Motlanthe panel fails to respond to real people's concerns
Failure to tackle lack of policy leaves scores of children excluded
The report of a high-level panel has resolved that while "the direction and the substance of policy and legislation" in SA is to be lauded, there are "fundamental concerns about the implementation and enforcement of existing laws". It concludes: "while good laws have been made, failed implementation has resulted in poor outcomes". National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete had tasked the panel, led by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, with reviewing the effectiveness of laws passed by Parliament since 1994. The report’s contents and recommendations are simultaneously spectacularly broad (encouraging the acceleration of economic growth and reduction of inequality) and remarkably specific (recommending the decriminalisation of sex work and strengthening the legal protection against hate speech). In its apparent attempt to say something about everything, it risks saying nothing substantial about anything at all. Digging deep, however, a diligent reader will find much that is worth to con...
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