this year to overcome these obstacles, and evaluate their prospects for success.

The recent statement by President Zuma that the ANC, not the country, comes first is not just, or only, an ordinary political assertion that the ANC is best suited to govern the people. It is also a conceptual claim that without the ANC there cannot ‘be’ a country; it is a claim that rests on foundations that are essentially totalitarian in nature.

In a land mark study of government in the Third Reich[1] , Ernst Fraenkel distinguished between the normative and positive state. His thesis has been given crisp expression as follows by Richard Evans:

The God That Failed was published in 1949. Edited by Richard Crossman, who was later to become a cabinet minister in Labour governments in the United Kingdom, it contained six essays by well-known figures of the time. Three (Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone and Richard Wright) were dubbed as the initiates, because they had been members of Communist parties for some time and the other three (Andre Gide, Louis Fischer and Stephen Spender) were ‘worshipers from afar’, because either they were never members or members only for a brief period.

This Brief discusses the implications of the MIA v State Information Technology case on paternity leave

The first two briefs in this series were entitled “Principles of Student Financing 101” and “The University Funding System”. The second brief identified two things which need to be done immediately. This brief sets out options for consideration in the longer term.

This brief is the second in a series on university finance. The first was titled “Principles of student financing 101” and it can be found on the HSF website (www.hsf.org.za). This brief sets out the structure of university funding and considers the rising cost of university education to students as a whole.