Chris Patterson
Chris Patterson is a researcher at the Institute of Race Relations. He enjoys a good political thriller, photography, and is starting to turn against AI, before it turns against him.
Articles By This Author
No jobs: The dashed dreams resulting from a stalled economy
Watching a Bloomberg documentary on the Stilfontein mining disaster, I came to the realisation that these zama-zamas know full well the illegality of their actions, but to them the difference between legal and illegal work is immaterial. They work to put food on the table, put their children through school and care for their ageing mothers.
NHI is an arrogant government in action
The NHI is a system that risks infecting – like a virus – the entire healthcare system to the public inefficiencies, corruption, waste and mismanagement extremely prevalent in the public healthcare system.
The road to a failing state is paved with fake transformation
South Africa is a place not of grievance, but of opportunity. I’ve been reading Tony Leon’s Hope & Fear: Reflections of a Democrat and though
Freedom from poverty: the cost of fake transformation
Twenty-seven years after the passage of the Employment Equity Act, and twenty-three years after the passage of that millstone around neck of South Africa’s economy,
#RightToOwn: ensuring a prosperous future
Countless opinion pieces, briefing memos, and explainers have been drafted on the Expropriation Act since its assent on 20 December 2024, even despite the assent
Breaching the line: beyond racial empowerment
Over the past month, something has started to shift in South Africa. More and more people are questioning whether race-based policies like Black Economic Empowerment
Municipalities, do your duty
Budget 2025, with the drama surrounding it, is all the rage these days. With the Government of National Unity on the ropes, let’s keep talking
Read the Budget: it’s your money
“South Africa could come to a standstill,” I wrote in August last year, after the Appropriation Bill was passed by Parliament. Not until days before
A BIG mess: Social Grants and Public Employment
There is one thing the ANC has been consistent about over the years: their commitment to ensuring that millions of South Africans stay reliant on
South Africa’s Youth: A #WhatSACanBe opportunity
Congratulations to the matric class of 2024. Theirs is an achievement many South African children only hope to attain, but even for these matriculants, what