14 May 2012The purpose of the 2012 South African Budget Guide and Dictionary is to provide an accurate description of the South African budget system so as to enhance the ability of ...

03 May 2012In an interview with SABC's Interface program of 15 April Idasa Executive Director Paul Graham speaks of the challenges to political leadership in South Africa. To see the interview in ...

26 Apr 2012The Afrobarometer survey conducted in South Africa towards the end of 2011 provides interesting insights into the charachteristics of South African citizens and their percpetions of society and the country's democracy. ...

29 Mar 2012The Afrobarometer survey conducted in South Africa towards the end of 2011 provides interesting insights into the charachteristics of protests and protestors in South Africa. A recent surge in protests ...

30 Sep 2010The Local Governance Unit hosted its first seminar, entitled "2000-2010. Ten years of democratic local elections: Is the tide changing?" on 30 September. The guest speaker was Dr Ray Russon, ...

25 Feb 2010Idasa's project on citizen report cards is underway in South Africa. Field workers from Mpumalanga and the North West have recently been trained and have conducted citizen report cards in ...

19 Oct 2009Capacity Development for Local Governance (CDLG) Partnering for good governance in South African Municipalities Citizen protests in various municipalities all over South Africa are not only an expression of their ...

21 Sep 2009By Justin Sylvester Since President Jacob Zuma announced a restructured cabinet shortly after the April election, the future functions of government have remained largely unclear. Moreover the political landscape with ...

07 Sep 2009Idasa's Local Governance Unit has a substantial 'Capacity Development for Local Governance' project on the go. In August, Idasa staff met with the Special Advisor of the Minister of the Department of ...

19 Jun 2009The new Department for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, announced by President Jacob Zuma on May 10, has as its mandate to improve coordination across the three spheres of government ...

29 Aug 2008A study released by Idasa in August found that, despite significant improvements in service delivery by local government over the past ten years, most municipal councils face a widening gap ...

19 Aug 2008Despite significant improvements in service delivery by local government in South Africa over the past ten years, most municipal councils face a widening gap between demand and supply of services, ...

28 Jul 2008About two out of ten South Africans live in informal settlements. They are part of a large number of citizens without a secure house to live in with their families.  ...

06 May 2008For five years the residents of Phiri in Soweto had to endure what some of us take for granted – going without water for at least two weeks every month. ...

28 Mar 2008This week local government leaders from 107 municipalities in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape are gathered in Somerset West for the first Governance Summer School. The school ...

22 Feb 2008While the world economy is facing a slowdown, South Africa will weather the storm. This was the message from the Minister of Finance as he delivered his annual budget this ...

29 Jan 2008Municipalities could soon lose billions of rands in revenue. This is if the Department of Provincial and Local Government’s draft regulations on rates charged by local government, published in the ...

29 Oct 2007South Africa’s nine cities are showing ‘improved financial stability’ and an ‘increasing ability to tackle the challenges’ of service delivery to the rich and poor households in their respective communities. ...

27 Aug 2007By Judith February Since the dismissal of deputy minister of health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, there has been a decided shift in our public discourse. Of course this has not happened overnight ...

13 Jun 2007Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi told a gathering of about 500 mayors, municipal managers, local government partners and practitioners in Cape Town to reflect on the progress of ...

21 May 2007Sometimes all it takes for something to be done about development in a poor area is to find a political champion able to influence both the relevant government department and ...

25 Apr 2007Recently the news has been dominated by the Presidential Imbizo in Gauteng in which President Thabo Mbeki interacted with and listened to citizens on how they experience government service delivery. ...

29 Jan 2007Land is one of the most important resources held in common heritage by all human beings. However nowadays land has become a source of private wealth for individuals and companies. ...

12 Oct 2006Mishay Nomdo is 22-years old and lives in Kraaifontein, about 40 kilometres from the centre of Cape Town where she works as a web administrator. Every working day, Mishay has ...

24 May 2006What are Community Development Workers?   Community Development Workers (CDWs) are community-based resource persons who work with other local activists to help their fellow community members to obtain information and ...

15 Dec 2005The South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is responsible for the implementation and management of migration policy and legislation, as well as the registration of births, mar riages and ...

30 Nov 2005By Teddy Nemeroff   There have been housing protests in the Western Cape, councillors driven from public meetings in the Free State by citizens angry about the lack of water, ...

31 Oct 2005Concerns around new funding channel for Social Development’s Community and Home Based Care Services (CHBCS) Introduction The 2005 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) provides little direct discussion on HIV ...

30 Oct 2005Alexandra Vennekens and Shun Govender The Local Government Budget Guide examines the functioning and impact of local government through the lens of budget analysis. Local government is the eyes and ...

17 Jun 2004This programme is about a new public transport plan for the Cape Town metropolitican area. It features the Western Cape MEC for transport, Tasneem Essop and representatives of the taxi, ...

05 Aug 2003This toolkit provides a step by step approach to understanding and analysing provincial budgets. The outline was originally used for the 2003/4 budget but can be applied to other budgets ...