Fast Facts 2012

Contents:

• Families
  Problems present, but policies, like fathers, absent.
• Families
  Parenting: whose job is it anyway?
• Families
  American adoption, British benefits, and Swedish sex education.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Rainbow index
  Reverse the slide.
• Rainbow index
  The Rainbow index: 1994 to 2012.
• Rainbow index
  Effective Government.
• Rainbow index
  Racial Goodwill.
• Rainbow index
  Liberation of the Poor.
• Rainbow index
  Scope for Free Enterprise.
• Rainbow index
  Growth-focused policies.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Rainbow index
  A party that ‘cares for none but itself’
• Rainbow index
  Democratic Governance.
• Rainbow index
  The Rule of Law.
• Rainbow index
  Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
• Rainbow index
  A Vigilant Media and Civil Society.
• Rainbow index
  Good Citizenship.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Families
  Family coming to the fore.
• Families
  The South African family in numbers.
• Families
  Eighteen years of democracy, yet South Africa’s family policy still an infant.
• Families
  Individual responsibilities missing from white paper on families.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Agriculture
  It is commonly believed that agriculture in South Africa is in decline and that land reform is to blame. The statistics tell a more complex story.
• Agriculture
  Commercial farmers offset growing imports to maintain South Africa’s status as a net food exporter.
• Agriculture
  • Land, farms, crops, and livestock.
  • Commercial farming.
  • Agriculture and employment.
  • Agricultural output.
  • Agriculture and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  • Agriculture and foreign trade.
• Letter to the editor
  Lawlessness in municipal administration.
• Agriculture
  The Modern Little Red Hen: an updated version of the wellknown fable.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Local government
  Plenty of local authorities in South Africa just don’t work. Perhaps that’s because we don’t have enough of them.
• Local government
  Is the size of some of our municipalities affecting their performance?
• Local government
  How municipalities measure up.
• Local government
  Better audits but fi nances still flounder.
• Local government
  Doth the people protest too much?
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Politics
  One step back, two steps forward.
• Justice
  Legal Practice Bill of 2012: An end to independence for the legal profession.
• Employment
  New Labour Bills: Still ‘hostile’ to jobs and employers.
• Employment
  Labour Relations Amendment Bill of 2012: Better, but still damaging.
• Employment
  Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill of 2012: More power to the minister.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Employment
  Jobs are generated as by-products of other objectives. We should all stop deceiving the unemployed by pretending otherwise.
• The economy
  On 28 March the Institute hosted a presentation by three of South Africa’s best-known economists on South Africa’s economy in 2012 and beyond. Azar Jammine, Chris Hart, and Dawie Roodt all predicted 3%–3.5% growth for 2012.
• Key forecasts
  By 2015, it is projected, there will be 52.6 million people living in South Africa. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has affected, and will continue to affect the size of our population.
• Politics
  The ANC’s roadmap for South Africa.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• The economy
  Africa is one of the fastest growing parts of the world yet South Africa will lag behind.
• Media
  The Protection of State Information Bill of 2011 may now, as amended, genufl ect enough towards guaranteed rights to convince a majority of Constitutional Court judges that it passes constitutional muster.
• Survey
  The Institute presents our South Africa in Brief statistical breakdown, based on the 2010/2011 South Africa Survey.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Government
  What sort of return does the country get for the taxes we all pay?
• Government
  The national tax return: The changing state of the nation since 1994. More than 80 indicators help you to assess the country’s — and the Government’s — performance.
• Budget 2012
  Our annual budget analysis contains tables showing long and very long-term trends.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Unemployment
  At long last there may be light at the end of a very long tunnel — not because of what the Government is doing, but because of what it is saying.
• Politics
  To mark the 100th birthday of the African National Congress (ANC), John Kane-Berman ponders on a few comparisons between  South Africa and Russia, both before and after the political transitions in each country.
• Education
  Matric results, 2008-2011.
• Education
  The 2011 National Senior Certificate Examinations produced a pass rate of 70%. But even if it is not true that weaker pupils are culled to improve pass rates, the standards are so low that 70% is meaningless.
• Fast Stats

Contents:

• Africa
  More than half a century after the first, a second wind of change is blowing through the continent.
• Local Government
  This month’s issue of Fast Facts presents our annual statistical report on the eight metropolitan and 44 district municipalities in South Africa (pages 4–17). Each is compared in the following areas: demographics, education, employment, types of dwelling, household access to services, water and sanitation, transport to work or school, social security, crime and security, and finance.
• Local Government
  Sixty-three indicators for 52 municipalities.
• Fast Stats