ANNUAL REPORT 2023
© 2024 by Southern Centre for Inequality Studies.
Southern Centre for Inequality Studies Annual Report 2023 Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management
Southern Centre for Inequality Studies North Lodge, Parktown Management Campus 2 St David’s Place, Parktown University of the Witwatersrand www.wits.ac.az/scis
Design and layout: Ink Design Publishing Solutions, Cape Town, www.inkdesign.co.za
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
DURING THE YEAR, WE CONTINUED TO DEEPEN OUR WORK ACROSS OUR ESTABLISHED RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Wealth Inequality and Elites
Public Economy Project
The Future of Work(ers): Implications for inequality in the global South
Pre-distribution and Ownership in South Africa
A Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery
Climate Change and Inequality, and Intersectionality Project
Shortly before the publication of the annual report, we learned with great sadness of the passing of Professor Edward Webster on 5 March 2024. Prof. Webster was a distinguished academic, notable activist, dedicated mentor, and friend to many. In 2017, as the first Interim Director, he played a central role in the establishment of the SCIS. In subsequent years, this distinguished research professor continued his work as an indefatigable academic, teacher and colleague. Even well into his formal retirement, Prof. Webster brought tireless enthusiasm, curiosity and energy to his work at the SCIS, and he will be sorely missed by us all.
The year 2023 was one of growth for SCIS, with several exciting developments. We welcomed our first cohort of students into the brand-new Master’s of Commerce (MCom) in Inequality Studies, which is an interdisciplinary degree that examines inequality across the world, with a focus on the global South. It was also our first year as part of the Emerging Political Economy Network (EPEN), a collaboration of universities around the world rethinking political economy for a just future.
During the year, we continued to deepen our work across our established research projects that are described in this annual report. The research projects are the Public Economy Project, Wealth Inequality and Elites, Technology and the Future of Work: Implications for inequality in the global South, Pre-distribution and Ownership in South Africa, A Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery, Climate Change and Inequality, and the Intersectionality Project.
I would like to thank all the staff at SCIS for their innovative work over the year. I would also like to acknowledge the important guidance of our Advisory Board in steering the focus of the Centre, and our research collaborators across South Africa and around the world. Sincere thanks are due to Wits University, and the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, and to our network of donors for their continued support, without which our work would not be possible
PROFESSOR IMRAAN VALODIA SCIS Director
ABOUT THE SCIS
On 1 October 2017, the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) was formally established within the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
The SCIS is an interdisciplinary and intersectional research centre that focuses on understanding and addressing inequality in the global South and around the world. It serves as a platform for learning and engagement between researchers, policy makers and other social actors, and for initiating new research. Its work extends beyond academic research, to include policy engagement and collaborations with government, business and civil society.
SCIS staff publish widely in popular and academic publications across the world (see Annexure A), while members of the SCIS sit on a variety of national and international advisory boards.
The SCIS also supports the Wits 2023 vision to increase postgraduate students by training master’s, PhD and post-doctoral candidates from a variety of disciplines across the university.
Strategic Overview
To deepen our understanding of and address the social, political and economic forces that lead to the production and reproduction of inequality in the global South, with the aim of effecting change and contributing towards a more egalitarian society.
z To lead the international debate and analysis on causes of inequality and possible solutions.
z To produce excellent interdisciplinary research in, of, and for the global South.
z To disseminate the research, through publications and policy engagements.
z To produce a new generation of social researchers on inequality (postdocs and graduates).
z To shape incrementally a new discourse on inequality that effects change and influences key actors in government and civil society, and public discourse.
z Interdisciplinary
z Collaborative
z In, of and for the global South.
Strategic Objectives
BUILD
Internal research capacity
ADVANCE
The inequality research agenda
DEVELOP
Linkages across the global South FOSTER
A cohort of scholars from the global South
EFFECT
Real change through policy and advocacy
Results Monitoring
Following the mini-evaluation of SCIS’s impact in its first five years that was completed in 2022, the Centre has implemented a results-monitoring system, which encourages all staff to reflect on their individual and team contributions to the SCIS’s mission. Staff are required to record evidence in lists of their publications, policy engagements and influencing activities. These lists are compiled into brief Results Reports that are used for reflection and planning.
In 2023, results data for each project was collected internally using an online tool, providing evidence (how the SCIS is achieving its strategic objectives) that contributes towards the SCIS’s mission.
EVIDENCE
Regular interviews with international academic peers to assess SCIS reputation and reach.
Keeping records: of academic publications produced by SCIS staff and project associates, and of citations of SCIS research.
Keeping records of working papers produced by SCIS staff and associates, and the extent to which they are downloaded and used.
Numbers of graduates of the new MComm in Inequality studies and other postgraduates supervised by SCIS staff, and post-doc fellows at the SCIS.
Records of SCIS staff participation in policy engagements or policy-in uencing activities, which policy actors were reached, and changes that occur as a consequence of SCIS advice or in uence.
MISSION
To lead the international debate and analysis on causes of inequality and possible solutions.
To produce excellent interdisciplinary research in, of, and for the global South.
To disseminate the research, through publications and policy engagements.
To produce a new generation of social researchers on inequality (postdocs and graduates).
