On the side of a busy street in Khayelitsha, Simon runs an unexpectedly criminal enterprise: a black-market barbershop. My article in @groundup.org.za on the policing of informal businesses in South Africa. groundup.org.za/article/how-...

How informal businesses are reduced to rubble

The rules make it almost impossible to run an informal business legally

groundup.org.za

An article by @telegraphnews.bsky.social literally advocating tax evasion. Literally - how to pretend to run a commercial woodland to avoid inheritance tax. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/in...

This is such important research on why unemployed South Africans leave or turn down work. We need to think beyond debates about mininum wage to think more expansively about what work with dignity can mean. theconversation.com/6-in-10-youn...

6 in 10 young South Africans have no jobs. Why some still reject offers of work

Rejecting precarious work signals dissatisfaction with a labour market where wage employment rarely offers security or social mobility.

theconversation.com

Here is a puzzle. People in sub-Saharan Africa tend to be *twice* as religious as the rest of the world, yet countries in the region provide *half* as much state support for religion. Why? Hint: It isn't about state capacity. #polrel

The Conversation Africa@africa.theconversation.com · last yr.

David Jeffery-Schwikkard’s research reveals sub-Saharan Africa’s devout populations receive minimal state support for religion. These findings unsettle many common misconceptions about the role of religion in politics. theconversation.com/deeply-relig... #Politics

Are there any academics you read where you think 'woah, that's really good writing'? I'm having an odd time. I'm returning to books and articles that I remember as excellent. But when I read them closely, their wordwork is clumsy. Help. Who first came to mind when you read my question?

My third complete starter pack of 150 accounts that post about Africa-related topics, including journalists, policy analysts, economists, business leaders, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, activists, historians and organizational accounts. go.bsky.app/JDTmcEq

Thought-provoking - moral language makes pro-immigration messages more effective. Some of these are really small tweaks: a "fairer and more decent" rather than "better and sounder" immigration policy. (And some are larger, like focusing on a country's values rather than economic benefits).

Kristina Bakkær Simonsen@kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social · 2y ago

Thanks for this @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social 👌🏼 I might add my recent @psrm.bsky.social showing that the 🇩🇰 Social Democrats could have won policy support for a pro-immigrant platform if their messaging were framed in moral terms. Central corrective to popular notion SD was destined to go anti-im 👇🏼

Politicians in South Africa use religious rhetoric, but still pursue secular and liberal policies like access to abortion and protecting same-sex partnerships. Why? theconversation.com/god-and-poli... @africa.theconversation.com #polrel (This is an older article, but as we migrate to Bluesky...)

God and politics in South Africa: the ruling ANC’s winning strategy

Perhaps the combination of religious rhetoric and secular laws is a winning electoral strategy.

theconversation.com

Added! Minus the non-SA William Bird and @mbekezeli.bsky.social, who was on already. Thanks so much.

@genuinegiuliana.bsky.social · 2y ago

Thanks David. I'd add a few more 😊 @ferialhaffajee.bsky.social @sonofbaldwin.bsky.social @williambird.bsky.social @nickhedley.bsky.social @jeffwicks.bsky.social @mediamatters.bsky.social @mbekezeli.bsky.social

Here is a list of accounts that comment on politics in South Africa 👇. Very incomplete but getting better - please tag suggestions! go.bsky.app/vzDePD