12 May 2021 - Fake news poses a threat to free societies; it poisons societies’ information environments, distorts perceptions of what is true and false and can severely corrode social and political interactions. But be equally wary of the response to this phenomenon, for combating it could introduce a raft of dangers to free societies too.
IRR calls for property rates and taxes rebate under State of Disaster
10 May 2021 - Never in living memory has the case for applying a rebate on property rates and taxes been more urgent.
Never in living memory has the case for applying a rebate on property rates and taxes been more urgent.
Disaster management legislation has long anticipated the potential need to rebate payments that would otherwise go to municipal government in the event of a disaster that both hampers service delivery and causes extraordinary economic dislocation.
South Africa has been in an official State of Disaster since 15 March 2020, and, as Stats SA points out, “(the) personal, social, and economic impact of COVID-19 is unlike anything experienced by the world in the past 75 years”.
Ramaphosa has turned his back on South Africa’s citizens – IRR
5 May 2021 - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s defence of the ANC government’s cadre deployment policy – which has hollowed out public institutions and left millions of South Africans at the mercy of corruption, mismanagement and ineptitude – demonstrates his loyalty to party cadres at the expense of ordinary citizens.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s defence of the ANC government’s cadre deployment policy – which has hollowed out public institutions and left millions of South Africans at the mercy of corruption, mismanagement and ineptitude – demonstrates his loyalty to party cadres at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Justice without fear or favour prevails – IRR
30 April 2021 - The IRR was alarmed at the blinding pace with which Mpumalanga politicians and national opinion-makers drew the conclusion that four white farmers were guilty of murdering two innocent black work-seekers on a farm in Eastern Mpumalanga before ascertaining even the most basic facts. Despite the climate of bias against the farmers, and later a farm worker too, the Mkhondo Magistrate’s Court presided over the bail hearing without fear or favour, and granted bail.
The IRR was alarmed at the blinding pace with which Mpumalanga politicians and national opinion-makers drew the conclusion that four white farmers were guilty of murdering two innocent black work-seekers on a farm in Eastern Mpumalanga before ascertaining even the most basic facts. Despite the climate of bias against the farmers, and later a farm worker too, the Mkhondo Magistrate’s Court presided over the bail hearing without fear or favour, and granted bail