To shape incrementally a new discourse on inequality that effects change and in uences key actors in government and civil society, and public discourse.
PEOPLE Advisory Board
PROFESSOR SARAH MOSOETSA
Chief Executive Officer for the Human Sciences Research Council board Chairperson
PROFESSOR GECI KARURI-SEBINA
Associate Professor at Wits School of Governance
PROFESSOR KEITH BRECKENRIDGE
Acting Co-Director at Wits Institute For Social & Economic Research
PROFESSOR VOLKER SCHÖER
Assistant Dean (Research) of the CLM Faculty at Wits; Research Director of the School of Economics and Finance; and the Director of the African Micro-Economic Research Unit
MS. ZUBEIDA BAGUS
Finance and business Manager for the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management at Wits University
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR BHEKI MOYO
Director, Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), Wits University
PROFESSOR STEPHANIE MATSELENG ALLAIS
Professor of Education at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour at Wits University
PROFESSOR KATHY KAHN
Wits School of Public Health and Principal Scientist in the MRC/Wits Rural Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt)
PROFESSOR CATHI ALBERTYN
Professor of Law and the NRF SA Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice at the School of Law, Wits University
THE WORK OF THE SCIS IS GUIDED BY AN ADVISORY BOARD OF SENIOR ACADEMICS WITH A WIDE RANGE OF RESEARCH AND POLICY EXPERIENCE, FROM WITS UNIVERSITY AND BEYOND.
At weekly staff meetings, SCIS staff share their research activities, discuss any theoretical and methodological challenges that have arisen, and identify areas of training and development.
STAFFING2023
DIRECTOR Imraan Valodia
DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSOR Edward Webster
DEPUTY DIRECTOR David Francis
Public Economy Project
Researcher Thokozile Madonko
Wealth Inequality and Elites
Adjunct Professor Michael Sachs
Associate Researcher Comfort Mole nyana
StaffRetreat
Researcher Aroop Chatterjee
Technology and the Future of Work: Implications for inequality in the global South
Senior Researcher Ruth CastelBranco Senior Researcher Hannah Dawson
Senior Researcher Ujithra Ponniah
Associate Researcher Seipati Mokhema
Pre-distribution and Ownership in South Africa
Research Project Of cer Pauline Dhlamini
Climate Change and Inequality
Personal Assistant to the Director Nina Layton
HEAD OF OPERATIONS Stacey-Leigh Joseph
Finance Accountant Sky Konrad
A Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery
Administrative Of cer Nthabi Mofokeng
South African Borderlands Communities: Youths, Livelihoods and Inequalities
Researcher Arabo Ewinyu
Researcher Julia Taylor
Researcher Siviwe Mhlana
Senior Researcher Buntu Siwisa
Communications
Researcher Niall Reddy
Researcher Katrina Lehmann-Grube
On 27 and 28 July 2023, the annual staff retreat took place, with a focus on the following:
Senior Communications Of cer Kitso Kgaboesele
Communications Of cer Jabulane Mulambo
z To engage in a quinquennial (every five years) review, which Wits University requires all research centres to do. The process involved the SCIS completing a self-assessment of its work, its achievements to date and the focus areas for the next five years.
z To discuss the programmes and objectives for the next five years.
z To discuss collaboration between projects, building influence and ensuring that the SCIS is able to produce a definitive organisational output, such as its 2020 book Inequality Studies from the Global South
POSTGRADUATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
In 2023, SCIS continued to expand its postgraduate development programmes, with the aim of developing interdisciplinary researchers in inequality studies.
Internships programme
This programme offers students registered at Wits University an opportunity to contribute towards producing and disseminating research, supported by a coaching course designed to assist them develop skills. In 2023, the SCIS had five interns, who spent a full year each at the Centre.
MCom Inequality Studies (one-year programme)
Offered since 2023, this programme trains researchers and policy practitioners to understand inequality around the world, with a focus on the global South. The programme is offered in conjunction with the School of Economics and Finance (SEF). Following a rigorous and competitive selection process, the SCIS awarded two bursaries to full-time students. More information about the programme can be found here
PhD programme (three-year programme)
This programme supports Wits PhD students who are undertaking interdisciplinary research on inequality in the global South. In 2023, three fully funded PhD fellowships were offered.
Post-doctoral programme
SCIS hosts post-doctoral fellows from South Africa and around the world. Post-doctoral fellows spend between one to three years at SCIS, undertaking cutting-edge research, and participating in the intellectual life of SCIS. Meet our current post-doctoral fellows here.
IN 2023, SCIS CONTINUED TO EXPAND ITS POSTGRADUATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES, WITH THE AIM OF DEVELOPING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCHERS IN INEQUALITY STUDIES.
The work of the SCIS is founded on four pillars, whichfindexpression in its research projects
RESEARCH WORK
Wealth Inequality and Elites
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is funding a 22-month study on transnational elite communities and reproduction of inequalities, which is jointly researched by Dr Katie Higgins, Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and Dr Ujithra Ponniah, Senior Researcher at the SCIS. In January 2024, Asanda Mbhele joined the SCIS Wealth Inequality and Elites team as an associate researcher, to assist with the ESRC project.
