[SN-ANNOUNCE] Closure of Centre for Civil Society - Register Your Objection

[SANGONeT]

TO ALL SANGONeT USERS

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has announced the closure of the
Centre for Civil Society (CCS) as of 31 December 2008.

This UKZN decision comes at a time that South Africa can ill-afford to loose
critical and independent institutions such as the CCS to inform public
debate and present alternatives to government policy.

As a result, civil society organisations are requested to register their
objection to this decision and support the CCS in its attempts to secure its
long-term future.

A review of the CCS carried out between September 2008 and February 2008
concluded with a recommendation advocating for strengthening the centre and
giving it more autonomy, directly opposite to the decision to close the CCS.
Amongst other things, the review states: "Through its international
recognition and standing, CCS has put UKZN on a world map in social science,
a position the University dare not risk to lose."

The objective of the CCS is to advance socio-economic and environmental
justice by developing critical knowledge about, for and in dialogue with
civil society through teaching, research and publishing. It was officially
launched at UKZN in 2002 with the mission of promoting the study of South
African civil society as a legitimate, flourishing area of scholarly
activity.

Since inception, the CCS has gained local and international recognition for
its research output and contribution to critical debates about development
policy.

The UKZN claims it has South Africa's second best research profile, with the
CCS staff’s peer-reviewed articles, chapters and books - 58 in 2007 with an
average 50 a year since 2005 - ranking them top of the university measured
per academic employee. In addition, the CCS hosts nearly 100 free events a
year, including seminars, conferences, film festivals, literary celebrations
and the Harold Wolpe Lecture series.

To read more about developments regarding the CCS, please refer to the
article on the home page of the SANGONeT NGO Portal - www.sangonet.org.za.

If you would like to register your objection to the closure of the CCS,
please send an e-mail message to Patrick Bond at pbond at mail.ngo.za or fax to
(031) 260-2052.