poverty

A call for solidarity with the poor was delivered to a gathering of religious and political and civil society leaders from all over the world by one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The meeting on the topic “Bound to Live Together: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” is taking place from 11-13 September in Munich, Germany.

Written by Kudzai Taruona

The proposal by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu to introduce a wealth tax for the super-rich is not at all a bad idea as it is an attempt to make them share their wealth with the poor, thus reduce the widening gap between the rich and poor in the South African society.

This was said Prof Geoff Harris, economics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal at a breakfast briefing organised by the Diakonia Council of Churches, on 25 August, as part of the activities of the biannual Social Justice Season.

Did you know that the Bible says more about economic justice than it does about prayer? Come to think about it, so does Jesus. Prayer is central to the Christian life, but nowhere does Jesus say that we will not enter the kingdom of God if we don’t pray. He does say that it is almost impossible for rich people to do so. In saying this, Jesus was simply repeating one of the basic themes of the Old Testament prophets. It is there that we learn that money is the root of all evil, and it is Jesus who says that we cannot serve God and money.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Thursday had harsh words for South Africa’s white population, as well as for Cabinet ministers who he said should lose their expensive cars as a gesture to show the poor that they cared.

“Our white fellow citizens have to accept the obvious: You all benefitted from apartheid. But that does not mean that all are responsible for apartheid.

Victory for Abahlali baseMjondolo - Defeat of our detractors!

We celebrate the victory that the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has won in court today where ALL of the 'Kennedy 12' have finally been acquitted of ALL charges against them.

Seventeen years into our democracy, South Africa continues to fail the most vulnerable of its citizens - its children.

A disturbing report released yesterday by the UN Children's Fund and the SA Human Rights Commission said that 64%, or 11.9million, of our 18.6million children live in poverty, 1.4million rely on rivers or streams as their main source of water, and 1.5million have no toilet in their home.

Written by Oscar Siwali

When President Jacob Zuma recently expressed the belief that popular uprising of the kind that has been seen in Tunisia is "impossible" in South Africa, he made a strong argument: "We have a constitutional democracy here; every person has the right to say what he wants and to vote."

As 2010 draws to a close our growing inequality, deepening political intolerance, widespread contempt for the poor, awful propensity to violence against our women and children, our greedy exploitation of other people's poverty and joblessness, and our rape of the resources of the world that we share, are all an affront to God.

All these remain markers of the presence of death against which we commit ourselves to fight.

The cost of faith is high in worldly terms, but the reward is unfathomably rich - it is life.

A South African public service organisation has come up with a novel festive season gift concept that will have a lasting effect on the country’s less fortunate children and animals.

The idea is being rolled out through the online Gifts4Good campaign, which offers internet shoppers a range of alternative gifts that support local poverty-busting projects.

Over 100 million Christians are expected to take part in a day of prayer and action on behalf of the world’s poor today.

As part of Micah Challenge’s 10.10.10 day, Christians are being invited to make a promise to live in a way that remembers the world’s poor.

Some of the promises made by Christians so far include wasting less, shopping ethically, campaigning, giving more time and money, praying and reducing carbon footprints.