Invitation:
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and its partners take pleasure in inviting
you to a Conference on
"Managing Public Goods in Favour of the People"
To be held in Johannesburg from 03-05 December 2003.

Venue: SA Technikon Conference Centre
2 Vinton Road, Ormonde Ext 1
Bertsham
(Phone: 011 835-1001/2/3)

Public goods or services (supply and access to water, electricity, land,
education, health care etc.) and their availability, financing,
ownership and management are a generally contested issues almost all
countries in the world. In the contemporary global neo-liberal context
in which privatising of what was once public services is seen and
ideologically justified as the ‘only way’. South Africa too is caught in
the middle.
At the centre of these processes is the ideologically driven goal of
curving a cost efficient ‘leans State’. The privatisation of public
assets is claimed as to be the ‘only alternative’ in addressing
socio-economic problems (unemployment, jobless economic growth, and
‘budget constrains’) In recognising the impacts of different policies,
politics and ideologies on public services in this country, the Rosa
Luxemburg Foundation together with its partners, is with this Conference
staging a forum for discussion, debating, exchanging views and
experiences. Furthermore, it can be a platform not only to reflect on
current forms of resistance and their (in)adequacy but also to
deliberate on effective methods of engagement with the forces bent on
commercialising every aspect of our lives.
The Conference should aim, among other things, to tackle the role of the
current nation-state and the resultant ‘crisis of public services’. At
the end we should at least have a clearer picture of what role
can/should the nation-state, the people and their organisations have in
matters of public goods. How best can these goods be financed, owned,
maintained, and managed?

Programme

Wednesday 03-12-2003

16h00 – Arrival and Registration

17h30 – Opening

17h45 – The Crisis of Public Goods – A Global Perspective
Thomas Fritz (ATTAC, Berlin)

18h30 – Film

19h30 – Reception

Thursday 04-12-2003

09h00 First Session – Conceptualising the Nature of Public Goods

From Public Goods to Public Accumulation?
David Moore (University of Natal)

The Crisis of Public Services in Southern Africa
Dale McKinley (APF)

Struggle for Quality Public Services
N.N. (PSI)

The Access to Information as Public Good
Jane Duncan. (FXI)

The struggle for Public Services – a Brazilian Perspective
José Batista de Oliveira (MST, Brazil)

13h00 Lunch

14h00 Second Session – Financing Public Goods

Participatory Budgeting
Jurandir Novaes (Belem, Brazil)

Local Public Budgeting
Ronnie Rogers (PSI)
Experiences with attempts of participatory budgeting in South Africa
Bheki Langa (National Economic Policy Institute)

Cooperatives and the Public Sector
Tebogo Padu (Dora Tamani Cooparative Centre)

18h00 Dinner

19h30 Special Panel Discussion on Water issues
Patrick Bond (Wits Municipality Services Project)
Denis Goldberg (Special Adviser to Minister of Water Affairs and
Forestry) and
Leszek Drogosz (Deputy Director of the Bureau of Infrastructure in
Warsaw City Hall)
(still to confirm)

Friday 05-12-2003

09h00 First Session – Discussing and Strategising Ways and Means of
Managing Public Goods

Introducing Significance/Challenges Facing Public Services (RLF)

Discussion Groups

Water and Electricity
Health
Land/Housing
Education
Media

13h00 Lunch

14h00Second Session – Panel Discussion on the Struggle for the Access to
Public Good, Forms of Resistance and Alternatives to Privatisation and
Commercialisation

Representatives from APF, ATTAC, LPM, CUT, COSATU, MST, COPAC

16h00 Closing Remarks

Dear Participant we kindly request you to note the following:

- Since space is limited and about 80 participants have confirmed
already it is urgently necessary to register. RSVP Esther Sithole, RLF
Office (011-339 3130)

- Please be aware that booking for Accommodation (Dinner/Bed &
Breakfast) after 1st of November 2003 is limited and if available only
sharing will be offered, please contact Esther.
Not on our account: Phone calls, Mini Bars, Laundry, Room Service.

- Travel costs will be refunded only after the Conference and submission
of proper documents (i.e. receipts, tickets, etc). Only those who are
travelling more than 50km who would be refunded.