National Treasury is reportedly preparing a raft of cost-cutting measures as it's coffers run dry. These include getting departments and other sectors of government to reduce their spending. Economist Chris Hattingh, spoke to eNCA.
Whether a piece of commentary rubs you up the wrong or the right way is not what is relevant; what’s important is that an opinion rubbed you up at all.
Instead of adopting a ruthless growth focus, the government is doubling down on job-destroying policies like expropriation without compensation (EWC) and enhanced BEE, while bribing SA’s poorest to look the other way with miserly social grants and by providing them with decrepit state services in water, electricity, education, health, transport, and safety, among other areas. Yet it does not have to be this way. A small number of critical reforms, resolutely enacted, can achieve a dramatic turnaround in South Africa’s prospects.
Perhaps, after years of resisting the types of reform necessary to improve the performance of the ports, the government has finally reached the inflection point.
On Wednesday, Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold a general election. This poll has already garnered significant attention due to its potential to either direct the nation toward true democratic reform or plunge the Southern African country deeper into the depths of autocracy.
We should not be tempted by the state for it to step in to aid the renewables equipment sector.
At least 22 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, have formally asked to join the BRICS bloc. A further group of 22 have expressed interest in gaining membership. The core group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will discuss this next week in Johannesburg.
In this week's newsletter from the Centre For Risk Analysis, we look at infrastructure decay in South Africa as well as the emerging logistics crisis.
The greater the extent to which business and government become mixed, the greater the incentive for – and likelihood of – regulations and policies being set up in such a way as to benefit those with the necessary resources and level of political influence.
It appears that our government officials have locked themselves up in an ivory tower full of new policy proposals, big ideas and slow reforms, far removed from the SA citizen on the ground.
As Eskom struggles to keep the lights on, companies continue to lose revenue.
South Africa has witnessed a transformative shift in communication preferences over the past few years, with cellular phones becoming the preferred choice for the majority of households.
The current state-centric model has failed, but what will replace it? In 2024, South Africans will vote in what will be the most highly contested elections in the post-apartheid era. Opposition parties could find themselves in governmental power, but will an opposition coalition turn the country’s fortunes around? What alternative policies should they be exploring now?
Centre For Risk Analysis' Makone Maja dissects the torching of haulage trucks as the police try to crack the cases of 16 trucks set alight in the past three days in KZN, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
South Africa has been faced with a critical shortage of nurses, which has been worsening over the years, resulting in a number of challenges in providing quality healthcare.
Panel discussion with the head of international relations for the Solidarity Movement, Jaco Kleynhans, and a senior policy analyst at the centre for risk analysis, Chris Hattingh about emigration and the effect thereof on the country and its economy.
In this week's newsletter from the Centre For Risk Analysis, we look at the government's proposed water licensing rules and their impact on the commercial agricultural sector.
Zondo has seen no changes to protect the country from rampant corruption.
Over the past ten years, South Africa’s institutional maternal mortality ratio (IMMR) has declined.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Parliament pulled a fast one on us; twice, if you consider the investigation into alleged corruption at Eskom.
South Africa may be punished for its non-aligned stance on the war in Ukraine. A bipartisan group of 4 US lawmakers see the stance as support for Russia. They have since asked Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to move the AGOA summit from the country. AGOA allows for duty-free exports from Sub-Saharan Africa to the economic giant. We get more on this from Chris Hattingh from the Centre for Risk Analysis.
Taking the Agoa Forum from SA can be seen as a first rung on a ladder of options that will escalate in terms of severity for the economy.
In a nation that is working to advance and develop, it is depressing to realise that a significant portion of South African homes still do not have access to adequate sanitary facilities.
Business should not be afraid to walk away from partnership.
The numbers are in and they do not look pretty. South Africa’s ports plumb the depths of the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 2022 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), reveals Chris Hattingh.
The very basics of trade infrastructure need to function correctly if South Africa and indeed the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are to succeed.
A Reserve Bank report points to the possibility of SA’s ‘neutral’ stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine being ‘perceived as unconvincing
eNCA discusses the risk of a nationwide blackout with Chris Hattingh from the Centre for Risk Analysis.
A commitment to fixing at least some of the basics would put SA on the path towards improving appetite and desire to invest in the sector.
When Eskom warned in 2007 about the end of the electricity surplus, the state delayed building necessary infrastructure and the state banked on the private sector. Mantashe blames the private sector for not ‘taking interest'.