https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2018-05-18-advancing-africas-inequalities-agenda
18 May, 2018
UCT has launched the African Centre of Excellence for Inequalities Research (ACEIR), under the banner of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA).
“When the call for ARUA’s centres of excellence was published last year, we at UCT felt that we should use it as an opportunity to respond to our strategic plan and vision of being inclusive, engaged and African,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng in her introduction to the two-day launch workshop.
This, the first such centre of excellence, seeks to consolidate and magnify the efforts of African universities as they relate to poverty and inequalities research, with a mind to informing policy and advancing civil society action.
ACEIR is one of 13 planned ARUA centres, each addressing a research theme aligned to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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Tackle inequality sustainably – beyond social grants
17 May, 2018
ocial grants are essential to the poor but unsustainable as a solution to income inequality. Research shows that economic growth is needed to sustain social grants and bring more people into employment, writes PhD candidate Janina Hundenborn of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) in the School of Economics.
A recent study that analysed the development of income inequality over the past 20 years shows that the lives of many South Africans are shifting for the better, but not quickly enough. As Cyril Ramaphosa takes South Africa into a new chapter, government needs to look at what has worked and what has not and make wise policy choices that will deliver on the ANC’s overdue promise of a better life for all.
South Africa remains one of the most unequal nations in the world, and the research names the vast wage gap as a major contributor. There are a few who earn millions, too many who are earning vulnerably small incomes, and many who are unemployed with no earnings at all.
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Farewell, again, Francis Wilson
08 May, 2018
It’s indicative of his energy, vision and commitment to the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), which he founded in 1975, that Emeritus Professor Francis Wilson retired not once but twice from the University of Cape Town (UCT).
It was the second occasion on 23 April, the final chapter in his 43 years at UCT, that gathered colleagues, friends, mentees and collaborators to bid a final farewell. Wilson and his wife, Lindy, will head for the Eastern Cape, where he was born and raised.
The event coincided with a one-day symposium in his honour, hosted by SALDRU to present their findings on social mobility and inequality. These markers of national well-being have been at the heart of the unit since its inception. Wilson’s legacy has been continued by director Professor Murray Leibbrandt.
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