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The 2011 budget speech for the Department of Environmental Affairs details South Africa's commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025. It highlights the transition to a green economy, the integration of 'working for' employment programmes to provide 5 million person-days of work in 2011/12, and the fight against rhino poaching. The speech also announces the upcoming National Biodiversity Assessment report and the commissioning of the SA Agulhas II research vessel.

This analysis argues that the Cancun Agreements mark significant progress in integrating human rights protections into the international climate regime, driven by NGO pressure and certain State Parties. It emphasizes that this language should guide the implementation of REDD and finance safeguards and calls for a rights-based approach leading into COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.

South Africa's climate policy is shaped by a conflict between its role as an international 'bridge-builder' and domestic structural barriers. While the government pursues a leadership role in multilateral forums and the BASIC group, domestic progress is hindered by a 'minerals-energy complex' dominated by coal-reliant entities like Eskom and Sasol, alongside urgent priorities to expand energy access and employment. The document highlights the diplomatic challenge of balancing relations with major emerging economies and other African nations while managing internal political and industrial pressures.

The document is a briefing guide by PriceWaterhouseCoopers that examines the results of the Cancun Agreement, which was supported by 193 countries. It specifically focuses on how these outcomes affect business operations, investment, and carbon markets, while providing perspectives from China and Brazil and looking forward to the 2011 conference in Durban, South Africa.

A coalition of environmental NGOs argues that the JSE's SRI Index is 'fatally flawed' because it includes companies that are 'serious and serial offenders' of environmental legislation. The letter provides evidence from National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Reports (NECERs) and government reports showing that several listed companies—including Exxaro Resources, Arcelor Mittal South Africa, and Sasol—have committed criminal offences related to air emissions, waste disposal, and water use licenses. The NGOs call for the JSE to revise its criteria to explicitly require legal compliance and strengthen its verification methods.

In April 2008, the MV 'An Yue Jiang', a Chinese vessel carrying weapons for the Zimbabwe Defence Force, attempted to offload cargo in Durban, South Africa. A coalition of civil society actors, including the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and various trade unions, successfully blocked the transfer through legal challenges and public demonstrations. After being denied offloading in South Africa and Mozambique, and facing opposition in Namibia and Angola, the ship eventually returned to China. The author attributes the success to the role of the media, the existence of established regional networks, and the presence of a tangible focal point for public outrage during Zimbabwe's post-election violence.

The document details the campaign to stop the Chinese vessel An Yue Jiang from delivering weapons to Zimbabwe following the contested 2008 elections. It examines the roles of legal challenges, media, and regional partnerships in preventing the shipment's delivery through South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, and Angola.

This case study describes how coordinated civil society actions across Southern Africa successfully blocked a shipment of weapons destined for Zimbabwe following controversial elections.

The document analyzes South Africa's land reform efforts, focusing on redistribution, restitution, and tenure reform. It highlights the Mataffin Farm in Nelspruit as a successful model where white owners and black claimants collaborated to ensure agricultural productivity during the transfer. However, it contrasts this with broader systemic failures, including slow implementation, budget constraints, and violent rural conflict. The text discusses the tension between the government's goal to transfer 30% of white-owned land by 2015 and the reality of only 3% being transferred. It also addresses fears that South Africa might mirror Zimbabwe's economic collapse due to land grabs, while emphasizing that post-settlement support and managerial training are critical to preventing agricultural failure.

The SAPS Criminal Record and Forensic Science Service (CRFSS) faces significant operational hurdles despite improvements in DNA backlogs between 2004 and 2006. Key challenges include high staff turnover due to low salaries, insufficient training for forensic field workers leading to poor quality evidence, and delays caused by a lack of prosecutor requests for DNA analysis. To address these, the SAPS implemented the Genetic Sample Processing System (GSPS) in 2007, a large-scale robotics system designed to eliminate human error and increase processing volume. The author recommends market-related salaries, contractual training bonds, and the establishment of an offender DNA database to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice process.

The report identifies administrative and trade policy non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that increase the cost of business along the South Africa-Zimbabwe trade route. Key findings highlight severe delays at the Beit Bridge border crossing, where some trucks take an average of 2.5 days to clear. Zimbabwean foreign exchange controls are identified as the most costly trade policy NTB across multiple sectors, effectively acting as an export tax. Additionally, the report notes significant infrastructure failures in the regional rail network, forcing a reliance on more expensive road transport, and capacity constraints at Durban port that lead to costly truck congestion.