IDENTIFYING
key areas where inequality shapes the structure of the economy and society
UNDERSTANDING
the production, reproduction and intersection of power relations and inequality, through a focus on the structure of the economy and society, and political, economic and cultural processes.
IMAGINING
an alternative configuration of power relations that generates affirmative state action, provides greater equality of access to relevant resources, and fundamentally alters the structure of power relations in society.
DEVELOPING
a research and policy agenda for the inclusive growth of productive forces.
This research’s overarching aim is to reveal how international business communities, through peer advisory groups, generate inequalities by securing privileges and forging alliances for their membership of economic elites. Interviews will be held with 75 business executives in Britain, India and South Africa who are members of peer advisory groups and 30 professionals who support the running of these groups.
The research objectives are:
z To advance the conceptual understanding of the role of international business communities in generating wealth and other key inequalities.
z To develop our understanding of how economic elites build international alliances to circulate ideas, people and capital.
z To compare key elite formations within the global North and South.
z To find ways of using the data from the project to advance strategies for civil society to challenge the reproduction of wealth inequalities and other key inequalities identified in the research.
This Bosch-funded project links elite studies and wealth distribution work to understand inequality because the way in which wealth is distributed both reflects and reinforces who holds power in society. In the global South, high inequality persists and is deepening, even in countries that have adopted progressive constitutions and policies. Although wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality, the focus tends to be on inequality of income and opportunities (through a labour-market lens). Yet ownership of assets, which is the common definition of wealth, provides benefits that range from security to the means of production. Therefore, to understand overall inequality requires understanding the extreme polarisation of asset ownership, as well as the intergenerational advantages and privileges of inherited wealth, which produce elite groups that have disproportionate control over resources.
The project has covered three countries, Brazil, India and South Africa and, to date, has released 10 working papers.
Public Economies Project
This project builds capacity for independent policy analysis and applied research on macrofiscal policy choices in South Africa. It seeks to form stronger connections with partners in African and middle-income democracies in the global South. The focus is on budget policy and fiscal institutions, as well as macro-fiscal choices and their consequences for social policy and distribution.
The project seeks to have the following impacts:
z Stronger public deliberation on fiscal choices that engage government, social partners and civil society with evidence and analysis of budget policy choices.
z Stronger analytical capabilities and applied research on macro-fiscal policy that is accessible, authoritative and progressive.
The Public Economy Project explores in particular the critical importance of the provision of public services, which is widely recognised as a cornerstone of social and economic development in any society.
Highlights
SCISWorkingPaper60: Austerity without consolidation: Fiscal policy and spending choicesinBudget2023.
This paper explores how the South African government’s budget is critical for building a common society and overcoming the segregation and inequality that thwarts growth and development. It finds that South Africa faces a cul-de-sac of permanent austerity without consolidation, resulting in chronic fiscal squeeze, failing public services and growing debt.
SCISWorkingPaper62:Financial directions and budget trends in governmenthealthcare.
Written in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Pillar 6 of the Presidential Health Compact team, this paper provides evidence and analysis that can assist those interested in taking forward the agenda of the Presidential Health Compact, which was launched in 2019. The Public Economy Project has been actively involved with other stakeholders, comprising government, health and allied professionals, labour, business community, statutory bodies, traditional health practitioners and public health entities. The paper examines the budgetary pressures faced by South African provincial healthcare departments and the different allocation of resources and levels of care across provinces. It provides a comprehensive review of the financial performance of the government healthcare system over the last decade.
The Future of Work(ers): Implications for inequality in the global South
This project is an interdisciplinary research group that conducts cutting-edge comparative research on the changing nature of work and its implications for inequality in the global South; promotes research collaborations among Southern scholars; and aims to influence policy agendas at national, regional and global levels through public engagement. The research group is focused on the following thematic areas: structural transformation, labour restructuring and employment; the labour process, skills formation and conditions of work; worker struggle and organisation; and the State’s regulatory and redistributive role. The programme has research partnerships with scholars across the global South, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya Mozambique and South Africa.
Highlights
NewFrontiers:DigitalLabour Platforms and Emerging Worker Struggles in the Global South
A themed issue in Work in the Global Economy
These articles represent the culmination of a first round of research funded by the IDRC, the Ford Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung that ended in 2023.
z The remaking of working classes: digital labour platforms and workers’ struggles in the Global South, by Ruth CastelBranco and Hannah J. Dawson.
z Unexceptional neoliberalism and the future of work: Constrained enterprise and worker subjectivities in the gig economy of India , by Gayatri Nair and Jennifer Divyadarshi.
z ‘Customer is king’: gig work in a small South African city and the varieties of digital control and workers’ responses, by Crispen Chinguno.
z The labour process and workers’ rights at Mercado Libre: Hiding exploitation through regulation in the digital economy, by Maurizio Atzeni.
z Varieties of platform unionism: A view from the global South on workers’ power in the digital economy, by Stefan Schmalz, Victoria Basualdo, Melisa Serrano, Kurt Vandaele and Edward Webster.
z The chimera of new forms of worker organisation: Why trade unions matter in rebuilding national and global labour movements, by Immanuel Ness.
z Building the car while driving it: Organising platform workers in the e-hailing sector in Kenya , by Ruth CastelBranco, Bill Mutoro and Edward Webster.
