The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was engaged in welfare, medical and  self-help programmes. Steve Biko, as one of the founders of the BCM, was heavily  involved in the running of Black Community Programmes (BCP), which he joined in  August 1972 after quitting his medical studies at the University of Natal. He described  the rationale (purpose) behind the organisation as: 
‘Essentially to answer [the] problem that the Black man is a defeated being who  finds it very difficult to lift himself up by his bootstrings. He is alienated. He is made  to live all the time concerned with matters of existence, concerned with tomorrow.  Now, we felt that we must attempt to defeat and break this kind of attitude and instil once more a sense of dignity within the Black man. So what we did was to design  various types of programs, present these to the Black community with an obvious  illustration that these are done by the Black people for the sole purpose of uplifting  the Black community. We believed that we teach people by example.’ 

[From: Steve Biko In No One To Blame? In Pursuit Of Justice In South Africa by G. Bizos]

I once went to Mr. J.T. Kruger and begged him to lift the restrictions on Steve and to  speak to him. The result of that visit was an increase in Steve’s restrictions and a  state prosecution against me. 
He always came out of such ordeals [detention] as tough as ever and as resiliently  humorous about the interrogation sessions. He had a far closer understanding of his  interrogators’ fears and motivations than they will ever know, and with almost total  recall he recounted to me the full range of their questions. Many were simply  incredible ... 
The government quite clearly never understood the extent to which Steve Biko was  a man of peace. He was militant in standing up for his principles, yes, but his abiding  goal was a peaceful reconciliation of all South Africans, and in this I happen to know  he was a moderating influence. 
Addressing a meeting of more than 1 000 people, held to mark the death in detention  of Mr. Biko, Mr. Donald Woods told… ‘If any of four reasons for his death was alleged,  I would know it was untrue’. One of the four reasons was death through a hunger  strike. 

No assault – no cover-up — Kruger 
The Minister of Justice, Mr. Kruger, said in an interview that the preliminary report on  Mr. Steve Biko’s death did not give the impression that a police assault was the  cause of death. 
‘I personally do not believe this’, he stated. ‘I don’t believe that my police – have  done anything wrong … If there is anything wrong in the Biko case, I will be  surprised… There will be cover-up in the Biko case’, Mr. Kruger said. 

[From: No.46: Steve Biko by H. Bernstein]

Somewhere in one of my novels written during the worst years of the apartheid  regime, a character says: ‘In a world of so much evil and so much compromise with  evil, it means something special to be living in a country where there are still  heroes.’ 
Our country was such a country. In the depths of apartheid’s racist savagery, there  was such heroes. One of those whose dedication to freedom, to justice, whose  bravery, and whose appalling (terrible) suffering, surely epitomise (demonstrate)  the ordeals (sufferings) of merciless oppression and resistance to them, was Steve  Biko. 
It is difficult not to speculate with enormous regret, on what he would have meant in  the creation of the new South Africa in progress today; what his clear-mindedness and deep knowledge of the country’s and its people’s real needs would have  contributed to our development. 

[From: A Resource To Inform Us Our Present and Future by Nadine Gordimer]

The TRC came into being early in 1996, under the joint leadership of Archbishop  Desmond Tutu and former cleric and liberal politician, Alex Boraine. Other  commissioners spanned the racial and political spectrum. Its tasks were to examine  human rights abuses on all sides between 1960 and 1994, hear testimony from  victims and perpetrators and, where there was full disclosure and political motivation  was clearly present, grant perpetrators amnesty from civil prosecution or civil action.  The objective was to encourage truth-telling. Separate amnesty hearings were held  for this purpose. If perpetrators did not make use of this opportunity, it was made  clear; they would be liable for prosecution. The TRC was also asked to suggest how  victims could be compensated through reparations.  
The function of the Commission will be to achieve its objectives and to that end the  Commission shall: 

• facilitate, and where necessary initiate or coordinate, inquiries into:
  • gross violations of human rights, including violations which were part of a  systematic pattern of abuse;
  • the nature, causes and extent of gross violations of human rights, including  the antecedents, circumstances, factors, context, motives and perspectives  which led to such violations;
  • the identity of all persons, authorities, institutions and organisations involved  in such violations;
  • the question whether such violations were the result of deliberate planning  on the part of the state or a former state or any of their organs, or of any  political organisation, liberation movement or other group or individual;
  • accountability, political or otherwise, for any such violation; 

[From: Every Step Of The Way by the Department of Education]

F.W. DE KLERK:

The TRC process was flawed in many respects: numerous  atrocities (killings) of the past have not been properly  investigated; there was an over-emphasis on the role of the  former security forces; the assassination of about 400 top IFP  leaders has not been thoroughly probed; there has not been an  in-depth analysis of what many would call ‘black-on-black’ violence. These flaws create an imbalance which tarnishes the  credibility of the TRC. Furthermore I think the TRC failed to get to  the core of understanding the past, or building understanding  thereof. There is unfinished business, but we must now live the  spirit of the Constitution. We must have Ubuntu ... instead of  seeking vengeance. We should have reparation, instead of  retaliation. If prosecutions go ahead, they must be even-handed:  there must be prosecution of undisclosed crimes from all sides,  not just from one side. I’ve never been in favour of blanket  amnesty, but it will have a tremendous negative effect if we now  get a situation that can be interpreted as a witch hunt. We must  strike a balance. Prosecution in exceptional cases can be  justified, if it is clear that people have hidden the truth of serious  crimes for which they should have applied for amnesty. 

