Books

This paper presents a quantitative overview of the South African independent schooling sector. Some popular myths about the sector being largely white and elitist are dispelled by the study. However, there is also evidence of poor performance and new forms of inequity emerging of which role-players in the sector should be aware.

The major focus of work in indigenous knowledge in South Africa is in traditional healing and medicinal plant use. Contributors to this compilation come from both formal institutions and traditional backgrounds. They discuss the relationship between traditional and Western medicine, the needs of traditional healers and issues surrounding traditional herbal medicines.

Aligned to the principle that development needs to start with what people know and build on their knowledge and experiences, the authors of this paper provide some examples of how important indigenous or local knowledge is to its users, different ways in which they use this knowledge, and the potential that indigenous knowledge has in some areas of agricultural development.

The role of indigenous knowledges in development has not been examined enough. Indigenous knowledge systems tend to mean different things to different people, so does culture. Culture is undoubtedly critical for development but often underplayed or misunderstood. Development in Africa remains elusive.

Part of the ongoing research on the employment experiences of university graduates in South Africa and based upon the most comprehensive tracer study of university graduates yet conducted, this paper looks at the inequities in higher education and their consequences in the labour market for people with tertiary qualification.

Increasing learner access to information and communication technologies (ICT) in the curriculum is strategically important to ensure that school leavers moving into the labour market or into further study have the appropriate background and capacities to succeed, as work and educational environments becoming increasingly information intensive.

This occasional paper proposes the development of an information framework for sustainable development in South Africa and sets out a global action plan. It discusses the country's ability to provide the information required to address actions stipulated in Agenda 21, a foundational document of sustainable development.

This book appraises the transformation of infrastructure policy in South Africa since 1994. This volume looks at efforts to establish equitable infrastructure and service delivery in the sectors of water, health, land, electricity, housing and transport. It concludes that transformation has been uneven and has had a differential impact on different groups.

Many were filled with hopes as high as Mahjoub's stars as they crossed the kala pani (the sea) making their way from India to Durban in southern Africa in the late 1800s. But dreams of a better life and the opportunity to save money and return to the village as 'success stories' were not to be for many who returned 'home' with less than they had started out with, and found that home was no longer the place they had left. Neither were they the same people. Caste had been transgressed, parents had died and spaces for reintegration closed as colonialism tightened its grip. Home for these wandering exiles was no more.

This book analyses crucial democratisation issues that have a bearing on international constitutional and political developments and co-operation between countries. The book provides a comparative overview of some of the successes and failures in creating and consolidating democratic institutions in both developed and developing countries and is thus of relevance to both.