Launch of Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age by Prof. Edward Webster with Lynford Dor. Drawing on a selection of ethnographic studies of precarious work in Africa, this book discusses globalisation and digitalisation as
drivers for structural change and examines the implications for labour. It explores the role of digital technology in new business models and how it can be harnessed for counter mobilisation by the new worker.
Funding for a five-year research project on the political economy of work and skills in Eastern and Southern Africa . In collaboration with the Centre for Researching Education and Labour and the International Labour Organization, the SCIS will manage a regional network of researchers undertaking research towards a more inclusive and sustainable world of work in the context of a double transition towards decarbonisation and digitalisation. With support from the IDRC, the SCIS will be providing seed grants to six African research institutes and universities.
Pre-distribution and Ownership in South Africa
Policy discussions on solutions to inequality tend to focus on ex-post redistributive measures (for example tax policies) or on policies that create new opportunities (for example through investments in education). These solutions are often preferable because they do not interfere with market outcomes nor challenge distributions of wealth and power. Consequently, very little analysis has been done of how the production system (and the associated financial architecture) in developing countries is generating increasing levels of inequality, and how policies may be designed within production and finance to achieve more equitable outcomes. As such, the Predistribution and Ownership project aims to investigate how the production system can be reconfigured to generate outcomes that improve equity within society, prior to fiscal transfers to support vulnerable households and communities.
Highlights
Various working papers finalised and uploaded onto the SCIS website. In 2024, these papers will be compiled and published as a special issue.
TheInequality–FinancialMarkets
Nexus: Implications for developing metricsforvoluntarydisclosures.
This collaborative report with Krutham examines the relationship between economic inequality and systemic risks within financial markets. It contributes to the development of a disclosure framework that would be applicable across different regions, and market or investment structures.
WrittenSubmissiononthe
Companies Amendment Act, supporting amendments related to specific disclosures around executive pay. The issue of executive compensation has received increased scrutiny as executives earn large and rising wages, while workers at the lower end see their wages contract in real terms.
A Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery
Three years into the recovery, the SCIS hosted the Post-Covid Economic Recovery Learning Series in collaboration with the grantees and partners of the Ford Foundation Plus Fund Initiative for Economic Recovery. The learning series offered an ideal opportunity for social movements, civil society organisations, policymakers and experts from the global South to learn and share knowledge about the key learnings, challenges and strategies for achieving an inclusive and sustainable recovery.
The overarching objectives of the learning series were the following:
z To influence the international development policy discourse based on the experiences of economies and countries in the global South.
z To dismantle narratives that historically have deprived communities of the necessary resources for addressing the multiple social and economic challenges that they face.
The learning series, which was held online between April and June 2023, sought to answer the following questions.
z How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the social and economic landscape of countries in the global South (e.g. economic growth, public finance, poverty and inequality, gender equality and employment)?
z What are the key learnings from activities of the Plus Fund so far?
z What are the gaps between what is being discussed at the international level and the reality of what communities are experiencing on the ground?
z What policies are required to protect livelihoods and build resilient economies in a post-Covid-19 economic recovery?
z What are the promising strategies for influencing local, regional and international policy discussions towards an inclusive and sustainable economy for all?
Highlights
20 April: Learning session on “Dismantling power asymmetries in the global financial infrastructure: Pathways towards a democratic and economically just recovery”. Presenters: Dr Gilad Isaacs (IEJ), Dr Rogerio Studart (CEBRI), Ms Ghada Abdel Tawab (Ford Foundation), Ms Siviwe Mhlana (SCIS)
25 May: Learning session on “Towards a gender just and caring economy”. Presenters: Prof Daniela Casale (Wits University), Ms Patricia Chaves (Feminist Land Platform), Ms Amina Amharech (Feminist Land Platform), Ms Clara Merino (National Movement of Women of Popular Sectors Luna Creciente), Ms Megha Desai (SEWA), Dr David Francis (SCIS)
22 June: Learning session on “Green transition for whom? Strategies for achieving climateresilient economies in the global South”. Presenters: Dr Sonia Dias (WIEGO), Ms Lydie Kouame (World Food Programme), Ms Siviwe Mhlana (SCIS)
The recordings of the learning series can be accessed here
Working paper: Mhlana, S., Moussié, R., Roever, S. and Rogan, M. Informal employment: what is missing from national economic recovery plans? UNU-WIDER Working Paper 2023/92.
Climate Change and Inequality
This research project explores the intersections between inequality and climate change in the global South. It conceptualises inequality broadly, to include economic, gender, race, ethnicity and geographic inequalities. These intersections play out along three main axes:
z The responsibility for causing climate change is not shared by all humans, as countries in the global North and wealthy people have much higher carbon emissions per capita than the global average.
z Inequalities in the impacts of climate change, which are disproportionately experienced by people in the global South.
z Inequality in access to resources to address climate change for many countries in the global South, but particularly for lower income groups.
The project aims to generate research and evidence for climate and social policy that supports climate justice and a transformative just transition.
