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This reference guide by GreenCape provides a strategic framework for water and wastewater businesses and investors seeking to enter or expand within the South African public water sector. It details the sector's governance structure, the legal requirements for public procurement, various contracting models, and strategies for forming partnerships and trialling new technologies.

This report evaluates the building infrastructure of the Paterson Park Precinct in Johannesburg, South Africa, using the Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) tool and Copernicus climate data. It compares business-as-usual (BAU) building designs with green, climate-resilient designs over a 40-year life cycle. The analysis finds that green buildings significantly reduce total net costs through lower energy and maintenance expenditures and reduced GHG emissions. While climate change generally increases energy costs and GHG externalities, the RCP 8.5 scenario specifically reduces irrigation costs due to higher predicted precipitation. Additionally, the report concludes that solar panel investments are highly profitable in the South African context, particularly when accounting for electricity price inflation.

This report presents a Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) assessment of three stormwater infrastructure options in the Paterson Park Precinct of Johannesburg, South Africa: a grey concrete culvert, a nature-based stream renaturalization, and a hybrid solution. Using data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the study compares these options through an integrated cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and climate change scenario analysis over 20- and 40-year horizons. The findings demonstrate that nature-based infrastructure is the most cost-efficient and climate-resilient choice, providing significant co-benefits in flood mitigation and water supply.

The April 2021 Peace & Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines the operational challenges of the newly merged African Union Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) department, the diplomatic deadlock over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), and governance crises in Senegal, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad.

This briefing by the Public Affairs Research Institute argues that South Africa has failed to deliver affordable energy to its poor. It highlights that poor households spend up to 17% of their income on energy and that the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) policy is failing; in 2019, only 2 million of the 9.8 million funded households actually received free electricity, leaving 5.4 million eligible households without support and costing them R6 billion.

This briefing by the Public Affairs Research Institute examines the failure of the South African government to provide affordable electricity to low-income households despite the Energy Act of 1998. It highlights the systemic failure of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) policy, where national budget allocations for poor households are not reaching the intended beneficiaries due to municipal mismanagement and registration barriers.

This research paper by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) examines the failure of the South African government to fulfill its 1998 White Paper on Energy promise to provide affordable electricity to poor households, small businesses, and small-scale farmers. It highlights a significant gap between national budget allocations for free basic electricity and the actual delivery of these services by municipalities.

This policy briefing examines the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural value chains within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). While the agricultural sector was less affected than others, the pandemic exacerbated existing structural challenges, including food insecurity, a reliance on subsistence farming, and infrastructure deficits. The authors argue for a 'dual approach' that supports both small-scale and commercial farming, alongside the adoption of digital technologies and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to drive regional integration and growth.

This report, led by the Coalition for Urban Transitions and 36 partner organizations, argues that urban centers are critical for climate leadership and economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically focusing on six emerging economies.

This policy brief examines the 'Safe City' initiative in Johannesburg, specifically the Integrated Intelligence Operations Centre (IIOC), arguing that the deployment of mass surveillance technology threatens civil liberties and fails to address the structural causes of crime such as poverty and inequality.

This document contains the Short Heads of Argument filed on 11 March 2021 by the First Respondent, Uthaka Energy (Pty) Ltd, in the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria). Uthaka argues against an urgent application for an interim interdict brought by the Mining and Environmental Justice Community Network of South Africa and others, which seeks to stop the commencement of the Yzermyn Underground Coal-mining Project. Uthaka contends that it possesses all necessary statutory authorisations and that the application lacks urgency, a prima facie right, and a reasonable apprehension of irreparable harm.

This research paper examines the struggle of Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to meet the 2001 Abuja Declaration's pledge to allocate 15% of national budgets to healthcare. It argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted critical systemic gaps and provides an impetus for innovative financing strategies to overcome economic decline and aid dependency.

A joint statement by eleven civil society organizations condemning former president Jacob Zuma's defiance of the State Capture Commission (Zondo Commission) and his attacks on the judiciary.

An open letter from the Public Affairs Research Institute to President Cyril Ramaphosa arguing that South Africa's public service requires structural reforms to appointment and removal processes to eliminate political interference and corruption.

The New Development Bank (NDB) has funded 9 projects in South Africa and Lesotho totaling USD 3.2 billion. While the NDB has an Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and an Information Disclosure Policy (IDP), the document highlights a lack of transparency, noting that project applications, risk assessments, management plans, and Country Partnership Plans are not publicly available. The NDB delegates the responsibility for environmental and social assessments and grievance mechanisms to its clients, creating uncertainty regarding how the bank monitors the effectiveness and fairness of these processes.

This briefing paper, commissioned by Oxfam South Africa and authored by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), examines the information disclosure and grievance mechanisms of the New Development Bank (NDB), specifically focusing on its operations in South Africa. The document analyzes the NDB's reliance on 'country systems' for project implementation and the resulting challenges for public transparency and accountability.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the barriers and opportunities for National Development Banks (NDBs) to increase financing for climate-smart urban infrastructure. It identifies a significant gap between the potential of NDBs to act as intermediaries and the current reality, where only a small minority finance local governments. The document provides a 'City Maturity Model' consisting of 12 dimensions across strategic, financial, policy, and operational levels to help city officials improve their creditworthiness and project pipelines to better access NDB funding.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the role of National Development Banks (NDBs) in financing climate-smart urban infrastructure. It identifies significant gaps in current NDB mandates and proposes a 'maturity model' consisting of 12 dimensions across strategic, financial, business, and operational parameters to help NDBs better support municipalities. The document provides recommendations for International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to support NDBs through technical assistance, innovative capital access, and de-risking instruments to bridge the urban climate investment gap.

The March 2021 Peace & Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines several critical security and financial challenges facing the African Union (AU), including the Ethiopia–Sudan border dispute, the insurgency in Mozambique, the AU's financial dependence on external partners, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) impasse, and the transition of AMISOM in Somalia.

This report by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Western Cape Government examines the impact of South Africa's 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on violence and policing, specifically focusing on 11 police areas in Cape Town. Using murder data, interviews, and a survey of over 5,000 residents, the study identifies a strong correlation between alcohol bans and the reduction of sharp-object murders and fatal violence against women, while finding that firearm-related murders remained largely unaffected by lockdown restrictions.