FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REGIONAL INTEGRATION ISSUES AND SADC LAW  

No-one can dispute that electricity is an essential input to production and economic growth in South-Africa. Eskom, a wholly state-owned utility dominates electricity generation, it supplies approximately 95% of South Africa's electricity. The Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) has been facing numerous uncertainties during the past decade. This included aspects such…

19 June 2008

The Think Tank Initiative invites applications from independent African organisations that are committed to using research to inform and influence social and economic policy. The Initiative will provide multi-year funding to promising think tanks, and will work with successful applicants to improve their organizational performance.

For more details on the Initiative and the application process, visit The Think Tank.
Deadline: August 19, 2008

The Think Tank Initiative is a new, multi-donor programme dedicated to strengthening 'independent policy research institutions“' or 'œthink tanks' in developing countries, enabling them to better provide sound research that both informs and influences policy.

The Initiative will focus its activities in East and West Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.

Presenter: Sandy Lowitt obtained a Baccalaur ©at International in Geneva and went on to complete a Master of Commerce (MCom) degree in economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. She taught Economics at Wits University until 1994 when she joined the Gauteng Department of Finance and Economic Affairs. She still…

Presenter: Tony Hawkins was founder-director of the Graduate School of Management (GSM) at the University of Zimbabwe and now Professor of Economics at the GSM. He is a consultant for an international bank and writes widely on African economic issues.  

Presenter: John Ledger completed a B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1965 and thereafter worked at the South African Institute for Medical Research as a research scientist in the Department of Medical Entomology. He spent 18 years at the SAIMR, completing his Doctorate at…

Monday 29 September 2008 09:00 Opening     Chair Josephilda Nhlapo, Presidency   Context and Introduction Alan Hirsch, Presidency   A Framework for Second Economy Strategy: Addressing Inequality and Economic Marginalisation Kate Philip, Second Economy Strategy Project 11:00 Inequality     Trends and Policy Options Neva Makgetla   Asset and…

SAIIA and TIPS have collaborated on a project investigating balance of payment dynamics issues in South Africa. Professor Andreas Freytag, who has a Chair of Economic Policy at Friedrich-Schiller University Jena in Germany, has been working with SAIIA and the University of Stellenbosch on the following research: 'Balance of Payments…

In this report, the meaning of liberalisation in the air transport sector is discussed and the difference between deregulation and liberalisation is highlighted. Liberalisation entails a progressive opening up of a market with state control enacted over the process, while some amount of regulation may be required to ensure that…

The research process underpinning this article was focused on casting some light on factors influencing the way in which developing countries can enhance linkages between Transnational Corporation (TNC) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) firms and domestic small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It sought to do this through identifying the major lessons…

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been implementing the trade protocol for more than seven years. The aim is to liberalise trade flows between members and eventually lead to deeper integration in the region. As member states are preparing to enter another layer of integration in the form of…

Trade-in-services is fast becoming one of the foremost areas of research and policy making in the international trade arena. Although the General Agreement on Trade-in-Services (GATS) was implemented in 1995, it is only recently, with the realisation of the close linkages between goods and service exports and the advent of…

This paper will review the attempts at fostering resource poor small-scale agricultural development in South Africa from 1994 to the present. Based on the lack of a concerted policy for support and development of this group of farmers and given the incomplete datasets about this group a number an attempt…

Although the 1994 elections concern redress, social justice and reconciliation, many would consider that these objectives will never be achieved if no economic and social development affects the previously disadvantaged. Development has many dimensions (especially if considered as addressing the injustices of the past) among which the increase of low…

South Africa is in the grip of an electricity crisis marked by a euphemism known as load shedding. The demand for electricity has grown to the point that the supply reserve margin is often under threat, necessitating the electricity supplier to cut supply to some areas, or to shed load.…

Most of the communal arable lands in the former homeland areas are currently either underutilized or not utilized at all. Among some of the reasons given is the absence of 'land markets' owing to the communal nature of the rights bestowed on the owners/users of the land. This paper aims…

The question that concerns this paper is: how can greater security of tenure increase access to economic opportunities for the poor? Because of the relationship of tenure to property, the primary concern of this paper becomes: how secure access to property can increase economic opportunities for the poor. Rephrased, the…

South African manufacturing has experienced a slow overall decline despite adopting a range of recommended economic policies from protectionism and active state support in the period preceding political change (1994) followed by aggressive liberalisation and more free access to markets thereafter. Alongside interfering industrial policies, the decline has also been…

The paper presents significant new insights for Policy Makers, Practitioners, Educators, and Researchers into the socio-economy of agglomerated SMEs in developing country context. Using mixed methods of inquiry and concurrent triangulation approach this paper profiles the socio-economy of the internationally competitive textile industry cluster of Faisalabad in Pakistan to establish…