Within this project, the four overarching research questions are:
z Is the just transition (discourse and practice) in the global South, as it is currently unfolding, exacerbating or reducing inequality?
z How can a gendered approach to just transition help reduce inequality through the concepts of care and social reproduction?
z What kinds of macroeconomic policy can support structural transformation, redistribution and decarbonisation in global South countries?
z How can South-South solidarities inform energy and climate policy?
In 2023, the Climate Change and Inequality team continued working on several projects from 2022 and began some new projects.
z Macro-fiscal impacts of transition. This project explores the macroeconomic implications of climate change and the just transition, including impacts on municipalities and structural transformation more broadly.
z Towards a just climate financing regime for the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP). Commissioned by COSATU, this project briefly reviews the JET IP, to understand its implications for workers, proposes an alternative set of principles and approaches to financing the just transition, and advocates for social ownership within the just transition.
z Just transition consortium for research on employment and work. Led by the SCIS, this consortium includes Wits University and Rhodes University. Using a holistic approach to understand the labour market changes in the just transition, the project examines the changing size, structure and income dynamics in the labour market, supports the development of an appropriate skills strategy, and advances proposals for the adequate provision of social protections. This project is commissioned by the Presidential Climate Commission.
z Care−climate nexus. This project aims to develop the conceptual understanding of the care–climate nexus by bringing together a group of leading feminist economists and climate experts working at this intersection, and producing several think pieces and seminars on the topic.
z Social ownership and inequality. This project examines how models of social ownership in the economy can be used to address both wealth and income inequality in post-apartheid South Africa in the context of a transition to a low-carbon economy.
z Gender in the just energy transition in South Africa. This project will develop a comprehensive analysis of gender dynamics in the low-carbon transition in South Africa, including gendered impacts of transition and opportunities in new green sectors.
z Industrial policy for a just transition in Africa. This project explores the implications of climate change, decarbonisation and the just transition on critical mineral extraction and industrialisation in South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It will produce policy recommendations, a learning network, and country-specific reviews.
Highlights
Publication of the project’s first working paper, Renewable energy, the just transition and inequality: insights from South Africa’s renewables procurement by Aalia Cassim, Julia Taylor, Roderick Crompton and Imraan Valodia.
Presentation of the gender and just transition research at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) Annual Conference in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and the International Association for Feminist Economics Annual Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The paper, “Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South” (in press) proposes a set of principles for a gender just transition, based on empirical literature from the global South and theoretical contributions by feminist scholars.
Justanenergytransition?
A gendered analysis of energy transition in Northern Cape, SouthAfrica.
Publication of Julia Taylor’s research in Agenda: a Journal About Women and Gender.
Webinar on renewable energy, the just transition and inequality. Co-hosted with the African Climate Foundation and The Conversation, this webinar took place on 30 October 2023. Speakers included Prof. Rod Crompton, Prof. Imraan Valodia and Julia Taylor, while respondents included Steve Nicholls, Head of Mitigation at the Presidential Climate Commission, and Tracy Ledger, Head of the Energy Transition Programme at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI). See related articles Insights from SA’s renewables procurement and Past mistakes might hold the answer to South Africa’s successful transition to renewable energy.
Attendance at COP28 in Dubai, including hosting two events and writing two articles in the Daily Maverick to improve awareness of the COP process:
z A panel discussion on The JET P, JET IP and Implementation Plan in South Africa: Implications for inequality and workers, hosted by the SCIS and COSATU at the South Africa Pavilion.
z A panel discussion on The Role of Universities at COP and Implications for Evidence-based Policymaking and Climate Justice, hosted by Professor Imraan Valodia, Pro ViceChancellor for Climate, Sustainability and Inequality and Director of the SCIS.
z COP28 and South Africa –key debates and expectations
z More COP input needed from Global South universities to draw attention to region’s needs
Intersectionality Project
This project’s objective is to understand, inform and promote intersectional approaches to development research across the IDRC’s different programme initiatives. Intersectionality is central to the study of inequality, identity and power relations, and refers to the interlocking of forms of discrimination and oppression that compound social differences. Despite growing calls to embrace an intersectional approach to understanding and addressing systems of power and inequality, the concept still lacks specificity, which makes it difficult to operationalise in research. Few documented best practices exist for an intersectional approach in the research process, including how the research is carried out (i.e., questions of research design, method and data analysis) and what happens to the research afterwards (i.e., dissemination, engagement and policy application).
Highlights
The following was achieved through collaborative partnerships with researchers based in the global South.
Six learning roundtables hosted by the SCIS with organisations and researchers from the global South.
The publication of eight case studies, which document the diverse application of an intersectional research approach.
Innovationsin2023
Brown Bag
The Brown Bag consists of work-in-progress presentations and a reading group. The workin-progress presentations offer colleagues a safe space to share their thinking and research. Colleagues are encouraged to provide something in writing a week before
the presentation. So far, colleagues and associates have shared their PhD research proposal, Master’s thesis, research under review, and research before submission to a journal.
The reading group is organised around themes that run for around three months, allowing participants to delve deeper into specific topics. Themes are decided through input from SCIS colleagues. The first series of discussions focused on the crisis of neoliberalism and the changing world order, while the second series looked at racial capitalism. Between the theme sessions, one-off discussions take place, with the last one in 2023 being on sanctions and their efficacy. Discussions are informal and begin with someone volunteering to give a short introduction, which is followed by an open and free-flowing conversation. So far, the reading group has been a useful tool in helping SCIS members to broaden their intellectual horizons, encouraging debate and building an intellectual community at the Centre.
