Just Access: The Real Democracy is a podcast from PARI (Public Affairs Research Institute) examining South Africa’s democracy through the institutions, services and decisions that shape everyday life.
In this new series, PARI researchers and guests explore the major questions surrounding local government and the municipal elections — from service delivery, land, water and electricity to state capacity, public participation, youth engagement and coalition government.
Previous episodes of Just Access: The Real Transition, exploring South Africa’s Just Transition through the lens of access, remain available in this feed.
Just Access: The Real Democracy - Episode 4: Can the State Deliver the Promise?
What needs to happen inside a municipality for a political promise to become a working service? Host Tasneem Essop speaks with PARI’s Sithembile Mbete, Waseem Holland and Sarah Meny-Gibert about the people, systems and decisions that connect plans and budgets to delivery. Starting with Johannesburg’s struggles to provide functioning fire services, the episode explores procurement failures, political interference and the unequal consequences of administrative neglect. It asks how appointments ...
12 Oct 2026
Episode 3: Water, Power and the Just Transition
Talking to Tracy Ledger and Jugal Mahabir, this episode does a deep dive into water, electricity, affordability, free basic services, alternative energy and municipal infrastructure. It examines what affects municipal finances, and how the critical need for affordable services could be prioritised by municipalities to support development and livelihoods. Host Tasneem Essop asks what voters should look for when parties promise better services, including how municipalities use the funding alloc...
6 Oct 2026
Just Access: The Real Democracy - Episode 2: Whose Land, Whose Decision?
Who decides how land is used, whose rights are recognised, and who benefits from development? Host Tasneem Essop speaks with PARI researchers Gaynor Paradza, Daniel Sher and Federica Duca about how municipal land decisions shape where people can live, work and build a future. They explore party promises about state land, housing and title deeds, the rights that formal records overlook, and the pressures of a changing climate. From community consent to the location and affordability of housing...
28 Sept 2026
Just Access: The Real Democracy - Episode 1: What Is Really at Stake in the Local Government Elections?
What can voters expect from a new council when the problems it inherits have been building for years? Host Tasneem Essop speaks with PARI researchers Sithembile Mbete, Kate Tissington and Jugal Mahabir about the pressures facing municipalities, from coalition politics and unstable administrations to strained finances and unreliable services. They examine what parties are promising, what municipalities can actually deliver, and how residents can judge those promises. The episode asks a practic...
18 Sept 2026
Introducing Just Access: The Real Democracy
Just Access returns with The Real Democracy, a new PARI series exploring the major issues shaping South Africa’s 2026 local government elections. In this introduction, Dr Sithembile Mbete explains special voting and previews what listeners can expect from the series.
13 May 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 10: The Politics of Access
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. In this final episode, the series steps back to reflect on the deeper questions that have emerged throughout its conversations. Across the season, researchers, activists and communities have challenged the narro...
5 May 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Bonus Episode
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. This bonus episode steps slightly outside the main series structure to bring forward two conversations that deepen and ground the themes explored throughout. In the first conversation, researcher Nonhlanhla Math...
21 Apr 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 9: Beyond Green Growth
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 9 brings two central voices in the series together to ask a bigger question, what would it actually take to make justice real? Tasneem Essop convenes economist Dr Tracy Ledger and political economist Dr Sithem...
14 Apr 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 8: Building Accountability
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 8 asks a practical question, what does accountability look like on the ground? Building on the previous episode’s focus on co-production, this episode turns to how participation and collaboration can work insi...
31 Mar 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 7: Designing Justice
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 7 turns to a critical question, how do we move from policy promises to real, lived change? While the language of participation is widely used in policymaking, this episode challenges how participation actually...
24 Mar 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 6: From Below
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa, not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 6 shifts the focus from the state to the ground, asking what the transition looks like when communities begin to lead it themselves. While policy remains uncertain and institutional reform lags, the transition...
17 Mar 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 5: State Of Transition
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa - not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 5 turns to the state itself and asks what happens when the institutions meant to lead the transition are uncertain, constrained, or internally conflicted. Following the restructuring of the former Depart...
9 Mar 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 4: Governing the Ground
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa — not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 4 moves the conversation from national debates to the level where the transition becomes real: local government. As climate change, renewable energy development, and settlement pressures intensify, municipali...
3 Mar 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 3: Whose Land Powers the Transition?
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa — not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 3 turns to the ground beneath the transition: land. As South Africa accelerates renewable energy and green hydrogen projects, new pressures are being placed on land that already carries a long and unresolved ...
23 Feb 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 2: Rationed Rights
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa — not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 2 asks a harder follow-up to the first episode’s core insight: if connection isn’t the same as access, how is exclusion produced and maintained? Tasneem Essop returns to economist Dr Tracy Ledger, who explain...
14 Feb 2026
Just Access: The Real Transition - Episode 1: Access and Affordability
Just Access: The Real Transition is a 10-part podcast series from PARI (the Public Affairs Research Institute) exploring what a truly just transition means for South Africa — not only in energy policy, but in access to land, water, power, decision-making and economic opportunity. Episode 1 begins with a fundamental question: what does justice actually look like in practice? Tasneem Essop speaks with economist Dr Tracy Ledger, who leads PARI’s Just Transition Programme, about why millions of S...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact Just Access: The Real Transition
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Just Access: The Real Transition?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
