Development Talk

Creative Consulting & Development Works opposes Secrecy Bill

 

September 28, 2011

Creative Consulting & Development Works joined the Right2Know march to parliament on Saturday 17th September in opposition to the controversial “Secrecy Bill” which threatens freedom of information and could impose harsh prison sentences on whistle-blowers. Right2Know are a grassroots coalition against the proposed Secrecy Bill which successfully managed to co-ordinate 2 000 protesters on the march to parliament including at least one former ANC cabinet minister, the premier of the Western Cape, the Mayor of Cape Town, academics and journalists. The bill was to come before parliament 3 days after the march to be voted into law and was withdrawn for consultation.  PengaTV interviewed activists including Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Creative Consulting & Development Works Communications Co-ordinator Michelle Cruywagen. Comment on the PengaTV video clip below.  Have your say! What’s your take on the Secrecy Bill?

 

Why the Secrecy Bill is a threat to community struggles for local democracy and service delivery?

According to Right2Know the Protection of Information Bill (The Secrecy Bill) is a proposed law that threatens to turn our country into a nation of secrets and thus undermine many of our hard-won freedoms. The Right2Know Campaign along with many others have been fighting to get this Bill scrapped. Even though the government and the ANC have agreed that there are serious problems with the Bill and have promised to engage in further parliamentary debate, the fight against the Secrecy Bill cannot stop and must be intensified. If passed in its current form, it will give government officials huge powers to hide all kinds of important information from you and your community.

 

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Nelson Mandela Foundation to Launch “Critical Thinking Programme” for Youth

 

August 3, 2011

As reported in the Sunday Times, the Nelson Mandela Foundation has announced plans to launch a programme that address the shortage of guidance and support for young people. The Champion Within programme will address the pressing need for formal training in critical thinking for South Africa’s young People. Their recipe for success in built upon the approach that they will support youngsters who are already making strides towards a better life. The key is to harness the existing potential for success by identifying independent thinkers who, in spite of social pressures to buy into a culture of anti-intellectualism, pursue lofty academic and professional goals. The programme is estimated to cost 5.6 million ZAR and funding will be an issue according to Life College founder Pat Pillai. However, organisers stress that raising the funds is a hurdle that can and will be surmounted and should not be a factor that precludes students from participating.

For more information about how you can participate in or help support this programme please visit the Nelson Mandela Fund website.

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Mandela Monday Mania!

 

June 27, 2011

“Take Action. Inspire Change. Make Every Day a Mandela Day,” is the slogan for this year’s Mandela Day.

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Mandela Day, was first introduced on 18 July 2009, the former Nelson Mandela’s birthday, its aim is to persuade people to contribute 67 minutes of their time to make the world a better place.

International Nelson Mandela Day 2011 was launched on 23 May at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg.  The ceremony involved tertiary students who marked the occasion by expressing their views on what the celebration means to them. According to mediaclubsouthafrica.com, the launch garnered such widespread media attention due in part to popular South African rapper JR’s new song dedicated to Mandela Day, ‘See you in July’.

It is said that, when Sello Hatang, the Mandela Foundation’s spokesperson, asked students to speak about Mandela.Day and how it should be celebrated,Mandela’s grandson, Luvuyo Mandela, mentioned that as a family they have always celebrated his gradfather’s birthday in their home town of Umtata, Qunu in the Eastern Cape, by making food parcels so they can allocate to them less fortunate.  Another youth, Raymond Ntlozi, explained that he honours Mandela Day by volunteering and funraising at children’s home in Zuurbekom, southwest Johannesburg.

Mediaclubsouthafrica.com states that, Breadline Africa, a South African-based NGO, has partnered with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the NYK Helping Hand Scheme to offer a mobile library to a primary school in all nine provinces of South Africa as part of this year’s Mandela Day celebrations.

This year, NYK contributed R500 000 to the project for Mandela Day. Each library container costs nearly R90 000 to convert and renovate.

Tim Smith, director of Breadline Africa is quoted saying, “we buy sturdy, water-tight containers at a low cost and transform them into mobile structures, which we can use to feed, educate or use as a clinic. Our projects try to establish a level of self-sustainability within the community.”

From 6 June, people haven been encouraged to participate every Monday by giving back to the next person, the community or the environment for Mandela Mondays. People can take as little as five minutes out of their lives for this activity!

So how are YOU honouring the spirit of community service this Mandela Monday?  Let us know by leaving a comment here or on our Facebook page.

Filed under: Africa,Awareness,basic human right,better life for all,Breaking New Ground,campaign,children,civil society,CREATIVE CONSULTING & DEVELOPMENT WORKS,DEVELOPMENT WORKS,Environment,ethical leadership,Hope,inspiration,inspire,Love and Courage,media,peace,social transformation,sustainable,ubuntu — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:26 am

Hot off the presses: Edition 16 of Development e-News!

 

June 24, 2011

 Edition 16 shines a spotlight on CSI and CSI works:

  • We explore industry benchmarks in corporate social investment (CSI) spend and how this impacts on national social economic development (SED).
  • We guide you on how best you can increase the sustainability of your CSI programme.
  • We consider the importance of establishing partnerships – a hot topic at the CSI Matters conference.
  • Finally, we share some valuable development lessons from Africa via Dr Pandelani Mathoma, GM of Old Mutual Corporate Affairs guest speaker at the conference.

We hope you enjoy our newsletter and are able to leave with new insights and inspiration. You’re welcome to make contact via email should you have any questions, if you would like to further discuss topics highlighted in our newsletter or require more information on our services!

Read the newsletter by clicking here!

Warm Greetings from our Team!
Creative Consulting & Development Works

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Kader Asmal (8 October 1934 – 22 June 2011)

 

June 23, 2011

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Creative Consulting and Development Works would like to extend our sympathy to the Asmal family as we join the rest of South Africa in celebrating Kader Asmal and his life as an activist academic and politician.  His ANC comrades hail him as a “selfless man of honour” and that “his death must be a reminder for all of us of the non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa we committed to build”.  Kader represented the anti-Apartheid movement as a committed ANC member from the United Kingdom during his early professional life after being exiled by the Apartheid government.  In exile he was awarded the Prix UNESCO award for his work in human rights, founded the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, and served as Chairperson for the Irish Apartheid movement.  When he returned to South Africa he became a professor of human rights at University of the Western Cape before he was tapped by the first democratic government to be the Minister of Water and Forestry and later as Minister of Education (a position for which he was appointed personally by President Nelson Mandela).  He was also involved in many other anti-racism and human rights commissions and movements throughout his life. 

Professor Asmal’s memoir will be released in August, and the official launch for the book will be in September at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town.

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