The report identifies and quantifies non-tariff barriers (NTBs) along the Durban–Gaborone corridor, finding that these barriers account for 24.4% of round-trip heavy vehicle running costs. The most significant costs are attributed to South African toll roads, including direct fees and indirect costs from fuel consumption and downtime. Other identified NTBs include Botswana user charges, infrastructure deterioration, weighbridge delays, harbour permit costs, and border clearance procedures. The study suggests that these NTBs contribute approximately 1.83% to the final cost of sales, which, when modelled against South Africa's GDP, represents a potential national impact of R31.61 billion.

The document identifies trade policy and administrative barriers as the primary non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on the North-South Corridor between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Key obstacles include foreign exchange (FX) controls, administrative delays at the Beit Bridge border, and high transport costs. Sector-specific analysis reveals that Zimbabwean exports (nickel, cotton, tobacco, and manufactured goods) are heavily impacted by FX remittance requirements, while South African exports (fuel, vehicles, and steel) are hindered by Zimbabwean FX shortages and price controls. The briefing also highlights infrastructure issues, such as trucking queues at Durban harbour costing transporters ZAR150,000 per hour and the lack of maintained rail infrastructure.

The document examines the migration of Congolese nationals to South Africa, highlighting a stark contrast between their high levels of education and their precarious economic reality. While many arrive as young, middle-class professionals fleeing instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they often find themselves in 'survivalist' informal employment, such as car guarding and hair cutting, due to systemic barriers and a lack of professional opportunities. The text details the role of 'Tindikuers' (entrepreneurs who facilitate migration), the formation of defensive ethnic 'tribes' to replace missing state and community support, and the pervasive discrimination and corruption they face within South African state institutions, particularly the Department of Home Affairs.

The document examines two distinct waves of forced migration to South Africa: Mozambicans fleeing civil war in the 1980s and Congolese migrants arriving from the 1990s. It highlights a persistent gap between the legal rights granted to refugees and the social reality of their reception, characterized by economic marginalization and xenophobia. Mozambican refugees, primarily rural peasants, were often ghettoized in homelands like Gazankulu and exploited as low-wage agricultural labor. Congolese migrants, typically urban and middle-class, face significant social dislocation, with many highly educated professionals relegated to survivalist roles such as car guarding and street vending. In both cases, the author argues that state officials and local communities often ignore formal legal statuses, maintaining the migrants' de facto 'illegal' status to sustain cheap labor markets or satisfy xenophobic impulses.

The document examines the evolution of diversion in South Africa, moving from disjointed, discretionary practices in the 1990s toward a regulated system under the Child Justice Bill. It details the Bill's mechanisms for expanding diversion, such as compulsory assessments and preliminary inquiries, and categorizes diversion options into three levels based on offence severity. The paper also analyzes the role of the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO) as a primary provider and presents cost-benefit analyses suggesting that increased diversion spending would lead to overall government savings by reducing child detention. Evaluation studies of specific programmes like SAYStOP and DIME generally show positive outcomes in reducing recidivism and improving child well-being.

The report 'Failing the Challenge' by Friends of the Earth International criticizes Shell for prioritizing short-term profits over human rights and environmental protection. It documents a pattern of pollution, health crises, and human rights abuses across several countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, the US, and the Philippines. The authors argue that Shell engages in 'greenwashing' by using PR to mask its continued expansion of fossil fuel production and its failure to hold itself accountable for local damages. The report calls for changes to UK company law to ensure corporations are legally responsible for their global impacts.

The document analyzes the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), detailing its five-stage review process, its organizational structure involving the APR Forum and Panel of Eminent Persons, and its complex relationship with the African Union. It highlights the tension between political governance review and economic governance, the role of partner institutions like the UNECA and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and the challenges of financing and institutional capacity in ensuring the mechanism's efficacy.

The document details the 2001-2003 political crisis in Madagascar, triggered by a disputed presidential election between incumbent Didier Ratsiraka and challenger Marc Ravalomanana. It describes the resulting institutional collapse, the failure of multiple mediation attempts in Dakar, and the eventual consolidation of power by Ravalomanana despite initial resistance from the African Union.

The report documents systemic environmental and health failures at Shell facilities in South Africa, the USA, the Philippines, Nigeria, Brazil, Curaçao, and Russia. It argues that Shell's commitment to sustainable development is a public relations exercise designed to mask pollution, human rights abuses, and the circumvention of local laws. The authors call for a reform of UK company law to establish a legal 'duty of care' for directors regarding their global social and environmental impacts, moving beyond voluntary CSR frameworks.