I returned to ZA on January 4th.  The trip home was a bit hectic: I left Chicago Saturday morning (from Margaret’s apartment by bus), flew to Detroit, then Amsterdam, and finally arrived in Jo’burg Sunday evening.  My luggage arrived on Tuesday.

Highlights since I returned to the southern hemisphere:

1.  I met with Michael Aliber, an academic with the Institute for Poverty, Land, and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape.  He has a PhD in applied and agricultural economics from the University of WI Madison.  Small world.  I may help out with an ICCO study on small holdings and food security.

2.  My car broke down at the Spar (a local convenience store).  Luckily, Gwena was home and came to fetch me.

3.  I had internet access at home for four hours!  (I was finally able to connect after many battles with the wireless.)  There was a massive thunderstorm the same night, and we’ve been without access since.

4.  I’ve decided to move into the Cullen Library at Wits.  Ok, not really, but I plan to spend a lot of time there over the next few months.  They have an impressive collection of books, and the physical building is spectacular.

5.  I hosted a braai at Bentleigh Sunday evening.  The UN attended (including Ms Jacky Burger, Molly Firkaly, and Hugo Tighe).  I’m traveling with Jax, Molly, Hugo, and Alfredo this week.  We fly to Port Elizabeth tomorrow and then we’re driving the garden route (I’m departing from George, the others from Cape Town).

(Me, Jax, and Molly)

Banned from Europe and the United States, the Mugabe family has decided to spend their annual month-long holiday in East Asia.  Today’s papers show pictures of Grace Mugabe, 43, shopping on the streets of Hong Kong.  A less fortunate photographer for the Sunday Times was assaulted by Grace as he tried to document her lavish spending.

In other news, attorneys for ANC President Jacob Zuma have met with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to discuss the allegations of fraud, money laundering, and corruption against Zuma.  The charges stem from the 1999 arms deal.

The ANC has lost its dominance in the Eastern Cape: in provincial elections yesterday the party won only 3 of 27 seats.  COPE picked up 10 seats, the DA 9.  It looks like the presidential elections next year will be a tough race, which may be one reason why Zuma has made an effort to remove his foot from his mouth.  The ANC President is steering clear of controversy, Business Day reports.

After a series of controversial comments, including a suggestion that teenage girls who had fallen pregnant should be sent to faraway schools, it is understood that Zuma has been advised not to speak against the country’s human rights culture.

After a period of relative quiet, Zuma almost made a slip during a meeting of traditional leaders and informal sector workers at Qamata Great Place in Eastern Cape yesterday. Speaking on the effect of crime on the community, he seemingly stopped just short of advocating mob justice.

“I nearly said something that I was not supposed to say … and they are here (the media),” Zuma said jokingly.

But later yesterday afternoon, during a mass rally at the Cofimvaba stadium, Zuma could not help but rehash an attack on the Congress of the People (COPE).

He repeated the story of a “lucky donkey” on whose back Jesus Christ rode through the streets of Jerusalem. Zuma said when the people cheered, the donkey thought they were cheering for him, but the animal was mistaken.

“What I mean is that while you are still a leader in the ANC, you are great person but once you leave, you are nobody,” Zuma also said.

The article is here.

The provincial Health Department in the Free State has stopped giving ARVs to newly diagnosed AIDs patients because of financial problems.  In November they announced that all non-emergency surgeries would be pushed back until after January.  Each province receives a grant from the central government for HIV/AIDs treatment in public hospitals, and as of September the Free State was under-budget for the 2008-2009 financial year.  So what happened?  Has the rate of new AIDs cases increased significantly in the past two months?  Or has the money been diverted to other things (like luxury vehicles)?

And what would happen in the absence of a private system?  No ARVs.  No non-emergency surgeries.  Currently you can get both at private hospitals.

The new black opposition party, the Congress of the People (COPE), has said that it wants to change South Africa’s affirmative action policy to include preferential treatment for poor whites.  While this may be an attempt to cater to white voters, it illustrates a fundamental shift in policy: affirmative action based on socio-economic status rather than race alone.  There seems to be support for the change.

Race-based affirmative action (the Black Economic Empowerment, BEE) was supposedly enacted to help undo the inequalities which exist as a legacy of apartheid.  The FMF argues that apartheid illustrated the reasons why we should not discriminate based on race and that BEE is only continuing discrimination (and not to mention considerable ill-will between race groups). continue reading

Clock-wise, L to R:  Bentleigh (with Milly), the main stairs leading up to my bedroom, my bedroom (tiny!), and the living room.

Tony’s update on his research has reminded me that I had originally intended my blogs to be about my research.  What an idea.  I’ve completed one land restitution case study, which is the Makuleke claim in Kruger National Park.  Right now I’m finishing up a draft of a similar land restitution case north of Durban.  I’m more excited about this second case because I’m trying to address what restitution really means, what expectations exist, and what it can accomplish.  The ANC has promoted land reform as a poverty alleviation tool, but restitution (the idea of “making things right” by addressing individual instances of dispossion under apartheid) is different from redistribution and land tenure reform.  Former Land Claims Commissioner, Cherryl Walker, has written about these questions and cautioned that land restitution should not be evaluated simply by the amount of land transferred, but by how the community is able to use the land, and hopefully, benefit from it.  I agree with her analysis, and I think the difficult part is that government can’t ensure that communities are “uplifted” by the restitution.  If a community is awarded 10,000 hectares of land in a rural area, semi-arid climate, where are community members supposed to work?  In what town?  Farming is difficult, particularly small scale farming for market.  What about water?  Transporting crops?  After this land restitution case, I’m starting work on land tenure issues in Jo’burg as part of an FMF study.