Against the Tide by Steven Friedman

If we want more evidence that the media do not care about most of the country, they have ignored a court judgment last week which instructs the government to increase the Social Relief of Distress grant introduced during Covid and to change its rules to make it easier for people to claim. The ruling directly affects up to half the country. But, since the people affected live with poverty and are not on platforms like these, the media and politicians have no interest in them.

This is the argument of my weekly Against the Tide column sent out to subscribers this morning. To subscribe, please visit the Against the Tide website. To discuss a free or reduced subscription, contact info@againstthetide.co.za.

Steven Friedman is a public commentator and an academic, currently employed as a Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has been writing on South African politics for the entire democratic period both as a scholar and public commentator. He has published books on South Africa’s transition to democracy, the role of the trade union movement, and current South African politics. He has also written columns and articles for several South African newspapers. His writing seeks to use academic research to shed light on current politics but to ensure that this is conveyed in a way easily understood by people who have no academic training.