Complexity Global School
In December 2023, the Santa Fe Institute partnered with Wits University and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay to deliver the Complexity Global School, which is held jointly in South Africa and India. In South Africa, the two-week intensive summer school took place at the Wits Rural Campus and brought together 30 scholars, policymakers, and activists from 15 countries across Africa. The summer school was comprised of lectures by complexity science experts from around the world, collective problem solving and group work, with the intention of applying complexity science to emerging political economy problems around the world. The summer school comes out of a broader collaboration between Wits, IIT Bombay, the Santa Fe Institute and a dozen top universities around the world, as part of the EPEN.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH
To achieve the proposed impact and influence, the SCIS seeks to increase its profile and position its researchers and research associates as thought leaders and experts in the inequality space through frequent outputs and communication across various media channels.
SCIS website
The website continues to be the primary means for sharing SCIS work and outputs. The number of website subscriber sign-ups continues to increase and there were no unsubscribers in 2023. SCIS researchers also upload their publications, in particular working papers, to WIReDSpace which is the university publications repository, while papers also appear on Google Scholar.
Op-eds
SCIS researchers, across different projects, had numerous op-eds in:
z The Conversation
z Econ3X3: Riding to survive and Trade unions and the new economy
z Business Day
z Daily Maverick
z Mail & Guardian
Of note is the op-ed by an intern, Nozipho Marere, that was published in the Mail & Guardian.
Interviews
Several researchers had a number of radio and TV interviews during which they communicated new findings and methodology from their research.
Newsletter
The SCIS newsletter, which currently goes out bi-monthly (every two months), reaches approximately 500 people. The newsletter has become an important tool for sharing more in-depth news about the Centre. This year, some of the SCIS’s important events were posted in the Emerging Political Economy Network quarterly newsletter, which is managed by the Sante Fe Institute.
THE SCIS AIMS TO ENGAGE IN AND PRODUCE RESEARCH THAT HAS AN IMPACT ON SOCIETY. TO ACHIEVE THIS, THE SCIS HAS A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY THAT ENGAGES WITH ITS AUDIENCE, WHICH COMPRISES ACADEMICS/RESEARCHERS, POLICYMAKERS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE PUBLIC.
THERE ARE MORE LINKS TO OPINION PIECES OUR RESEARCHERS HAVE WRITTEN ON OUR WEBSITE: www.wits.ac.za/scis/newsand-opinion-pieces/
Social Media / #Working Paper Wednesday
SCIS Comms initiated the #Working Paper Wednesday campaign to launch working papers by the Future of Work(ers) research project. It has since become a hashtag and general campaign name for sharing all SCIS working papers on social media platforms, as well as other SCIS outputs, on Wednesdays. The SCIS social media platforms remain the primary source of sharing content immediately, which also directs traffic back to the website.
Podcasts
Four SCIS researchers, Fikile Masikane, Eddie Webster, Ruth Castel-Branco and Katrina Lehman-Grubbe, were invited to participate in podcasts in 2023.
Collaboration and partnership
Project collaborators and partnerships are important for the Centre’s work to have wider reach, which could result in greater impact. The SCIS once again collaborated with The Conversation Africa for its 2023 Annual Inequality Lecture. In the lead up to the launch of Professor Edward Webster book: Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Digital Age, SCIS Comms and Econ3X3, worked on a strategic prelaunch campaign that saw Fikile Masikane and Professor Webster publish two teaser op-eds as part of a build-up campaign.
REFA festival
Through this festival, the SCIS is able to engage with strategic student organisations or bodies to build a pipeline of new researchers. It was also an opportunity to market the SCIS broadly and the MCom programme to prospective students and
visitors, as well as to promote Prof. Edward Webster’s book Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Digital Age. At the SCIS stand, SCIS researchers were on hand to answer any questions about the work of the SCIS and other SCIS-related enquiries, while Wits University Press provided more information about Prof. Webster’s recently published book.
SCIS Events
Post-Covid, the SCIS has increased the number of its hybrid and in-person events, which are either closed or open. The closed events are non-public-facing (e.g., a Brown Bag session for SCIS researchers), whereas open events are open to fellow researchers, academics, policy makers, civil society and members of the public.
Post-Covid Economic Recovery Learning Series webinars
For the first time, the SCIS hosted these webinars in three languages (English, French and Spanish). This is in line with the SCIS’s objectives of leading the global South debate on causes of, and approaches to, inequality and producing and disseminating interdisciplinary research in, of and for the global South.
Wealth Inequality and Elites project’s two-day international workshop
The team hosted this workshop at which they shared the methodology and findings from a two-year collaborative project with researchers from India and Brazil. Although day one was a closed event with no media allowed, the team extended a media invitation, through a dissemination partnership to the Alternative Information and Development Centre.
Book launches
The SCIS hosted the launch of Prof. Edward Webster’s book, Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Digital Age. The book launch attracted an audience of over 110 people who were accommodated in both the Annex lecture theatre and the adjacent teaching room that served as an overlay area, and a link was made available for people to connect online. The launch event was preceded by a workshop, which was attended by 90 people.