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA:

F.W. De Klerk uses emotive (sensitive) words when he says  ‘witch hunt’. The term ‘witch hunt’ has never been part of the  lexicon (dictionary) of the new South Africa. Nelson Mandela in leading this country to unity and reconciliation  made sure that there would not be any blanket ‘witch hunt’ type of process. We are not accustomed to witch hunts; we  are, however, as an emerging democracy, accustomed to  justice. If crimes were committed in the past, by whomever,  and no application for amnesty was made when the  opportunity was there, justice must prevail. 

[From: Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa 10 years on by C. Villa-Vicencio & F. du Toit]

On the 13th of February 1989, they took my son and we went to Brixton. We went to  Diepkloof Mortuary. That’s where I identified Stompie. His body was decomposed,  but your son is your son. I was fighting for my rights. There were signs that really  indicated to me that it was Stompie. After having been killed he was thrown into the  river between new Canada and Soweto. You couldn’t even identify him.  
I looked at Stompie because I am his mother. I had a deep look at him. I saw the first  sign. I said, ‘I know my son. He doesn’t have hair at the back.’ His eyes were gouged  (forced out), and I said, ‘This is Stompie.’ He had a scar on his eye. I looked at the  nose and he had a birth mark. I looked at his chest and I could see a scar, because  he fought with another boy in Thumahole. And I looked at his left hand. It was  identical to mine ... 
Reporters came to me. They said to me, ‘Stompie is alive. He is in Botswana.’ They  said Mrs Mandela told them that Stompie is alive; he is in Botswana. I said to them,  ‘I am not bearing a zombie, I am bearing my son. I know his birth marks. I raised  him from childhood ... Nobody will ever tell me anything about my child. We went to  the mortuary to see him for the last time. He was decomposed, he had a bad smell.  We couldn’t bring him to the house. Together with my family and my father we went  to see him and he was the real Stompie. But Mr Msipidi said to us, ‘This is not  Stompie.’... They were spreading the rumour that Stompie was an informer. ‘The  owner of the mortuary says the person who died is not Stompie.’ I said, ‘That is news  to me.’ The person that I am going to bury tomorrow is my son.’ 

[From: http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media 5C1996 5C9605/s960508d.htm. Accessed on 23  November 2016.]

 Research on the agricultural impacts of global change frequently emphasises the  physical and socio-economic impacts of climate change, yet global changes  associated with the internationalisation of economic activity may also have  significant impacts on food systems. Together, climate change and globalisation  are exposing farmers to new and unfamiliar conditions. Although some farmers may  be in a position to take advantage of these changes, many more are facing  increased vulnerability, particularly in the developing world. This paper considers  the dynamics of agricultural vulnerability to global change through the example of  southern Africa. We demonstrate that the combination of global and national  economic changes is altering the context under which southern African farmers  cope with climate variability and adapt to long-term change. We find that farmers  who formerly had difficulty adapting to climatic variability may become less  vulnerable to drought-related food shortages as the result of trade liberalisation. At  the same time, however, removal of national credit and subsidies may constrain or  limit adaptation strategies of other farmers, leaving them more vulnerable to climate  variability and change.

[From: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change by Leichenko and O’Brien]

View by Domschu:

Moreover, the number of people worldwide who live in abject poverty is deeply troubling. It would be wrong to conclude that  globalisation has caused this divergence, or that nothing can  be done to improve the situation. Far from it: the low-income  countries could not easily integrate into the global economy as  others, partly because of their chosen policies and partly  because of factors beyond their control. No country, least of all  the poorest, can afford to remain isolated from the world  economy. Each country should try and reduce poverty. The  international community should endeavour to provide the  poorest countries – by strengthening the international financial  system, through trade and aid – to integrate into the global  economy to grow faster and reduce poverty. This is the way to  take care that all people in all countries have access to the  benefits of globalisation. 

View by Christian Kalytta:

In my opinion the globalisation has, a lot of positive  effects. For example there is a global market for  companies to trade their products and a wider range of  options for people, to choose from among the products  of different nations. Furthermore, communication  among the countries is on the rise, which allows for  better understanding and broader vision. When  communication increases amongst two countries, there  is interchange of cultures as well. We get to know more  about the other’s cultural preferences and probably  learn from the economy of other nations. There are also disadvantages, when one mentions  globalisation. In my opinion, globalisation is causing a  movement of jobs from European to Asian countries.  This is the result of lower costs of labour in the Asian  countries compared to other countries. The high rate of  profit for the companies, in Asia, has resulted in a  pressure on the employed Europeans, who are always  under the threat of the business being outsourced. 

[From: https://laboureconomics.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/causes-and-effects-of-globalization-6/. Accessed on 15 November 2016]

It is not only the developed nations that are complaining about the negative effects,  people in developing nations – where most of the industries have been set up, have  their own set of reasons against globalisation. They often complain that their cities  have been reduced to garbage-dumps where all industrial waste is accumulated and  pollution levels are sky-high. 
Fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are spreading fast in the developing world.  People are consuming more junk food which has an adverse impact on their health.  Apart from health concerns, there is something else that globalisation has been  criticised for, and it is the accusation that it has opened floodgates for restaurants  and eateries which are insensitive to the religious beliefs of the host nation. For  example, a lawsuit had to be filed against McDonalds in India, after it was accused  of serving beef in their burghers. 
While the rich are getting richer, the poor are struggling for a square meal. If the  current Occupy Wall Street-protests are a reminder of how angry people are with the  current set-up, then those who govern us should take notice, and work towards  alleviating poverty. Ideally, globalisation should have resulted in creation of wealth  and prosperity, but corporate greed and corrupt government has ensured that  money, is not distributed equally. 

[From: http:/www.buzzle.com/articles/negative effects of globalisation.html. Accessed on  23 November 2016]