UCT News Features Economics of Tobacco Control Project's New Grant

18 August 2017 | SALDRU

Professor Corné van Walbeek is part of a multinational team of researchers, led by the University of Stirling in the UK. The consortium has been awarded £3.4 million from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Research Councils UK Collective Fund to reduce tobacco-related harm in Africa and Asia.

With almost 80% of the world’s one billion smokers living in low- and middle-income countries, the aim is to decrease smoking rates and curb tobacco-related harm in these regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about seven million people die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases annually.

Global epidemiological studies show that smokers have a 50% chance of dying prematurely. “Half of those who die prematurely die before 69,” said Van Walbeek.

“Epidemiologists estimate that, on average, if you die of a smoking-related disease you’re dying 10 to 12 years earlier than you would have.”

Read the article, Targeting tobacco harm in Africa and Asia, on the University of Cape Town's news website.

The Economics of Tobacco Control Project is housed at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU).

In the Press: Poverty & Inequality Initiative Highlihgts Enduring Trauma of Apartheid 

25 July 2017 | SALDRU

The wounds of apartheid-era violence and doctrinarism still cut deep into the consciousness of its victims 23 years after its demise. Recently UCT’s Poverty and Inequality Initiative highlighted three aspects of apartheid’s enduring legacy in the print media: the impact of the Group Areas Act on arts and culture, the on-going trauma of those who lost family members to police brutality and the as yet unresolved question of spatial justice.

Three articles, Cinema Cuts through the Divides of Apartheid, Family Still Dealing with Trojan Horse Shooting Pain and On Closing the Gap of Spatial Inequality, written by SALDRU associate professor, Pippa Green, were published by the Business Day between April and July.

SALDRU’s director, Murray Leibbrandt, is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of UCT’s Poverty and Inequality Initiative.

Saluting SALDRU’s Rock Drill Operator as We Make Way for a New Logo

18 August 2017 | SALDRU

SALDRU is currently engaged in a rebranding exercise. Part of this involves designing a new logo for the organization. But before we move forward, we’d like to acknowledge the valuable role played by our current logo represented by a rock drill operator from the mining sector. Our logo captures the spirit of labour and wage struggles in 1975 when SALDRU was launched.

SALDRU’s Communications and Knowledge Manager, Fazila Farouk, caught up with  founding director, Prof. Francis Wilson who explained how SALDRU’s logo was conceptualized and designed. Their conversation is captured in a podcast.

It’s auspicious that this podcast is being released in a week that commemorates the 5th anniversary of the Marikana Massacre. Listen to the podcast to hear Francis make the connection between SALDRU’s logo and Marikana. Listen to The Story of SALDRU's Logo on Soundcloud.

Francis’ early research was the inspiration behind SALDRU's logo. His PhD examined the inequality of wages in the mining sector where the average white wage was 11 times the average black wage between 1911 and 1939. It widened steadily after that and by 1971, it was 21 times higher. Francis explained all this in his PhD, which was later published in a book that was first released in 1971: ‘Labour in the South African Gold Mines 1911-1969’ by Francis Wilson.

SALDRU’s Senior Researcher Wins International Research Prize

26 July 2017 | SALDRU

SALDRU’s Senior Researcher, Brendan Maughan-Brown, won the prestigious Women, Girls and HIV Investigator’s Prize this week. Brendan jetted off to Paris to receive the prize at a ceremony on 25 July at the 9th International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science.

The prize, valued at $2,000, was awarded to Brendan for his abstract, “HIV and HSV-2 risk among young women in age-disparate partnerships: evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa”. 

The purpose of the prize is to encourage research in low- or middle-income countries that can benefit women and girls affected by HIV and AIDS. The prize money is offered by IAS and UNAIDS, and supported by the International Centre for Research on Women and the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS.

SALDRU Hosts Regular Seminars Covering Important topical Issues

Wednesdays, 13h00, School of Economics

SALDRU researchers, associates, affiliates and visiting scholars offer insightful seminars based on research on a large number of topics related to important socio-economic issues. SALDRU strives to provide rigorous data that is policy relevant. This is evident in the issues presented at our seminars.

Our recent seminars covered topics such as, “Can the media be used to make academic research more accessible?” by Pippa Green, “The Value of Reference Letters” by Patrizio Piraino, “Creating and perpetuating inequality: The institutional work of exploitation” by Ralph Hamman, "Returns to education, marital sorting and family background in South Africa by Peng Zhang" and "The effect and acceptability of conditional economic incentives for antiretroviral therapy initiation in HIV-positive adults in Cape Town, South Africa: A pilot randomized controlled trial" by Brendan Maughan-Brown.

Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 13h00 in the 4th Floor Seminar Room at the School of Economics Building on Middle Campus at the University of Cape Town.

For information about SALDRU's upcoming seminars, watch this space. You may also wish to join SADLRU's seminar mailing list, by contacting Amy Jephthah at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NIDS Panel Data Course: An introduction to analysing waves 1-4 using Stata

05 July 2017 | SALDRU

This five-day training course runs from 31 July to 4 August 2017

The course is designed for people who are interested in using the NIDS panel data but have not yet done so. Participants should have honours-level Econometrics, and prior experience using STATA to analyze cross-sectional household survey data. However, experience working with panel data is not necessary.

It is essential that participants have basic STATA skills and have used microdata in the past. For anyone transitioning from another package (e.g. SPSS, R or SAS) or in need of a quick refresher, SALDRU has an online introduction to STATA course.

Online application is open. Click here for more information or download the flyer.