The launch of Associate Professor in the Economics Department of The New School for Social Research Clara Mattei’s book, The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism. The launch took the form of a dialogue between the author and scholars and activists from South Africa. The discussions reflected on the usefulness of the austerity concept in the South African context. Following the event, the Public Economy Project published an article for Amandla Magazine entitled Austerity budgeting is doomed to continual failure and suffering
The launch of Senior Researcher, Buntu Siwisa’s novel Paperless, which was cohosted with his publisher, Jacana, and moderated by well-known literary journalist, Ms Karabo Kgoleng. The oversubscribed session was the last in-person event of 2023.
SCISAnnualInequalityLecture–19September2023
Professor Branko Milanovic delivered a lecture entitled “Recent changes in the global income distribution and their political implications”, which discussed the evolution in global inequality over the past two centuries, with a focus on the most recent 2008–2018 estimates, and drew political implications of the important changes that
are taking place in the global distribution of income. In particular, he focused on the rise of the middle class in Asia, income stagnation of the middle classes in rich countries, reshuffling of global income positions, and the emergence of the global plutocracy. He discussed the possible evolution of global inequality in which the roles of India and large African countries would become increasingly important. Milanovic is a Research Professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), Senior Scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality at CUNY and Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Inequalities at the London School of Economics. His main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, including in pre-industrial societies.
The lecture was one of the most popular lectures hosted by the SCIS in 2023, with more than 250 people attending online and SCIS colleagues attending in person. The Conversation Africa was the Centre’s media partner for the event and resulted in opeds published by Professor Imraan Valodia and Professor Branko Milanovic. Annual Lecture Recording: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ubxIG37O9QQ
SCIS Research Associates
SCIS currently has a network of research associates who fall into one of four categories: academics based at a university abroad; academics based at local universities other than Wits; academics based at Wits; and independent researchers and policy experts who are not university-based, but may work in other institutions such as NGOs. Research associates are appointed for a specific period by invitation from the SCIS or by application to the Director.
z Benefits for SCIS: Research associates raise the Centre’s profile and enhance its reputation; collaborate in research projects, public engagements and other activities; contribute to publication output; highlight opportunities, and generally expand and strengthen the Centre’s intellectual reach and vibrancy.
z Benefits for research associates: Being associated with a vibrant research institute with an emerging local and international reputation; participating in a collegial environment; and collaborating in research projects, international research networks and other activities.
Visiting Researchers
In addition to its network of research associates, from time to time, SCIS appoints visiting researchers who work on projects within the SCIS, usually on a contractual basis. They are more closely integrated in the daily life of the SCIS than the Research Associates, and their appointments are made in line with the University policy on visiting researchers. The latest list of Visiting Researchers can be found here. In 2023, the following were Visiting Researchers at SCIS:
z Associate Professor Sarah Cook
z Dr Alex Mashilo
z Dr Philipp Krause
z Dr Adam Aboobaker
z Dr Melissa Tandiwe Myambo
z Dr Stuart Theobald
z Ms Rahma Leuner
z Dr Aalia Cassim
z Mr Rashaad Amra
z Dr Laura Roussouw
z Mr Gabriel Davel
z Dr Rod Crompton
z Mr Yongama Njisane
z Ms Sha’ista Goga
z Ms Janine Rauch
Cameron Schrier Equality Fellowship Programme
Introduced in 2020/21, the Cameron Schrier Equality Fellowship targets experienced civil society activists, senior government officials and business leaders from across the global South. The Fellowship’s goal is to develop and advance links between academia, activism, and policymaking across the global South, deepening new areas of research and writing on inequality in order to explore the links between theory and practice. The Fellowship is funded by a grant from the Cameron Schrier Foundation.
Cameron Schrier Equality Fellows receive resources, space and time to reflect on their work, to engage with the broader SCIS academic community, and to produce a specific research output related to their area of focus. Thereafter, the intention is that the Cameron Schrier Equality Fellows return to the front lines of activist work.
Fellows spend between four to six months in residence and have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the intellectual life of the SCIS and the University of the Witwatersrand. Following a rigorous and competitive selection process, two Cameron Schrier Equality Fellows were selected for 2023/24: Dr Dev Nathan and Ufrieda Ho. Their biographies can be found here. The next intake for the fellowship is scheduled for July 2024.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
z Provides an institution-building BUILD Grant to support the establishment of SCIS, 2021−2024
z Provides support for the involvement of SCIS in the Emerging Political Economies Network as part of a BUILD Grant from 2022–2027.
Supports projects on alternative forms of ownership, and technology and the future of work.
Supports projects on the future of work and inequality in the global South.
Supports the establishment of a programme for fiscal analysis in South Africa.
Supports the development of a research programme that looks at addressing inequality in production and ownership.
Supports work on the intersections of the climate crises and inequality.
Supports a study on transnational elite communities and reproduction of inequalities.
THE SCIS IS GRATEFUL TO ITS LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL DONORS FOR PROVIDING FUNDING SUPPORT THAT ENABLES IT TO CONTINUE PRODUCING IMPACTFUL, INTERSECTIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH.
The Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management Contributes to salaries of key staff members and to running costs.
IN 2023, THE SCIS HAD A VERY SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN TERMS OF RESEARCH OUTPUTS. THIS IS A LIST OF ACCREDITED RESEARCH OUTPUT. FOR MEDIA AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS, PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITE
www.wits.ac.za/scis/ publications/
ANNEXURE A: Research Outputs 2023
JournalArticles
www.wits.ac.za/scis/publications/journal-articles
Webster E. and Carmen L. 2023. Contesting digital technology through new forms of transnational activism, Global Labour Journal 14(1): 56–71. 10.15173/glj.v14i1.5022
Dawson H. 2023. Faking it or making it: The politics of consumption and the precariousness of Black mobility in South Africa, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 29: 145–162. 10.1111/1467-9655.13867
Dawson H. 2023. Father-child (dis)connections: expectations and practices of young un(der)employed fathers in Johannesburg, Men and Masculinities 26(2): 270–287. 10.1177/1097184X231153170
Taylor J. 2023. Just an energy transition? A gendered analysis of energy transition in Northern Cape, South Africa, Agenda: A Journal About Women and Gender 37(3): 76–89. 10.1080/10130950.2023.2240855
Mhlana S. 2023. Precarious work and the gendered individualisation of risk in the South African manufacturing sector, 2002–2017, Global Labour Journal 14(2): 165–184. 10.15173/GLJ.V14I2.5098
Cottle E. 2023. Economic long waves and long waves of strikes in South Africa (1886–2022), South African Review of Sociology 53(3): 274–296. 10.1080/21528586.2023.2276922
Castel-Branco R. 2023. Women, work, and the digital economy, Gender and Development 30(3): 421–435. 10.1080/13552074.2022.2151729
Castel-Branco R. and Webster E. 2023. Building the car while driving it: organising platform workers in the e-hailing sector in Kenya, Theory into Practice 3(2): 243–257. 10.1332/27324176Y2023D000000007
Castel-Branco R. and Dawson H. 2023. The remaking of working classes: digital labour platforms and workers’ struggles in the global South, Global Economy Journal, 1: 109–115. 10.1332/27324176Y2023D000000008
Sachs M., Ewinyu A. and Shedi O. 2023. The government wage bill: Employment and compensation trends in South Africa, Development South Africa, 10.1080/0376835X.2023.2249016
Reddy N. 2023. Liberalization, democratization and the remaking of the South African corporate network 1993–2020, Socio-Economic Review 21(1): 213−242. 10.1093/ser/mwac049
Books
www.wits.ac.za/scis/publications/books-and-book-chapters/
Webster E., Dor L., Forrest K., Masikane F. and Ludwig C. 2023. Recasting Workers’ Power, Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age (1st edition). Bristol: Bristol University Press.
Nongogo P., Siwisa B., Snyders H. and Twala M. 2023. Umbhoxo: Making Rugby an Afrikan Game (1st edition). Cape Town: Ukufezwa Kweminqweno.
Book Chapters
www.wits.ac.za/scis/publications/books-and-book-chapters/
Valodia I. and Ewinyu A. 2023. Chapter 20: The economics of discrimination and affirmative action in South Africa. In Deshpande A. (ed.) Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action, pp. 481–498. Singapore: Springer. 978-981-19-4165-8.
Webster E. 2023. Chapter 14: Going global, building local: A southern perspective on the future of labour internationalism. In Tshoaedi M., Bischoff C. and Bezuidenhout A. (eds.). Labour Disrupted: Reflections on the future of work in South Africa, pp. 270–287. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 978-1-77614-822-6
Forrest K. and Webster E. 2023. Chapter 2: Precarious work after Apartheid: Experimenting with alternative forms of representation in the informal sector. In Dor L. and Webster E. (eds.). Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age, pp. 30–54. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 978-1529218794
Ludwig C. and Webster E. 2023. Chapter 6: Crossing the divide: Informal workers and trade unions. In Dor L. and Webster E. (eds.). Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age, pp. 125–143). Bristol: Bristol University Press. 978-1529218794
Ludwig C. and Webster E. 2023. Chapter 7: Global capital, global labour: The possibilities of transnational activism. In Dor L. and Webster E. (eds.). Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age, pp. 144–157). Bristol: Bristol University Press. 978-1529218794
Ewinyu A. 2023. Chapter 15: Reflecting on my experiences of gender inequality in Kenya and South Africa. In Jha P, Hunt O.B., Mercader S., Machado-Guichon M.L. and OlafChristriansen C. (eds.). Talking About Global Inequality: Personal Experiences and Historical Perspectives, pp. 123–128. Cham : Springer. 978-3-031-08041-8
Mashilo A. 2023. Chapter 7: The challenges of economic and social development in South Africa: Left perspective. In Balfour R.J. (eds.). Mzala Nxumalo, Leftist Thought and Contemporary South Africa, pp. 177–216. Johannesburg: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. 978-1-4314-3399-5
Ponniah U. 2023. Chapter 25: The Agarwal Banias of Delhi. In The (Oxford) Handbook of Caste, pp. 388–398. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 9780198896715
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