SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT / ALTERNATIVES TO NEOLIBERALISM
With the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 the last bastion of colonialism and racial segregation was finally destroyed in Africa. The apartheid regime in South Africa once destabilised Southern Africa and rendered it a geopolitical hot spot of the cold war with its involvement in civil wars in Angola and Mozambique. Now South Africa is a state in peace with its neighbours and its re-entry into the regional and global economy fostered growth in the entire region.
Before the global financial and economic crisis, many Southern African states achieved unprecedented growth rates of between 4% and 20%. Nevertheless, many countries in the Southern African region are still characterised by mass unemployment and poverty, social inequality, a high level of crime, the AIDS pandemic and environmental degradation. The recent world financial and economic crisis negatively impacted the economies and the societies of the region. Southern Africa’s most important economy, South Africa, lost 900 000 jobs in 2009.
The economic and social woes of the region can be partly attributed to negative external factors such as European agricultural subsidies and cheap imports from China, as well as the negative effects of global climate change. Internal factors such as crony capitalism, a ‘bling-culture”, the high level of crime and lack of investment in infrastructure also contribute to an untenable situation in which poverty, inequality and ecological degradation abound.
Sustainable development is dependent upon good political leadership. Zimbabwe, once a model for other countries in the region, has spiralled into chaos due to bad governance and Madagascar seems to be emulating the Zimbabwean experience. Sustainable development is dependent on proficient political leadership but cannot be achieved without widespread critical public participation in democratic decision-making by organised labour, business, political parties, media, intellectuals and grassroots communities.
Sustainable development is inclusive development where economic growth is used by the state and its people to overcome poverty and social inequality and to sustain and enhance the livelihoods of present and future generations.
RLS Southern Africa currently implements, in cooperation with partner organisations, projects concerning:
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research on the current growth-dependent, socially unjust and ecologically flawed global and local development model (Alternatives to Neoliberalism)
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public debate and dialogue on radical reforms to achieve sustainable development in Southern Africa and beyond
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dissemination of information on alternative thinking and viable, practical solutions for sustainable development in the region
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development of local (rural/urban) community-based strategies to achieve sustainable livelihoods
ANSA
The Alternatives to Neo-liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA) initiative provides the building blocks for a common perspective on alternative policies and strategies in Southern Africa to bring about people-driven, sustainable human development. ANSA is not an organisation, it merely provides stimulus - a direction for the countless localised centres of resistance and initiatives for alternatives to join forces and collectively pressure change. ANSA’s initiatives revolve around three interdependent areas, namely: research, training and advocacy and engagement. Research findings in each country identify and refine specific problems and ultimately inform an alternative in that particular country. Additional information, revealed during research activities, is also used during training and advocacy to formulate engagement strategies and guide further research.
The Co-operative and Policy Alternative Center (COPAC), established in 1999 as a grassroots development organisation, began with the purpose of contributing, through a bottom up practice, to the reconstruction and development of post-apartheid South Africa. It builds capacity amongst poor communities to achieve self-reliant, collectively-driven, sustainable and participatory development. COPAC is a non-profit organisation that builds worker cooperatives, supports the cooperative movement and promotes the cooperative sector and economy. It works with progressive social movements, government departments, township community partners and non-governmental organisations.
UNAC Mozambique
The União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC) is a movement of both organised and non-unionised agricultural labourers and smallholders in Mozambique. Farmers who are organised under UNAC represent the main national farming movement and the union is recognised as its legitimate representative. In addition to individual members, UNAC comprises associated agro-livestock producers, cooperatives and mutual aid groups with over 65 000 members organised into 58 unions and 1243 associations and farming cooperatives.
Apart from delivering production, marketing and other services to its members, UNAC’s mission is to achieve a greater role for farmers (men, women and youth) in influencing internal and external policy decision-making processes. It believes it is obligated to continue to actively promote food security and sovereignty for both rural and urban families in Mozambique with the ultimate aim of building a more just, prosperous and united society.
PLAAS
The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) is a leading research and teaching centre with an international reputation for the production of superior research and critical scholarship.
Founded in 1995 as a specialist unit in the School of Government of the Economic and Management Sciences Faculty at the University of the Western Cape, it has since built a track record of delivering quality research on land and agrarian reform, poverty and natural resource management in South and Southern Africa.
Masifunde
The Masifunde Education and Development Project Trust is a non-governmental organisation established in 1983 that operates mainly in the Makana, Ndlambe and Ngqushwa municipal areas in the province of the Eastern Cape. It is affiliated to the National Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE). Masifunde’s primary thrust is advocating for integrated rural development and providing education to further democracy. In alliance with other land and food sovereignty movements, it campaigns for land and agrarian reform to change social relations and transform the rural economy so that it is biased in favour of the poor. Its work includes empowering men, women, youth and the unemployed in rural and peri-urban communities to campaign for access to basic services and resources to improve their livelihoods as well as participate in local government matters and influence policy direction and decisions.
