The Forge, WISER and C150GAP Panel : What is at stake in the destruction of a city?

The Forge, WISER and the C150 Chair in Gender and African Politics invite you to a panel investigating the political economy of last month's events in Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Thursday, 12 August, 2021 - 18:00

All of the popular explanations circulating in the South African media accounting for last month's events are important : severe and worsening inequality, the unmanageable burden of lockdown, the prohibition of alcohol sales, police and government incompetence, and the planned efforts of the pro-Zuma faction within the ANC.  Yet there is also good reason for all South Africans to ask what has been happening in KZN, and to look very closely at the specific changes in the political economy of the two cities at the centre of the revolt -- Durban and Pietermaritzburg.  In this panel discussion we will examine the problems of local government, political organisation and rent-seeking that are poorly understood in the academy and in the media, but which have enormous importance for the people living in them and for the country as a whole.

Please use this link if you have trouble with the video.

• Ryan Brunette -- Politics, CUNY
• Glen Robbins -- Toyota Wessels Institute
• Kira Erwin -- Durban University of Technology
• Elisha Kunene -- Richard Spoor, Inc
• Monica Laganparsad -- NewFrame
• Itumeleng Mahabane -- Social Justice Initiative
• Thina Nzo -- Public Affairs Research Institute
• S'bu Zikode -- Abahlali baseMjondolo

Chair :  Shireen Hassim,  C150 Chair in Gender and African Politics